a peek into my life

I'm only telling HALF the internet...

2011-01-15T19:14:00.000-08:00

I'm pregnant again! We're crossing our fingers... 10 more days until the ultrasound to check for a heartbeat. It is so hard to wait, but I'm enjoying the hell out of being pregnant again.

I look like I'm 3 or 4 months along and not 6 weeks, so I'm already getting the smiles from strangers. Once I see the heartbeat I'm going straight to the Gap and buying some maternity jeans. I've never actually seen anyone get THIS big THIS fast! It is pretty surprising, especially considering my height. I'm already as big as I was at 7-8 weeks with my first pregnancy.

So... trying to enjoy each day and not get too stressed out. Goodness is it hard! If all goes well, I'm due in mid-September. Hurray!

2010-11-22T13:26:00.001-08:00

I'm starting to feel a bit more normal. I forget every once in a while that I HAD been pregnant, but then there are other times when I start crying and can't help it. (Usually late at night, or else when someone is being too darn nice and sweet to me.)

We've decided to host Thanksgiving at our house as originally planned, so I have lots to do. My list is ready, and I'm going to go tackle the first (and most fun) item- buy a gravy boat. We've actually needed one a few times!

The blue sky is showing right now, after days of rain and many more days forecast in the future. Time to go while things are bright...

2010-11-10T21:47:00.000-08:00

Oh, geez. Where do I even start?

The past 6 months have been some of the best and worst of my life.

We bought a house.

I got pregnant.

The baby's heart stopped beating a week ago. I was 9 weeks.

I feel so sad... You can't imagine, unless you can. In that case, I'm sorry...

Things are getting a little better day by day, and that is about all I can say. I'll try to be back here more often.

2010-03-22T23:15:00.000-07:00

Ah, facebook. So tempting, with the easiness of posting. I'm sorry blog. Will you forgive me?

Want to vent...

2010-01-07T22:14:00.000-08:00

Feeling a little barfy and having a bit of a cancer freakout over here.

FDR died of melanoma, according to this week's news. Did you hear? Steve said I shouldn't have read the article, but from the title there was no indication of what the interesting medical revelation was....

But that isn't why I'm freaking out.... It is the answer to the question I've been wondering. If my 5 year survival rate is 95%, what is the 10 year?

The answer is 88%. 88% 10 year survival, or 12% chance of me being gone by 36. I KNOW I should not be thinking about this, but I am and I'm just saying f--- over and over in my head, and I really really don't use language like that. 88%? That is... not reassuring.

This article has a lot of info about melanoma.

My next dermatology checkup is at the end of this month.... I need more information. I have this horrible want to know what the chance of having this melanoma come back EVER is, and the chance of developing another one. (I assume it is pretty much guaranteed....)

I can't let myself end up getting panic attacks about this, and I think that facts are the best way to avoid that.

2009-12-31T18:12:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!

Posts to come.... a recap of my holidays, plus our 6th annual fondue party. :o)

2009-11-11T12:39:00.000-08:00

Steve has flown off to Taiwan, leaving a dirty house and a sick wife who is supposed to do report cards.

Somehow this makes the day off for Veteran's Day really not exciting.

I could open a craft store.

2009-10-12T00:08:00.001-07:00

I have some serious craft overload going on right now. I'm sewing my first quilt, knitting and crocheting a kajillion things, and for some reason I went out today and bought four Japanese kirigami/papercutting books. Plus there are the new cookbooks and sewing books I got for my birthday. Yikes. I think I need to quit my job and just make things all day long...

2009-09-26T12:34:00.000-07:00

Is this not the cutest puppy you have ever seen? (We named him Leo, by the way.)

The excellent photo was taken by my brother.

Another happy...

2009-09-14T19:47:00.001-07:00

Good news- we are officially no longer SINKs-- we're DINKs*!

And this makes the day we can be DIOKs a bit closer. Or DITKs. I mean. Uh. Do they stop with the acronyms after you have children?**

* Dual Income No Kids (AKA Finally! A job!)

** I am not currently gestating any little Italians. That, my friend, is the hopeful future. The future of not yet. The future which will not be happening in 2009 or in 2010 so don't get too excited, buster.

2009-09-06T23:30:00.000-07:00

I said this year was going to be great, and so far I'm right.

My class is wonderful, Steve has at least one job interview lined up, and my knitting and baking are providing me with endless entertainment...

I made cupcake bites for Steve's sister's wedding shower yesterday, where part of my gift was a shawl the bride will most likely wear at the wedding reception.

Here's me in the shawl! I, somewhat amazingly, was able to knit it in 6 days.

I'm going to try to post more regularly... yeesh. Sorry.

A few things...

2009-08-07T00:20:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't been posting much. I've been busy relaxing. It is amazing how much better I feel now that last year is done. This year? This year is going to be awesome. And it is starting already.

Yosemite, a few days before our 2nd Anniversary. Steve took me on what he promised would be an easy hike, just a little uphill. HA! The Mist Trail gains 1,000 feet in elevation over a mile and a half, including stairs. I'm very proud of myself for getting all the way up, although it took quite a while. We packed homemade bread, along with salami, cheese, and fruit. It tasted awesome, but not quite as awesome as the Gatorade I bought back by the campgrounds after we finished our strenuous hike. (Because... strenuous is what the hike is rated as. Arg. Need to get in shape.)

On our actual anniversary we went to The Plumed Horse and had one of the fanciest, nicest meals of our lives. It was perfect.

I also finished this sweater. It is crazy soft.

But not as soft as....

Tiny fuzzy puppies! Meet the new family pet. He lives with my parents in Southern California, and we get to go hug and cuddle him for the first time this weekend. Mr. Puppy is currently nameless, but I think Leo and Jake are likely options. Ahh! SO cute!

TastyKitchen.com

2009-07-14T18:02:00.001-07:00

So, I am pretty excited about a new website- Tasty Kitchen- from Ree Drummond of The Pioneer Woman.

Go check it out. I'm a tad frustrated right now about my inability to re-order ingredients in a recipe I entered, but I think that it is a little bug that should be fixed soon.

Knitting meme (For my personal enjoyment)

2009-07-05T17:13:00.000-07:00

I feel like doing this for some reason, so feel free to either ignore or enjoy. ;o)

Mark with bold the things you have knit at least once, with italics the ones you plan to do sometime, and leave the rest.

I did stars instead of bold, because bolded text isn't very noticeable on my blog.

* Afghan
* I-cord
* Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
* Shawl
* Stockinette stitch
* Socks: top-down
* Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
* Hat
* Knitting with silk
* Moebius band knitting
* Participating in a KAL Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
* Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
* Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
* Cardigan
* Toy/doll clothing
* Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
* Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
* Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
* Scarf
* Teaching a child to knit
* American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
* Knitting to make money
* Button holes
* Knitting with alpaca
* Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
* Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
* Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
* Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
* Knitting with DPNs
* Holiday related knitting
* Teaching a male how to knit
* Bobbles
Knitting for a living
* Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
* Fulling/felting
* Knitting with wool
* Textured knitting
* Kitchener BO
* Purses/bags
* Knitting with beads
* Swatching
* Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
* Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
* Stuffed toys
* Baby items
* Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
* Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
* Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
* Short rows
* Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
* Pillows
* Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
* Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
* Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
* Knitting in public

Ahhh, nice and useless. And kind of entertaining, at least for me. (Sorry.)

2009-06-30T21:38:00.000-07:00

Do you see that? "With sweet coating." Disgusting! Now when I take a tylenol I have to use juice instead of water so I don't have to taste the disgusting sweet abomination.

2009-06-20T01:15:00.000-07:00

I've knitted three pairs of knee socks and bought the yarn to make two more pairs.

I think about how I need to go buy skirts to match knee socks I've knitted.

YouTube TimeMachine

2009-06-19T01:04:00.001-07:00

Somehow (How? I can't even remember) I was alerted to the existence of Ghoti Hook reunion concert footage on You Tube. They played this week! In Philadelphia!

Here is some, and here is some more. My goodness, I had forgotten how good "Seasons" and "Shrinky Dinks" were. (Find them around the four minute marks.)

What else can I find on You Tube. Christian punk/ska music videos from my past? Let's see!

Ghoti Hook- Shrinky Dinks

Five Iron Frenzy- A Flowery Song My favorite band of all time. I saw these guys in concert a LOT.

Five Iron Frenzy- Old West (live) You might not know this about me, but I can skank like nobody's business. This video (12 years old!) makes me want to go back in time to a ska concert so much.

The Orange County Supertones- Adoni

The W's- The Devil is Bad

MxPx- Doing Time

Switchfoot- Company Car

Switchfoot- Chem 6A Man, I was listening to these guys in 1997.... I saw them open for Five Iron Frenzy one time, and Yuri from MxPx spilled water on me from a balcony.

It's getting really late, but I must include one more band. Warning: strange music ahead. I bought Danielson Famile's first album in 1996. When I saw them live in 2006 everyone at the sold out concert was talking about how they were a "Myspace phenomenon." Ha. I saw Daniel in concert by himself in 2003 with Ben. There were less than ten people there and it was one of the best two concerts I've ever attended.

Danielson Famile- Rubbernecker

Danielson Famile- Did I Step on Your Trumpet A recent video, but seriously. I think this music video is perfection.

Whew! Now I need to dig out my album of high school CDs! Hope some of you enjoyed these too. :o)

List: Tasty

2009-05-31T22:21:00.000-07:00

I've been busy dealing with... stuff. If you know me in real life, you know what I'm talking about. Things will be better soon.

I thought I'd list out all the recipes from The Pioneer Woman that I've made so far, because 1) Yum and 2) I am curious to see my own list and 3) you need to try some of these too!

Apple Tart- So easy!!
Apricot Bars
Beans and Cornbread- I keep making this. It is cheap and tasty.
The Bread (herb-y)
Cinnamon Rolls (omg)
Egg in a Hole- Egg! In a hole!! That is all I have to say.
Ginger Steak Salad
Macaroni and Cheese
Monkey Bread
Mystery Rolls
Onion Strings
Penne a la Betsy
The Pioneer Woman's Favorite Sandwich- This is seriously super good.
Roasted Potato Wedges

There are a lot more that I have my eye on... I only found the website 3-4 months ago.

You might gasp if you saw the highlighted index of my 2009 Cooking Light book, where I marked all the recipes from the magazine I made in the last year, for future re-cooking. I spent like four hours doing that today.

I wish I could just cook and knit and bake all day, instead of this pesky "work" stuff.

