9 Haunted Girls

Eggs and other Adventures.

2009-09-27T10:06:00.000-07:00

We have less than 2 weeks to go until the wedding, but instead of freaking out or feeling exhausted, I am suddenly in the mood to try lots of new recipes. Maybe it's the fact that fall is coming, maybe it's that Nico is treating his sleep apnea and his happier, more-awake attitude is catching. Maybe it's the zoloft, or the fact that I read Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential recently and it's inspired me. Maybe it's that now I'm reading Amster-Burton's Hungry Monkey, or maybe it's just an avoidance tactic for dealing with the real stress of the wedding. I'm not sure. Whatever it is, it sure tastes good.

This morning I sous vide'd a couple eggs for breakfast. Basically it's poached eggs, but instead of dropping the egg directly into the water you make a little package of it inside some buttered and seasoned plastic wrap. It works! The poached egg comes out perfectly. There's a great tutorial on Chow.com . But be sure you're using the microwave-safe plastic wrap. Don't ask me how I know.

And it turns out I love poached eggs. I've never had them before. I've never had any eggs where the yolk isn't thoroughly cooked. Uncooked yolk has always seemed kind of queasy to me; I even order my omelets well-done. So I'm very surprised that the runny yolk in a poached egg is, in fact, not bad. It's even, dare I say, good - mopped up with some buttered toast. Next stop: eggs over-easy.

On Friday I made boeuf bourguignon. Boeuf bourguignon! But I didn't make Julia Child's version, which is for the advanced class. Instead I made the easier, simpler but still Frenchy-French version that the NY Times covered here. I see that now the actual recipe calls for you to log in/register with the NY Times. If you want me to email you the recipe, I could do that. It's a good recipe. It takes a long time but it isn't overly fussy. When it calls for the stew to simmer for a couple of hours I transferred it into the crockpot, which was preheated on high. It simmered nicely and I was able to leave it alone and go do other things without worrying. And the stew itself was amazing. I've never had boeuf bourguignon before but with the first bite I immediately recognized it as the beef stew that I've been trying to make for years without ever quite succeeding. Fan-freaking-tastic.

I mentioned that I've been reading Amster-Burton's book Hungry Monkey. It's a sort of food memoir (with some recipes) about a man trying to feed his little daughter things that he and his wife might actually enjoy. I checked it out from the library based on the NY Times book review, and because I thought it might give me some ideas for things that aren't too hard to make and that Nico and I could both agree on. Nico's tastes are certainly more sophisticated than those of a toddler, but when it comes to spicy foods and vegetables he is definitely the picky one in the relationship. The book is a nice light read and the two recipes I've tried so far have been utterly successful. The Thai Shrimp Curry (p. 228) is infinitely repeatable and works even better with some chopped potatoes or squash and some frozen broccoli and cauliflower thrown in. I can tell it's going to become one of our winter-time staples. The Stacked Green Enchiladas (p. 55) were a novelty what with the stacking and broiling, and the tomatillo sauce was surprisingly excellent. In fact it makes me want to try growing tomatillos next year, since the quality available at the local supermarket leaves something to be desired. I'm also looking forward to trying out the recipes for pad thai sauce, duck ragu, larb gai, roasted parsnips, broiled teriyaki mackerel, thai salad dressing, Cornish pasties and potstickers. Whew!

Even Nico's been stretching his cooking muscles by making Irish sausage rolls with a mushroom sauce. This was also his first exposure to working with puff pastry dough and store-bought bread crumbs. It turned out pretty good, and he's going to do a repeat of it tomorrow. No complaints here.

Ready, Steady, Go

2009-09-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

What a summer it's been. There is now less than a month until Nico and I get married, and I've spent a lot of this summer getting ready. We're pretty close to being done, it's mostly the small things and the things that have to wait until the last minute that we have still to do. Though make no mistake, those last-minute things are a big deal. Things like making all the cupcakes and making corsages and bouts. But we'll have family and friends here to help then, and I know we can get it all done.

We got our engagement pics back from the photographer this weekend. We had them taken two or three weeks ago at the downtown branch of the Seattle Public Library. A librarian getting her engagement photos done at the library, don't you love it? Yeah, well, this particular library has some great architecture and it's hard to turn down an excuse to go to Seattle. Here are some of my favorites:

Whew. I can't choose just one. Does that mean I'm vain?

But it hasn't been all wedding, all the time. I've been able to get some useful things done. My garden, for instance. It's done OK, not fantastic, but alright. I've gotten enough roma tomatoes to make a smallish batch of marinara, augmented with some basil I grew from seed. I'm going to freeze the marinara and save it for a pick-me-up on a bad day. I've also put some of my tomatoes and Anaheim chiles into a batch of my roasted salsa roja, which I canned in little half-pint jars. And I made three different batches of jam with berries from Spooner Farm stands. Also canned those. I like canning. In small batches, anyway. People say that if you've got your own preserves it's like having money in the bank. I disagree. I think it's like having sunshine in the bank. That along with the marinara sauce and a couple bags of chopped up rhubarb from a coworker's garden in the freezer and I feel almost ready for winter.

Which is good, because winter is coming. Oh yes. I like to say that in this part of the country fall starts on Sept. 1st. And it does. Sept. 1st this year saw us with rain and gray skies after a long stretch of sun. Now the trees are just starting to turn color. There are a couple of early maples here and there that are already almost completely yellow, but the others aren't too far behind. The first seasonal squash is also beginning to show up at the grocery.

And finally, Nico and I had a chance to get outside and play a little when Olympia had its first-ever Zombie Walk. We talked about using this as our engagement photo, but decided against it in the end.

At last the hellish experience of dress-fitting is over.

2009-08-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

I just got back from my second/final dress fitting at, where else, David's Bridal. Whew. You know, going to try on the dresses was actually fun. My sisters were both in town, we got a great saleslady, and the dress seemed perfect.

That was last November. The dress has been hanging in my closet since January, and last month I went in for my first dress fitting. Alone. I had no idea what to expect but I probably should have based on the many people who've had bad experiences with DB. You see, I've gained weight since last Nov (Thanks, Genetics! Thanks, Sedentary Job, 2-hour Commute and Depression!) and, since I was alone, I needed help getting the corset-bra latched in the back. God forbid. My alterations lady was not happy she had to help me, and at one point she even muttered the phrase, "My God!" I admitted to her that I'd gained weight, although not so much that I couldn't make it into the dress or anything.

Now, I'm kind of an awkward girl. I'm introverted and I generally don't have very much to say to strangers. I'm bad at small-talk. But I also fear awkward silences with people in service positions. Maybe that's because I'm usually the one in a service position. So what do I do? I throw out all the fat acceptance rhetoric I've learned in the last year and a half and I make a fat joke. About myself. Because for some reason I think it's important for the alterations lady, who I've never seen before in my life, to like me. I wanted her to be comfortable even though I sure as hell wasn't. Never mind that this is her freaking job and I am a paying customer, never mind that she probably sees 50 brides a week and I mean nothing to her. Nope, I'll do anything for a laugh, even one at my own expense.

And she did laugh, a little. But the rest of the fitting was spent in uncomfortable silence and halting shop-talk. She told me she could let the dress out 2 inches since I'd gained that weight, and I chose a style of bustle. Not much else to say, I guess.

Fast forward to about an hour ago, when I went in for my second scheduled fitting. This time I was smart enough to have Nico strap me into the bra before I even left the house and it's a good thing I did because the alterations person this time around was a guy. And have you noticed that the women who work at David's Bridal wear, well, whatever, but if a man is working there he's always in a tux? Even the alterations guy? Seems a little incongruous to me.

So I dive back into the dress, stand on the little podium, get a quick tutorial in bustling then shimmy back into my street clothes all wrapped in a nice warm blanket of Awkward. At least this guy didn't comment about my weight, and neither did I. Although I did adroitly complement his well-executed bustle by telling him I didn't think I would end up stepping on it. He didn't laugh.

But now it's over. I think I deserve a glass of wine, and if I weren't so tired I'd probably have one.

Also today Nico and I had our engagement shoot at the down town branch of the Seattle library! Our photographer, Amanda, is totally awesome! She's so sweet and has so much energy. I can't wait to see how the photos turn out.

Woodland Creatures

2009-06-30T08:54:00.000-07:00

I think this is the darling that started helping itself to my garden recently. As my friend Jenny says, it's a good thing they're cute.

I've been spraying deer repellent to keep them from devastating my plants like they did last year. But poor thing, it looks so skinny. I kind of feel sorry for it.

Day Trip to Astoria

2009-05-29T21:27:00.000-07:00

On Memorial Day we headed down to Astoria, OR to meet up with a couple friends, fellow Tucson-transplants Andy and Chiara. Nico was excited to make the pilgrimmage to the town where much of The Goonies was filmed. I was just happy to cross another thing off the to-see list and hang out in the sun with friends.

The first thing we did was head on over to Fort George Brewery for lunch and a couple beer samplers. We got to try each of the beers on tap and were most impressed by the Sunrise Oatmeal Pale Ale, the Nut Red Ale, and a seasonal brew, the Illuminator Doppelbock. Tasty beers, nice atmosphere, less tasty fish tacos. But I'd eat there again in a heartbeat.

Next we went up to the roof of the Hotel Elliott for one of the best views of the city. The Hotel Elliott is a renovated 1920's hotel and they keep their rooftop open to the public. Made me wish we'd driven to town the day before so we could've spent the night there. Here are some views:

After that we wandered around downtown for a while before walking over to the Captain George Flavel House Museum (with a quick stop in front of the Goonies-featured County Jail so Nico could take some pictures). The Flavel House was built in 1885 for one of the richest and most-respected families in coastal OR at the time. The grounds have been renovated and most of the house has been renovated as well. We took the tour and then relaxed for a while on a stone bench beneath one of the large old trees.

Then we drove out to one of the beaches closer to the mouth of the Columbia before heading over that rediculously long bridge to the WA side of the river, then on into Longview for some surprisingly good Thai food.

And no matter what you may hear, I really didn't get that sunburnt.

Mostly it was just a great day of exploring and catching up with friends. A little beer, a little sun, a little history. An adventure. The good kind.

Something Old (warning: soppy)

2009-05-28T20:18:00.000-07:00

I've been giving some thought to buying myself a nice handmade hankie off etsy for the wedding. I have a soft-spot for quaint old-timey things and I figured if there was ever a time I could justify buying a lacy hankie, this might be it.

While I was browsing the myriad of handkerchiefs etsy has to offer I stumbled over a few that had been stitched into baby bonnets. Wait a minute, I thought. I HAVE one of those.

So I dug through my old trunk and I found my baptismal gown from when I was a wee one. And with it I found this strange little baby bonnet that I knew I had seen before, covered with lace and ribbons:

And with it there was a card with a hand-written poem. The hand-writing is, I believe, my mom's. Or possibly my grandma's. Neither of them are with us anymore. The poem itself was written by god knows who, as it is the same poem that accompanied the hankie-bonnets on etsy:

I'm just a little hankie
As square as square can be
But with a stitch or two
They make a bonnet out of me.
I'll be worn from the hospital
Or on the Christening Day
Then I'll be carefully pressed
And neatly put away.
Then on the Wedding Day
So, I've always been told
Every well dressed bride
Must have that something old.
So what would be more fitting
Then to find little old me,
With a few stitches snipped
A wedding hankie I will be.

When my mom packed this little bonnet away for me almost 29 years ago I'm sure she thought that someday, when the time came, she'd be the one to dig it back out for me. She didn't know that she wouldn't be around when that day came. She just tucked it away, a good wish for the future.

And now I'm the one who's remembered it and found it and snipped away the complicated little stitches. I have my wedding hankie, I have my Something Old, and I have the quiet little wishes my mom pressed and set aside for me all those years ago.

The arithmetic of the damned

2009-05-20T18:47:00.000-07:00

8 hours of sleep + 2 hours of getting ready in the morning + 1 hour commuting + 8.5 hours of work + 1 hour commuting = 3.5 hours in which to have an actual life and fulfilling relationships each day.

Not enough time.

What's your damnable arithmetic?

Things that make me feel at home

2009-05-17T09:04:00.000-07:00

1. Wearing flip-flops all weekend
2. Iced coffee
3. Breakfast taco
4. Having friends over for dinner
5. Cab Calloway songs
6. Whiskey drinks
7. Having breakfast outside
8. When the apartment is clean
9. Hot sauce
10. Growing chiles
11. Mexican candy
12. Squeezing limes over my food
13. Leisurely trips to the bookstore
14. Knitting
15. Target
16. Plant nurseries in the spring
17. Coffee shops
18. Hot sunny days
19. Singing in the car
20. Talking about college
21. Hearing my nieces and nephews
22. Recipes that involve rhubarb
23. My grandma's farm
24. Ceviche
25. Swimming pools
26. Cicada songs

You?

Garden In

2009-05-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

I thought I would be smart this year and get my garden started early. Last summer my chiles never ripened, but I thought that was because I didn't plant them until late June. What I didn't understand is that, really, in Western WA spring is too cold and summer is too short for chiles. Or so I'm told. This year I've got 3 tomato plants, 3 chile plants, mint, basil, cilantro and hops. The hops haven't come up yet, but everything else is lookin' gardeny!

Sprouting basil and cilantro:

Mint for the mojitos (everybody needs a mojito garden):

I've got a lovely pequin chile plant that I'm hoping to overwinter in doors this year. I grew one of these from seed once in Tucson:

And finally I've got a thai chile, 3 tomato plants, and an Anaheim chile. Yeah:

They may not look like much now, but check out the Russian red kale my neighbor planted for me. That's shoulder-high:

Party.

So. How's your garden growing?

Rhubarb Cobbler & Crazy Pie

2009-05-03T13:35:00.000-07:00

Now that it's really and truly spring I've been feeling so rejuvenated. I feel happier and more energetic, more like my old self. And I have to admit that I've been having certain... cravings. Fruit cravings. I noticed that rhubarb was on sale at the grocery, and I still have some raspberries in the freezer from last summer so yesterday I made a raspberry-rhubarb cobbler.

It's my first cobbler but it turned out pretty good. Cobbler is, to me, sort of mythical and intimidating partly because I didn't really grow up eating it and partly because it requires making a dough. And that makes me think of pie dough, which is fussy and time consuming and sort of, well, formal. In the world of down-home baked goods nothing is more formal than a pie. But cobblers, oh! I am now a cobbler convert. Not only is the dough much faster and easier to make but it was also tastier. And the fruit part was simple too. All in all it took less than an hour. And it's F'ing delicious. Cobbler > Pie. And more fun to say.

I've managed to do a little gardening this week. I planted half my cilantro and basil seeds, and I planted the two Cascade hops rhizomes I ordered. Everything got lots of rain yesterday and it's all getting plenty of sun today, so that's a great start. When the night time temperatures get a little warmer I'll plant some chiles and tomatoes from the farmer's market. I can't wait. Anyone else gardening?

Now, the crazy pie. Yes, I've been partaking of the crazy pie recently. It helped me make this:

Yes, folks, that's a whole bunch of yarn that I spun and plied on a drop spindle. For those of you keeping track at home, drop spindles are ancient tools and they are slow. And that's a lotta yarn. But that's how I did it. And I've started spinning even more yarn on the drop spindle. More crazy pie? Yes, please.

Mr. T Enchiladas

2009-05-02T14:06:00.001-07:00

Why Mr. T Enchiladas? Well, we know that Mr. T is a paragon of wisdom and inspiration. He's tough but compassionate; kind to women and children but not afraid to pity a fool who deserves it. We could use more role models like Mr. T. And enchiladas are like Mr. T for the soul.

What we have here are two basic themes for Mr. T Enchiladas: with meat and without. You can make them exactly as the recipe states, or you can get a little creative and improvise. As Mr. T probably never said, I pity the fool who follows the rules all the time.

We'll start with the sauce, which is the same whether or not you're using meat.
You'll need:
3 cups water
6 oz. tomato paste
3 jalapeno peppers, minced
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 an onion, minced (can be omitted if you're dealing with an onion allergy)
about a teaspoon each of: oregano, cumin, salt, chile powder of your choice
about a half cup of fresh chopped cilantro

What you'll do:
Place all of the sauce ingredients in a sauce pot and slowly bring to a boil, stirring as needed to achieve an even consistency. Once it comes to a boil reduce the heat to a simmer and stir occasionally for about fifteen to twenty minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

The vegetarian enchiladas are called the Mr. T Stay In School Enchiladas. Why? Because a lot of us try vegetarianism for the first time when we're in college. Like staying in school, being a vegetarian can sometimes require a little encouragement and these enchiladas can do both.
You'll need:
burrito-size tortillas
shredded cheese
3 cans of black or pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1-2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 an onion, finely chopped (can be omitted for those pesky onion allergies)
salt and pepper to taste

What you'll do:
Combine the beans, tomato, onion, salt and pepper and about 1 cup of the cheese in a bowl and gently toss until evenly mixed. Wow, that was easy. You're ready to begin assembling your enchiladas!
Now:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a ladle, spoon enough enchilada sauce into a cake or lasagna pan to evenly coat the bottom of the pan. Take a tortilla and spoon some of the bean mixture into it, then ladle some sauce over the filling, maybe about 3-4 tablespoons worth. Roll the tortilla up and place in the pan. Do this until your pan is full of filled enchiladas and you have no bean filling left over. Pour the remaining sauce over the top and finish with 3-4 handfuls of the shredded cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Pity some fools.

