Smelly Blog Prize and an Interview...

Once again, please forgive the craptastic photography...

I received my blog prize from Nell yesterday, and it was smelly... in the most wonderful way:



In addition to the two skeins of light turquoise Lorna Lace's sock yarn (how on Earth did she know this is one of my favourite colours?!), she enclosed one of her handmade soaps - in lemon verbena. I honestly don't know if I have received a better smelling package ever. I can't wait until I use up the soap currently in the bath so I can start using this one. Thank you, Nell!

Whilst surfing blogs this afternoon, I came across a set of interview questions on Lynnea's blog. She invited people to respond and she would send them interview questions in return - so here we go:

1. What one thing would you never buy at a discount store, no matter how great the bargain?

Other people's underwear (squick!)

2. If you could go back and change one decision in your past, what would it be?

Ooh... that's a heady question. I like to think I live a life of no regrets, but the truth is that there are things I wish I could change. I wish I had been able to say a proper good-bye to my Grandma. She died around this time 7 years ago. She had lung cancer and it had metastasized in her brain and was becoming less and less lucid. We knew things weren't good, so I flew up from Colorado (where we lived at the time) so I could spend some time with her. The first thing she did when she saw me? Accuse me of stealing the suitcase I was carrying from her. It went downhill from there. When it was time for me to fly back home she locked herself in her room and wouldn't come out to say goodbye to me. This makes me cry even now because I didn't fight for this and I let it go and she died a few weeks later.

3. What one talent do you wish you had?

I wish I had the talent to commandeer people's radio in their cars. That way when I have an idiot driving around me, I can break into their (surely crappy) radio station and say things like, "Dude! Seriously - ever hear of a turn signal?!?!" or "Pick a fu^%*&%ing lane and stay in it!"

4. If you could have lunch with one person in the world, who would it be?

Right now, my friend Tara because she is going through a tough time right now and all I want to do is give her a hug.

5. What one thing would you make illegal if you had that power?

Smoking. Plain and simple. I hate it and hate having anyone do it around me.

Want to play? Here's the scoop:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me." (and give me your email address if you can to make this easier on me!)
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Can't wait to see your answers!!!

Happy Wedding Day to Teri and Carl!

Don't they look lovely?



Okay - the pictures were later than intended - Teri sent them to me two days ago but I was having a problem downloading them for some reason. Teri and Carl were married up in the Yukon last week after a whirlwind romance. I love how my sister wears red on her wedding day ;) We P---- girls are something special!

This next picture knocked my socks off - my first thought was, 'Hmm - nice rings." My second? "DAMN! Why can't my camera take close-ups like that!?" Teri's friend Hazel took the pics and has passed along the model and specs for her camera. I see a camera purchase in my future once the bank account has recovered from paying the taxes!



This picture made me cry:



That is a pic of the happiest I have ever seen Teri look in my life. She is hugging our youngest sister, Jaime and Jaime's son, William. I wanted to be there so bad, Ter - but you are so far away!

Our New Lakefront Property

Isn't it beautiful?



That picture was taken about 9am Sunday morning, and trust me, it looked a lot worse 7am this morning... when there was a layer of ice and bloody snow (*#@#!*) on top of the lake. The rain had subsided by this afternoon and the water had receded and much more of our grass was showing by the time I got home. Scratch the new bathroom... project number one has become re-grading the backyard and having an external french drain installed. Oh - in the picture above Andrew was attempting to have a pump draw out some of the water to the street drain, but we had too much length of hose for the pump to be effective and so it overheated.

I went to a baby shower in the midst of the nor'easter yesterday, and this was my present to my friend Teri:



The baby sweater is Daisy from Knitty and the only change I made was to knit the sweater in one piece (I mean, joining the sleeves to the body at the armpit and knitting the raglan decreases all in one piece rather than sewing the sleeves on afterward). The hat is just a generic in my head pattern, and the booties are from the most recent issue of Knit Simple magazine. I know the booties look different sizes - buts trust me, they aren't!