67 Cinnamon Rolls!

2009-05-07T23:26:00.000-07:00

So, I made eight pans of cinnamon rolls tonight with this recipe.

Go take a look....

Ok. Now, the only problem with that recipe is that it does not accurately portray the FREAKING OUT that will occur if you attempt to make these by yourself. Okay, maybe if you have Ree Drummond's kitchen it would be okay, but not here in teenycondokitchen. We didn't even have enough counter space to roll out the dough, so I floured the kitchen table and we rolled the dough out on that. And then poured melted butter all over the dough. (Yes... about that melted butter. She says 1 1/2 - 2 cups but WOAH that is way too much.)

Said freakout happened when I could tell that there was imminent danger of melted butter flowing right off the dough and onto the table and floor. Which it did. Then, when I was rolling the dough up, a huuuuge flood of melted butter-sugar-cinnamon started charging toward another side of the table, and how can you be sitting there playing video games? There is melty cinnamon sugar butter falling onto the floor!!! Get up! Help!

I think I lost a few days off my lifespan there. Fortunately the second batch of dough went better, since it was cooler in the house and we rolled the dough much much thinner. And I didn't even attempt to use 1 1/2 cups of melted butter.

I made a lot of cinnamon rolls... more than I thought was possible to make.

In the morning I'll be making these "Mystery Rolls" at school. (Also from The Pioneer Woman) It is my turn for treats, and I have a tradition of slightly insane baking. Usually it involves two large sheet cakes, plus something else.

Ah yes, we made soft pretzels from scratch last Sunday. They're from Smitten Kitchen.

(Maybe I'm a little crazy with the baking this week. I also made my first from-scratch brownies last night. They're "Brrrr-ownies" from the book Baking: From My Home to Yours. They have York peppermint patties in them.)

Enjoy! Go do some crazy baking! Or come be my coworker and enjoy the baked goods I keep bringing to school because I tend to make too much...

I have a lot of time to knit.

2009-04-19T02:01:00.000-07:00

I finished the knee socks after I came home from my surgery on Wednesday. I worked on them in the waiting room, and would have knitted during recovery except that the doctor forgot to ask Steve to bring them back like I'd asked. But anyways, socks are done! When I finally am able to try them on, I'll have what appears to be a 2.5 inch long vertical scar straight up my right kneecap. (I won't actually be able to see the scar until next week, when the rest of the surgical dressings come off at my post-op appointment.)

I wrote some stuff here about the surgery, but I'm just going to replace it with this: it was scary, I cried, and the nurses were really nice. I fortunately don't remember the surgery, as the anesthesiologist put something in my IV that made everything go blank. My leg didn't hurt until the next day.

Right now it only really hurts for a few minutes every time I stand up, and I'm supposed to spend as much time as possible sitting with my leg elevated. No bending the knee, and no unnecessary walking. So far I've finished the knee socks, started a sweater for mom, made a felted box for Steve, and crocheted an apple, three apple slices, a mushroom, and an ice cream sandwich for a set of play food I'm making. Not bad for three days...

I can't wait to be able to bend my knee again.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers regarding my surgery. I'm very glad they didn't have to do a skin graft or tissue rearrangement. I don't even want to think about how much more it would have hurt. I'm still waiting for the pathology report on my knee area, and I have oncology and other appointments lined up for the next few weeks.

A proud day.

2009-04-11T21:20:00.000-07:00

I am the #1 search result for zap with 17 z's.

Earthquakes, peanuts, and oncologist appointments

2009-04-09T15:59:00.000-07:00

1) I bought this bookcase from Ikea's as-is department two weekends ago, and we covered it's imperfections with beautiful fabric. So pretty!

The bookcase was only $40, and it is close to 7' tall. That is one tallll bookcase. So I did something I've not done before- I asked Steve to secure it to the wall in case of earthquake. I even said, "I know we're probably not going to have an earthquake, but it would make me feel better."

So I was pretty surprised when THE NEXT MORNING I was teaching math and suddenly.... shaking. As soon as it started, I said, "Boys and girls, I think we're having an earthquake. ...Yep... an earthquake. Duck and cover, everyone." Pretty long earthquake for me to say all that eh?

If you live outside of CA and think earthquakes are pretty common here you might not realize how strange this is. This is only the second earthquake I've felt in the last 10 years. [Edit- Actually, it was the third, because there was a decent aftershock the day after earthquake #1. I was sitting at my desk after school and it started bumping against my tummy and the school walls were creaking.] We really don't have them very often. This earthquake was a 4.3., and was centered less than 5 miles from where I work, which explains why it felt so strong. You could feel it in San Fran., I hear. That was certainly a strange coincidence.

2) Evidently my husband has taken to eating peanuts, shell and all. That is all I can say about that. It's weird, right?

3) I spent three hours in appointments today about my stupid knee cancer. I had a physical, talked to some other lady, went to the hospital and was... pre admitted or something. (Plus they gave me this paper so I can sign up to have someone in charge of making decisions for me if I'm unable. It also has checkboxes for things like... ______ person can request an autopsy be done! [!!]) After that I went to the dermatologist and had my stitches out, confirmed that I had an allergic reaction to Neosporin, scheduled a biopsy on this other mole on my back, and got an oncologist referral.

Then I was off to the medical secretary, where I got a copy of my pathology report. As the nice lady pointed out, my report mentions that my case was shared at the Department Consensus Conference. I'm famous? I understand most of the report, but will forward it on to a family member who is a doctor. The strangest thing about my pathology report is the words "Malignant Melanoma" and the description of the mole... "pale tan." Look here for a little melanoma checklist. Asymmetry? Nope- looked like the "ordinary mole" photo. Borders? Regular, unlike the melanoma picture. Color, Diameter... my mole is like the normal example! The only off thing was that it grew quickly. ("Evolution.") Get it? ABCDE. Mine didn't look like a melanoma at all. My severe pre-melanoma when I was 14 looked more like a melanoma than this one did, which I really don't get.

Okay, no more looking at medical pages for me. This one is scary. 95% five year survival, even if I have the best case scenario at this point, which is Stage 1A. (I'm beyond the 100% curable "In-situ") Uck. 1 in 20 chance of being dead by 31? No thank you. Which brings me to...

4) I have an appointment with the oncologist at the beginning of May. After that they'll arrange blood tests for cancer and probably some body scans. (MRI, CAT.. stuff like that.) I think these are to make sure I don't have stage 3 or 4 melanoma somewhere else in my body from another melanoma lurking.... somewhere. No one has actually said this to me, but that is what I think the real reason is. Again, uck. Trying not to think about this. It makes me feel barfy. These tests will also give us final staging information, along with the pathology reports on the additional tissue they remove in the surgery. I don't think there will be a final say on the stage until June. I still expect it to come back as Stage 1, but then again I expected the mole to be pre-cancerous at worst.

5) I'm knitting myself crazy stripy knee socks. I think they may be slightly symbolic although I didn't do that on purpose. You can see the first one in the sidebar. I now have about 6" of the second one done and hope to finish the pair before my surgery on April 15th. This might not be possible, but I'll try!

I almost forgot to mention this, but I asked the nurse who was doing my pre-op physical whether she was a knitter, as she was wearing hand-knit socks. She was, so I pulled my completed knee high out of the bag I had with me. The nurse was so excited about them she went out of the exam room with the sock, showing all her coworkers. My surgery scheduler is a knitter too- she had yarn and projects falling out of her purse in the office we were in.

I saved my own life.

2009-03-25T22:37:00.000-07:00

That's how I'm looking at it right now. The fact is, if I hadn't told my dermatologist that I was worried and wanted the mole removed, she never would have picked it out as being a problem. When I had my biopsy I asked her if there was anything strange looking about the mole to her, and she said no. She only took it because I wanted her to.

If I hadn't noticed it, who knows. I could have ended up dead in a year.

I saw the plastic surgeon today, and scheduled a miniature fleet of appointments. Stitches removal, pre op physical, surgery, post op (and I assume another round of stitches removal will be scheduled later.) As it stands they couldn't fit me in for surgery until April 20th. I hope to get a cancelation before that, because the timing isn't great for work.

When I have the surgery they will be carefully checking the skin for any evidence of migrating cancer cells. I should be okay, and if everything looks good then it is just Stage 1 and I'll have a 99% chance of being okay. Of course, there is the fact that I seem to be prone to melanoma, so I'll have to be even more careful than I've already been with my skin.

If they find more bad, then I think I'll need some lymph node biopsies, etc. I don't think my doctor expects them to find anything more.

The scar on my knee will probably be pretty big. I am hoping (oh so much) that I will come out of surgery with a normal looking scar. Depending on how it goes I may have a crazy puzzle scar if they have to move tissues around, or what I'm really afraid of.... a skin graft. I really really really don't want a skin graft, but I won't know until the surgery is over.

My priorities:
1) No more cancer in the area
2) No ugly skin graft

I'll be in a sexy leg brace for a while and will miss about a week of work.

I'm feeling a little calmer, but this is still very scary. I cried a few times today, but mostly about my puppy. I miss him....

Officially the worst day of my life.

2009-03-24T19:09:00.000-07:00

I'm not exaggerating.

My biopsy came back and I have skin cancer. A melanoma.

...Yeah. You didn't see that one coming, did you? Neither did I. Or my doctor. Or my uncle who is also a doctor. He's never diagnosed a 26 year old with one before.

I'm not really sure, but I think it is stage 1. My doctor said stage 1 or 2, but from the thickness level (0.36 mm) and Clark level (2) the internet says I have stage 1.

I am freaking out, freaking out bad. I have chills and I feel a little like throwing up and I just don't understand how this is happening to me. Isn't that what everyone says? I thought this was something that happened to other people?

There is "very good survival" for my situation, but anything where the doctors talk about survival rates is... I don't know how to finish that sentence. I have a plastic surgery consultation on Friday as I'll need further surgery on my knee. I shouldn't have to have chemo or anything, but I'll be meeting with an oncologist at some point too.

Besides this, this very bad, very serious thing, I also had to say goodbye on the phone just now to my puppy, Ty. He is 12 years old, and has just gotten very sick. I am so sad that I can't give him a hug. He goes tomorrow at noon.

This really is an awful, awful day.

If you pray, please pray for me. If you don't, think good thoughts of calm for my heart and a healthy future for my damn stupid skin.

Veselka-Style Ukrainian Borscht and Vegan Ukrainian Borscht!