The non-vegetarian enchiladas are called the Mr. T Get a Mortgage Enchiladas. Like getting a mortgage, making them requires a little foresight and planning, but is well worth it in the end.
You'll need:
Burrito-size tortillas
shredded cheese
about 4 lbs. pork shoulder (I haven't tried it with beef yet, but I'm sure it works just the same)
2 teaspoons each of the following: kosher salt, garlic powder, cumin, oregano
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 bay leaves
2 cups chicken or beef broth

What you'll do:
Wash the pork shoulder and pat it dry with paper towels. Combine all the spices except the bay leaves in a little bowl, then carefully rub the spice mixture onto the pork shoulder, coating it completely. Place the bay leaves and any leftover spices in the bottom of a crockpot, put the pork shoulder on top, then carefully add the broth, being sure not to rinse the spice mixture off of the meat. Cook on low setting for 5-7 hours, or all day. Halfway through use a pair of tongs to turn the meat.
Once the meat is cooked and tender transfer it to a platter and use a couple of forks to completely shred it. Use the cooking liquid to moisten the meat as necessary. If you're extra fancy you can also replace about a cup of the water in your sauce with a cup of the cooking liquid from the meat. You're ready to begin assembling your enchiladas!
Now:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a ladle, spoon enough enchilada sauce into a cake or lasagna pan to evenly coat the bottom of the pan. Take a tortilla and spoon some of the shredded meat into it, then ladle some sauce over the filling, maybe about 3-4 tablespoons worth. Roll the tortilla up and place in the pan. Do this until your pan is full of filled enchiladas and you have no meat left over. Pour the remaining sauce over the top and finish with 3-4 handfuls of the shredded cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Pity some fools.

It's Spring!

2009-04-20T16:45:00.000-07:00

Two beautiful, warm sunny days here in Oly! Two days of making dinner on the grill! And lots of flowers flowering:

Also, look at what's growing outside next to my patio:

Looks like a great big weed, huh? But my upstairs neighbor informs me that it is Russian Red kale. He came down one day and told me all about how I could eat it. Apparently he had gotten some seeds and just dropped a couple over the side of his balcony for us. Wow. So this week I'm going to try putting some in a cheese frittata. It's getting to be time to plant some herbs and chiles and tomatoes and hops soon. Hooray!

And oh yeah, congrats to Vermont too!

Wedding Beer

2009-04-05T09:13:00.000-07:00

Last night we sampled the second version of pumpkin porter for the first time. It's only been in bottles for two weeks. It was, well, good. It's never good after only two weeks. The beer always needs more time to age a little and mellow out. After only two weeks it's usually still way too bitter and the complexity of the flavors don't shine through clearly enough. In short, after only two weeks the beer is usually not quite drinkable yet.

But this pumpkin porter was drinkable. Bitter without being overwhelming. Relatively clean after-taste. Not exactly sweet, and much smoother than I expected. There was a little bit of depth to the flavor but the spice and pumpkin notes were really subdued. So much so that you wouldn't know it was a pumpkin just from tasting it. And it should only get better as it ages.

I wish I had time to play around with it a little more, but I don't. I'm going to spend May brewing the beer for the wedding so that it has a few months to even out and reach its peak. Maybe I'll add more spices to the next batches, but I'll keep the amount of pumpkin the same. I'll taste the first version of pumpkin porter again to be sure, but I'm pretty sure this second version is the keeper. I based it off of Papazian's recipe for Goat Scrotum Porter, but I'm going to call mine Black Bird Pumpkin Porter instead. Seems a little more autumnal and wedding-appropriate (although I'm sure some may argue that scrotums of any variety are wedding-appropriate).

Oh, also, I got a new chair:

Congratulations, Iowa!

2009-04-03T10:29:00.000-07:00

Who knew Iowa was so bad-ass?

Today Iowa ruled that a ban on same-sex marriage violates the state's constitution. Iowa now joins Massachusetts and Connecticut, both of which allow same-sex marriage.

This is tremendous. We now have our first heartland state where gay marriage will be legal. One report I've read said that this is a big step toward mainstreaming gay marriage. Imagine: Iowa, a state perhaps best known for its corn and its pigs, allowing same sex marriages. It's not just those wacky, uber-liberal coastal states anymore!

So congratulations, Iowa, and good on you. You rock. Now if you can just keep your fearful, hate-mongering groups from putting civil rights to a public vote a la California...

Massacre Monkeys

2009-03-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

The yarn is from the first shipment in the 2009 Cables & Lace Sock Club. The colorway is called Valentine's Day Massacre. The pattern is Monkey from Knitty.com. Thus, Massacre Monkeys. I made a pair of Monkeys last year, but they shrank in the wash and I gave them to Erika, who has smaller feet. These Monkeys will never shrink in the wash because I am only going to hand wash them. Ever.

Sorry for the poor quality of the photo. The sun is shining, and I'm not used to that. Here's a close-up.

Chipmunk vs. Librarian

2009-03-24T18:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday there was a chipmunk running loose in the library. It came running in through an open staff door when a staff member went out to empty the book drop. The chipmunk was immediately spotted by several staff members and one patron, who tried unsuccessfully to herd it out the still-open door, at great personal risk. The wily chipmunk faked toward the door and then darted ever-deeper into the staff area.

It took four staff members about fifteen minutes to barricade the chipmunk under a desk where it found a delightful assortment of long-forgotten snack chips and crackers. The chipmunk could be heard softly crunching on the discarded snack items while the librarians quietly panicked nearby. Chipmunk - 1; Librarians - 0.

It was at this point that I remarked to a coworker, "This reminds me of the time when there was a cell phone in the toilet and no one would call a plumber," (more on that story at a later date). My coworker then called animal control. She also notified the acting supervisor of the problem. Finally.

Our acting supervisor confidently took control of the situation by putting a sign on the barricade reading CHIPMUNK UNDER BOX - DO NOT MOVE. Several of the library workers began to speculate that the chipmunk might have by this point escaped. Chipmunk - 2; Librarians - 1.

Eventually animal control dispatched two uniformed police officers, guns and all, to remove the dangerous creature from the building. Chipmunk - 0; Police - WIN.

Postscript: Later in the day I spotted the chipmunk dashing toward the sliding glass doors at the front of the library. Thankfully a chipmunk is not large enough to trigger the motion sensor that opens the door. When the chipmunk was unable to gain access to the building it jumped into the shrubbery. Will we see it again? Possibly, now that it knows we have such delicious snacks.

Vernal

2009-03-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

Is spring finally coming? Dare I even think it? About a week ago it was snowing, and last year we even had snow in April. But for many days now there has been no frost on my car in the morning, and the highs have even been in the 50's. There are other signs as well:

If I remember correctly these should be beautiful, big tulips. I can't remember what color they are, but I know they're tulips; daffodils would already be out and blooming. And then there are these:

Buds forming on the, what are they, rhododendrons? I think. If Mother Nature is polite we should soon have crowds of flowers. And that would lighten the mood considerably. Already there's still some daylight left when I get home from work (thanks, Daylight Saving!) and the seasonal beers for spring are starting to show up in the stores. In a couple of months I should be lounging on my back porch after work with a beer while Nico grills my dinner.

Well, I can hope, can't I?

The seasonal change isn't the only thing brightening my spirits. There's a new rumor going around at work that we might all get to keep our jobs. Our hours might be cut but we should still have jobs. This news is unbelievably good, if it's true. And if it isn't, well, Olympia is allegedly getting a Trader Joe's soon. Maybe I could work there. Wasabi peas, anyone?

Leftovers

2009-03-13T14:07:00.000-07:00

These are the Leftovers socks, because I made them with the yarn I had leftover from my knee-high lacy socks from a couple of years ago. There was more than enough for a regular pair of socks and I could have even made these a little taller, but I was ready to be done with them. The Leftovers socks were supposed to be plain and quick, like their namesake. Instead they have taken me forever which is mostly because of my failure to focus. But they're done now. Plain stockinette with a picot cuff and bind-off. The yarn was from Fearless Fibers, Kildare colorway. They are sooo soft and comfy. In the few short hours I have worn them they have become my favorite socks. Yum.

Day 621

2009-03-04T18:39:00.000-08:00

Day 621 of Our Northwestern Adventure.

Today I calculated that Olympia has about 310 days every year where the sky is either completely, mostly, or partly cloudy. Most of those days are completely cloudy. That means that it is cloudy here 85% of the year.

85%.

That's a lot more than 75%.

Juicy

2009-02-22T17:14:00.000-08:00

The winter has been getting to me and I've been missing the desert something awful. So I decided to bring a little bit of the desert to me. I have added three little succulents to my household.

I always used to keep little succulents in terra cotta pots on the steps to my apartment in Tucson. I love them.

Nico refuses to call them succulents and refers to them as "juicy" plants instead.

Evergreen.

2009-02-20T13:33:00.000-08:00

I'll tell you one thing about living in the Pacific Northwest: I'm getting pretty damn sick of pine trees.

Hiring a Photographer (aka Maybe the Wedding Won't Suck After All)

2009-02-19T19:27:00.000-08:00

On Monday I'm going to drive to Tacoma and meet my potential wedding photographer at Hello Cupcake to interview her. I'm going to bring my little wedding notebook, my list of questions printed out from Real Simple and my checkbook, and I'm going to pretend to be Charlotte from Sex and the City. I'm pretty sure this is the photographer I'm going to hire. I don't have any overall vision for the photography, other than it "looking awesome." I'm just happy to be getting it done.

Until this week it was looking to me like we wouldn't be able to afford a photographer. I might lose my job at the end of the year and to be honest we don't have a huge budget to begin with. The idea of paying for everything was quite literally overwhelming me. And I'm not a huge photography arts person, but the idea of not having any nice, professional pics of my wedding was depressing me to the point where I was wondering why we were even having a wedding. Why not just elope? In short I've been pretty depressed over the economy and wedding planning in general. Don't get me wrong - I want to be married. I was just having trouble keeping up the excitement about getting married.

Deciding to go ahead and hire a photographer has made a huge difference in my wedding planning mood. I can't quite pin down why that is, but I think that somehow the thought of NOT having a photographer became, in my mind, emblematic of all the things my wedding couldn't be. As for the money side of it, well, I'm just making the decision to have faith that we can swing this.

I also printed out a good wedding planning checklist from OffbeatBride, and that's helped me to wrap my head around the whole planning process. When I was still in what I like to call the theoretical stages of planning I was having a great time thinking of what we would and wouldn't have or do at the wedding. But now that we're in the actual stages of planning, every decision made has felt like the death of a fantasy. The checklist helps me to feel like I'm getting things done in a positive way rather than winnowing away all my ideas. Plus I was able to show the checklist to Nico to help him understand what's happening with the planning. That checklist actually has the potential to be a great communication tool. As a result Nico understands the process a little better and will be helping more, and I don't feel like I'm doing this all on my own. Win-win.

Red Tulips, Red Ale

2009-02-15T11:37:00.001-08:00

These are the gorgeous flowers Nico surprised me with yesterday morning. They bring some wonderful color and freshness to our apartment. I think tulips make more sense for Valentine's Day because they're spring flowers. And I can't wait for spring.

Alright, so I've been homebrewing since last summer, and it's been alright but I haven't been obsessed. Until now.

I recently read Red, White and Brew by Brian Yaeger. And now I want to start a brewery. Anyone want to help?

Right now I've got an Irish Red Ale in the secondary fermenter. I've got a pumpkin porter resting in bottles, and I'm going to brew a different pumpkin porter recipe next weekend. The winner will be the wedding beer. After that I think I'll make another amber ale, maybe with honey this time. And Nico has recently fallen in love with Belgian-style dubbels, so I'll probably make one of those and we'll let it sit until the fall. I'm also itching to try a little experimental brew I thought up last night. And this summer I want to make some wheat beers. I'm thinking a honey wheat, which I'll start in May so it should be ready to try in June, and then a raspberry wheat once raspberries are in season. Oh there's so much to brew, and I have so few bottles to store it all in!

Disappointed, Not Surprised

2009-02-03T22:39:00.000-08:00

Well, it looks like the library levy lid lift (say that 8 times fast - I defy you) did not pass.

I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed. This means that my library system will be cutting services because we don't have the money to maintain the current service level (Thanks, housing market!). While we don't yet know what exactly will be cut or reduced, we can make some educated guesses: books and materials, hours of operation, staffing levels and pay/benefits are probably the biggies.

Hopefully my job will not be cut, and hopefully no one whose job may be cut will choose to bump me out of my position. But there's a chance. Anybody need a slightly used librarian?

Maybe I should've gone to pastry school after all.

Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T16:59:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas Eve. The tree is lit.

The cats are cozy.

The shopping is done. The groceries are bought, the stew is in the crock pot and the snow is coming down in big fat flakes. True, the table isn't cleared and the floor isn't swept so the holiday isn't totally picture-perfect, but it's close.

This is the first time I haven't spent Christmas with parents or with sisters. I almost said this is the first time I haven't spent Christmas with family, but I am with family. I'm with Nico. This is the first time we've spent the actual holiday together, so we've been trying to hash out our traditions and figure out what Christmas has meant to each of us in the past and how we want to celebrate it as a family in the future.

For me, this is a quiet Christmas. No nieces and nephews, no brothers-in-law or cousins, no cooking or gossiping with the other women in my family. I miss the noise and the bustle.

But there are good things, too. Wonderful things. Being with Nico, waking up with him on Christmas morning. Planning out the Christmas menu myself (lamb! dressing! asparagus!). Today while we were shopping in down town Olympia there was a group of carolers wandering around. And then there's the snow. We've had to slow down because of it and plan things out a little more, which can be a hard thing to do over the holidays.

The quiet is nice, but I miss having kids around.

Merry Christmas.

2.5 Months

2008-12-14T17:41:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've posted. I've had a lot to post about, a lot of things rolling around in my head, but I've just been too tired to sit down and type anything out. The truth is I've been a little depressed.

Part of it is my job. I never intended to stay at this job very long. Aberdeen was supposed to be a stepping stone. The plan was to get my foot in the door, get a little experience under my belt and then find a better job in a large city. The economy was not supposed to collapse and trap me in Aberdeen. I know it's not forever and that things might be very different in a different setting and different library. But it's still very disappointing to find yourself so unhappy with the job you studied so hard for, the job you thought you'd love.

And part of it is just the usual holiday sadness. I miss my parents. My dad loved Christmas - loved it - and that makes this time of year especially hard. Thanks to Nico I am learning to love this holiday again but it's a slow process.

So here is a short recap of what the last 2.5 months have meant to me:

Pumpkin Pie Socks

I finished the socks in the Pumpkin Pie colorway from Handspun and Dyed Too. I knit the cuff in a sort of triangular stitch pattern to look like slices of pie. They're good socks, only they've been shrinking as I wash them so I have to be careful.

Wedding Stuff
We reserved our venue and set our date for the wedding next year. We also ordered our save the date cards and I bought my dress (more on that later).

Beer
Our pumpkin beer actually turned out OK. I used brown sugar as the priming sugar and was disappointed with the level of carbonation that provided, so perhaps next time I'll stick to corn sugar or maybe I'll try molasses. The pumpkin beer wasn't terribly spicy but it did have a pumpkininy taste. It also came out a little sweet, which is probably a good thing. It wasn't the best pumpkin beer I've had, but it wasn't too bad. I'm looking forward to trying a pumpkin porter next.

Halloween
I did absolutely nothing for Halloween. No costume, no parties, nothing. How disappointing.

The Election
Wow. Just, wow. This election went the way I hoped it would, but it's all uphill from here.

Seattle
The weekend before Thanksgiving both my sisters and I took a trip to Seattle. We stayed at the W Hotel, went shopping and generally had a fantastic time. We also stopped by the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery.

And we went to David's Bridal so I could try on awful wedding dresses. I had an idea of the kind of dress I wanted and was surprised to find that style of dress looked really horrible on me. And I was even more surprised to find a dress I really liked that was nothing like what I thought I was going to get. So I ended up buying the dress. Huh.

Thanksgiving
I met my future in-laws when Nico and I flew to Oklahoma to spend the holiday with his parents. He hadn't seen them in about three years so this was very special for him. They were very nice people and they showed us a lot of hospitality. I still don't feel that I know them very well but we seem to be off to a pretty good start.

Snow

These are my potted chile pepper plants, almost completely covered in snow. Olympia and Western Washington in general have gotten a lot of the white shit over the last week or so. The driving is awful, no one's prepared, there aren't enough plows to go around, and today even work was cancelled. I love it!