And here is the lovely mom-to-be opening up her present at her surprise baby shower:

Blog Contest Prize, New Carpet, and a question...

My blog contest prize from Suzanne arrived on Friday:



Worsted weight Mountain Colors in 'Ruby Red' - back off Dad - it's mine! I think an extra-warm pair of socks might find their way out of this pie of yarn.

Also in the mail on Friday... our new living room carpet!



Don't judge it on her expression - she thinks it is a wrestling mat now! It's an area carpet because we wanted to leave some of the glorious floor visible - but realized we needed a carpeted area for Willow to play. The carpet is from Home Depot in 'Multi Mallory' - it is sort of a muted aqua/sage/moss squares and rectangle pattern with bamboo leaves on top. One afternoon when the sun is coming in the window I will have to take a better picture.

And onto the question... some of you are heavy duty gardeners - I know by seeing some if the projects going on on your respective blogs right now. We have a *big* drainage problem right now, made worse by the current nor'easter laying a deluge on us right now. I'll take a picture later to demonstrate - but does anyone have any ideas on how to better drain your yard? Andrew has just run out to Home Depot to try and get a pump so we can pump it to the street drain - but we literally look like we have a lake in our backyard at the moment. And no, this was nowhere in the disclosure when we bought the house...

This is so not a surprise...

Found on Shan's blog:

You Are 8% Girly

Um... you're a guy, right? If not, you're the most boyish girl in the world. And for you, that's probably the ultimate compliment.

How Girly
Are You?

The only two parts I said yes to were occasionally worrying about my weight and being a sucker for babies and kittens. I've been a tomboy from the start and being married and having a child hasn't seemed to change that. Andrew compares me to a Spartan mother - "Come home with your shield or don't come home at all" I think is how it goes. Lately Willow has been whiny about her friends: "So-and-so was mean to me or GirlA said she didn't want to play with me..." Oh my goodness - truly - I don't want to hear it. I tell her to make her own fun - and if someone hurts your feelings or makes you angry, tell them so. We will see how it goes.

I'm coming up on my second blogiversary here - I was reading someone else's blog and she was talking about this so I went back to my archives to see when I started the blog - and it turns out it was on May 5th, 2005. I have another contest planned and will post the details when I have them better sorted out.

¡ Ay Caramba ! (I'm sure I have spelled that incorrectly...)

I just finished doing the rough draft copy of our taxes...

I can't wait until next year when we start getting money back because of the house payments!

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On a much happier note, my sister Teri got married today up in the Yukon - pictures will be posted when she and Carl send *me* some. No, don't think it is weird that I am not there for my sister's wedding. Andrew and I got married at Sakura City Hall in Japan before my parents had even met him - at least Carl met my parents before he and Teri tied the knot :)

Happy Easter!

Okay, my father is beginning to wonder if I am still around since I haven't been updating the blog as often as I used to. There are a few problems...

1) The computer is in the basement, so it makes it a little difficult to watch Willow and play on the 'puter,
2) Andrew is deep in the throes of his Advanced Organic Chemistry class and has a better claim to the available computer time than I have, and lastly
3) It is DAMN cold in the basement!

The only reason you are getting a blog entry right now is because the progeny and the spouse are in bed and I am typing near the dryer!

Easter was a long day - not particularly trying, just long. Willow woke up this morning, climbed in bed with me and was chatting away. Nothing about Easter, however. After about 20 minutes I asked her if the Easter Bunny brought her something and she thinks for a moment and says, "I don't know." Me: "Did you check your bedroom?" Her: "No - I'll be right back." So she scampers down the hallway and yells back, "He brought me something! The Easter Bunny brought me something!" Please, let this continue - this innocent joie de vivre and belief - for a lot longer. It's so much fun.