2009-03-16T19:59:00.002-07:00

The last time I was in New York I went to my favorite restaurant in NYC, Veselka, 3 or 4 times in the week I was there. And I was staying upstate! This stuff is what my Ukrainian great-grandma would have cooked if she had ever made me borscht. (Unfortunately, I just got a lot of cabbage rolls.)

When I got home, I was obsessed with recreating Veselka's borscht. I searched all through the internet, without finding the perfect recipe... I did find some that were close, and put this together. Veselka's borscht is savory and hot, not like the more typical sweetened and even chilled Russian version. I owe much of this recipe to Leigh Witchel, from his blog post here.

This weekend I modified the recipe for my vegan friends- it turned out great! It's also cheaper to make with the lack of meat, and the flavor is just as good.

I hope you enjoy these recipes. Let me know if you try one!

Veselka-Style Ukrainian Borscht

3 medium to large beets. (Or 6 small to medium)

1 tsp vegetable oil 
1 tsp butter

1/2 lb stew beef in ½ inch cubes

1 large garlic clove, minced 
1 large onion, coarsely chopped 
3 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
3 medium carrots, coarsely chopped 

4 cups beef stock
2 cups water
1 cup canned diced tomato and liquid
½ small head cabbage.

1 15 oz. can large lima beans (aka butter beans), rinsed and drained

Seasonings to taste –
1/3 cup white vinegar 
2 tsp salt 
freshly ground black pepper 
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 
½ tsp Tabasco

Sour cream
Fresh dill

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Trim stalks and taproot from beets. Wash the beets and wrap in aluminum foil. Bake about 1 hour, until beets are tender and skin separates easily from the beet. Let cool. Peel beets and chop coarsely.

In a large pot, melt the butter and vegetable oil. Brown beef over medium to medium-high heat and add garlic, onion, carrots, and celery. When the onions are just translucent, add the beets and sauté another minute or so.

Add beef stock, water, and tomato. While mixture heats to a boil, slice the cabbage into ½ inch wide strips and add to pot. Simmer covered for 45 minutes to an hour, until everything is tender. 5-10 minutes before the soup is done, add the lima beans.

Season to taste. (The vinegar is really what makes this soup.)

Serve with sour cream and fresh dill.

Makes about 16 cups of soup. (Serves 4-8, depending on how many of the people you’re cooking for love borscht as much as I do.)

Vegan Ukrainian Borscht!

3 medium to large beets. (Or 6 small to medium)

2 tsp vegetable oil 

1 large garlic clove, minced 
1 large onion, coarsely chopped 
3 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
3 medium carrots, coarsely chopped 

4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
1 cup canned diced tomato and liquid
½ small head cabbage.

1 15 oz. can large lima beans (aka butter beans), rinsed and drained

Seasonings to taste –
1/3 cup white vinegar 
2 tsp salt 
freshly ground black pepper 
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 
½ tsp Tabasco

Vegan sour cream substitute
Fresh dill

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Trim stalks and taproot from beets. Wash the beets and wrap in aluminum foil. Bake about 1 hour, until beets are tender and skin separates easily from the beet. Let cool. Peel beets and chop coarsely.

In a large pot, heat vegetable oil. Saute garlic, onion, carrots, and celery until onions are just translucent. Add the beets and sauté another minute or so.

Add vegetable broth, water, and tomato. While mixture heats to a boil, slice the cabbage into ½ inch wide strips and add to pot. Simmer covered for 45 minutes to an hour, until everything is tender. 5-10 minutes before the soup is done, add the lima beans.

Season to taste. (The vinegar is really what makes this soup.)

Serve with sour cream and fresh dill.

Makes about 16 cups of soup. (Serves 4-8)

Still bad, but at least this time it's funny...

2009-03-03T22:28:00.000-08:00

It is rainy and cold, so I decided to bring the neckwarmer I knitted a few weeks ago with me to school. But... I somehow arrived at school and couldn't find it. I looked in the car and on the floor next to my desk, but no luck. In the afternoon when I talked to Steve I told him it was missing and that I thought I'd dropped it on the way out. Did he see it anywhere? No. He didn't.

Of course, I saw it as soon as I pulled into the driveway. It was in the GUTTER. Right smack in the middle of the nasty muddy rainwater filled gutter.

I washed it out 5 times in the sink, and then I threw it in the washing machine. It had huge amounts of dirt in it, in addition to little pieces of metal and chunks of plant. I'm kinda oogey feeling about wearing it next to my mouth, even though I washed it on warm.

Let's hope it's clean! Unfortunately, it did get a bit fuzzy looking with all the washing.

--------

My mom also had an interesting day. She drove off in our 80 year old Model A but forgot to remove a five foot long box containing a set of roof racks for our SUV from the passenger side running board before she left. Someone in our neighborhood found the box in the road and called our house to return it. She also dropped her phone in the toilet today.

2009-03-01T18:51:00.000-08:00

I think I'm depressed. Either that, or my life really does suck right now.

My job is draining me, the state of the education system in California is.... bad. We have no house, and now Steve has no job. I'm betting I'll be pink-slipped this spring but not actually laid off.

Oh, and I have a possibly cancerous (but probably pre-cancerous at the worst) mole I need removed. My doctor wants me to skip the sissified "shave biopsy" and go straight to hard core stitches time. Which sucks, because it is on my knee. And I won't be allowed to like... walk. Which means I can't work. For a few weeks. I'm not sure if I feel happy or upset about this.

I've been...

2009-02-12T20:35:00.001-08:00

Knitting this sweater,

baking a LOT of bread,

and waiting until my weeklong vacation begins tomorrow afternoon!

Check out one of my new blog obsessions- Confessions of a Pioneer Woman.

There is much more than recipes, but I have already cooked the Apricot Bars, Pioneer Woman's Favorite Sandwich, and Penne a la Betsy.

That sandwich is awesome. It is only my second favorite sandwich though, as I am totally in love with the Patty Melts with Grilled onions from Cooking Light. Do you think it has anything to do with the fact that I've been making both kinds with my home-baked rye bread? Damn I love rye. We need to start buying caraway seed in bulk I think, because I've had to buy two spice jars of it in the last two months.

Christmas Gift-a-palooza

2009-01-19T18:44:00.000-08:00

I knitted a lot of Christmas presents this year. A lot. Just for posterity, and so you all can appreciate the insanity, here they are in order of finishing. (All links go to Ravelry, for those who are members.)

1. An Unoriginal Hat for my college roommate

2. Keyhole Scarflet for my cousin, made from yarn we found in her mom's things after she passed away.

3. Calla Coasters- two sets of four coasters. One for my mom, one for my grandparents.

4. Striped Noro Scarf for Stephanie

5. Maine Morning Mitts for my father-in-law to wear while fishing

6. Flame Wave Socks for my mom

7. Ripple Basket Liner for my sister and brother-in-law

8. Rustic Mini Mitten Ornaments for the 2008 Cake and Pie/Freshly Blended ornament swap (plus one for my parents.) I made 11 like this.

9. Mini Mitten Ornament for my sister and brother-in-law. I made another pair like this for myself.

10. Mini Mitten Ornament for my mother and father-in-law

11. This Way Up scarf for dad, who thinks he's allergic to wool. (This scarf is cotton/synthetic.)

12. Lace Leaf Basket Liner for my mother-in-law

I also made some gifts for Holly's December birthday, as well as a cowl for my mom that I knitted the day after Christmas, by request. Phew. That is a lot of gifts!

You can see all 49 finished knits for 2008 here. I hope to do 52 in 2009!

2009-01-01T12:09:00.000-08:00

I didn't just bake some of the bread for the fondue party- I baked all of it. Four loaves! I made two small loaves of French rye bread (with a starter but not quite a sourdough), an Italian pagnotta loaf (also with a starter, this one 2 days old), and a country French loaf. They all turned out excellent, although I did buy a loaf from Panera as insurance. (Uneaten.)

We'd thought there would only be 7 of us for the party (In laws, us, and my brother) but happily we ended up with 11 guests! The fondue was great, the bread tasty, and the company wonderful as well. I'm in a better mood, and they say that how you begin the year is how it will continue. My hopes for this next year include a house (duh) and less stress...

Happy New Year!

2008-12-30T01:23:00.000-08:00

Eek... I've been busy.

Christmas was a bit tough. It was our last holiday at my Aunt and Uncle's house, as my aunt died a few years ago and my uncle has now remarried and is (renting? selling?) no longer going to be in their lovely house with the ocean views...

Gah. I don't even want to think about that. No more house. I can't imagine what it's like for my cousins to think that they no longer will have a home to come back to, or a room other than someone they barely know's guest room.

No more depressing topics- it is time for sleep.

On the bread front, though, things are going well. It has been about a month and a half and we have bought only ONE loaf of storebought bread. (I wanted panini for dinner.) My brother is visiting and we just demolished half a loaf of fresh baked raisin pumpernickel bread. I am yet to decide if I will bake any of the bread for Wednesday's annual fondue party.

The economy in pictures- part 1 of 2.

2008-12-13T00:56:00.000-08:00

Bottom photo- baking soda I took out of my fridge. Purchased in June.
Top photo- new packaging from December.

Hm. Evidently baking soda has changed since I bought my last package. I guess now I should buy more every month because they told me to!

Check out "Victims of the Grocery Shrink-Ray" at The Consumerist.

2008-12-10T23:36:00.001-08:00

"Barista" is a really stupid word.

This is what Saturdays look like.

2008-12-06T12:17:00.000-08:00

Knitting a Christmas present with my favorite weekend snuggle buddy.

I may have a problem.

2008-12-01T17:20:00.000-08:00

Sooo.... I've used 23 cups of flour making bread in the last two weeks.

That is 10 loaves of bread. I'd never made bread before in my life.

4 baguettes
1 "rustic italian" loaf
1 beer bread
2 pizza crusts
1 carrot cake bread
1 dilly bread

I have a pizza crust going right now and I'm trying to decide if I should make another loaf of bread this evening, although I would have to choose my recipe carefully because I'm running out of one of the 5 pound bags of flour I bought since I started this. I've bought 18 pounds of flour and I'm RUNNING OUT. (5 lb. all purpose, 5 lb. bread, 5 lb. whole wheat, 1 lb. rye, 1 lb. vital wheat gluten, 1 lb. some other floury thing.)

Whee!