Look how covered these cars are! People have been snowed in! Nico and I spent most of today getting chains for my tires. We tried buying chains at a couple of different places but it seemed like everyone was out of the kind we'd need for my car. As we were leaving one place, though, the guy parked next to us asked us if we wanted to buy the chains he'd bought previously that were the wrong size for his tires. Well, they were the right size for my tires, so I got a set of chains for $25! We took them over to a tire place to have them installed and drove around enjoying our new-found traction. They really do seem to make a difference. This means I will have no trouble getting to work tomorrow. Um. Yay.

Cookies

And finally I spent tonight making Christmas cookies. I had already made Nico's favorite, the Goddamn Blackened Elf Balls, and tonight I made my favorites. These are Krumkake, but I also made spritz and oatmeal-cranberry cookies. My family has these recipes for krumkake and spritz that we've used forever, but this year I couldn't find them so I used a couple of recipes I found on the internet. Well, the krumkake came out alright in the end, but the spritz? Let's just say I've learned a valuable lesson: No matter what the Food Network tells you, if your family has a recipe they've used forever, there's probably a good reason for it. The spritz didn't hold their shape once baked and they don't taste the same as I'm used to. I need to find the family recipes, because these just aren't good enough.

Banana Slug Sighting!

2008-10-05T14:50:00.000-07:00

It's been rainy and cool for the last few days, so yesterday I decided I would go hiking in the rain and mist at McLane Creek to look for banana slugs. That park is just as beautiful in the rain as it is in the sun, and I actually didn't get that wet hiking in the trees.

I wandered off the trail at one point and almost stepped on this little guy.

And to show you how 'city' I am, when I first saw it I thought that someone had dropped their headphones. Heh. Nope. No headphones, just a naturally occurring amphibian. Then a few feet away from the salamander I saw my first banana slug!

Not the most strapping specimen, but still pretty cool. If it had been stretched out I would estimate it to be 3 - 4 inches long. The poor little thing is in some kind of defensive mode with its eyes pulled in. Here's another picture where it looks even more like a frightened, greenish penis:

After this I went back to the trail and obeyed all posted signs. I saw another salamander and, at the very end of the trail, another banana slug. Boy am I lucky! This one has those characteristic spotty-banana markings, too.

Jackpot, my friends. It's good to have that checked off the list. There were also a ton of cool-looking mushrooms, if you like that kind of thing...

And so my attempt to reprogram myself to the Pac NW made some significant progress this weekend. I have to admit that Nico and I are still recovering from living in Aberdeen. We were so used to being home-bodies there and keeping ourselves aloof that it is still an effort for either of us to get out of the house and do something, try something new. But we're working on it. Last night we stopped by Orca Books for the first time. I can't believe we waited so long to go in there. It was great! It made Oly feel just a tiny bit more like home. And then afterwards we went to Quality Burrito and I actually remembered to order my burrito without rice this time. (Rice in the burritos. That's something that deserves its own blog post; I don't want to get into it right now.)

And then there's the wedding planning, which must begin in actuality now. It will be around this time next year. I was worried that having it in early October wouldn't be the best idea because the leaves might not be pretty enough yet, but they are. So that will be good. And now we're beginning to look for an actual place in Oly to throw this shin-dig. There are a couple of possibilities in the works that we're planning to take a look at, but it seems like every place I find is possibly too small (we don't know how many people we'll have, how many will be able to travel from AZ/MN) or a little far away or maybe a little too expensive. We'll figure it out.

Hot Sauce

2008-09-26T18:06:00.000-07:00

Today I made all the chiles I picked earlier this week into a nice green hot sauce! And I found these great little 'woozy' bottles at the local homebrew store this morning.

Here was my recipe, of which I made 4 batches:

3 - 3.5 cups coarsely sliced fresh chiles
1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
6 garlic cloves
2 tbsp salt
3/4 cup white vinegar
2 cups water
Boil these in a pot for about 30 minutes. Remove from heat and add
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp oil
another 1/2 cup white vinegar
Either transfer to a blender or use an immersion blender to liquefy. Mine turned out med - med. hot.

Rock.

We Call Upon the Author

2008-09-26T17:33:00.000-07:00

We went and saw Nick Cave in concert this week in Seattle. It was so, sooo good.

I've loved Nick Cave for, oh, 13 years now and I never really thought I'd get to see him. The show exceeded my expectations in a lot of ways. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds did a great and energetic live show. They played a really great mix of old and new stuff which surprised me because it seems like when a band is touring to support a new album most of what they play comes off the new album.

I really can't say enough about what a good time I had. After it was over I got one of the sound guys to give me a copy of the set list, which I've scanned in below. They also did a 3-song encore which included "Get Ready for Love," but I can't quite remember what the other 2 songs were. Oh, and it's on the set list, but they didn't do "The Weeping Song," which is too bad because it would've been interesting to hear him do it with someone other than Blixa Bargeld (I love that man's name). Oh, and "We Call Upon the Author"? Really outstanding.

Picked a Pepper

2008-09-23T09:27:00.000-07:00

Slugs have found my pepper plants, and since the weather is getting cooler anyway I decided it was time to act. Yesterday evening I picked all these off the four Mystery Pepper plants.

And just to give you an idea of the size of these things...

I also picked all the stubby little jalapenos off the two jalapeno plants, which the deer seem to love to graze on.

I haven't picked anything off the two cayenne plants, because it seems somehow wrong to pick those before they turn red. But seeing as how it's fall now and it never did get hot enough to really ripen anything, I might pick those tomorrow.

I'm planning on turning all these peppers into hot sauce tomorrow. Of course, it probably won't be all that 'hot.' I might save a few out and make some fresh salsa. We'll see.

Do Yer Part, Matey!

2008-09-19T11:35:00.000-07:00

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Here at the library we're celebratin'! ARRRRRRRR!! We've got candy, pirate books, and pirate cake. This be the best part o' me job.

Pumpkin Brew Day

2008-09-14T18:42:00.000-07:00

I love pumpkin beer. Really. I mean, I luuuurrrvve it. I look forward to the fall and the first pumpkin beer of the season. And when I lived in Tucson I could get as much of it as I wanted. I could just go down to Plaza Liquor, where they sell hundreds of different brews, by the bottle, and knock myself out. Literally.

But now I live in Washington, where all the liquor stores are state-owned and focus more on actual liquor than on beer and wine and where the grocery stores, even the better ones, just don't have the selection I crave. So far I have seen only two pumpkin beers for sale here: Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale (owned by Coors) and Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale (owned by Anheuser-Busch). The beer snob in me finds this simply unacceptable.

What to do, what to do?

Since I started learning how to brew this summer the obvious answer is to make my own damn pumpkin beer. So I am.

A warning: I have only just started learning how to brew. So far I have only made two beers, each from a kit, plus today's pumpkin ale. I found the recipe called Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale, by Yuri Rage, here. Credit where it's due. Because I'm so new I am doing the extract rather than the all-grain version.

So how's it done?

Well, first you take 60 oz. pure pumpkin puree

and spread it out on a cookie sheet.

Then you bake it at 350 degrees for an hour.

I know, it looks pretty much the same, right? Notice the difference in color, though. Now that pumpkin is carmelized! While you're doing that you take your flavoring grains,

and put them in a mesh bag, which you steep in 155 degree water for about 45 minutes.

Once that's done you remove the grain bag and bring the pot to a boil, then you add the light malt extract

and the baked pumpkin and stir like crazy until it comes back to a boil, at which point you add your bittering hops

and start your timer.

After boiling for 50 minutes you add the Irish moss

which is apparently some kind of dried seaweed that helps to clarify the beer, and because of all that pumpkin puree this beer will need clarifying. Then you boil for 10 more minutes. Then you chill the mixture, which is called the wort. You can chill the wort any number of ways. I put the pot on ice and add enough cold filtered water to make 5 gallons. When the wort is chilled you strain it into the primary fermenter

aka Big White Bucket, add your yeast, seal it up, pop in the water-lock and wait. In two weeks I'll transfer it to a secondary fermenter, add the flavoring spices, and wait again. Two weeks after that I'll bottle it, and two weeks after that I'll taste it to see how it's doing. It will probably need to age a little bit more. And hopefully it won't suck. I think it'll be pretty good. I'll keep you posted.

Viva McLane Creek

2008-09-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

This afternoon Nico and I bottled some amber ale and then headed out to McLane Creek to wander around and amaze ourselves at how beautiful Washington can be. To former desert dwellers like ourselves, this kind of nature is mythic. It's hard to believe that places like this actually exist outside of movies and storybooks, much less exist in our general neighborhood. It sounds totally silly but the presence of trees, ferns, water, moss, etc., is more thrilling than the average northerner can imagine. I plan to explore these trails more thoroughly in the coming weeks, but for now here's some eye candy:

Sarah Palin is in Yer Liberries, Banning Yer Books

2008-09-06T17:54:00.000-07:00

I don't normally rant about politics on this blog, and I know I'm a little late on the uptake with this one, but I need to mention this because it's an issue so close to my professional life and my own personal beliefs. In case you haven't seen the New York Times article or the Time Magazine article, the big hairy deal is that when Sarah Palin first became mayor of Wasilla, AK, she tried to have some books banned. When the librarian stood up to her she either threatened the woman's job or did fire her and then reinstate her when it appeared she had gone too far.

Between bookstores and libraries I have over 8 years experience working with the reading public, and during that time I have heard more people than I can remember express incredulity that anyone still tries to ban books in this day and age, and disgust that they often get away with it. Yes folks, people in this country do still try to ban books. And Sarah Palin is one of them.

Folks, this is not OK. You do not ban books. You do not ban books from a public library. You do not ban books from a public library in a small town. Small towns often have no bookstores; if you ban a book in a small-town library you are completely denying access to that book for the people who use and need the library most: children, people without internet, people who don't have the money to just order the book online. This is just one more thing to add to the shit-heap that is the Republican campaign.

For more information on challenged and banned books, visit the website for the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom.

Sugar Glass and the Tooth Fairy

2008-09-05T13:27:00.001-07:00

So last weekend was a long weekend for both Nico and I, and this is rare. We wanted to do something special. We thought we'd drive the Olympic Peninsula on Monday as a last summer hurrah and get it neatly crossed off the to-do list. But when I was telling a friend about the plan, she made a teensy tiny comment: "Oh, that's a lot of driving for one day." Hmm. It didn't make much of an impact at first, but it stuck with me and kept ringing in my ears until Sunday night, when I finally decided to Google the route and found out that it would be 8 - 10 hours. Of driving. Oh, and then the next day? I'd be getting my wisdom teeth out.

Yeah. Not so much.

So we decided to drive to Tacoma instead, which is only about half an hour away. We went to the Museum of Glass. It was pretty awesome. If you're not familiar with it, the Museum of Glass is this very cool but relatively small art museum devoted to (you catch on quick) glass. There's a cone-shaped room called the Hot Shop where you can watch glass artists actually making and working with the stuff, then there are a couple of galleries and a number of installments. Outside of the museum is the Chihuly Bridge of Glass, which is like a gallery in and of itself. All of this has to do with the fact that Tacoma is Dale Chihuly's hometown.

Here's the Hot Shop as seen from across the bridge:

Here's part of the Seaform Pavilion on the bridge. These are actually looking up, at the ceiling:

And here are the Crystal Towers, which are not actually glass but are instead a synthetic (Polyvitro). They make me think of sugar crystals. If I remember correctly, actual glass would've been too heavy to achieve this:

And after that my camera crapped out, so that's all you get. No pics of the Venetian Wall or of anything inside the actual museum.

I had seen photographs of Chihuly's work before and even though I thought it was impressive I never had gotten too excited about it. I thought glass was, well, maybe just a little bit boring. Paintings I can get on board with, sculpture and photography? Sure! I just never thought that glass was that interesting. But I was wrong. I found myself pretty intensely fascinated the whole time, and it wasn't all about Chihuly either. A couple of the galleries were closed because they were in transition, but I'm looking forward to going back again. I would very much recommend this museum to anyone in the area or anyone who makes the trip out here. And if you're arriving by car? The best thing to do is get free parking at the Tacoma Dome and take the Link lightrail (also free) to University Station, walk across the Bridge of Glass and you're there. Beautiful.

And then on Tuesday I had my wisdom teeth out. They put me to sleep, which was pretty awesome. One minute they're putting the IV in the back of my hand, and the next minute I'm waking up in a dark recovery room with my mouth packed full of gauze and Nico at my side. I couldn't have asked for anything easier. Hopefully this will be my only medical adventure for the year. The oral surgeon as Tooth Fairy was easily a million times better than the podiatrist as Toe Butcher, which was last year's adventure. Eaaugh.

So, mostly all week I've just been hanging out on the couch and crunching down the Vicodin. Which I love. I finished knitting some cabled wristies for a friend in AZ:

I'm also working on a good wool garter-stitch scarf, because last winter convinced me that all those pretty, flimsy scarves that worked so well in an AZ winter? Not cutting it in the Pac NW. I have big plans for this scarf. Secret plans. Secret, secret scarfy plans. Shhh.

And I started a new sock last night. This is the Pumpkin Pie yarn I bought last fall. I want to be wearing these socks in plenty of time for pie season this year. So far it looks less like pie and more like Tigger. Oh well. I've got a good pie-like stitch pattern planned for the cuff.

And the last thing is that yesterday, I. Well. I sort of ... signed up for a sock club. Over at Cables & Lace. This was totally unplanned, because I'm supposed to be on a budget, dammit. A simple little moment of weakness. I blame the Vicodin.

Upside-Down Blue Monkey

2008-08-28T15:38:00.000-07:00

That's the name of the new socks I just finished knitting this week:

That's Cookie A.'s Monkey worked toe-up with an eye of partridge heel. I did the foot on a half-size smaller needle than the pattern calls for, then switched to a larger needle after the ankle. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, colorway Tropical Storm. I'm pretty pleased with them, and they're a bit lighter than the other socks I've made so I can wear them in slightly warmer weather.

It's been a while since I mentioned my chile plants. Well, those that were eaten by beasts of the forest have recovered quite well. They are all flowering and they all have peppers growing. I had to pick 3 off one of the mystery plants because they have some spectacular blossom-end rot going on:

I've run into this once or twice before while growing peppers and tomatoes. It has something to do with the amount of moisture and calcium the plant is getting. Sad. Hopefully this won't be too big a problem. I'm really hoping to make some home-grown hot sauce this year.

PZS Rocks OK

2008-08-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to the Portland Zine Symposium! On the Library's dime! They sent me! Isn't that rad? All those zines I made in high school are finally paying off. Just like I knew they would...

OOOH! Smell those radical politics:

What? People are still making zines?

Basically, the library system is in the process of adding zines to the collection. One of the large branches is trying them out and if it goes well there, then the other branches that want to will be able to have zine collections as well. Our main zine librarian couldn't make it to the symposium so she asked me if I wanted to go instead. Did I ever!

The PZS did a lot to renew my interest in zines. One of my friends volunteers at the Independent Press Resource Center in Portland and she's been asking if I'd like to do a zine with her. Well, now I certainly do! It would be a lot of fun if we could get it off the ground and have a table at the PZS next year.

Walking around and looking at all the tables was pretty awesome, but I really almost liked the workshops better. I didn't get to go to all the ones I wanted to because several of them were happening at the same time (curses!) but I did manage to attend: Multnomah County Library Tour, How To Do Everything, Queer Zine History, Zinester's Guide to the US Mail, and Bi-Weekly Madness. I also think it would be cool if next year all the zine librarians got together as a panel and did a workshop for all the zinesters who are interested in getting their zines into library collections. But eh, we'll see.

First Sweater

2008-08-17T17:49:00.000-07:00

Here it is:

This is the Wicked, finished, blocked and modeled. This is my first sweater, started in January and finished in August. Despite the pooling, I am very proud.

In one of my recent posts one of my friends commented that the trouble I had had with Wicked has convinced her to never start knitting. Whenever I hear someone say something like that I have two very strong gut reactions. One is, 'More yarn for me!'. The other is, 'How sad. You don't know what you're missing.'.

Yes, this sweater took forever and yes, I had to rip it back a lot and try things again. It was a straightforward pattern, but it wasn't easy for me. I struggled, it's true. But now look what I have: I have a garment made with my own hands to fit no one else but me. I have a sweater made from 100% wool, which is tougher and tougher to find these days. My sweater is warm and soft, thicker than anything store-bought, and it clings to me where I want it to. The sweater's boat-neck is nice and wide, and it sits on the edges of my shoulders just the way I hoped it would. The sleeves are comfy and over-long, which is my favorite way for sleeves to be and which I can almost never find in a store-bought sweater. Roll your eyes if you will, but wearing this sweater feels like wearing a warm hug. It feels just right.

And you know what? My next sweater will probably be a lot easier and will go a lot quicker. There is a learning curve for these sorts of things. Just look at my first pair of socks, for example: they took forever (May 2006-January 2007) and they came out weird and too big and at first I thought I would probably never knit another pair of socks again because they were such a pain. But now I knit socks all the time, they're not that hard and they don't take too long and THEY'RE AWESOME! And maybe it'll be like that with sweaters too: the first one takes a while but I learn, and it gets better.