Here 's a pic of her decorating her three eggs last night:



Forgive the eyes closed pic - I've told you many times before that this kid is mercurial and hard to take pictures of. At Michael's I found these Paas decorating swabs - they are like QTips with ink in the plastic tube - you break off one end and the ink swells to the opposite swab and you can paint away - only $1.29 a set and the two I bought her could have easily done a few more eggs. My mother-in-law had to hardboil the eggs for her - I simply cannot stand the smell of cooking hardboiled eggs. Or the taste for that matter. I am not sure who is going to eat these eggs - Willow says she will try.

Here is a pic of Willow this morning in her Easter finery:



The hat? From the $1 Target bin. The sweater is one I knit for her three years ago and she wears it every Easter. Umm, yeah - it was a bit big on her at first ;) I want to sew in the shoulders a bit so it isn't as droopy, but my mother-in-law is trying to convince me otherwise so it will still fit her again next year! It is knit from Bernat Breeze and is very soft. The pattern is a Minnowknits one, but I couldn't tell you which one off the top of my head.

Here is a pic of Willow at our church's Easter Egg Hunt - as you can see by her heavy winter jacket, it was pretty cold - less than 45'F at its warmest today.



I asked Willow while everyone was striding up to the front for communion why Easter was important and she gave me the Easter Bunny line. I said no, and asked her if she knew why Good Friday was important - she didn't - so I explained that was the day Jesus died. No pun intended, but she had the gravest look on her face and she said so quietly, "Is he okay? Is he in heaven?" It was sweet - I explained the rest as best I could. Later that day at dinner, she was telling her grandparents all about Jesus dying as if it were the latest news.

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I should have bought a lottery ticket today! I found out today I had won two different blog contests! The first, this morning, was at SuzannaBanana's 'Knitting For the Large Headed Gal' and the second tonight at Chicken Knits. Woo-hoo! Go visit their blogs and enter people's blog contests when they offer them!

Oh, I'm going to enjoy these!

Look what came in the mail yesterday!



I was stalking the mailroom guy in my office, hoping these would come soon. I ordered them Thursday afternoon and figured I had waited long enough by Monday morning! I was sick and tired of my stoically looped circulars - anything larger than 16" in anything other than Addis needed massaging and heat not to coil in upon itself while I was working on them. The last straw was with the Spring Cape I'm knitting for Willow (Yes, it was supposed to be an Easter Cape, but let me tell you - that ain't happening) - I just couldn't get the needles to even behave enough to knit a row or two without getting frustrated. I transferred the cape onto these babies last night, and let me tell you - THE NEEDLES HUNG STRAIGHT DOWN AFTER I HAD TRANSFERRED THE STITCHES! I had never seen anything like that in my life! I hope sometime in the future Knitpicks comes out with cords to make 16" needles for these as well.

Remember when I said before I have a hard time taking decent pics of Willow? She likes to squint, grimace, squinch up her face - anything other than have her eyes open and smile... well, the trend continues...



And yes, I took about 5 shots and this was the best one...

A Day Well Spent

First, as of 9:26am, we were out of our apartment. It's amazing how big it looks when there is nothing in it!



Not sure what is up with all those fuzzy dots - probably the gazillion dust particles I kicked up while cleaning. And on that subject, may I say I *love* my Swiffer WetJet?

My friend Asami had emailed me the day before to ask if we wanted to go to the zoo today, and I countered with a picnic, then the zoo. And what did we find at the picnic park? That's right, Ter - cherry blossoms! Look at them and weep, my snowbound sister :)



They are just starting to bloom here and I imagine that in a week or two we will be in a pink wonderland. Here's a pic of Asami's cutie-patootie son Ray pointing out the hyacinths we saw in bloom at the zoo:



And Willow enjoying the swings afterward:



I know she is big enough to do this without the baby apparatus, but this is the swing she likes to use. She just freaks out when she wants to get off and do something else and can't without someone's help.

And another new flower...