Edit- Okay, make that 25 1/2 cups of flour and 11 loaves of bread. There's some wheat bread for sandwiches tomorrow rising in the kitchen. The pizza was awesome again. I doubt we will ever again buy the dough from Trader Joe's, as it simply can't compare.

2008-11-22T23:49:00.000-08:00

You'd think that my string of bad luck would come to an end, but no. It looks like it could be years until we have a house, my school year is tougher than one would hope, and even my knitting is sucking.

With just over 1 month till Christmas, here's how it's going. (Comments in italics)

-11+ Tiny mitten ornaments for a swap
2.5 pairs done for the swap, 4.5 pairs finished total
-Fingerless gloves for my father in law
Still done. YES!
-Socks for my mom
About 1/3 of a sock to go. No sweat.
-Scarf for my dad
Swatched three patterns, everything looked awful.
-Lace shawl for my mother in law
Spent $36 on yarn that is more variegated than I thought it would be. The shawl looks terrible and I am hoping I can re-dye the finished lace, but I really don't know. This makes me sad.
-Optional second gift for sister in law and her fiance
Well, if my dad's and MIL's presents go in the trash can, maybe I'll have time for this one after all.

Oh yes, one bright spot- I saw gas for $1.99 a gallon today! Yay recession!

2008-11-11T23:05:00.001-08:00

Things are still kind of icky over here. But I'm distracting myself with knitting! Yay!

I've set myself a rather difficult set of goals for my Christmas knitting. I want to make.....

-11+ Tiny mitten ornaments for a swap
-Fingerless gloves for my father in law (finished tonight)
-Socks for my mom (1 finished, second one started tonight)
-Scarf for my dad
-Lace shawl for my mother in law
-Optional second gift for sister in law and her fiance (Ha. LIKE that one will happen!)

2008-11-04T00:36:00.001-08:00

I've had the same Hotmail email account since my sophmore year of high school. I was 14. I'm now 26 and on like the 5th stupid redesign of the website, which EVERY TIME IT HAPPENS pisses me off. This one is the worst yet.

It looks like I'm in fluffy marshmallow snow land and I want it to stoooop. But... it won't.

The one saving grace is that it works on Safari again. I had to use two browsers for like the last year and a half, which I would frankly rather do than look at their new "user experience."

By the way? I am convinced that the election results are going to make me unhappy (federal, state, and local!!), I will never get a house, and I will continue to have a string of bad days until June. I am up way too late and I have to get up in the morning to stand on a street corner to wave signs at cars. Nur.

2008-10-29T23:10:00.000-07:00

I'm still here! I've been knitting a sweater, dealing with work stuff, and choosing an ingenious Halloween costume.

You can call me the idiom queen of Halloween.

I've been...
-A lame excuse
-All ears
-A clothes horse

and this year, I'm going to have a chip on my shoulder! (Thanks to my brother for the idea.)

Bye, house.

2008-10-20T22:35:00.000-07:00

We went and signed papers today canceling our offer on the house. We should have been moving in 10 days from now.

I am very sad, and it is easy to say that something as good will come along, but less easy to actually believe it. My parents didn't want us to buy the house and unfortunately they have some financial power in the decision. They want us to get a "nicer" house in a fancier neighborhood, which.... um... we can't afford. THIS house was what we can afford. Anything that they will deem to be better is also something that we won't be able to do without more substantial assistance. (Which we don't really want and might not even be possible anyways.)

Damn economy. Bad timing. Suck.

2008-10-16T22:36:00.000-07:00

Since I last posted I got EVEN MORE bad news on the house front, and also on the home front as well. My great uncle, who married us last summer, is dying of cancer. Our wedding day will end up being the last time I will have seen him. He has between 3 weeks and 2 months to live.

I got that bad news on Friday, and then the financial/home bad news on Sunday since my family didn't want to heap it all on me at once. In between the swaths of yuck news I tried to relax in Bakersfield with my two good buddies. My best friend from high school and my college roomate now both reside in the same city.

As far as the house goes, I had resigned myself that it wasn't going to happen and was kind of okay with it but now there is hope again which is really screwing with my mind. I'm back to the stress level I had last week and early this one, which isn't cool at all. We also briefly had hope that my uncle could do chemo but after thinking that for a few days we found out he is in too poor of health. Bad news is better straight- the crashes are worse after you have hope.

2008-10-09T17:03:00.001-07:00

Things aren't going well right now. I think we may be screwed. (As in, no house.)

This is really awful. Why did our offer have to be accepted at the exact same point as the nation's economy slipped into the toilet?

When I know what will happen I'll say it here. But right now... my confidence is at zero.

2008-10-06T17:41:00.001-07:00

On September 5th at noon, I was at work and so was Steve. How, then, did we accept a 14 minute long collect call from Missouri??

Maybe Tony the Cat did it.

Ok. Maybe it was a billing mistake.

2008-10-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

When I get really upset/stressed/nervous I will start burping. Gross, I know, and I apologize. But yes! Stress affects me physically, and the reactions I have can be strong. After I talked on the phone to my dying great grandmother over a year ago I actually was so upset that twenty minutes later I threw up in my front patio.

Today after the home inspection I started burping, but thankfully there was nothing more than that.

1) There are random minorish things wrong with the house, such as... the dishwasher doesn't appear to work, nor does the oven. Um, and some other wonky half-assed home improvements.

2) There are a few potential major issues, like some wood rot in the kitchen (subfloor?) and the fact that the guy could physically move the chimney around with his arms at the top. Ha! I don't think that is supposed to happen!

3) Once we get the inspection reports back, we have to make decisions. Big ones.

4) Loan stuff sucks and when you hear different things from different people... gah. We need some info and reassurance. And a magically improved economy! In the next few days please!

5) Work.

6) My grandparents really aren't doing well, and I'm afraid my grandpa won't be around in a year. He is 79, which I think of as being way too young to die, but it really isn't young at all. My grandma has been slipping mentally and wrote my birthday card with messed-up sentences and signed from Uncle Bill instead of Grandpa.

7) Oh yes, it was my birthday on Wednesday. I am now 26 years old, and though I don't have a house, hopefully this place does work out and my goal of home ownership by this birthday will still kind of be attained. We went into escrow right before my birthday, and if everything works out, we'll be in the house before Halloween.

Now I need to chill out and knit.

We're in escrow.

2008-09-30T23:38:00.000-07:00

At least that is what I hear.

After five days of ridiculous back and forth (We signed this one. What? They signed the wrong one? Okay, let's sign that one. Wait. We signed the wrong one.) we FINALLY have our signature on the same piece of (faxed) paper as the seller of the house. So, escrow.

I hear that supposedly in the next few days a seriously huge amount of money will be leaving our possession and entering the shadowy land of "escrow." And then later, a whole lot more money disappears. How fun!

They're inspecting for termites tomorrow morning. General inspection over the weekend. Roof and the obviously damaged chimney are forthcoming... I wonder what fun tidbits they shall find!

!!! NEWS !!!

2008-09-25T21:23:00.000-07:00

We are IN. The offer was accepted! They want us to pay an extra $2,700 but they're giving us much more than that back in closing costs paid and repair allowance, which we didn't even ask for.

Details will be coming together tomorrow, but we should be in escrow this weekend.

And it only took 141 days!

I haven't shared this before, but here is the photo of the house that I took on January 17th, almost 4 months before the house was put on the market.

I took this completely by chance. (See my May 8th post here.) I've viewed having taken this photo as some kind of omen, and felt like the chance of this happening is so remote, that it is so weird, that it had to mean something.

As you can see, it is a cute little house with some interesting quirks. Like the little porch? What you can't see is the marble floor and how wonderful it was with a few little chairs and a table. There is a planter-topped wall that goes halfway across the opening, and it looks like it would be a perfect place to just sit and be. The second door off the porch goes to the third bedroom, which is also accessed through the kitchen. It has it's own half bath. I want it to be my creative room.... Just inches behind that garage door is a wall, and absolutely no track or mechanism to roll the door up. And a kitchenette. And a bathroom.

The house is wonderful and strange, and fixed up and screwy. I really hope this all works out. I'm finally letting myself be so hopeful that I almost want to cry.

I should have more news tomorrow. Once we sign the papers, we're going to head over and water that lawn! ;o)

2008-09-21T19:33:00.000-07:00

You like?

My handknitted grocery bag and I went shopping today, and bought the ingredients for gruyere, gorgonzola, and apple panini. They were tasty to the max.

A good quote

2008-09-15T17:02:00.001-07:00

"To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing."
--Elbert Hubbard

Hm.

Knitting and waiting and watching the grass die

2008-09-14T23:32:00.000-07:00

Whoops. Sorry for the radio silence again.

Still here... still waiting. The last "news" was that the assistant lady was very sorry and is trying to help, but wouldn't have access until "early next week." Since "early next week" starts tomorrow, I guess it's time to get my hopes up again. I'm starting to feel like if the answer is yes, they wouldn't have waited so damn long until they could re-issue the letter or give us the info or whatever it is. It's gotta be a "we want more money."

Meanwhile, I've been knitting colorful cotton shrugs for 4 little girls. Oh, and two cotton dresses. I'm a bit obsessed. Coping mechanism? Maybe. It took me 6 days to do Ellie's shrug, and now that I'm starting to freak out more I knitted her twin sister's in 2.

Now that it is bedtime, I'm going to go to bed and... cast on for another shrug!

idiots

2008-09-04T16:31:00.000-07:00

They sent the letter to the borrower's address, not the realtor's. Augh! So we have three choices:

1. It was forwarded to wherever the people have moved to, and when it eventually arrives the people may or may not open it and may or may not call the realtor selling the house.

2. It was returned to sender because the mailman knows the house is vacant.

3. It is sitting inside the third bedroom of the house, which is where the mail slot goes into.

2008-09-03T23:03:00.000-07:00

I keep not posting on here because I think, hey! Maybe my next post should be about what we hear in this letter thingy!!

But, DUH, the letter hasn't arrived even though it "should arrive soon if it hasn't already" since it was "mailed" on "Monday."

HAHAhAHAHahahahdhhdhahdkdshgsgdfh gsfgkfdshgkla gdshf gdfhkawlg.

Tomorrow makes 120 days the house has been on the market. We put our offer in 4 months ago on Monday. If we make it to the 4 month mark without getting the stinking letter, I am going FREAK OUT EVEN MORE. Perhaps I shall throw something. Everyone keeps asking me if we got the house, and it drives me nuts to keep saying that we haven't heard anything still. Other homebuyers I know who are doing the short sale thing and started weeks after us are already in escrow. Some are actually moved in to their new homes.