So. I also wanted to share that last night another friend had a New Kitten Party to honor her new kitty. It was of course lots of fun and there was dancing and wine and snacks... and these:

These are Cat Poop Cupcakes. I made them firstly to honor the new little cat but also because I promised I would and because they crack me up. They were, you can imagine, a big hit. The original version is over here.

Wicked Finish

2008-08-12T08:41:00.000-07:00

I'm done. Last night I bound off on the Wicked sweater and I am finally, finally satisfied enough to call it done, and to say that I knit the best first sweater I could. I will weave in the ends, block it, and post pictures once that's done. I may still overdye it with black in the future, but that's a different adventure. For right now, the sweater is done.

Ghosts and Gurus

2008-08-09T17:04:00.000-07:00

First, I must show you the very cute little ghost-in-a-tin that I received from the lovely Sara in the Monster Living in a Tin swap I was in. He's a bookworm ghost, and he's very cool.

Alright, so remember when I said that the Wicked is my guru? Well, the problem with gurus is that they test you. Observe:

Looks like the sweater's pretty much done, right? Just a few ends to weave in and then... But wait....
What's this?

It's the hem. It looks like it's...

Why, yes. It's rolling. It's goddamn rolling! The seed stitch hem called for in the pattern is all F'ed up. So I'm going to, say it with me, rip it back and knit it again. How many times have I ripped back on this sweater? I've lost count. When I reknit it I'm going to do it in the crossover ribbing of the neckline and cuffs on a size larger needle. This means that almost nothing of the written pattern has worked out for me. I have changed almost every detail on the pattern. But it still looks like a Wicked, doesn't it?

Also, look at that pooling! Geez! Why why why didn't I choose a solid color? Blech. So, should I leave it the color it is, or should I try to overdye it with something darker? Any thoughts? Vote now!

I drive because I have so much money to burn.

2008-07-20T08:55:00.000-07:00

Not really, but sometimes it seems that way. This week NPR ran a story about how Tucson AZ has the lowest gas prices in the country. Meanwhile, the Pac NW seems to have some of the highest.

But here I am, throwing caution and money to the wind! Not only do I commute by car 2 hours every day to and from work, but I also drive on my weekends! I'm a wild woman! Not really.

Last Monday I had the day off, which is rare, so Nico and I drove up to Seattle for a few hours to do some regular touristy things. We went on the Space Needle, which was the second time for me and the first time for him.

Mmmm, Seattle...

And we also went on the monorail. Being on the monorail is, of course, being in the future. The monorail is the TRANSPORTATION! OF! THE! FUTURE!!! Srsly, in the future we will allllll be on the monorail. Sigh. The monorail in Seattle goes for only 1 mile. And it's been there since the 1960's, so they've had plenty of time to expand. This does not bode well for the future, my friends.

So, here's us being very happy on the monorail:

And then we walked around the Pike Place market, bought some wine jelly, ate lunch, walked around again, and went home. It was ver' nice.

Today we'll drive down to Portland because some friends just got a new house and we must see it! Yayyy! Housey.

Also, my pepper plants have a little pepper growing! Whee!

AAAAAAUUGHH!!!!

2008-07-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

Because it is an election year, because our country is at war and because it is the 4th of July, my plan had been to have today's post be thoughtful and political. And just so you'd know I wasn't too stuck up, I was going to start the whole thing off with a Morrissey quote.

But plans have changed. When I woke up this morning and stood in the kitchen drinking a glass of water I noticed my cat crouched at the back door, making little cat grunts. I followed her gaze and saw a bunny sitting out in the grass, rapidly inhaling some dandelions. And then I notice something else...

This:

And this:

And this:

Something ate my pepper plants! Gah! And they were ALL flowering or JUST ABOUT to flower! They were getting so tall, and just last night Nico had commented that the peppers were exploding with growth. And now they're stubby and it will take them forever to recover.

What creature was the culprit? Was it rabbits? We've seen deer walk past outside, was it a deer? An ambitious squirrel? Something else? Was it the hand of God reaching down to pluck the flowered crowns off my beloved plants? Who knows.

I'm very sad.

So far, the 4 peppers that are in the ground rather than in pots are still there...

I have to cover them up with something so they'll be safe. Sigh. I'm not used to this.

One Year

2008-07-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

One year ago today I started work at the library feeling nervous, enthusiastic and relieved. A year ago last week Nico and I drove into Washington state from Arizona, happy to be away from the heat and somewhere green and cool.

One year, but it seems like more.

Some parts didn't take long at all. Falling in love with Portland and Seattle took less than a day, each. Driving to the ocean took 30 minutes. Learning that a six pack of Guinness costs more here than we're willing to pay on a regular basis took about 5 seconds. And coming to the full realization that we lived in an ostensibly rural area, with all that encompasses, took a couple of months, three at the most. This fact might have been immediately obvious to others, but I'll admit I was a little slow on the uptake. I've been called a Pollyanna by a couple of my coworkers.

Other things took a lot longer. It took 8 months for Nico to find a job that paid a living wage. It took 4 months before we found a restaurant we really liked within a half hour's drive, 4 months before I found anyone who could qualify as a friend outside of work. It took a little longer than that to realize that the town we lived in was a hole, that we could never make it work for us in even a temporary way no matter how hard we tried. It took us 10 months before we were able to move someplace else.

And some things that I expected to happen still haven't, whether through chance or my own lack of action.

I still haven't driven the loop of the Olympic Peninsula...

I haven't visited the Hoh Rainforest...

And I STILL haven't seen a banana slug! Damn! That was the one thing I expected for sure to see.

Summer Projects

2008-06-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned how much happier I am since moving to Oly? I am so happy that I've even begun to get back to my old ways of having little (food-related) projects going on! In fact I've got three different projects going right now! Woohoo! I feel good.

There's the sweater of course, that's one. Knitting is always a good project and the best thing about it is that you can put it down and totally ignore it for a while. I have to admit that I'm not making the headway on my sweater that I should be. Part of the problem (if you can call it that) is that the weather is finally starting to behave! We're getting more sun and more warmth and I loooooove it! For a little while there I was thinking we wouldn't get a summer AT ALL. It's not that summer is my favorite season, autumn is, but how can you enjoy the cool crispness of autumn when you haven't had the sun and heat of summer? It would be impossible. Everything in season.

Then there's the beer. Nico and I stumbled through our first batch of home-brewed beer; a stout. It's bottle aging right now, and in another week we'll take the first taste, but I'm betting it will need longer than just 2 weeks in the bottle. I'm sort of itching to begin a new batch tomorrow, if I make it down to the brew shop to buy ingredients. I've found a bunch of good-looking (extract) stout recipes online, and they all use at least twice the DME our kit came with, so now I'm convinced I need to immediately begin a heftier stout. I can't stand the thought of doing it wrong, you see.

And my third project is that I am back to growing chile peppers! Yayyy! I've got 4 generic types in the ground outside, and then another 4 in pots - 2 jalapeno and 2 cayenne. They've started to make progress since the weather's gotten sunnier.

As you can see, they've still got a ways to go and we're already pretty late into the growing season, but these two at least have begun to flower, and I'm hoping the worm tea will help them make up for lost time.

Worm tea?

Yes, worm tea. This morning my upstairs neighbor gave me some extra worm tea since he noticed I've been growing plants. Imagine - vermiculture in an upstairs apartment! That's pretty hard-core. I've never used the stuff before, but I've heard all about how it's the super-magic-grow-formula for your plants, so how could I resist? The guy also told me that he's trying to drum up support for a community garden to be added to the new city park being built down the street, so I promised him I'd whip up a little letter about that.

Other than that, I've got a couple awesome dinners planned for the weekend. Right now I've got chicken strips marinating and later we'll skewer and grill them, serve them with some fancy-pants rice I'm going to make and some mango salsa. Maybe some sliced avocado and some salad greens too. And margaritas, since it's finally margarita weather. Tomorrow we're going to marinate some skirt steak, which Nico will grill and chop up to make a burrito bar. Yum! I wish we could eat like that every night.

And meanwhile, the books are biding their time.

Wonderful Thing

2008-06-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

I got tickets to see Nick Cave in September! This is fantastic. I can indulge my old Seattle fantasy of a sophisticated and sexy nightlife. Maybe. Except that I saw a recent-looking picture of Nick Cave and he had a scary little mustache. Hmm.

And speaking of mustaches, last night I had a work dream where in order to answer someone;s reference question I had to consult Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century. Which would, of course, never happen. I never get patrons or questions that cool.

It is another gray Juneuary day.

Vengeance Deferred and Domestic Interests

2008-06-03T22:15:00.000-07:00

So my plan had been to make a vengeful blog post to judgementally lay the smack down on a former Bookman's manager of mine (let's call her... mmm.... Kaia) who apparently got her BA by having her husband write all her damn papers for her. Yes folks, that had been my plan, and it was going to be a long blog post complete with full names and seething rage. But then I got teh intestinal flu all weekend long and I was shown the humility of all mortal flesh and my plans changed.

So.

Now I'd like to talk to you about sweaters and other domestic things. I'd like to talk about my Wicked sweater, in particular. When last you saw my Wicked I had decided to rip it back to the shoulder increases because it was too big. And I did that. And I knit it some more, until I got to a point where I decided that this time around the damn thing was a wee bit tight. So at that point I balled it up in a bag somewhere and focused on packing and moving. Then last week I did what I knew I had to and ripped it back again.

I ripped it all the way back.

I knew that there were things about this sweater I would change from the very beginning, and I decided that if I was going to spend this much time and energy on the damn thing (and let's not forget money; good yarn is es'pensive) then I might as well do it my way from the beginning.

I cast on more stitches than even the largest size called for because I like a wide neck. And then I made the neckband itself narrower so as to be a little comelier. Now I've been working diligently on those shoulder increases, but this time I don't feel strained or impatient. This time I think that perhaps the Wicked and I are reaching an understanding. We are making friends. Last night I tried on what I had and at that point it was still less of a sweater and more of a yoke, I suppose, but I could see that we were headed in the right direction. I am reaching a sort of first-sweater-zen, and the Wicked is my guru.

Also this weekend we had our new mattress and shelves delivered from Ikea. The mattress? King-sized! And after over a month on a full-sized camping air mattress it feels like the height of luxury. Mostly I just want to writhe around on it and make snow angels in the sheets because IT IS THAT BIG! And folks, sometimes bigger is better.

And the shelves? Huge also. They are taller than I am and wider than my wingspan. They look great and they totally dominate our living room, but you know what? Not. Enough. We unpacked all our books yesterday, and most of my books hadn't been unpacked in a year. Now, when we bought the shelves I knew we'd have to double-stack some of our books, because I'm a pessimist and I just knew the shelves wouldn't be big enough. But apparently I'm not enough of a pessimist, because I didn't think that we'd have to double-stack our books on every shelf just to fit them all but that is indeed what we did. We could've bought two of these shelving units and filled them both up. Easily.

Our books outnumber us. They definitely out-weigh us and they might just out-mass us as well. God help us if they ever revolt.

Food, but no picture.

2008-05-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week Nico made a very impressive dinner that he had never made before: linguine with red clam sauce. Ohh la la! I didn't take any pictures but it smelled and tasted great: spicy garlicky seafood and pasta. Very good.

Since I'm the one commuting now, Nico has a little more time and energy and so he's going to start doing more of the cooking. This is great and I'm really pleased. He's been saying that he wants to increase his cooking repertoire which I can totally understand. I've been wanting to increase my repertoire too, since the kinds of things I used to make pretty often (beans and rice, salsa, onion soup, etc) are either a little too 'single vegetarian' or a little too oniony (he's got that onion allergy after all).

So last weekend I bought a new cookbook: Express Lane Meals by Rachel Ray. And you know, I felt a little bit like I was giving up on being a good, or at least diy, cook. Like, here I am, believing myself to be so into cooking and then as soon as I get a little tired I give up and buy the cookbook aimed at the lowest common denominator - whatever's easiest.

But I guess I was just being a snob. Again. And I really should give Ms Ray her due. She does have good recipes that aren't overly complex or time consuming. The cookbook is well-organized, and most importantly, Nico was interested in actually using the recipes in it. The linguine with red clam sauce was awesome. And I did base my good roasted salsa recipe off something she made.

Tonight it's my turn to make something from the cookbook. I'm doing warm chopped chicken piccata spinach salad. Nutrition assured.

Moved?

2008-05-17T22:32:00.000-07:00

Yes we are. In the new place in Oly! And internet finally just got hooked back up today. Slowly unpacking. Bought some generic chile plants and planted them in the rocky dirt next to the back door. They will probably die. Everyone at work keeps asking about my commute, but it's really quite nice. Last night took a walk down by Capital Lake. Ahhh. This is more like what I imagined living in the Pacific NW would be like. For the first time since leaving Tucson life feels normal and comfortable again. Now if only we had a bed.

Pictures will happen as soon as we make the place into something other than a mess of boxes. It could be a while.

Engagement Ring

2008-05-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

My engagement ring came on Monday. Squeeee! OK. Ahem.

There are stories that go with getting this ring. When Nico and I got engaged in February we went to one of those jewelry stores in the mall to get our fingers sized and to see if maybe, just maybe, there was anything good. Of course there wasn't. The first store we went into didn't have anything I liked, and they couldn't size Nico's finger because they only sized up to a 15. And the one thing they had that he might've liked couldn't be made in whatever size he was. So we went to another jewelry store in the mall, where a gaggle of tiny jewelry store clerks all told us that it would be next to impossible to find something in Nico's size. At the time we guessed that he might be a 17. A 17! The store clerks' eyes practically bulged out of their heads. And as we were leaving the store they actually laughed at us. Yeah. Nice.

So I began looking on Etsy, and there were some great rings but the one I really liked was made only in titanium. I thought that would be fine, until I found out that titanium cannot be resized. Not really. OK. But I had an idea for a design, and we decided to go to ye olde jewelers here in town. Buy local, support your community, yadda yadda.

So we go in to this place, and I'm trying to describe what I'm thinking of to the sales-lady, trying to bounce some ideas off her, that kind of thing. Her response to pretty much everything I said was, "No, you can't do that, no, no, I've never heard of that." She managed to find a plastic ring-sizer and estimated that Nico's finger is a size 19. And then she showed us an ugly pre-made band that she thought she could slap a diamond on and sell us for a thousand. Um. No. This is my engagement ring. I want to wear it forever. I don't want to hear "can't do," I want "can do!" Can do!

So we went home, I wrote up a description of what I wanted and we posted it on Etsy's Alchemy page. We got several bids and we got to pick and choose among them. We went with a ring and jewelry maker in the UK, Nico paid, and several weeks later we got the ring in the mail. So now I have a ring I designed, we supported an independent artisan (though not local) and I get to laugh at all those jewelry store clerks because I got exactly what I want for a hell of a lot less than they would've charged. CAN DO!

This is the best I could do with the camera. It's a white gold band with a tiny 2mm ruby drop-set, and an even tinier diamond also drop-set. I love it! I think it looks very modern and slightly minimalist. We're going to add other tiny stones to it for special occasions and anniversaries.

Oh yes. The seller we went with on Etsy is Fluid By Design. She's got some pretty stuff, you should check her out.

T-minus 4 days until we move to Olympia!

No Joy in Sweaterville

2008-04-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

After some soul searching, and perusing the pictures of other people's finished Wicked sweaters on Ravelry, I have come to the conclusion that my sweater is just too damn big. I will be ripping it back to those shoulder increases and re-knitting it from there. Sigh.

Stoopit sweater.

Progress in Sweaterville

2008-04-27T16:50:00.000-07:00

There has been some progress in Sweaterville. I am speaking of that sweater I began back in January, my very first sweater ever, that took forever with the shoulder increases and where I thought I was going to run out of yarn. That sweater. Well, it's coming along. I'm not crazy about the way the yarn is knitting up, and it's just a bit too big on me, and I think I should've done fewer of those shoulder increases because the neckline doesn't fall where I'd like it to. Ahem.

Here's the sweater from over a month ago:

And here's the sweater where it stands today:

Sexy, no? Bleah! But it'll look better when it's done. I hope. And if it doesn't, well, it's my very first sweater and it's allowed to be a little sucky. I can always just wear it at home. I already know a few things I'll do differently if I knit the pattern again.

I also went out and bought the yarn for my next sweater, which I'm thinking will be a sort of cropped cardigan. I love the color of this yarn, although it will look awful with my coloring. Oh well. Acid green cardigan, you're next!

And let's not forget that there's also been some progress in Sock Town:

This is an upside-down version of the Monkey pattern done in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in the Tropical Storm colorway. Upside-down Blue Monkey.

Also, next month Nico and I are moving to Olympia (I will still commute to work every day). Also we're engaged. Hot cha!

Spring? Sucker!