There are daffodils galore around here now, but these were the first tulips I saw blooming. I love spring flowers! We didn't get to go to the Philadelphia Flower Show this year because of all the moving and packing, so I will have to make the most of this last blooming (pun intended) Spring.

Not much knitting has been going on here lately - the only times I have been able to sit down and do it is at my SnB. I need to get some baby booties finished, however... and the clock is ticking. Babies don't seem to want to wait until you have finished their knitted objects before coming!

I Always Keep My Promises

The timing I am not always great with, but I do keep them...



Look at this wonderful package my SP gave me! As I mentioned in yesterday's post, the package actually arrived on Friday, but I have been so caught up with the moving and unpacking that I kept missing my opportunity to take a half-decent picture of the haul. And what is in this haul?

• A beautiful sea green aqua Lantern Moon knitting bag (I cannot wait to show this off to my SnBers!)
• Two cobalt blue baskets which I think I am going to put on my knitting shelf for bits and bobs
• Two new kitchen towels in blues and greens - I had to smile at this one. A few SP rounds ago I was paired up with someone who was also moving in the course of that SP round, and I sent her a house-warming present as well. Although in my case I sent her a shot glass...
• Some chocolate candies I am currently hiding from Willow
• A blue Chibi needle set
• Some luxurious dark green homespun - I want to find a special project for this because I just love the colours in it
• And something you can't see because it is currently in the Lantern Moon nag to give it some shape for the picture, a tub of foamy stickers for Willow (I have thus far hidden these from her until we get everything in her room put away!)

Thank you, SP! It is a great package and I can't wait to dig into it all!

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On a more somber note, I was at a volunteer function at work today - we were baking cookies at the Ronald McDonald House. I had a special helper - his name was Jamir and he is the sweetest little three year old boy you could imagine. There weren't many kids around while we were there (most being either at school or in the hospital itself), but since Jamir is only three and his nurse comes to him, his Mom has him all day at the Ronald McDonald House. I think she might have needed a break, because she was more than happy to have him help me scoop out cookie dough and roll it into balls for the cookie sheets ('fess up, Moms - we have *all* felt this way at some point!) I was talking to Jamir's Mom about his condition - he has no hair and has the puffiness of recent chemo and she confirmed that he has cancer but that the doctors have not figured out yet what kind of cancer. This is an easy one - I am not an overly or overtly religious person - but Willow and I said a prayer for him tonight and I ask that you please do the same.

Four Different Kinds of Flowers!

And four reasons why I really need to get a better camera...

Andrew and I spent the entire day packing and cleaning today and still aren't done. Jeez - it's a good thing we had a month to do this in - because if we only had a weekend I think a) we would have killed each other , and b) it just wouldn't have happened. The work is almost done - what is left in the apt is Andrew's corner desk, some stuff for Goodwill or stuff we don't know what to do with, the big TV, and stuff to clean. Trust me, Saturday cannot come soon enough. I don't care if I have a gazillion boxes scattered around my new house, come Sunday morning I am doing nothing. Not a bleeding thing. I may lay in bed all day and read paranormal romances and eat Trader Joe's Flaxseed tortilla chips and wheedle my husband into making me gin and tonics.

Anyway - it was a very nice day today, which made it even more painful to have to move and clean indoors. I snuck my craptacular camera in my bag and tried to take some pictures to prove to you all that Spring is making some inroads here on the East Coast.

Some tiny blue flowers (weeds most likely, but they were the first flowers I saw of the day) in front of the old apartment building:



Some purple crocuses in my in-laws' front yard:



Some daffodils doing their best to bloom along the driveway:



And one of the camellia bushes around my in-laws' house has started to bloom. My father-in-law told me about this one after dinner - I bet I would have caught it in more of a full bloom in the middle of the day:



And I need to send a big apology to my upstream SP - twice now I have promised to take some pics of the super package I received on Friday in the bright sunlight, and both times I didn't get home until it was nearly dark out. Pictures tomorrow come sun or shade, I absolutely promise. There is a gorgeous dark aqua Lantern Moon bag in there I must show off to all of you :) And dark green homespun... and candy... tune in tomorrow!