An answer, soon! And for real this time!

2008-08-25T23:47:00.000-07:00

"This loan is included in the short sale bulk 8/2008 and has already been systemically reviewed & approved or countered. You should receive the letter soon if you have not already received it."

Um... and suddenly, we are getting an answer. It has already been sent, although the assistant to Mrs. Government Takeover of the Bank, Division of Short Sales, doesn't seem to be able to tell us what that letter may say.

I guess we'll know this week. Wow. I think there is hope of being in a house while we're still 25 (deadline, Oct. 1) although this letter thing could say that they want a lot more money. And then, who knows, the house could burn down tomorrow. Or perhaps we will find out that it is filled with ineradicable house scorpions. Or... something else horrible will happen because nothing has been going right for us anyways.

I mentioned this briefly on the blog, but the house is actually abandoned. Every time I'm in the area I drive by the house, feeling rather listless. (It is across the street from the teacher supply store. I had hoped to walk to this year's shopping trip.) The yard is growing ever more jungle-like, and for all I know there are homeless people starting campfires in the living room. After all, anyone can get in through the two doors that had broken panes of glass when we toured the house in May. The sad thing? This is the most solid, absolute news that we've ever gotten, and I KNOW that we will be hearing a yes or a more $$ (either of which we've been waiting for) but I'm not that excited. Could things really work out for us?

When I know, it'll be posted here.

One bit of optimism: and if we get the house, we are going to have one damn awesome party.

What I've been doing

2008-08-24T22:30:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow is the first day of school. (Oh my goodness.) I have been in my classroom cleaning, photocopying, making nametags, moving books... I found 4 broken pencil sharpeners in my classroom! One thing I looked for and couldn't find, though? My teaching credential! I remember putting it somewhere I thought it wouldn't get bent, but it isn't in any normal place that you should put important documents. I guess I won't be starting out the year with my diploma and credential framed on the wall.

I've also been knitting a bunch as a part of the very silly Ravelympics. I finished a lace shawl I started more than a year ago, and also made 5 presents for people. (All this during the 17 days of the Olympics.)

Here is one of my favorite things.

This is the prototype for my annual Christmas ornament knitting. These turned out super cute, although each tiny mitten took an hour. I'll end up making somewhere around 16 more pairs. :o) Look at my Flickr page if you want to see the rest of what I've made recently!

2008-08-15T01:40:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow's forecast here in Vegas? 110 degrees. Oh. My.

As I walked a few blocks down the strip at 10:30 p.m. tonight I remembered how much I love the evenings in this sort of superhot climate. It is dark and 90-something degrees, and everything seems very exciting. Perhaps I could survive out here, but I'd need to become nocturnal.

Guess what I did?

2008-08-13T22:51:00.001-07:00

1.

2.

3.

I learned to sew! While my mom was up over the last few days we bought cute fabric, some books, and a Janome Sewist 509 sewing machine. It was relatively inexpensive and is a very good quality machine for simple sewing.

Like my first project? (It is the first placemat out of a set of four.) I personally think it is pretty darn good, plus it matches my 1950's dishes. See?

My mom was excited to see the fabrics and patterns for sale at a local shop and bought two purse patterns, fabric for a purse, and a book of apron patterns.

Impressions of sewing:
-Cutting fabric sucks
-The actual sewing part is fast
-Sewing machines aren't scary after all
-You can't watch the Olympics and sew at the same time. You can knit, though!

We leave for Vegas tomorrow for a friend's wedding, and I'm bringing my laptop and a big bag of knitting projects!

Six years- Recap

2008-08-04T04:18:00.001-07:00

It totally slipped my mind, but July 21st was my 6th anniversary of blogging. Goodness!

To the time machine!

In the first week of August...

2002- My friends drained pasta in a bath towel and I had a milk party! (Ahh... the milk party. My best memory from that whole summer...)

2003- I rollerskated around a vintage shop on one skate with the employee who was totally flirting with me even though he was like 10 years older than I was. Mr. Vintage Shop tracked down skates for me, sold me a knit suit, an orange telephone, and the vintage dress of my dreams. (All at significant discounts.)

2004- I got ready to begin my first year teaching, including removing all trace of my maiden name from this blog. I even had to write to Google because I was the #1 special highlighted result for Sarah ______.

2005- I stole turquoise butcher paper from another school in my district because I NEEDED turquoise. Um... the stolen paper is still hanging in my room. When it needs replacing I may go back and steal more.

2006- I went to the Ice Capades.

2007- I had just gotten home from the honeymoon and I was really sick of weddings. (This still continues. I have to talk to the photo lady to get things going for the wedding album but uuuuuuggghghhghkl.)

2008- General freaking out about house stuff.

Six years ago I was subletting a room for the summer while I took an English class where we read sex literature (Brokeback Mountain among them), philosophy of religion, and a totally insane upper division Spanish literature class that was conducted entirely in Spanish. (I got a B+.) I worried about my ex boyfriend (now my husband) and ate a lot of 99 cent chicken sandwiches at Carl's Junior. I worked in a computer lab with my boyfriend Ben and one of our buddies, and spent several weekends driving to Southern California for my friend's wedding events and baby shower. My air conditioning was kind of broken and those trips were very sweaty. I was rear ended on the freeway (blogged it) and then I rear ended someone else a week later in my rental car (didn't blog it.)

In those six years I
-grew my hair from a pixie cut to the middle of my back, cut it to a pixie cut, and currently have grown it almost to the middle of my back again.
-gained 20 hard-won pounds
-studied teaching for two years and then had four classes of children, totaling around 104 kids.
-wrote 1,382 blog posts. (Whew!)

What Sarah, Age 4, Knew About Sharks

2008-08-03T23:05:00.000-07:00

After watching shark shows on TV during the very first Shark Week on the Discovery Channel (21 years ago!) I informed my parents that I knew how you could tell the difference between girl sharks and boy sharks.

They asked how, and I told them that the girl sharks have long hair, and the boy sharks don't have any hair at all!

I was smart.

Behold... coasters!

2008-08-01T23:08:00.000-07:00

Summer school is over, and I'm celebrating my final few weeks before the 08-09 (oh my gosh) school year with new kinds of craftyness! These are the Calla Coasters from Purl in NYC.

I've taught myself to crochet as well as knit! I've also been hand sewing backings for them. They're coming out very nice, especially considering that the sum total of my prior hand sewing experience was making a few beanbags in college.

Half of the coasters are knitted, and the other half are crocheted. I have two colors of naturally plant-dyed organic cotton yarn and five different quarter yards of fabric. The plan is to make a ton of these, but we will see how long my patience (and materials) hold out. It takes me twice as much time to do the sewing part as the knitting or crochet, unfortunately.

With my somewhat unexpected success with crochet, I've treated myself to a new book- Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts! Lacy Crochet. (Go look at the photos...)

Anyways, I am having a ton of fun and wish I still had months of summer to go. The last few weeks until school starts on August 25th are filling up fast. We're still (still!) waiting for news on the house. I drove by the other day and it looks like the owners have moved out. (The mailman also said it was vacant.) It's now been 86 days. No one at the lender returns phone calls or emails. Still no other options...

2008-07-27T14:18:00.000-07:00

If people from the Church of Something come to your door to tell you about Mother God and Father God, is it really rude to tell them, "I'm sorry, but I already have a religion" and then start closing the door?

2008-07-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hilarious, right?

2008-07-16T23:45:00.000-07:00

If you've visited my place, you know that my neighborhood is.... interesting. I live just steps away from not one, but TWO liquor stores. One is the Indian-owned Mexican liquor store, where you can find an amazing variety of food, like 4 pound bags of powered sugar or hot dogs with the brand name "10 Wieners." That place is my favorite.

The OTHER liquor store does have a great stock of Ben & Jerry's, but they also have bars on the windows and sometimes women who seem to be standing around outside wearing clothing that is rather small... Anyways, to the point here. Although this place has a parking lot with at least 8 spots, the lot is always empty. Where do the people park who need the alcohols?? All crazy-like on the sidewalk in front of the store, of course! It is the weirdest thing. I can't even figure out how they drive away, since there are usually two cars on the sidewalk and they can't pass each other. Do they drive off the curb at the corner? I have no idea.

>>>

I was looking for something else in my archives and came across this 2005 story about a creepy guy who came up to me in an Ikea. Enjoy the weirdo.

2008-07-13T22:16:00.000-07:00

Ha. Indymac, which holds the loan on the house we're trying to buy, was seized by the FDIC over the weekend. It reopens Monday under Federal control. Great! This is just a mess, isn't it?

2008-07-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

BLAH BLAH BLAH....

"she would be calling me, but due to excesive unexpected work, they are extending the amount of time, we should expect an answer from 45 days to 60 or maybe even 90 days. What else can I tell you, I asked the lady I talked to today, how come they have different information everytime I called. She replied, there's no way to know if I'm telling the truth, or that's really happening????? As of know I can only wait. I will be calling again tomorrow."

WHAT THE HELL, DUDES? And why in the world would someone at a mortgage lender tell a realtor that she might be lying?

So... seriously? It has been 64 days already. This little timeline o' crud would mean this thing could take between 109 and 154 days total. AKA between 3 months 18 days and 5 months 2 days.

This is really uncool, everyone. Superuncool. And there is still nothing else out there that is any good for us... Our realtor (semi jokingly) asked the seller's realtor if perhaps we could rent the house while we wait 5 months for the lender to accept our excellent offer on the house.

I want to eat at this place

2008-07-10T19:37:00.000-07:00

because their sign says they have Mxtremely Tasty fish tacos. I'm going to drag Steve there this weekend. Want to come taste the Zwesomeness?

View Larger Map

Boring

2008-07-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

I'm getting really tired of getting my hopes up and then not hearing anything about this stupid house. Dammit.

So of COURSE we didn't hear anything today

2008-07-04T02:17:00.000-07:00

Did anyone (except me) really think that "no later than the 3rd" really meant that we'd hear back on the 3rd?

Now we won't hear back till Monday, I assume, which also happens to be the 7th- aka the date which the seller's realtor put as the expiration date on our offer extension. Now I'm thinking... good lord, if we have to sign another extension I am going to .... probably sign it and mutter and sigh about HOW LONG this stupid thing is taking. But I believe that the 7th means something and we will have an answer by then. (Just like I thought we'd hear something today.)