2008-04-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

So for a while there it seemed like spring was in the air, what with all the daffodils and sunshine we were getting. I took these pics a little over a week ago in our side yard on a bright Saturday morning:

Daffodils, somethin' pink, and more daffodils. Really the damn things are everywhere. I'm more of a tulip girl, myself.

So then what happens? A week of nasty, windy, snowy-rainy-sleet-and-hail hellish weather. At the end of March. Ick.

Is it over yet? I'm afraid to look. Yesterday it was nice, but cold and a little breezy. Today it looks nice too: sun, blue sky. But it's April Fools Day. It could be snowing by noon.

I've got some finished socks to show off. First are the Red Whale socks I made from Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Rosehips colorway. The pattern is Azure from the winter issue of Knitty.

Next are the socks I made from some self-striping DK weight yarn I bought from Lovesticks Sock Yarn, a seller on Etsy. It's just plain stockinette stitch with a toe-up heel flap. The colorway is called Green Tea, and it was a lot of fun to knit with.

Other than that I've started another pair of socks and made some progress on my sweater. More on that soon.

The library is twisting my perceptions.

2008-03-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

So this past week was a busy one at my library. I'll skip the big patron-related news in favor of the small but weird incident that happened on Thursday.

Lady comes in, wants to get a library card and also wants to get on the internet. I hand her an application and tell her that I can get her on a computer immediately, before she gets her card. So I hop out from behind the desk, lead her over to an open computer, and... she's not there. She's still filling out an application at the desk. OK. That's fine, she can get her card first. I'm just so used to people NOT getting a card first. Whatever.

So then she comes back after getting her card, wants help getting on the internet, and then tells me she needs someone to help her cancel an email account. I tell her that I can help her sign on to the computer, help her navigate to a page, but from there she needs to do it herself, she can just follow the instructions on the website. So she sits down at the computer and I'm trying to help her sign on. I tell her to enter her card number in the little box, and she just kind of sits there, gazing up at the ceiling. Um. OK.

Long story short, this woman is just not all there. She called me over for help several times, even though simply reading the instructions on the screen would've gotten her where she needed faster. Whatever. Not everyone understands how to use the internet; the digital divide is a bitch.

So then finally it looks like she's on her way out of the library. Except that instead of walking out the front door she walks back into the staff area, with my boss running after her to stop her. And then she goes into the staff bathroom. How did she even know it was there? So finally when she comes back out my boss tells her that this is the staff area and she isn't allowed to come back there and she's not allowed to use that bathroom. Her response? "Oh, it's so nice to relieve myself." Eeeeuuugghhh!!!!

Now, I will admit that I am an elitist. The reason that I like the staff bathroom is because the patrons are *not allowed to use it!* Damn it. So I used the staff bathroom upstairs for the rest of the day. It was pretty funny, but I felt pretty protective of that staff bathroom.

So that's a new patron. I'm sure we'll be seeing more of her.

And that night Nico and I went out to this little Italian place. It was... actually very nice. The people there weren't yelling or harassing anyone. None of them smelled. The food was excellent. It was almost like being out for dinner on a normal night in Tucson. That's when I realized that my entire perception of this town has shrunk down to the size of the library. My perceptions of this town's people has been twisted by the behaviors of the worst of our library patrons. There are, in fact, nice places here. There are normal people. Most of the people are probably normal, but I work in the library and I don't get out much. I'm feeling pretty stunted right about now. I wonder if I chose the right career.

Brigid in Cyberspace

2008-02-02T14:09:00.000-08:00

Today is St. Brigid's Day, and that means you will find poetry posted on blogs all over the place. There's more information here.

So here's this poem I wrote quite a while ago about my mother's cancer:

Forty-nine syllables all for you, mother.
The years of your life run-
ning ragged down this page. Too many
fears creeping into your body
and hardening.
What saints
appeared to you then,
speaking your name?

Our First Cordial

2008-02-01T18:10:00.000-08:00

cor-dial -noun
a strong, sweetened, aromatic alcoholic liquor; liqueur.

Last November Nico and I started our first cordial. We went to a cordial-making class that some sca people were having in Olympia and were told that we could use any clear liquor as our base. We used vodka, figuring that it was generic enough and probably wouldn't taste too badly, even though neither of us are really all that into vodka. And to flavor it we decided to use pomegranate and orange.

So the seeds of four pomegranates and the flesh and zest of two oranges went into the jug, followed by one regular and one smaller-sized bottle of Stoli. Cap on tight, shake shake shake, and wait. The vodka began to take on the pomegranates' color almost right away and deepened over time to a beautiful dark red. We let it steep for about 2 months, giving the jug a good hard shake just about every day.

After two months Nico did the hard part of straining out the by now extremely unappetizing pomegranate seeds and orange bits. All in all he strained it 6 times with butter muslin folded over again and again. Then it sat for another two weeks, and during that time quite a bit of sediment settled on the bottom of the jug.

Today I poured the cordial into a pot and threw out the sediment. I put the cordial over low heat and added about a cup of sugar. I kept stirring and as soon as the sugar was dissolved I took it off the heat and poured it into a clean jug.

Here's what it looks like now:

The flavor is pretty good; Nico claims he can taste the pomegranate and the orange separately but to me it just tastes bright and sweet. It's smooth and waaaaay better than plain vodka. I think we did well. I wish it was a little deeper red, though.

Next we might try just a straight-on orange cordial, sweetened with honey. I think that would be good to start now while citrus is still in season. Yum.

The Wages of Knitting Is...

2008-01-31T18:17:00.000-08:00

Bowls!

Yes, these are the bowls I received in exchange for the knee-high stripey socks I knit. They came in the mail today and they are very lovely to behold. And my very cool partner sent 5 bowls, when the swap was only supposed to be for 4! I'm getting swap-spoiled all over the place, here.

Check them out. There's this beautiful bluesy-greensy one:

There are these two lighter blue ones, each alike in dignity:

There's this checked one that I absolutely adore:

But my absolute favorite is this one. I think the glazing on this is really sort of stunning:

So there you have it. Who's a lucky knitter? I am.

Minor Whiplash

2008-01-30T07:42:00.000-08:00

Aside from being a bad band with a Myspace page, minor whiplash is what I get for daydreaming about Minnesota while driving in the snowy parking lot of the post office yesterday. I backed up into a telephone pole. In my defense, the pole really is in a bad place, and judging from the protective plastic shell wrapped around its base I'm not the only one who's done it. I wasn't going very fast and there was no damage to my car. It just gave me a jolt. And a headache followed by a stomachache, yesterday. And a little more of the same along with a sore neck today. So I'm staying home from the library and making with the heat and ice therapy.

Also, I have updated my blogroll on the right. Fewer knitting blogs, more other blogs, updated names and links and all that good stuff. Enjoy.

Aaaaaaaaand.... today is Delete Your Myspace Day. So I'm gonna do that later.

Here's a snow picture for you, although what we had yesterday was thicker and wetter. Also, it kept hailing.

Best Swap Package Evah!

2008-01-27T17:02:00.000-08:00

So I was in this yarn swap where we were supposed to swap some silver or gray yarn. Pretty simple, yes? Well, my swap partner outdid herself. It was her very first swap and she was amazing!!! First off, everything came all wrapped up pretty like a present:

Now, keep in mind that all she really signed up to send was some yarn...

But what she actually did send, aside from the yarn, was this:

Clockwise from top left, European instant cappuccino, some sea-themed stickers, a little notebook, 3 chocolate bars from Belarus (where she currently lives), a sticker she had made for me concerning my love of certain mollusks, 3 Imp's Ears samples from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (squeal!), one of those German Kinder Eggs, and a set of hand-made glass stitch markers for knitting shaped like octopuses (octopodes?)! How fantastic is that? This lady really did her homework and picked out goodies that she knew I would specifically like. And how much harder was this for her, living as she does in Belarus? Amazing.

And then there's the yarn she sent. Oh yes. The yarn.

This beautiful, luxurious yarn is 50% merino wool, 50% silk. 400 yards of it, which is enough for socks even for my big feet. And the colorway is called "Summer Storm." Fan-freaking-tastic.

How lucky am I? Very lucky.

Making it with needles and string

2008-01-26T18:24:00.000-08:00

So this is what I've been knitting.

First off we have the finished socks that I knit for my grandma out of Lorna's Laces yarn and gave her for Christmas. She says they fit great, and that her friends admire my knitting skillz. That's right, farm ladies think I knit well. That's probably the best compliment I've ever had...

And then I finished the beaded lace scarf that I was making for Bev. Finally. This sucker took me a year to knit. The yarn is a blend of baby alpaca and silk; very soft, a little fuzzy, lightweight anchored down a little by the beads. I sent it to her for Christmas. She cried. I hope she wears it.

Let's look at that from another angle, shall we?

And then I knit a pair of black alpaca wristies for Nico. He needed something to keep him warm at work, and this is some of the alpaca yarn I got last year from Estrella. I thought it would take all 4 skeins to complete, but they only took 2.

Next I had agreed to do a 1-on-1 swap with someone on Swap-Bot. She would make me a set of 4 pottery bowls if I would knit her a pair of stripey knee-high socks. So here's what I came up with, no pattern:

And after getting all of that done I decided I could finally concentrate on knitting for myself again, for a while. So the first thing I did was whip up a pair of socks. This yarn is from A Swell Yarn Shop and the colorway is Midnight Romance, although to me it looks more like a berry smoothie. Yum. They are warm and soooo soft. These are my new favorite socks.

I'm working on a second pair of socks which are from a very pretty pattern and which have faux cabling. This is the Azure pattern from the most recent issue of Knitty, and the yarn is Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Rosehips colorway. This yarn is 25% mohair which makes it extremely soft and fuzzy. At first I worried it would be too fuzzy to show the stitch definition well, but I think it does OK. I'm past the heel on the first sock and it fits perfectly.

And a close-up if you please:

And then I finally got the guts to start my very first sweater. I'm making Wicked out of Artyarns Supermerino in blues and greens. I'm not very far yet, but you know what? This type of sweater is way easier than making socks. It's totally simple, and there's no seaming. It's truly less complicated than a sock! I just can't seem to get over this fact. I'm not very far yet, but the Artyarns Supermerino is much softer than I expected. I can't wait to wear it. Mab approves.

And for anyone who remembers the bright green knee-high socks I was working on last spring... well I did finish them, a while back. I just never took pictures. So, here ya go.

Int'l Delete Your Myspace Day

2008-01-26T10:02:00.000-08:00

...is this coming Wednesday, Jan 30th. You can read about it here: http://bloggasm.com/january-30th-is-international-delete-your-myspace-account-day

I'm going to delete my Myspace that day. But of course, my reasons are different from his reasons. I've had my profile set to private for a while now, and so I don't get many new annoying fem-bot messages or anything like that. And I don't have a Facebook account, so this isn't about thinking Facebook is better... although I do have a Ravelry account, so if you knit or crochet you should sign up for that.

So, why would I want to remove myself from the world's largest social networking site? Exactly. It's the world's fucking largest social networking site. Despite the fact that there are many awesome people on Myspace, it still appeals to the lowest common denominator. I see it every day at the library. People are addicted to their Myspace, and I feel a tiny shudder of horror whenever I'm faced with that at work. I throw up in my mouth a little every time someone comes to tell me that "there's something wrong with the computer" because their stupid Myspace won't load. I know that deleting my Myspace won't cause a dent in anyone else's, and it certainly won't give those people a much-needed brain transplant, but it will make me feel just a teensy bit better.

So, no judgement on anyone who doesn't delete their Myspace. I'm doing this primarily because of what I see at work

Shouty Drunk Guy

2007-12-10T18:49:00.000-08:00

Tonight there was a shouty drunk guy in the library. I was helping him and I was even doing all my Professional Librarian Reference Effectiveness Behaviors ("Is that your complete question?") when he confessed to me that he was drunk. I mean, I could smell it on him, but when you just up and confess? Come on! Only in Aberdeen would you confess your drunkenness to a public servant with the expectation that this knowledge will make them more patient and lenient and will explain away all your bad behavior. "Oh, you mean you're only shouting and repeating yourself because you're drunk? Well, that's alright then."

So as soon as he said this I turned my head to look at our cop, who was standing maybe 12 feet away. And Shouty Drunk Guy turned his head and noticed the cop too, for the first time. OOPS! I guess he didn't expect that he'd be a Shouty Drunk Guy in front of a COP! He started begging me not to do anything, but I mercilessly got the cop's attention anyway. And then the cop escorted him out. When our cop returned, he remarked, "At first I just thought he was loud and different." Indeed no.

And then about 10 or 15 minutes later Shouty Drunk Guy came back inside. This time V. kept him at bay while the rest of us went looking for the cop, who again escorted him outside and again 'supervised' him for a little while. Then by all reports, Shouty Drunk Guy got on his bicycle and rode away. And for a minute there I thought I was back in Tucson.

So. Some of you may heave heard about OUR BIG FUCKING STORM. Yes. It was a wind-storm. The weird weather started Sat. Dec. 1st, when there was SNOW. And snow by itself isn't all that weird this time of year in WA, and it had been pretty cold recently. Nico even bought us some ice scrapers. I haven't owned an ice scraper since I was 20.

And then on Sunday the wind storm started. At first it wasn't much different from any other windy-type storm that we get here, but then it escalated. We were having sustained winds of up to 70 mph, with gusts over 100 mph. The power went off on Sunday night.

On Monday morning I got a call that the library would be closed because the power was out. There was still hot water for showers, and Nico didn't have to work that day. The wind was still blowing; it was only the middle of the storm. Nico and I went driving around to see if anyone had power, but it didn't look like it. There were trees down (big ones) everywhere. We have a gas fireplace and gas stove top, so we were alright on heat and food. We took naps. In the afternoon I got another call saying that the library would be closed the next day too. And then I lost reception. We were effectively cut off, so we didn't know how bad it was.

The next day Nico went to work, where he heard about the flooding, the road closures, and the governor declaring a state of emergency. But I still didn't know how bad it was. The weather had calmed down and still no one had power, so I thought I'd just drive in to Olympia, buy some supplies, eat at a restaurant. But I couldn't get out of town, because the highway was closed. Would probably be closed, I was informed by a worker, for a couple of days. I was trapped! I couldn't leave. The stress began to get worse.

Well, we finally got our power back on Wednesday evening. The library was open on Wed. as well. We weathered the storm; the worst one this area's seen since the 60's. All in all we were pretty lucky. No trees fell on us. We had heat and food. Our power's back on. Our drinking water wasn't contaminated. Nico didn't have to miss any work, and I'm still paid for the days the library was closed.

Welcome to the Harbor, suckers!

Swap 2

2007-11-11T11:03:00.000-08:00

I'm hosting another swap on Swap-Bot. This one is the "Cover Me mix CD" swap, and as you might have guessed it's a swap for mix CDs of covers. You can see it at http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/9108

The last day to sign up is Nov. 24, so don't be shy! Go join my swap! Swap-Bot accounts are free, and if you're new to it all I ask is that you fill in your profile. Pretty easy.

If enough people sign up it should be pretty fun. Oh come on. Don't you want to have fun?

I finished it!

2007-10-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

I finally finished the lace scarf that I've been working on for nearly a year! It's done! Pictures later.

Not Socks

2007-10-04T21:03:00.000-07:00

Today we take a break from sock yarn. This is another yarn from Hand Spun and Dyed Too, and indeed it is handspun and hand-dyed. I bought this off eBay a couple of years ago shortly after my yarn mania truly set in. I fell in love with the colors and when it came I enjoyed the texture as I wound it into its little ball.... and that's as far as it ever went. There's less than 100 yards here, and I have no clue what I could make with it. It would felt beautifully if I wanted to felt it, but it would become even smaller then, and I don't know what I could make.

I've thought about just leaving it as a ball forever. I might do that. Every once in a while I'll just take it out, hold it and look at it for a while, and then pack it away again. Therapy yarn.

Cloudy Yarn and the Toe Butcher

2007-10-03T19:11:00.001-07:00

I am full of excuses for why there was no yarn yesterday.

But there is yarn today:

Yes, more sock yarn. This yarn was sent by lovely Jenny as part of a Twin Cities-themed birthday package. The yarn was hand-dyed in St. Paul. Jenny said it reminded her of clouds, and as such it is completely appropriate to my new home. It does have a nice, soft cloudy look to it. This yarn will make sweet feminine socks that will be a pleasure to behold and a relief to wear. This yarn will make socks that will renew my spirit and my faith in humanity. This yarn is like wooly tea and sympathy. The yarn tells me so.

Now.

Yesterday I went to the podiatrist to have a two (or three?) week old infected ingrown toenail removed. Oh man. What you need to understand is that I am one of the most stubborn people I know when it comes to medical care. Who else would allow themselves to languish under the shadow of the lung butter (nasty resperatory infection, for the uninitiated) for a full month before finally seeking medical attention? Who else would allow their infected toe to fester into messy, bright-red hamburger (that's the podiatrist's term, by the way. Hamburger. It's an established clinical term, I'm sure) under the delusion that it "might get better"? Yes, if it weren't for modern medicine I'd be dead from some stupid infection three times over by now.

So after much butting-in and insistence from my very nice and mothering coworkers (and that's the other thing: when I do seek medical attention it's usually the product of outside intervention) I went to the specialist to tell him my sad toe-tale. He injected my full of drugs (and due to a faulty needle I actually got some extra!) and on his way out I heard him tell the nurse that I had "the works." Truly, I am a bad-ass.

He removed the rogue sliver of toenail as well as the scar tissue (hamburger) that had formed. The whole thing took less than ten minutes. I didn't feel a thing. He cut off a chunk of my toe and I didn't feel a thing! He's sending the pus off to the lab and I'm going back next week for a follow-up.

Of course, as soon as the anaesthetic wore off I had to go home from work with a swollen throbbing foot. And this morning I had to soak the bandage off. That was pleasant. You know how sometimes in bad horror movies someone will get cut open and their blood will kind of spray out in regular spurts, as if in time with their heartbeat? Well, that actually happens.

Enough said.

It's Pumpkininny!

2007-10-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

Yarn I want to eat:

This is one skein of Pumpkin Pie sock yarn from Hand Spun and Dyed Too, which has a shop on eBay as well as etsy. I bought this yarn on etsy just last month in a fit of pumpkin-lust. I will have pumpkin pie socks! I will. This yarn looks like it should both smell and taste of pumpkin pie. But do not be fooled; it is just wool.

Library Adventurama~
My favorite reference question of the day came from a patron who had joined a Double Day book club and wanted me to tell her when her first batch of books would arrive in the mail. Did she want the email address I found as the only way of contacting this alleged book club? No, she did not. She simply wanted me to tell her when her books would arrive. Ladies and gentlemen, it is a computer, not a crystal ball.

I have begun to notice an unpleasant side effect of doing reference work, and it is that as soon as I leave the library I hate, just hate, being asked questions. While I am in the library I am paid to answer (or at least, try to answer) as many random-ass questions as the public can throw at me. I am paid to find things for them and to fetch books, various media, and sundry information. And because of this I now feel like I'm being taken advantage of whenever a stranger stops me on the sidewalk to ask me for the time, a cigarette, or directions to the post office. I'm sure that I'm not alone in this. In fact I'm willing to bet that this feeling is so widespread that if might qualify as a syndrome. Now. What shall we call our hating-work-like tasks-when-one-is-off-the-clock syndrome? Suggestions welcome.

Something Sunday

2007-09-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

I've been a bad yarn blogger. What can I say? I had stuff to do this week.

YARN. OF. THE. DAY.

Another yarn procured from the Yarn Garage in Rosemount, MN. I have no idea, anymore, who made this yarn or how many yards it is. I have no idea what I'm going to make with it, or when. And I don't much care. It's pink and it's handspun and it's a little crazy, and that's enough for me. I'm a sucker when it comes to handspun.

It does remind me, a little, of the Elephant Bugbite yarn that I used last year to make a nice soft scarf for Chiara. Now THAT was a good yarn! It was gray (the elephant), with similar pinks here and there (the bugbites), and it was spun really unevenly so it had a lot of mismatched texture when I knit it up. This yarn isn't quite as soft as that one was, but it has the same kind of chunky bumpy handspun aesthetic.

Today it is raining raining raining, and it has been for hours and hours. It's raining hard too, none of this "light misting" you hear about up here. Nico and I are wrapped in blankets, huddled in front of space heaters to keep warm. There's hot coffee and books to read. There's a chicken brining in the fridge, and tonight I will stuff and roast it. I have to admit that, aside from the current lack of nice furniture and the throbbing infection on my foot, this is pretty much how I imagined domestic life after school would be.

And the lack of nice furniture thing won't be an issue forever. Why, just this week I bought a nice couch from a place here in town. Of course, now they have to order the couch from LaZBoy, and it will take 2 months to get here, but it's on its way. And it's red.

Ew, it's all sticky!

2007-09-22T08:14:00.000-07:00

Yes, so I missed a day with the whole yarn-of-the-day idea. Oh well.

Today's yarn is three hanks of Sheep Shop Yarn in the G148 colorway. Pretty exciting, huh? I got this last weekend when Nico and I went and spent a day in Portland. We wandered up and down Alberta St. and of course I discovered Close Knit. I think Nico got a little bored waiting for me to finish drooling over all the yarn. Eventually, though, I did decide on these three skeins plus a fourth skein of the same stuff but in bright orange. The plan is to use this yarn to make myself a nice, big, warm scratchy wool scarf. With an autumn leaves theme. t first I thought the brown would be like branches and the orange I would knit and felt in leaves, which I would then stitch to the scarf. I'm not so sure now.

At the yarn shop I also bought three little plastic buttons that are shaped and painted like gophers in mid-dash. I've never seen dashing-gopher-buttons before. I love them. And I bought a little Lantern Moon sweater keychain as an extra for an upcoming yarn swap.

At this point I'm sure you're asking yourself, what's all sticky?

OK. Yesterday at the library a patron came up holding one of the plastic magazine binders (with a fresh copy of Redbook inside), and complained that it "had something on it." Not only did it have something on it, but it was also kind of wet. Why was it wet? It wasn't raining outside, and even if it was that magazine shouldn't have left the building. So why was it wet? It is a mystery.

Now, a quick note about the difference between being a librarian and working at a used book store, ahem, Bookman's. At Bookman's if a customer had come up to us with a sticky book or magazine, we would have shrugged, grimaced, and thrown it away. At the library, we actually have to clean the damn thing off. So I took it in the back and tried 409'ing it. That didn't work, becase yes, it was sticky. So I rubbed some Goo Gone on it, and then 409'ed it again for goot measure.

They don't tell you about this shit in library school. And why would they? "There's something sticky... @ the library!" doesn't sound too appealing.

Kildare

2007-09-20T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today's yarn is a little less that one (large) skein of Fearless Fibers sock yarn in the Kildare colorway, available on etsy.com. I've used this yarn to make a pair of lacy knee-high socks, and it's very good. I still have enough to make another whole pair of socks.

I love this green. It's so bright. And it knits up with little flecks of yellow here and there.

Grandma's Socks

2007-09-19T21:36:00.000-07:00

A quick story about my grandma, and knitting. My grandma was a farm wife, and she was a young wife and mother during world war two. She knows how to do... everything. She's a master quilter, an accomplished home cook, she sews, crochets lace, has made dolls... she's one of those people who seems to know how to do everything, even if she doesn't do it regularly.

So when I wanted to learn how to knit, I naturally turned to her first. "Grandma, do you know how to knit?"
"Oh, ya, I know how."
"Will you teach me?"
"No, I don't think so. I know how to knit but I don't like it. You can learn that from a book."
And that is the story of how my grandma DIDN'T teach me how to knit.

So, of course now I'm knitting her this pair of socks. Today's yarn is two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Ravenwood colorway. I'm not sure why reddish-pink and blue together would be named Ravenwood, but it is. It's been about month since I've worked on these socks. This pair of socks will by my third, but they'll be the first I've made for someone else, and the first I've worked toe-up. I will be very proud to give my grandma a pair of hand-knit-for-her socks for christmas this year, even if she didn't teach me how to knit.

Black Alpaca

2007-09-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

Today's yarn:

4 skeins of black alpaca, purchased from the owners of the alpaca herself at the last Estrella. They told a sad tale of how this particular lady alpaca was unable to bear baby alpacas, and since alpacas are shorn for their wool only once a year this made her more expensive than she was worth. The couple said they donated her to Washington University and that this was some of the last of her wool. I had, and still have, the intention of making Nico a nice soft pair of fingerless mitts with this yarn. This is some of the yarn that will be lucky enough to be used this year. In fact, it's the next knitting project on my list.

I had the opportunity at the beginning of the summer to explain to one of my nieces what an alpaca is. She knew what a llama was, and so I told her that an alpaca is like a llama, only smaller and with softer fur. She seemed pretty impressed.

Today's Yarn

2007-09-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

Two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Icehouse colorway. I got these while visiting MN over Christmas last year, from the Yarn Garage (!) in Rosemount. At the time I had only completed a single sock but I was beginning to appreciate the beauty of sock yarn, and I had big plans. I was also beguiled by the name of the colorway and the general magic of being in a colder climate. Bev offered to buy them for me and I tried to imagine the finished socks on my feet, in a drawer, or posing on top of a pile of huge iceblocks while a pleasantly muscled man, an icehouse worker, labors and sweats nearby.

Today the Icehouse yarn waits patiently in the center of the stash. It's not the oldest sock yarn I have, and certainly not the youngest. Someday I will sit down and make a bunch of socks just for me, and I imagine that this yarn will be first on the list.

Meet the Stash

2007-09-16T14:17:00.000-07:00

The ugly truth is that I have been neglecting my knitting. In the hustle and hurry of moving, starting a new job and getting settled in I have all but forgotten the knitting I planned to get done this summer. And then, I had the nerve to go and pick up a new hobby: swapping. Truly, my knitting has suffered.

Now the summer is over. Where are those sweaters I planned to knit? They're still just ideas and vague intentions. Where are the projects that should have been finished and safely in the hands of their intended recipients? Still on the needles. Still on the needles or, worse, frogged and rewound. Mercy killings, you might say. But the stash knows. Oh, it knows.

So in the interest of shock-starting my knitting once again, I've decided to post pictures of all the lovely yarns I have waiting for me in my stash. One a day, that's the plan. I will sort of reacquaint myself with each of them, remember why I fell in love with them in the first place. And then I will introduce them each to you.

Today's yarn:

Dusty Handspun. 125 yards of wool, soysilk and bamboo dyed and spun in beautiful deep-sea shades of blue, black and green, with just a little bit of purple thrown in. Just a little, mind you, nothing obscene. This is an Insubordiknit yarn, made by the lovely Jacey Boggs, and purchased roughly a year ago, give or take. I honestly don't know yet what will become of it, although it's inkled to me that it might like to become a pair of wristies... or a hat. I'm not quite convinced it's got the yardage to make a hat, but we shall see. It might make a nice gift for just the right person. Hmm.

Something Pleasant, For a Change

2007-09-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

I thought this time I'd just share some nice pictures with you.

Last weekend my sister Missy was here from Phoenix. I had a great time while she was here, but one of the cool things we got to do was walk around and shop in Portland one afternoon with Chiara.

We got lattes and whole beans at Stumptown. That was probably the best latte I've ever had. And look how pretty:

And here was this great mural we saw. It reminded the three of us of many things. It reminded me of Brian Andreas, for one.

Sometimes when I take my walks around Aberdeen I see blackberries growing in people's yards. I know I shouldn't eat berries out of a stranger's yard, but sometimes I do anyway.

Here's this nice old elementary school that's kitty-corner from our place:

And here's some nice lush tree moss:

Nico and I have also gone to the Spar Cafe in Olympia a couple of times. We likes it.

So there you are. Things aren't all bad.

Jerk Points

2007-09-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

I think that there should be a stricter limit to the assholery that the average citizen is lawfully permitted to commit. I think that everyone should get a set number of "jerk points" to spend on various activities or items. And then, when your jerk points are gone, they're gone. The only way to get em back is to give up one of your jerky contrivances and until then, you are not permitted any jerk behavior.

Let's say, for example, that everyone gets 500 jerk points. Let's say that owning a cell phone will cost you 75 of those jerk points. Hey, I own a cell phone, and I'd admit that it's worth about 75 jerk points. But if you use Bluetooth then that'll cost you an extra 50 JP. OK. Certain things will cost more JP than others... sporting a fauxhawk is worth maybe 10 JP, but forgetting to say please and thank you to service workers is worth 80.

And let's say... let's say that owning a Hummer costs you all 500 of your jerk points. So if you are the individual who made a left turn and cut me off while I was walking in the ped xing today while you were driving your stupid black Hummer and talking on your cell phone, then you have committed a serious jerk point infraction, and your ass should be in jail. In jail while they pipe in Anne Coulter's steady stream of consciousness. If you can call it that.

Also, today at the library a dude got arrested by two cops right in front of me! Ooo!

Library Adventure Bonanza

2007-08-30T22:48:00.000-07:00

Today I actually witnessed a man blow his nose on his t-shirt. Just lifted it up off his belly and honked on it. Yep.

Also today I noticed that one of the people waiting for a computer smelled like soap! Soap! Instead of something else! I thought, 'Whoa! Things are looking up!' But it was a false alarm, because when I told one of my colleagues about it, she laughed and said, "Yeah, they're visiting from Australia."

And finally, I am forced to point out that not every miniscule little topic has an entire section of books, muchless one whole book, about it. Looking for the section on the pronounciation of the names of angels? Sorry. There isn't one.

Swappy

2007-08-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

I joined Swap-Bot a few weeks ago and have been happily swapping away. It's great. So great that I decided to host my own swap!

The swap I'm hosting is a Short-Short Story swap. We will be swapping an original short-short story of 60 words or fewer plus title. Go check the swap out at: http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/6853

The last day to sign up will be Sept. 10th. Come join my swap!

Adventures at the Reference Desk

2007-08-01T18:14:00.000-07:00

Today one of our regular patrons told me that I sure have nice teeth. How kind of him to notice on this, the one morning I couldn't brush due to cohabitation and overlapping bathroom schedules.

Someone was looking for books on chickens. Books on keep and raising chickens? No. Books on minimum requirements for showing chickens. Did we have a book on showing chickens? To my eternal surprise, we did.

Another person was looking for books on cats, domestic and wild. Turns out his elderly neighbor believed a recently-appearing stray cat to be from Africa.

A young girl asked if she might sing for us. The answer was yes, if the song was not too loud.

Picturesque

2007-07-14T10:08:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned how picturesque our little town is? It is. Quite. Picturesque. And quaint. There are moments when I think the quaintness might tumble us into a Norman Rockwell illustration. But it's the pituresqueness that strikes me more often than the quaintness. It's almost like the place is auditioning to be part of a David Lynch movie, if you get my drift.

On Thursday night Nico and I were invited to a dinner party our landlord was having. I thought it was a little odd because I've never had dinner or done anything socially with a landlord before, but this landlord is relatively young so we thought why not. There were a couple of women who were probably about my age and who were both from "the Harbor," (as folks call it around here) although one of them works in the South during the schoolyear. The other one has a photography studio here in town. Then there was another couple from CA who've been here three months and bought the huge old house behind us. They're here because of the cheapness of the houses and the proximity to Portland and Seattle. They're trying to get his art out there.

It was really sort of a relief to be able to sit and talk with people - other outsiders, in a way - in a casual environment. There were some weird and awkward moments to the conversation, as I think there often are when you're with new people, but overall it was nice. I don't feel quite as isolated as I did, because now I've at least talked to some people here who are more 'like us.' Not too similar, though. I only hope we made a good enough impression to be included again in the future.

To be honest, we'd quite like to host some dinner parties, but we've still got unpacked boxes and no furniture. Though at least we're a little closer to knowing who we could invite.

Oh, and if you're a foodie like I am, the dinner was quite nice. There was:
green salad with cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, oil and lemon juice dressing
corn on the cob
some kind of crusty bread
olives
skin-on pan seared salmon
a cheese course, two soft (probably a blue) and one hard, but I don't know what they were
And one of the other guests brought a fresh fruit tort she had made. Let me tell you, we are not used to our fruit being that good in AZ. It was fantastic.

Time to start brushing up on my cooking repertoire.

Week 1 and Beyond

2007-07-08T14:13:00.000-07:00

Alrighty. I've been meaning to post for about a week now, to avoid the giant mega-post that seems to take all day to write, but here I am now: 2 weeks gone from Tucson and still no update. I will strive to be light on words and heavy on pictures. Really.

Thank you again to James for throwing me the most kick-ass going-away party I could have hoped for. Eegees and rum is a taste explosion I will very much miss. And thanks to everyone who made it out to give me a big send-off. I'm blessed to have such friends and I miss you all.

So, on Sunday the 24th we had the awsome help of Dom, Gallant and Aziza while we loaded up the truck from both our apartments. There's not much else to say about that other than it was hot and miserable and we surely couldn't have done it alone. We stayed the night at my sister's in Phoenix and headed out bright and early the next morning, making it to Modesto CA by sundown. On Tuesday morning we left Modesto and, despite some minor setbacks (traffic, blowing a tire on the truck) made it to Portland that night. Wow. What can I say? I wish we'd had more time to spend in Portland because it looked like an urban heaven. I'm sure we'll be making a few trips down there in the coming months. On Wednesday morning we allowed ourselves a bit of a lay-in (we didn't get up until 8!) and had a real breakfast before hitting the road one final time.

We made it to Aberdeen just after noon and, long story short, began moving into our new place that afternoon. So, our place: 2 bedroom, 1 bath nichigh ceilings, e bath, coin-op shared laundry, mostly carpet, new kitchen appliances, gas fireplace, huge windows, big walk-in closet, 1700 square feet (give or take) and "up the hill," which is apparently a plus when you live in a Tsunami hazard zone. I kid you not. Oh, the apartment is part of a large house which was originally built in 1900 and then added on to over the years. It's now been split up into 4 apartments, only ours being currently occupied. And it's 4 blocks from the library, so I walk to work and come home at lunch. Ideal, right?