I want to spend my 1 year anniversary in a big empty new house with crazy lime green paint in the bathroom. Besides, my plans to see about spending a night or two in Big Sur are screwed now that that whole area is on fire. If Nepenthe burned I would probably cry.

My heart stopped for a minute...

2008-07-01T23:08:00.000-07:00

...because there was an email from my realtor titled re: UPDATE. I was sure for about a second and a half that it was an answer, a yes (or a no) on the house, but NO! It is another cookie crumb on our little trail of annoyance, but one that is still more promising. We're supposed to hear by the 3rd. The bank told the seller's realtor they should be calling "no later than July 3rd."

AHH! C'mon house. If things go right (ha.) we could be in the house by our 1st anniversary.

Mmmmmm... yarny.

2008-07-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

Here are the Top 50 Ravelry Stashed yarns that I’ve used and would use again, ~~that I’ve used and would not use again~~, and that I haven’t used and would like to try.

1, Cascade 220 Wool, 11967 projects- Cheap, decent, useful.
2, Patons Classic Wool Merino, 10445 projects- Where do you even buy this stuff? I've certainly never noticed it for sale...
3, Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted, 8421 projects- Soft but too pilly to make a garment. I keep this for accessories or things like tea cozies.
4, Noro Kureyon, 7947 projects- Beautiful colors, as with all Noro. I made cute Christmas ornaments from this stuff!
5, Caron Simply Soft, 7914 projects- I'm not really a fan of acrylic...
6, Lily Sugar’n Cream Solid, 6864 projects- I need to make more washcloths with thiss stuff.
7, Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted, 6619 projects- I love how this felts, but it gets so furry you have to shave it with a disposable razor. Hint- don't do this while wearing black corduroy pants, or your pants will be full of mohair fuzz.
8, Red Heart Ltd. Super Saver Solids, 6176 projects- Acrylic again...
9, ~~Lion Brand Wool-Ease Solid, 5554 projects~~- I made my first practice swatch out of this and have now passed the ball on to my brother so he can learn to knit. I can't think of anything I'd want to make from this anyways. I'd rather use cheap 100% wool.
10, Noro Silk Garden, 5410 projects- Beautiful colors and even better than Kureyon in my opinion.
11, Koigu Painter’s Palette Premium Merino (KPPPM), 5094 projects- I heart Koigu. Yesterday we were at a yarn shop and they were unpacking a big box of this yarn. I had to stand there and watch them do the whole thing because the yarn was so gorgeous.
12, Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, 5071 projects- This will be good one day when I am feeling poor.
13, Lion Brand Homespun, 4296 projects
14, Lion Brand Cotton-Ease, 4157 projects
15, Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Multi, 4086 projects- This yarn always seems to pool. I'll skip it.
16, ~~Manos del Uruguay 100% Wool, 3989 projects~~- Manos annoys me. I don't like the thick/thin thing, and I guess I'd rather just use Malabrigo as it is similar but more even in size and a bit softer.
17, Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky , 3927 projects- Good for felting- same as the worsted version.
18, ~~Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, 3751 projects~~- Uck. This stuff doesn't wear well. Not again! Too many pills and fuzzies.
19, Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock - Lightweight, 3723 projects- I'll use this, but maybe not for socks. The skeins are a little on the short side for me. I do want to make a Chevron Scarf with it though.
20, Plymouth Encore Worsted, 3573 projects
21, Cascade 220 Heathers, 3422 projects- Pretty and cheap...
22, Lily Sugar’n Cream Ombres & Prints, 3384 projects
23, Zitron Trekking (XXL), 3348 projects- I want one of the rainbow-y colorways for socks, but I've never seen one for sale.
24, ~~Patons SWS (Soy Wool Stripes), 3243 projects~~- I used this for a school art project. My kids liked it and it was perfect for them, but I wouldn't want to knit with it.
25, Rowan Kidsilk Haze, 3203 projects- I love the colors they make this in.
26, Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, 2917 projects- I wonder if this pills as much as the aran weight...?
27, Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co., Inc Peaches & Creme Ombres, 2658 projects
28, Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, 2512 projects
29, Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock - Mediumweight, 2503 projects- Baby Surprise Jacket?
30, ~~Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, 2489 projects~~- My one project of shame is using this. It hides in a drawer and needs to be introduced to the dumpster. I guess the yarn is okay but my project is horrible.
31, Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co., Inc Peaches & Creme Solids, 2476 projects
32, Cascade 220 Superwash, 2323 projects
33, Berroco Ultra Alpaca, 2286 projects
34, Knit Picks Swish Superwash, 2226 projects
35, Knit Picks Essential, 2149 projects
36, Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice Solid, 2142 projects
37, Colinette Jitterbug, 2090 projects- Too bad I own only the original, shorter skeins of this yarn. Too little to make more than shortie ankle socks for me!
38, Lion Brand Lion Wool Solid, 2030 projects
39, Knit Picks Shine Sport, 1976 projects- Meh... this was fine for it's project- babie booties.
40, Dale of Norway/Dalegarn Baby Ull, 1885 projects
41, Lion Brand Microspun, 1871 projects
42, Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino, 1863 projects
43, Knit Picks Palette, 1765 projects- $1.99 a ball- this will probably come in handy when I am bemortgaged.
44, South West Trading Company TOFUtsies, 1762 projects- Only if I find a colorway that isn't too variegated.
45, Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, 1756 projects- This yarn intrigues me.
46, Mission Falls 1824 Wool, 1725 projects
47, Rowan RYC Cashsoft DK, 1718 projects
48, Red Heart Ltd. Super Saver Multis/Ombres, 1664 projects-Aaahhhhhh! My nightmare. Variegated acrylic!
49, Rowan Felted Tweed, 1646 projects- Love!
50, Rowan Calmer, 1571 projects

Ridiculous school-related nightmares

2008-06-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

I once again dreamed that I accidentally forgot to give my kids a snack and juice on the morning of the first day of school. Evidently my subconscious is very worried that one year I will forget this little ritual I have. (I am so awesome. I give them snack and juice when they first come in because "I know that sometimes kids get nervous about their new class and can't eat breakfast, but you don't need to be nervous about me.")

So in my dream, I didn't remember about the snack and juice, I was also upset because I forgot to let them ask 5 questions about me, and I also neglected to walk around the room and give my little tour schpeil. Oh, and I somehow didn't notice until the end of the day that one of my kids from last year was in my class again, instead of being in the 4th grade class he was assigned to. He just wanted to stay with me.

Augh. I've dreamed about the snack thing at LEAST once a summer since I started teaching. I hate this nightmare.

2008-06-17T22:26:00.000-07:00

Taken in San Luis Obispo last weekend.

Vote!

2008-06-10T17:45:00.000-07:00

My students made posters this week about why you should vote. Here are two of my favorites:

Remember to vote. Don't forget because there's stickers!

Vote or don't complain

Underneath this inspiring slogan, two stick people are having a conversation.
Stick man 1: I'm complaining.
Stick man 2: Did you vote?
Stick man 1: No.
Stick man 2: Don't complain.

Still no real news...

2008-06-08T23:12:00.001-07:00

I'm still knitting the same stuff, and we're still waiting to hear back about the house. On Friday the news was blahblahblah the bank says call back in two weeks. Call back.... in two weeks? Ughghhg. That would make it a month and a half after we put in our offer, and we could just be told that our offer is too low or something. Even if everything went perfectly, this would mean we'd move in at the end of July. Of course, things are not likely to go perfectly, and who even knows if we will end up with this house at all.

Can you tell I'm feeling oh so cheery about the house thing?

In better news, there is only one more week of school to go. Hurray!

Tuesday is coming. Do you have your coat?

2008-06-03T17:26:00.000-07:00

Um, yes. It is Tuesday. No news, dudes. Except for the fact that the lender sent an appraiser out to assess the house, which we're afraid could be bad news because the house is a freaking sweet deal. What if the appraiser says it is worth $60,000 more than our offer? That, frankly, would be the truth. And it would be bad if the lender decides to not accept offers that were above the asking price yet not where they think the asking price should be. I guess the lender may not have approved the listing price. I don't know.

Stressful times at work, and then there's this at home. Bluck!

At least I have my knitting!

The shiny golden yarn is the top of an Architect's Hat made with some fabulously expensive silk and wool yarn. (Alchemy Wabi-Sabi, which normally goes for almost $30 for an 86 yard ball. I'm using this copper-gold, a teal, and a variegated green/yellow/turquoise/black) One ball was purchased at half price online , and I bought the other two balls of it with a store credit I have from a yarn store that is, sadly, having a going out of business sale. I .... uh.... also bought a giant 3.5x4.5 foot mirror from the store. We'd better own a fireplace to hang it over soon.

The grey thing is the second sock of a pair of Highland Schottische Kilt Hose for myself. I'm making Steve and I kilt hose so we can wear them to the Scottish Festival in Pleasanton in August.

2008-05-31T21:46:00.000-07:00

Still no answer on the house. We put the offer in a bit over three weeks ago, and were told a while back that we should hear about now. So.... shrug. I need house.

Plus we just found out that there is a BBQ restaurant two little blocks away. We went there for dinner tonight and it was superawesome. If we get this house, we'll be able to walk there.

If we don't hear something by Tuesday I'm going to start really freaking out.

I'm not pregnant

2008-05-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

1) I'm not pregnant. (See title.)

2) I just saw a photo of a friend from high school wearing a bikini and holding her four month old baby. Damn I hate her. Completely flat stomach and no stretch marks that I can see. How is that even possible?

3) In the last few months I've had quite a few nightmares that I was pregnant. I also get asked about when we're having a baby more often than I think I should be. Having a baby and a new mortgage would be... really uncool. (Hence, nightmares.)

4) My boss got married the same day as us, and his wife is due in a few more months. He would account for like half of the "when?" questions.

5) My best friend from high school is throwing a 1st birthday party this weekend for her third daughter. (!)

6) I love my friend J's baby girl who is almost 6 months old, but I am so not ready to give up all my knitting time. But I will happily give up knitting time for a few hours to hold her so her mom can knit!

I think I have more friends with bebes than your normal 25 year old.

You know how many babies I have knitted for in the past year? 11.

7 coworkers
2 friends
1 relative
1 baby item for hire for coworker's sister

And I haven't even limited the knitting to one item for each of these babies! Those 11 kids are responsible for 7 pairs of booties, 2 pairs of socks, 4 sweaters, and 1 hat.