Here is a picture of our creepy-looking old house:

And here are some pictures of our lush-looking yard areas:

And that's not all, check this shit out:

Uh-huh, that's moss. It just grows out here... on the ground, on the sidwalks, on the trees, sometimes even on people's roofs.

And take a look at this ferny goodness...

It's like a jungle, no? In fact, we are just a couple of hours south of the rainforests. We plan to go up there are some point, hopefully spot ourselves some banana slugs. Yup. I wanna see a banana slug. Oh! and here, look at this:

A soft, downy fiddlehead fern thingy. Cool! It's a little like being in Jurassic Park.

So, about our town... Ah, Aberdeen. Not much to do in Aberdeen. People are nice, though we haven't seen many our age. Small town, you know? We figure that most of the folks our age either settled down here and had babies, or they left. So.

But work at the library is nice. I think I'll like it there. It's nice to be doing something that I went to school for, and it's nice to be able to leave my work at work.

So far we've made three trips into Olympia (small but nice and urban. I wouldn't mind living there), seen the big 4th of July deal that they have down at the river, and drove out to the coast. The coast was only about 30 minutes away, and they let people drive their cars right out onto the beach. The sand there is packed hard enough. And we also got to see and tour two replica tall ships, the Lady Washington (which calls Aberdeen her home and appeared prominently in the first two Pirates movies) and the Hawaiian Chieftain. So, here are some pictures of the 4th of July thing, the ships and the beach. Enjoy:

Interview part 2, moving

2007-06-14T14:28:00.000-07:00

So yes, I did my second interview with the Aberdeen library by phone, and they asked far fewer questions that time around. I again didn't feel like I did too spectacularly, but later in the day I began to get notice that my references were being checked. A good sign. Still, I didn't think the job was 100% in the bag and I began to prepare myself to continue the job search.

Then a week ago I got the job.

Nico and I are moving to Aberdeen. We leave Tucson on the 24th and will spend the night with my sister up in Chandler, and then we will leave the state on the 25th. Right now we're busy with packing and worrying and trying to find an apartment. So. I won't have much time to update in the next 2-3 weeks, but after that I can begin to talk about life in WA. It'll be great!

Right now in Tucson it is 102 degrees.

In Aberdeen it is 61 degrees.

Seattle and Interview, Part 1

2007-06-01T15:36:00.000-07:00

So, last week I flew to Seattle to hang out with my friend Darren and to interview for a library position in the town of Aberdeen. You remember Aberdeen. It's where Kurt Cobain grew up, apparently. It was fantastic.

I flew in on Wed. afternoon and picked up a rental car. They gave me a red one. With a spoiler. Here is me looking happy next to my rental car:
Then I drove into Kirkland, where Darren lives and works, to pick up a key from him and get directions to his place. Darren lives in a cute but expensive apartment. Although he has been there for, what, a year now, he has still not unpacked everything from his last move. His apartment is a study in what I would call unintentional minimalism. Darren is a bachelor:
When Darren got off work we went to a very good Thai restaurant in nearby Bothel. Apparently one of the recent contestants of American Idol is from Bothel. It was in all the papers there. Here is a street in Bothel:
Afterwards we went to a park and looked at Lake Washington, across which we could barely make out Seattle. I was amazed - shocked! - by the absence of mosquitos, and was charmed by the serenity of the lake. Ver' nice.
On Thursday morning I got ready for my interview in Aberdeen. There was a small fiasco involving pantyhose, but I got the situation under control and drove down there. I used the drive to psyche myself into a weird state of nervous calm, and then at the appointed hour I took the plunge and did my interview. OK. I left the library feeling very disappointed in myself. I didn't feel like I did very well, although they did like the 3 booktalks I gave. I drove around Aberdeen a bit to take pictures and try to get a feeling for the town, which didn't work too well because I was feeling pretty dejected and was sure I would not be seeing this place again. So. Here are a couple of pictures of residential Aberdeen, looking south over the town:
Then I thought I should probably get something to eat, so I stopped at a place called Duffy's. A sign outside the restaurant advised me to get the fish n chips, which I did. They weren't so good. But the waitress was friendly. I drove around a little bit more and then began heading out of town. On the highway out of town I noticed signs reading "Tsunami Evacuation Route," which I thought was pretty exciting. I stopped on the road overlooking the spot where the river begins to turn into the harbor and took these shots of Aberdeen and the lumber yard. Yeah. Lumber. Or is it timber?

So then I got back on the road and began the drive back to Kirkland. Aberdeen is 40-some miles outside Olympia, which is a drive you can do in under an hour. Then it's another hour and a half or so, depending on traffic, to the Seattle area. The drive between Olympia and Aberdeen is very nice, going through some pine forests and some more open meadow or farmland. This is what it looked like:
That day was also technically Darren's birthday, so that evening he drove us into Seattle, to the Capital Hill area where we walked around, ate sushi, bought soap from Bliss (they were so nice! I love this shop!), etc. It was very fun, and very cool. Darren assured me that it was also very expensive if you were looking to live there, which I can believe. Still. It'd be an interesting neighborhood. Unfortunately I have no pictures of the Capital Hill area, because I didn't want to look so obviously like the tourist I was. You can do a Google Images search if you really wanna know.

The next morning I got a call from the Aberdeen library - they wanted to include me in a second round of interviews! Unfortunately I couldn't change my plans to stay, so we decided on a phone interview. What a pleasant surprise. It brightened my mood for the rest of the trip.

Darren took the day off work. We took my rental car back and then drove out to Mount Rainier. Holy cow, that's a big mountain. Here in AZ our mountains are relatively small, plentiful and nearby. Mount Rainier was at least a 2-hour drive away. It's also huge and covered in glaciers. Yes. While it was hot and nasty here in Tucson, I got to drive part-way up a mountain and see snow. I loved it.
I learned that despite the glaciers and several feet of snow still present in late May, Rainier is actually an active volcano. If it were to erupt, there's a good chance Seattle would be wiped out. Fun.
Pretty-pretty. Oh, and on the way back we saw some deer:

That night we had dinner with one of Darren's friends and his entourage. Then we went out to a bar to play pool. I did even worse at it than I used to. Oh well. They were very entertaining folks, but I was exhausted and had to go home and sleep.

The next day we went into Seattle again, this time to go to the Pike Place market! Fantastic!
I love the Pike Place market. I want to live near it. Maybe someday, huh? I got a tasty apple-pastry thing, ate some strawberries, saw the fishmongers tossing the fish around, visited the comic shop, and generally enjoyed myself. Here is a picture of me feeling elated at the market:
After the market we had lunch at a bagel shop, where I was very adventurous and tried lox for the first time. Yum. Then we went to the Space Needle.
Uh-huh. The Space Needle.
It costs $16 per adult for a ride up to the top, which I think is a bit much. But we went up, anyway. I took some pictures from the elevator. Here's one:
And then of course I took a bunch of pictures from the top. I was feeling pretty nervous being up that high. They had the observation deck all netted-in with wires to keep anyone from falling off. I still felt pretty nervous. I kept imagining what my camera and glasses would look like falling off the Space Needle. But that didn't happen, and yes, I took pictures. Here's one of Lake Washington:
And here's one of this hippy-folk-festival that was taking place:
And here are a couple of Puget Sound:

After that I made Darren take me to a yarn shop (Hilltop Yarn) where I wandered around in a yarn-haze before buying 5 balls of soft Cashsoft DK in the Thunder colorway. So nice and gray.

That night we went out for a huge sushi dinner (again) and then I had some time to pack and relax.

The next morning it was raining. Finally! My entire trip had been gorgeous; the days were sunny or only partly cloudy and temps were in the 70's during the day. Lovely and a nice break from the Tucson heat, but I didn't feel like I was getting a very accurate WA experience. But that final morning it rained. Here is the rain on the way to the Seattle airport, early Sunday morning:
I made my flight, and when we touched down in Tucson around 10:40 am it was in the 90's. Yeek.

But I had a great time in Seattle. I loved it. I want to go back.

Graduation and What's Next

2007-05-11T15:17:00.000-07:00

Damn. It's been almost a month. Sorry.

Tomorrow afternoon I wear the dumb robes and funny hat and I celebrate the completion of my degree with all the other graduates at the U of A. Wow. It's almost too much to think about. I didn't take any time off between high school and college, or between college and grad school. And during college I only took one semester off. I've been in school for a long time now, and I'm about to be officially done.

I've been applying for library positions (6 of them so far) in a couple different states, and until yesterday I'd only gotten 1 interview. Now I have in interview in two weeks (eek) in a small town in WA state. I just bought my plane ticket and I plan to stay with a friend in the Seattle area. I am trying to be calm. It is hard to do. I'm feeling a little light-headed, although that may just be the heat (my swamp cooler's broken and I don't have AC).

So, wish me luck with the interview. And with getting my swamp fixed.

Another Meme!

2007-04-16T18:16:00.000-07:00

To celebrate some of the last homework avoidance I will do as part of my academic career (because I'm graduating! Finally! squee!) I thought I'd revisit my favorite homework avoidance technique, that is, memes.

Here goes.

1. Where were you on July 4th 2006?
In Phoenix with a boyfriend.

2. How did you get the idea for your blog name?
It's a really boring story.

3. What song are you listening to right now?
I Against I by Massive Attack

4. What color is your cellphone?
silver

5. Who was the last person you messaged on myspace?
Um... Erika, maybe?

6. Do you own an iPod?
Yes. I love it.

7. What was the first thing you thought of this morning?
My dream.

8. What does your dad do for a living?
My dad used to be some kind of aerospace engineer.

9. What will you do tonight?
Homework and then probably go to the Electric Six show.

10. Whats your favorite memory from last weekend?
Making fleischchuechla with my sister while The Boy looked on.

11. What are the last two digits of your cellphone number?
That's a pretty dumb question.

12. What was the last thing that you had to drink?
Water.

14. What was the last movie you watched?
Happy Feet.

15. What do you dislike at the moment?
Homework and job searching.

16. What food do you crave right now?
I just had dinner.

17. What did you dream last night?
Typing.

18. What was the last TV show you watched?
I don't really remember.

19. What is your favorite piece of jewelry?
My petrified ammonite pendant.

20. Name 3 ppl who are just like you.
No one is just like me.

21. Do you always lock your bedroom door?
No. When there are children present I do. Not my children - my sister's.

22. Do you like your boss?
I guess.

23. Are you on any medication?
No, thank goodness.

24. What side of the bed do you sleep on?
Whichever is next to the wall.

25. What color shirt are you wearing?
Kinda peach.

26. What is your favorite frozen treat?
Cookies n cream ice cream.

27. How many piercings do you have?
4.

28. What's your favorite store?
I'm not at all certain I have one.

29. Are you thirsty right now?
A little bit.

30. Who's someone you haven't seen in a while and miss?
Angie T.

31. What did you do last night?
Made dinner with The Boy and watched Happy Feet.

32. Do you care what people think about you?
Yeah, but not as much as I used to.

33. Have you ever done something to make trouble?
Of course.

35. What are your font colors on AIM?
Is this question for real? Do people actually care about this shit?

36. Where do you live?
Tucson, AZ.

37. Are you aggressive?
In the car, yes.

38. Cell phone company?
Verizon.

39. Energy Drink?
Coffee. But I do like the smoothies with the added power-up shots.

40. When is your birthday?
6/16.

41. What is the thing that you would most like to change about you?
My tendency to procrastinate and over-eat. There. That's pretty boring.

42. What word do you say alot?
Nice.

43. What do you smell like right now?
Garlic, I'd wager.

44. What are your favorite colors?
Red, black, grey, pink, green and blue.

45. Do you like mustard?
Occasionally with a pretzel.

46. What do you tell yourself when times get hard?
That I'm not a bad person.

47. Would you ever sky-dive?
Mmmm, no.

49. Have you ever bid for something on eBay?
Yes.

51. Do you enjoy giving hugs?
When they're not perfunctory.

53. Do you own a digital camera?
Yes.

54. What is your favorite TV show?
Good Eats.

55. Who is your favorite Star Wars character?
Yoder.

56. Does it annoy you when someone says they'll call but don't?
It used to. Not so much anymore. Sometimes, though.

57. Are you a jealous person?
Yeah, but I'm working on it.

59. Do you ever feel guilty after eating meat?
Sometimes.

60. If you were born the opposite sex, what would your name be?
Kirk. As in, Captain. My dad luuurrved Star Trek.

Springtime in the Old Pueblo

2007-04-10T09:47:00.000-07:00

Ah, nothing says spring like a cliched blog entry on the topic, no? So, watch for the usual: discussion of local spring versus national spring, discussion of the weather, picture of flowers, reflection on knitting during warm temperatures.

For a few weeks now I've been noticing a springtime trend in other people's blog entries, complete with beautiful pictures of blooming bulbs and daffodils, etc. And I enjoy reading about spring in other parts of the country, I really do. Now, according to the weather reports and several recent blog entries, parts of the country have backslid into winter's last hurrah. Newly-planted flowerbeds have been blighted with frost, and lovely sprouting bulbs have had their genitals freeze and wither (it's true you know: those pretty pretty flowers are the plants' baby-making gear).

To this I have one response: Luckyyyyyy.

Here in southern Arizona, spring is a razor-thin month and a half and is defined by two natural occurrences: temperatures in the low to mid 90's, and the presence of pollen. Lots. Of pollen. Arizona has one of the highest pollen counts in the country. For the past month, according to weather.com, Tucson's pollen counts have been either 'high' or 'very high,' with few exceptions. But in case you're wondering, it wasn't always this way. We used to have one of the lowest pollen counts in the country. Sure, the desert would always bloom in spring, but compared to other parts of the country it was nothing. That is, until people with bad allergies moved down here and brought their allergen-producing plants with them to a region with an early and long growing season. Smart: S-M-R-T.

Now let me take a step back and remind you of the other big springtime signifier: temperatures in the 90's. In some parts of the country temps in the 90's is as hot or hotter than it gets alllll summer. But here, it's just part of spring's glory. When the temperature is in the low or mid 90's, we know it's spring. But when it edges into the upper 90's, it's summer. Even in the desert, 98 degrees cannot masquerade as spring's gentle warmth. 92 degrees can, but 98? No.

So for anyone lucky enough to reside in a cooler part of the country I say count your blessings. Your flower bed may have been destroyed by a late frost, but you can replant. We here in the old pueblo will not see cooling temperatures for another 6 months. Literally.

But springtime in Arizona isn't all bad. Witness our palo verde trees, which bloom abundantly into brilliant yellow firecrackers each year:

OK, so the color quality on these photos isn't super. But trust me, these blooms are bright, bright yellow. Lovely.

And come summertime, what's a desert-dwelling knitter to do? Knit socks? Knit lace? Well, yes and yes. I am hoping to knit some lace, a few sweaters (we'll see), and plenty of socks this summer. Socks are a good choice because they don't cover your lap as you knit, and the superwash sock yarn has the added bonus of not felting in your fingers. Seriously. When it's 110 degrees outside you've got to plan your projects carefully.

2007-04-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

1. I need a job.
2. Soon I will graduate with a master's degree and minimal experience which I must parlay into a job.
3. Cover letters.
4. ALA conference?
5. I wish I could knit on my way up to Phoenix.
6. My party on Saturday. Will anyone come?
7. Work clothes. How can I get some?
8. Relocating. Where.
9. Am I a fraud?
10. The manager at work. What is wrong with her?
11. I ordered a MacBook.
12. Maybe I should stop drinking coffee.
13. Bringing wine and hors d'oeuvres for Easter at my sister's.
14. The lace scarf I ripped out and rewound.

2007-03-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

Hint

Recently The Boy let drop that he wanted to buy his already-on-the-edge-of-spoiled girlfriend a present. But because this spoiled girlfriend is also picky-picky, he was worried about picking out something she wouldn't hate.

If The Boy is reading this then I'd like to take the opportunity to make some gentle suggestions. Ahem.

Scout seems like a very nice lady and she dyes yarn in lovely colors. The spoiled, picky girlfriend would be thrilled to recieve "100% Superwash Merino Fingering" (that's sock weight) in any of the following colorways: Bluetini or Bluetini Twist, Death Eaters, Puesta del Sol or Puesta del Sol Twist, VanGogh, Gimlet, Cookie, or Bibliotheque. Pretty, pretty.

Or maybe a swift, for winding the yarn. You know.

2007-03-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

After the initial shock wore off I realized a few years ago that I don't really mind getting gray hair. It's when the gray hairs fall out and then wink up at me from my comb that I really start to worry.

2007-03-24T17:23:00.000-07:00

Not Fair

I know it's not fair to just post a meme after almost 2 months of not blogging, but guess what, kids: life ain't always fair.
Ahem. If you're reading this, then tag! You're it! Copy and repost, yadda yadda.