I've resorted to making baby items for babies that don't exist because I am so sure that any second now two more friends, a coworker, and perhaps a few of my cousins will be pregnant. But not me. Not yet. I'm still sticking by my done by thirty line, though. Which if we have two kids means um.... 27/28 is getting way closer than it used to feel.

Freaking out here

2008-05-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

I did the ritualistic daily refreshing of the home listing, and it says "Pending with release" which means that there is a contract in effect. So, um... whose?

Is it OURS? Do we have the house barring any chimney-related disasters?? Have we just not heard anything because there is a wildfire near our realtor's house and for all we know she has been evacuated?

Or was the mysterious third offer hugely better than ours and no one told us and no one let us raise our offer.

This is awful. I may start feeling pukey with stress soon if no one lets me know what is going on.

Edit- I just talked to our realtor. There is NO contract on the house, and no reason for the seller's agent to have changed the status. This is probably a good thing for us, though, as it means that the house will not be showing up as an active listing and this will also keep other people from making an offer. We're still waiting to hear back from the lender. A week ago we were told it would be about 2 weeks. So.. high alert is off. Mood is back to normal.

2008-05-23T23:57:00.000-07:00

I was watching What Not to Wear tonight, and I totally own one of the pairs of shoes the girl was wearing. The hosts didn't actually insult the shoes- only the fact that she was wearing sneakers and a skirt that didn't match.

The sneakers are...
5 years old
burgandy and tan
from Payless
cost less than 10 bucks
made of vinyl.

But they're cute with jeans!

2008-05-18T16:02:00.000-07:00

....

We went to the house again today, this time with my parents in tow. We got a big surprise- the garage has been converted to a rental unit. If we get the house, we will be demoing the wall they put up in behind the garage door, putting back in the hardware for the roll-up door, and getting rid of the shower, toilet, sink, and kitchenette. ...Yeah.. Or we just keep it and then Steve never has to come in from the garage.

Our offer is the best one now. Supposedly we should be getting in answer in about two weeks.

....

I ran one of those word cloud things on my blog, and featured words included HOUSE and STRESS STRESS STRESS. (Yes, three times.) Plus Alan Rickman, dumb kids, and cell phone. And the word "eh." Interesting, ehhhhhhhhhh?

2008-05-14T21:05:00.000-07:00

So there was another offer. A better offer. So we are changing our offer so it is The Best Offer Ever TM. As in, oh my gosh, look at that offer. We cannot say no because Sarah and Steve look so nice in that wedding picture they sent, plus their offer is The Best Offer Ever TM.

The realtor is delivering the offers tomorrow, but I have no idea when we'll find out if we got the house. It could still take until June or something.

(We'll see. Plus we don't have inspections yet so maybe the house is slowly being crushed by the chimney or something, and we will turn it down. Who knows.)

Ahh! Stress stress stress.

The wait begins

2008-05-08T23:14:00.000-07:00

We put in an offer. I wrote the biggest check of my life for the deposit/good faith money. We won't know much for a while, though, since it is a short sale and not a private seller. Lots to be nervous about....

Fingers crossed, eh?

2008-05-08T07:36:00.000-07:00

Another house. Another promising house. Hold your breath for us, because it looks like this could be the first place we put an offer on. There weren't any photos on the listing, but strangely enough I took a picture of the house in January.

Totally weird, right? There was another house across the street for sale and I snapped a few pictures of the neighborhood. I can tell that it is the correct house based on the way the trees, roofline, and the jet skis in the driveway match up with google maps' satellite view of the property.

This house looks too good to be true. I really hope it isn't....

Popcorn Eating Innovation

2008-05-07T23:23:00.000-07:00

So... we hate getting popcorn butterygrease on our fingers, so sometimes Steve and I just stick our face into the bowl of popcorn and eat it that way. Hey- no one is around to see this behavior! But tonight I came up with the perfect popcorn eating solution. No greasy fingers, and no pig eating from a trough debauchery, either. The answer, my friends, is chopsticks.

2008-05-01T23:43:00.000-07:00

This is what I did for an hour and a half tonight. It looks really nice in person, even though the whole time I made it I was freaking out about how little you really have control over the imprecise lines created by children's oil pastels. I filled in the town with crayon a bit because I simply couldn't make anything small enough that wasn't just an oil pastel blob.

My class will be doing this art project tomorrow for our Moon Journals. :o) They will look awesome... Also, the vacant stare in my eyes is what I look like 45 min. after bedtime while watching dull television and trying not to look at the camera.

2008-04-26T01:05:00.000-07:00

Tonight Steve and I played like 23 rounds of Gin Rummy.

Also, I want a damn house, dammit.

Tomorrow or Sunday we go to look at another one. It is suspicious, and also cheap. (But not suspiciously cheap. I know why it is de cheapness.)

Dumb kids

2008-04-23T22:57:00.000-07:00

Today in Starbucks I watched two girls who were probably born in 1992 giggle and grin and whisper while some male acquaintance of theirs flirted by throwing his cigarette butts at the window by where they were sitting.

Barf. For oh so many reasons.

2008-04-20T00:16:00.000-07:00

I cut Steve's hair today. It took me an entire hour to do it, too. I think I am good at cutting the top of people's hair, but the around the ears part always stumps me. Is there a "haircutting for haphazard amateurs" tutorial out there somewhere? I generally decide where on my finger the hair is going to go to if I stick the tip of my finger on the person's scalp. Then I cut a bunch of spots to that length and then try to get everything even. Highly excellent, eh?

I think maybe my haircuts are better than some Supercuts haircuts, but damn am I slow. I wouldn't make any money at that job, and besides I always cut my fingers accidentally with the scissors. At least I have real haircutting scissors now and not just desk ones. So professional!

#1 Most Important Home Feature

2008-04-13T23:51:00.000-07:00

So, we were at a house with our realtor today... It had good points (huge windows everywhere) and bad points (single tiny bathroom.) The previous owners were obviously quirky old people, as evidenced by the roll-down metal security shutters on the outside of every window (!) and the shuffleboard court painted on the garage floor.

I want this house so we can have a shuffleboard party. And then we can close all the security shutters and do a load of dishes in the 2/3 size dishwasher. Oh, and eat kumquats off the tree in the front yard.

And THEN we can go into the single tiny bathroom where, behind one half of the medicine cabinet, you will find a painted picture of Minnie Mouse instead of shelves.

Seriously folks, I want a house while we're still 25. :oP And this is probably the best house we've seen....

I'm sooo tired

2008-04-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take a nap behind my desk at lunchtime, but it just didn't work out. So instead I stayed at work until 5 pm and graded a stack of math papers! I have no idea what the logic was in that...

Anyways, there is something bothering me. There are radio ads playing (for the life of me I can't remember who is sponsoring them) that are talking about "gamers."

And I figured... gamers. Pale people who like to get together and play D&D or something. This is the obvious and normal definition of the word in our culture.

But no, this ad is using the word "gamer" to describe someone who is a SPORTS NUT. What???? Since when does "gamer" mean someone who shows up at every football game and paints their face with the team colors?

Why in the world is the term being applied to these people? I certainly haven't heard it used like this outside of the radio ads...

2008-03-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

New hairdo! I lost an inch or two off the longer part, but I guess that is okay cause I had some sort of weird thing going on where the hair in front was 6 inches longer than the hair in back. Now it isn't quite so.... strange. I should put my senior photo up on here somehow, from back when my hair went to my waist.

Doesn't this always happen?

2008-03-21T01:21:00.001-07:00

Every time I grow my hair out to some certain milestone, it is time for another trim!

Example: tonight I needed to put my hair up. Uh oh! No rubber bands within 2 feet and I am damn lazy. So.... I tried something I haven't attempted for a long time- putting my hair up into a bun with a stick of some sort. This is a slightly tricky skill I picked up in high school. With pens. You kind of twist your hair up and catch the ends up under the stick. Anyways, I successfully made my hair into a bun with a crochet hook. Superawesome, eh?

Of course, I'm getting a trim in a day. Then I won't be able to do this for at least another month... But my hair does get longer, bit by tiny bit.

36 years is nothing.

2008-03-12T00:34:00.000-07:00

Pablo Neruda's poetry is just ...amazing. Especially in Spanish, of course.

Soneto 17
La Muerta

These are some good ones... check them out somewhere on de internet. I am too lazy to search for websites with side by side original spanish and (good) translations. Okay, I lie. Here is a website that partially fits the bill.

Which brings me to my original reason for posting: I am afraid that I'm in love with Alan Rickman. It doesn't matter that he was born in 1946, and I in 1982. Or that he has been dating his girlfriend since 1965, and I got married in 2007. We will make it work.

Carolyn is coming up this weekend. If I can convince her that Alan Rickman is attractive, we shall have an encore of our "Which movie is Ewan McGregor sexier in?" contest. (I vote for Trainspotting.) Lets see. Truly, Madly, Deeply and Sense and Sensibility both have Mr. Rickman. And he is only 44 and 49, respectively, in them. That sounds much better than his current age of (ahem) 62.

p.s.- Snape can dance!

2008-03-04T23:25:00.000-08:00

I currently don't have the energy to do my other New York post yet, but here's a quickie.

Last night, while talking on the cell phone with my parents, I conducted a full scale search of the couch and floor for my cell phone. Because I wanted to use the calculator function. Of course, when I verbally expressed that I couldn't find my cell phone I was promptly ridiculed.

I'm almost back

2008-02-27T23:23:00.000-08:00

Well, it seems I drank a Venti Starbucks Food Poisoning Latte on Monday morning, so..... yeah. Monday and Tuesday? Total loss. Of course, it could have been Airport Burrito Badness on Sunday but that seems less likely.

Whatever it was, it is done with now. I promise to do my New York part 2 post soon.

New York City (by myself)

2008-02-21T13:04:00.000-08:00

So I was about to cross a little street in SoHo, when a mounted police officer asked me, "Can you hold my horse?" Uh...... I would have said yes, but the next thing he asked was if I'd ridden horses before or if I knew how to hold a horse. Well, if it was an experience required job, I was out. I assume he needed to buy something at the tiny corner store. Water? A snack?

Anyways....