Look at the list of books below:
* Bold the ones you’ve read
* Italicize the ones you want to read
* Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.

If you are reading this (and haven't participated yet), tag, you’re it!
1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Hmm. 21 out of 100 doesn't sound too good for an aspiring librarian, does it? Well, goodness gracious, who in hell chose that list? I'm tempted to make up my own booklist for this meme. Or at least, replace some of the titles on the existing list.
OK. Some titles from my own bookshelves:

1. Blankets (Thompson)
2. House of Leaves (Danielewski)
3. Wicked (Maguire)
4. Moby Dick (Melville)
5. And the Ass Saw the Angel (Cave)
6. Shoeless Joe (Kinsella)
7. Dracula (Stoker)
8. Baron in the Trees (Calvino)
9. From Hell (Moore)
10. Only the End of the World Again (Gaiman)
11. Jelly Roll (Young)
12. Julie and Julia (Powel)
13. Sagas of Icelanders
14. I Wonder as I Wander (Hughes)
15. American Gods (Gaiman)
16. Satanic Verses (Rushdie)
17. One Hundred Demons (Barry)
18. Understanding Comics (McCloud)
19. The Water Flowers (Gorey)
20. Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams (Plath)
21. The Dream Songs (Berryman)
22. The Elegant Universe (Greene)
23. Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Friere)
24. Tale of Genji (Murasaki)
25. Lolita (Nabokov)
26. Sula (Morrison)
27. House on Mano Street (Cisneros)
28. Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye (Byers)
29. Indian Killer (Alexi)
30. Master and Margerita (Bulgakov)
31. Gnomes (Poortvliet)
32. My Faith in Frankie (Carey)
33. Polly and the Pirates (Naifeh)
34. The Scar (Mieville)
35. Everything is Illuminated (Foerr)
36. Through the Looking Glass (Carroll)
37. Esperanza Rising (Ryan)
38. Godless (Hautman)
39. Salt (Kurlansky)
40. Fear and Trembling (Kierkegaard)
41. Middlesex (Eugenides)
42. The Good Soldier (Ford)
43. Persepolis (Satrapi)
44. Something Wicked This Way Comes (Bradbury)
45. The Devil in Massachusetts (Starkey)
46. A Painted Field (Robinson)
47. Les Fleurs du Mal (Baudelaire)
48. Pippi Longstocking (Lindgren)
49. Confederacy of Dunces (Toole)
50. Story of O (Reage)

OK. I'll stop there. You get the point.

2007-02-02T09:04:00.000-08:00

Groundhog/St. Brigid Poetry Day

Because poetry is important. I found out about this from Julie, who has a poem posted on her own blog. So really, I'm just doing my part.

ARTICHOKE
by Robin Robertson

The nubbed leaves
come away
in a tease of green, thinning
down to the membrane:
the quick, purpled,
beginnings of the male.

Then the slow hairs of the heart:
the choke that guards its trophy,
its vegetable goblet.
The meat of it lies, displayed,
up-ended, al dente,
the stub-root aching in its oil.

2007-01-26T09:50:00.000-08:00

In Lieu of a Real Post...

Here are a bunch of pictures of some of the things I gave as gifts last xmas, and what-not.

Here are the Dr. Suess wristies I made for Erika (and those are my fat arms modeling them, not her lovely shapely ones). The yarn is Twisted Lie from Jacey Boggs of Insubordiknit fame. To me, the colors look very Suessian, and that's how they got their name.

Here's the cabled scarf I knit for step-dad Jerry. The yarn is 50% wool, 50% soy. He loved it and wanted to show it off to everyone. That made me pretty happy. He's pretty nice.

The scarf I knit for Chiara, out of a yarn called Elephant Bugbite hand-spun by Jessica of In Hope. This yarn was soooo soft, and I couldn't think of anyone it would be more perfect for than Chiara.

Here are the finished Pocket Creatures I made for my niece in Alaska. They are stuffed with little packets of rice and lavender, so they would smell good when heated up. I hope they worked out.

Here is Darren modeling the Boring Bloke hat I made for him from the Center Square pattern on Knitty. I think I used smaller needles and put in more pattern repeats than called for. The smaller needles were my fault, but most of the extra repeats are due to the fact that Darren's head is huge.

Here's Jenny modeling both the scarves I gave her: Braided and Worms and Fishes. Worms and Fishes was made from a combination of cheap but soft novelty yarn and Jealousy from Insubordiknit. I loved that scarf best of all, I think. And apparently Jenny's aunt loved the Braided scarf so much that Jenny's asked me to knit an all-black one for her aunt's birthday. She said she'd pay me, and I usually don't like to knit "custom orders" like that, but since it is my sweet Jenny, I'll make an exception. This once.

And here's a scarf I made for myself last fall using Wooded Tryst from Insubordiknit and a very truncated version of Branching Out. I luuuuuurrrvve this yarn. It was a singles but it was perfect and smooth and not at all splitty. I loved it so much that when I finished the scarf I almost ripped it out so that I could knit with it all over again. But I restrained myself. Barely.

And right now I've got 4 projects on my needles: lace scarf for Bev (still), Felty Thing for The Boy, small bit of lace, and gray cabled wristies for me. Mm-hmm.

2007-01-16T17:09:00.000-08:00

A Small Step Back

So, after charting out a simple intarsia diamond pattern for The Boy's Felted Object and getting that well under way, I looked deep into the knitting and had a change of heart. The yarn, I decided was simply too nice to be felted into oblivion. Also, I didn't have enough to finish the project, and the thought of going out and buying more of this nice pretty yarn with the intention of felting all the neat thick-n-thin texture out of it seemed like a crime. So I pulled it out, wound it back up, and put it aside for some other Boy-oriented project. Now I've got to go and buy some normal felting yarn and knit that thing up quick. It was originally going to be a xmas present, and it's well overdue.

And other than that I've been having a fantastic time being an intern. I'm learning a lot about the daily life of a library program. It's great. I almost feel like a grown-up.

Hot Cha!

2007-01-12T16:06:00.000-08:00

Socken

They are finished, thank god. My first ratty-tatty pair of socks, knit on #2 Clover dpns and Addi Turbo circs, with the heel flap and turn done on #1's for sturdiness. I used the Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton sock yarn, which is 45% cotton, 42% wool and 13% polyamid. And I even had some left over.

To be quite honest, I fucked up a lot with these socks, not that you can really tell so much from the picture. But that was the point, right? These were the Learning to Knit Socks socks. And since they're only for me, I guess I don't care too much that they're so very far from perfect. Still, I think I need to make at least another pair before I feel confident enough to gift some to anyone. So, the St. Paddy socks will be the next pair for me, and then after that maybe I'll be ready to make socks for Grandma.

Ahhhhhhhh. Breathe that sweet sock-freedom.

And since the Awful Socks are now laundered and folded up in my sock drawer, I can turn my attention back to the other WIPs. There's the lace scarf I'm making for Bev, out of this crazy fingering weight alpaca/silk blend. This is the first lace I've knit using actual lace yarn. And it's been a while since I've worked on this lace, despite my promise to myself that I was going to touch the lace every day. Oh well. There's also a hat for Jenn, a felted object for The Boy, a swatch I started for a shawl, and a head-band made from the pattern on the super-cute Brooklyn Michelle's blog.

2007-01-05T21:57:00.000-08:00

WTF?

Why are Clover #2 needles 2.75 mm, while Addi Turbo #2 needles are 3mm? Shouldn't a 2 be a 2 no matter what brand they are? Goddammit, it's fucking up my guage!!

2007-01-05T14:18:00.000-08:00

Sock Hole

I cannot allow socks to beat me. I must knit more socks, if for no other reason than that I keep buying sock yarn,which will eventually pile up and haunt my dreams if I don't start knitting with it.

So.

I've been forcing myself into a sock compulsion. I went and bought a pair of the Addi Turbo circs, as per the advice of the LYS lady. And I guess the Addies really are faster, if you don't count all the little dropped stitches I have to stop and fix. I swear, these needles are slicker than David Bowie in a rainstorm. But I think I'm finally getting used to them, which is good because they're a little on the es'pensive side for this knitter. And yet, I want another pair...

Yesterday I fell into a sock hole. I woke up at about 8am and did little else but knit on sock #2 all day. I had planned to do other things, useful and important things, but before I knew it the day was gone and I was over halfway through the heel flap. Which is good, because I have come to hate hate hate the 2x2 leg ribbing. It's my own fault, I know, but I wanted something simple for my first pair of socks.

But my second pair of socks? Oh hoho, I've already got it worked out: lacy knee-highs. And if that weren't crazy enough, I've given myself a deadline too. March 17. Yep. These will be the St. Patrick's Day socks, and I plan to wear them out drinking. I think by then I'll need a drink, don't you? But wait until you see how pretty these socks will be! I've chosen the Waterfall Socks pattern from Knitspot. Go look at it; it's lovely and I think it'll be relatively easy to add in purl stitches between the lace to make them big enough to go around my oh-so-shapely calves. And the yarn? What would be more suitable for the St. Patty's socks than Fearless Fibers Kildare colorway? Oh tremble, all you non-believers.

2006-12-14T08:40:00.000-08:00

Festy

Ah, yes. Here it is: the final report on the egg nog. After aging in the fridge for 3 weeks as per the recipe, The Boy and I cracked this stuff open and had ourselves a little taste.

The first thing that we noticed, of course, was the deeply alcoholic smell wafting from the jug. I figured this was a good sign, because how could the milk and eggs possibly go bad with that much alcohol sloshing around in there. Next came the sexy pin-up photoshoot of the nog in front of the tree, and then finally we were ready to take the first sip.

Whoo. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. The nog turned out really strong and smooth. There's a bit of an alcoholic burn that shows up on the middle of the tongue, but after that it goes down sweet and smooth. It's quite lovely, with a much better (less thick-and-gluey) mouthfeel than the regular store-bought stuff. Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a winner.

My only quibble is that I swear I can detect a faint hint of the bad brandy I used to substitute the cognac, and it's possible that I'm right. So to test this theory, yesterday I whipped up another batch, with The Boy donating half a cup of some really nice cognac he likes. The pouring went smoother, and I spilled nary a drop transferring it from the pot to the jug. This batch will age just a little less than the called-for 3 weeks, and then we'll be sharing it around at whatever New Year's Eve party is lucky enough to host us. Until then, it sits in the fridge undergoing whatever magical chemical reactions it takes to transform from a bunch of dairy-and-liquor to the sublime concoction it's meant to be.

Cheers.

2006-12-09T09:35:00.000-08:00

Progress

That's what's happening, yes yes! This morning when I finally woke up I was actually breathing through my nose! And my throat wasn't hurting quite as much as yesterday morning. Of course the breathing thing changed as soon as I sat up... and my throat is still hurting as I type this, which may have something to do with the fact that my ears feel like they've been draining. Yeah, eww. But still, can the end be far away? I think not.

And as far as the christmas knitting goes, well, I've made a lot of progress since I started... back in September. But I've still got a ways to go in the home stretch, partly because I keep adding new projects on. The person who was going to get the Worms and Fish scarf will not be getting that, but will be getting something that is, hopefully, a better fit for him. I'm also mostly, but not quite, done with the third Knitty Pocket Creature for the arctic-dwelling niece. When that's done I've still got the finishing touches to put on all three. I'm still working on the soon-to-be-mismatching yarn mittens for myself. And there's the felted thing for The Boy, which is yet to be started. And then, I've added on two more projects that will probably not be done in time: a lace scarf for the mom-type person in my life, since I totally missed her birthday last month, and another pair of Fetching gloves, for my sister's birthday. But that one can maybe wait a bit.

2006-12-06T15:13:00.000-08:00

Karmacoma

Today was a good day; I was up and dressed before 6 pm, I met with the lady who's going to host my practicum next semester, wrote up a proposal, and got some paperwork signed by my advisor and turned in. I also had enough energy that I decided to get up and fight this bug, so I went and stocked up on sicky supplies: juice, kleenex, peppermint tea and Nyquil (because I was out of those things) and some of those effervescent vitamin-and-herbal tablets. I figure it can't hurt, so why not give it a go?

But let me just say that I am so, SO relieved to have gotten my practicum (like an internship) sorted. Yep. Starting January 8th I'll be interning at the Wilmot branch of the public library. If I weren't so light-headed from the Sick, I'd get up and do a little dance.

And ohhhhh, I've got some knitting pictures to share. I can just sense your enthrallment. Well, it's nothing too exciting, but I finally got over my second-sock-syndrome and started on sock #2! Got almost two inches of the (boring, boring, boring) leg ribbing done last Friday night whilst having tea with Erika, just before the Sick settled in. And while I was sitting there, who should show up in the cafe but the lady I usually see working at Kiwi, the LYS. We chatted a bit about my slow sock progress (I started these suckers back in May, I think), and she offered to teach me how to knit on two circulars instead of the dpns, and added that since I'm a continental knitter, the circulars might make the work faster for me. Ooooohh, "continental knitter," that sounds so sexy! Just like that Prince song, "The Continental." Yep, that's me: doing the knitting how it wants to be done.

Aaaaaaand, I've got two out of three of the Knitty pocket creatures nearly done for my niece in Alaska. I think they look a little demented, but cute demented. Or am I just deluding myself? I'm not totally sure I'd want to play with/keep these things around if I were my super-girly (but still incredibly tough) niece. Is this another case of me knitting someone a gift because I want to make it rather than because they'll like it? Only time will tell, I suppose. Or maybe it won't. I mean, how hard would it be to tell a little white lie over the phone?.... "Oh, sure Ang, Ailie uses those creepy - I mean, cute - little things every day.." Well. Not too hard, I suppose. So far the one on the left is my favorite, because of his eyes and because he doesn't have any arms. The one with the orange hair turned out a little too rasta... or a little too Carrot Top, take your pick.

And finally, some sad news. For those of you who knew them, the super orange and green wristies I made last year are no more, due to the loss of the right-hand wristie at the movies on Sunday night. I called the theater to check lost and found as soon as I realized what had happened, and the Boy even went over there in person the next day, but no luck. So tell me, dear blog-friends, would it be too Michael Jackson to make myself a new, non-matching glove/wristie? Is it ok to mix and match? I eagerly await your tender advice. Perhaps it's the loss of the beloved wristie, or perhaps it's the fact that I'm off to the Bitter North in 2 short weeks, but I was finally moved to try and make something out of this freebie yarn Jacey sent me, called Sorbet Clouds. It's not really my color, not really my thing, but as soon as I started to knit these thick-and-bulky mittens, I fell a little bit in love. The colors are much softer and girlier than I normally go for, and the yarn itself is fuzzy enough to give off a halo... it's kind of like coming home to the girl I could've been, if things had gone a little differently back in high school. But, as is my usual curse, I don't have enough yarn to completely finish the second mitten, so these will be a little punk too by being finished in a non-matching yarn. And you know, I'm actually starting to like that look. I just need to work on making it look a little more on-purpose.

2006-12-05T13:36:00.000-08:00

Laid Low and Letting Go

Whatever this new bug is I've caught, it's really doing a number on me. It's been going strong since Friday night and there haven't been too many signs of it letting up yet. At least the symptoms have been changing a bit here and there, just for variety's sake. Gone are the achey muscles and sinus headache, in exchange for mucous: runny nose and expectoration. This morning it was so bad I almost thought I had another case of the dreaded lung butter.

There's nothing for it now but to do what everybody always tells you to do in these situations: relax, drink the fluids, stay home and rest. For whatever reason, I always seem to have a hard time with just letting go and being sick. There's no way I could work in this condition, but I feel guilty for staying home. If I don't accomplish something every day, I feel like a bit of a failure. And I keep pushing myself a little bit too far every day, hoping that if I just act healthy enough, this thing will quit. Like a childhood fantasy, right?

So chalk today up as an exercise in letting go. It's mid-afternoon and I haven't showered or changed out of my pjs. I haven't checked my email, or paid those bills online yet, or washed dishes. I have managed to take a 2-hour nap. I've done a little knitting, which I'll talk about on another post. But now I've got to go... I can't keep my virus waiting.

2006-11-25T12:34:00.000-08:00

Were you surprised? I was surprised.

You are The Lovers

Motive, power, and action, arising from Inspiration and Impulse.

The Lovers represents intuition and inspiration. Very often a choice needs to be made.

Originally, this card was called just LOVE. And that's actually more apt than "Lovers." Love follows in this sequence of growth and maturity. And, coming after the Emperor, who is about control, it is a radical change in perspective. LOVE is a force that makes you choose and decide for reasons you often can't understand; it makes you surrender control to a higher power. And that is what this card is all about. Finding something or someone who is so much a part of yourself, so perfectly attuned to you and you to them, that you cannot, dare not resist. This card indicates that the you have or will come across a person, career, challenge or thing that you will fall in love with. You will know instinctively that you must have this, even if it means diverging from your chosen path. No matter the difficulties, without it you will never be complete.

What Tarot Card are You?
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