I started out my day by going to School Products. It is a funky little store in an office building. You have to ring a doorbell to be let in, and when I got there the store was empty. I waited for few minutes and the owner's husband returned from a break. The whole time I was there, I was the only shopper. I felt a bit overwhelmed in there by all the unlabeled yarns. It wasn't even clear what the exact fiber content was on some things. The color I wanted of their Bulky Cashmere Merino yarn was supposedly out... I just bought two skeins of it in rust, after wandering around the store in a daze for about ten minutes. I think I needed a buddy in that place. I know they have cool stuff, but I just didn't know what to do!

While walking to the store from the subway, I actually went right past Les Halles, Anthony Bourdain's old restaurant. Steve was saying he wants to eat there Saturday.

After School Products I went to Purl Soho. Steve and I had accidentally walked past the store late on Sunday night, on our way to a restaurant. The place is teeny tiny, but packed with great stuff. I wanted to make the shawl they have hanging in the window, but resisted buying the yarn. The only color they have that I like is, I think, the exact same color of yarn that I have on order to make a mobius shawl. I can't make everything in citron! (A greenish yellow.) I finally settled on three balls of slightly rustic yarn (Savannah DK) to make myself a scarf. I wanted to spend more time browsing, but with a store that small it is hard to not get in everyone's way. I then went down a few storefronts to Purl Patchwork, which is their other store. I purchased fancy embroidery floss, a few quarter yards of fabric, and some button backings to make covered buttons. (Tutorial here.) I can't wait to do this- I enjoy embroidery, and have some darling little babies around who could use something with buttons...

After Purl, I went to Veselka to have a wonderful bowl of Borscht. Veselka is my favorite restaurant in New York. I went with my family twice last time I was in NYC, and I've been twice this trip as well. They are a Ukrainian diner, and their food is better than what my great-grandma used to make. (shhh.)

Properly fortified, yet with a horrible case of foot pain mixed with leg muscle ache leftover from Sunday, I hobbled over to Downtown Yarns (no photo) where i bought a knitting magazine and a pattern. They were so nice, and I just sat there and knitted and recovered for a while. The store was as friendly as everyone said.

It was getting late, but I wanted to go to String to buy some Cashmere Koigu, which is made exclusively for this very chi-chi store. The workers were very nice, but I got the distinct feeling that most people who shop at this store don't exactly come in wearing grandma's down fishing jacket with the rusty buttons. (Hey- it doesn't smell like fish anymore!! Plus it is the warmest thing I own.) The yarn was quite expensive and I wasn't thrilled with the colors. There was only one I liked. But... coming all the way to NYC, traveling to this store with this specific purchase in mind... I had to do it. I think I can make a pair of little fingerless gloves out of the yarn.

I'd been invited to a knitting group at Yarntopia, so I trekked waaaaaay up to the very upper west side. (108th street- Central Park ends at 96th.) It was dark and horribly cold and I was quite unhappy that I didn't have a large enough scarf to completely wrap it around my head. I think it was in the low twenties, but the windchill would have made the temperatures in the teens. It sucked. I stayed for a while and bought a few balls of Noro yarn. Everyone was very nice and they ordered chinese food, but I didn't join in since I was worried about catching my train north out of Grand Central.

My little subway incident was when I was trying to change subway lines to get to Grand Central. Somehow I thought I had one more stop, and when I realized that the train was at MY STOP I had to hurry to get up and out of the car. In my rush, a ball of yarn attached to my big knitting project fell out of my bag. I started to exit before a fellow passenger alerted me to my stray yarn. I had to grab it up and get out of the car before the doors started to close. Several yards had become unrolled, and it was looped under my legs and everything because of the way I grabbed it. I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't been made aware, but I assume it would have involved the loss of my entire project and probably my needles too. The thing would have been unravelling along the tracks.... nightmare! I did make my train with time to spare.

So.... total haul from Tuesday. Yikes!

I slept in a bit more on Wednesday, and got in to NYC at 1. I headed right over to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. I wanted to come in 2002, but my brother (all your fault, Jonathan!) doesn't like museums as much as I do. It was super interesting to see. I can't imagine living like that, although I know that my great-grandma's family briefly lived in what was probably a similar situation, in that very neighborhood. You can see a virtual tour of the tenement here, although you won't get to experience the way it felt when the electric lights in the long narrow hallway were turned off. It was chilling. 7,000 people lived in the building between 1863 and 1935.

After that, I went to The Point Knitting Cafe in Greenwich Village. I ate a giant focaccia pizza and browsed around the store. I liked it a lot, and the interesting yarn display was quite fun. I purchased a shawl pin for the large rectangular shawl I've been working on.

I'd been told about two knitting groups on the Upper West Side that night, and I managed to get to them both. I first went to the Starbucks at 86th and Columbus where a bunch of lovely, friendly ladies of all ages were knitting. I wanted to stay, but I'd promised to come to the other group as well. Cosi, at Broadway and 77th, is somewhat similar to Panera Bread. There was a HUGE group of young knitters there (20's and 30's) and everyone was working on fabulous projects. I recognized several people from their Ravelry profiles. This group was evidently Sit and Knit New York, which I'd heard about before.

Thank goodness there was no wind Wednesday, so the 20-something degree temperatures didn't kill me as I walked to the subway. I gave myself 50 minutes to get to Grand Central, but through the random luck of the subway gods I was there in 20 minutes. I amused myself by wandering around the Grand Central Market, where I sampled some fancy cheeses and wanted to buy olives but resisted.

Everything I bought on Wednesday. (Thank goodness.)

Today I'm just sitting in the hotel room. I want to go back into Manhattan tomorrow, but we shall see. The weather report forecasts several inches of snow...

2008-02-20T22:20:00.000-08:00

Go visit my brother's new blog! It looks like he'll be having some original fiction as well as his photography there. Now that I've got him blogging, maybe I'll teach him to knit too....

Tomorrow: Tuesday and Wednesday in Manhattan. What did I do? How much stinkin' yarn did I buy? Did I trip down the subway stairs? (Hint: no.) (But I did have another subway incident that could have ended in much upsetness.) Also, what very strange request did I get from an NYPD officer?

Look where I am!

2008-02-18T20:03:00.000-08:00

Haha!

I'm on a surprise trip to New York! Steve is here on business, and I am tagging along since this week is my school's February break. We spent Sunday in Manhattan, but now we are up in Fishkill. It is about 1.5 hours north of Grand Central Station via train, so that isn't too bad. Tomorrow, while Steve is at work, I will be going back into the city by myself. I plan on going yarn shopping, eating borscht at my favorite restaurant in NYC (Vesella- Ukrainian food!) and perhaps going to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. I'll most likely be in Manhattan several times this week, and Steve and I will both be there for the day on Saturday before heading back home Sunday morning.

This is just too much fun! Sunday we went to MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) and saw so much beautiful, famous art. Here are just a few of my favorites.
-Starry Night by Van Gogh (amazing)
-Several Monets including a giant triptych, Reflections of Clouds on a Water-Lily Pond, which was overwhelmingly large. Together they are 6'7"x41'11"! I liked Agapanthus too.
-Some of Seurat's pointillism masterpieces. I never noticed how he made frame-like borders around many of his paintings with different colors of dots. (Port-en-Bessin, Entrance to the Harbor)
-Bunches of Picasso, my favorite of which was Violin and Grapes.
-Christina's World, which I've loved since I was a child, is incredibly detailed. Each little shingle, blade of grass, or strand of hair is there.
-Very cool Alexander Calder mobiles like Lobster Trap and Fish Tail. Our favorite by far was Snow Flurry, which I can't find a picture of. Damn.
-Echo: Number 25, 1951 by Jackson Pollack. I liked this more than his more famous splattery paintings. The curves are quite interesting.
-The Park by Gustav Klimt. This one was very impressive in person.

More NYC later.

Only bad thing? It is COLD here! The city is cold, but Fishkill is super cold. There is snow around, and it is going to be 21 F when I leave tomorrow morning at 9-ish. Snow is forecast during the week...

We also went to..... Dunkin' Donuts! They are all over here, and I can tell you that their coffee is really very good.

2008-02-09T15:24:00.000-08:00

I didn't say anything on here but my great grandma did pass away after rallying long enough to say goodbye to her daughter (my grandma).

Now my grandpa has been in the hospital twice in the last week or so (911, ambulance...) because he has some sort of bleeding ulcer(?) in his esophagus. According to the doctor family members don't need to come. He should be okay but I think we are mostly concerned because he doesn't seem to be taking care of himself or doing what the doctors say. His kidneys have also been having trouble for a while, and he's now on dialysis.

Plus my mom is going through a health scare. She should be okay, but all this medical stuff happening at once is rather difficult. Most likely she will need to go on thyroid medication, although there is a chance that it could be more serious. (A small chance.) Of course my dad had crazy rare cancer of the appendix, so I know that those remote-chance things do happen.

YES!

2008-02-02T02:10:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been loving that Dunkin' Donuts ad...

You know, ""Doing things is what I like to do. YES!" It all makes sense now, because the song is by They Might Be Giants. (Slate ad review here.)

I was inspired to go to Dunkin' Donuts, but... um... there aren't any in California. (As far as I can figure.) So why are they advertising here?

Last weekend, to satiate my TMBG-induced doughnut cravings we visited Stan's Donuts in Santa Clara. They were supposed to be the best raised glazed donuts in town and I agree. The place is seriously funky though. I don't think they've remodeled since 1962. They have a cup taped to the wall to hold pens, which I thought was especially classy.

Mysterious voting shenanigans

2008-01-29T18:48:00.000-08:00

So... I don't know how this happened, but Steve and I both somehow became registered voters at this address without re-registering ourselves. How is this even possible? I was about to get new registration paperwork a few weeks ago when we got our voter's guides in the mail. Our names, addresses, party affiliation, etc. are all correct, and it shows our new polling place.

Has anyone ever heard of this happening?

I guess the Republicans really want us...

2008-01-21T23:18:00.000-08:00

On Saturday afternoon I sat in a parking lot telling my 94 year old Great-Grandma goodbye on the phone. She couldn't talk anymore- just make noises, and it was awful. I actually threw up later. I've been waiting for the phone call that she had passed away.

I got an email today saying that she is doing much better, as in sitting up and eating lunch. I don't even know what to think about this. A miracle? A temporary reprieve? It is a chance for my Grandma, her daughter, to fly back to see her one last time.

She is an awesome lady, and I had always wished that I could make her a Great-Great Grandma someday. I doubt that will happen, and who knows how much more time she has. It is hard, though, to say your last goodbyes over the telephone. Even if they could possibly not be my last goodbyes to her.

Love you, Grandma.