Look Ma! (And Blogstalking...)

For a minute there I thought I was going to have a good excuse for buying a new digital camera... I had looked high and low and it was nowhere to be found. Silly Andrew found it somewhere today... note to self... find a better hiding spot next time! I really want to get a camera that I can take macro shots with!!

My Mom wanted some more pictures of the house - although I have to be honest and say we are still living in a sea of boxes. We have managed to sort of clean up the kitchen and living room, but they are by no means put together yet.

Here is the living room:



Nice floors, huh? Neither of those bookcases will be in those spots when all is said and done, but we needed something in the meantime to put the TV on. We haven't had cable hooked up yet, so all we have been watching are DVDs. From this vantage point I swung around 180' to the left and here is a picture of my kitchen:



I need to get a bakers rack or something like that because I need more storage space. See the door there in the corner? That is the door to the sun room. The door to the basement is just past the refrigerator on the extreme right.

And now for the blogstalking! I haven't done this in quite some time due to the packing, move, and subsequent unpacking - but I knew this was a topic I could make a quick post on. The subject is 'Spring Changes' and I bring you... clumps of weeds in my backyard!



This weed - a horrible designation, but true - grows in nearly everyone's yard here in Delaware. What is it? Come on Dad, you can guess... It's wild garlic. It is sort of more like chives, but when you mow over it there is the definite smell of garlic in the air. I have never tried to actually eat it - but maybe one of these days when I am making mashed potatoes I will go clip myself some and see what it turns out like.

We're back!

Mind you, the computer is a cold basement and I've done absolutely no knitting in the last week, but we're back!

The weird thing about our house - apparently no one had updated the electrical outlets in a while - so the rooms that had cable jacks for the broadband service didn't have three-pronged outlets, and the rooms with three-pronged outlets didn't have cable jacks. We plan to get a wireless connection soon, but for the time being the computer had to go in the basement... which in itself only has one free outlet, which we found out the hard way is controlled by the light switch at the top of the stairs.

I'm itchin' to knit, but most of that stuff is still packed away - and I don't think I am going to hit my goal of having a major finished object in March... let alone a hat for Dulaan. I've been catching up on a lot of reading, however - we don't have the TV set up yet, so I have gone through 3-4 paperbacks in the last week before going to bed.

Pictures of the partially set up house to come soon!

Sorry! Temporal Difficulties...

I have not yet learned to be in two places at once. We didn't return the moving truck until close to 11pm last night, so I wasn't able to post the winner as planned. However, without further ado, the winner is:

Krista from Stitchin' Sheep

Nine people put their names in the hat, and I used a random number generator to pick the winner (Krista, your lucky number was 5). If you will please send a mailing address to jochibi AT yahoo DOT com, I will endeavour to get the sock yarn in the mail this week.

I will be taking a week's haitus (or maybe just spotty posting) because of the unpacking and cleaning I have to do - but I will be back.

Announcing Jo's First Ever Blog Contest!

The Prize:



One Skein of Colinette Jitterbug in the Jay colourway. This is 267m of 100% Easy Care Merino (the label says you can machine wash and dry it!) sock yarn.

What do you have to do to win this lovely skein of sock yarn?

Be one of these people:

1. My Life In Stitches
2. Sandy’s Knitting
3. Knitting the Blues
4. Wool is Wonderful
5. affiknitty
6. Amylin
7. Yarn & Order
8. Can’t You See I’m Knitting Here?!
9. Fidget
10. The Knit Sisters
11. The Keyboard Biologist
12. Purls and Pugs
13. Green Moon Knits
14. Gelsomina Lucchesi
15. Alianne Knits
16. Curlerchik
17. Etherknitter
18. Sarah’s Threads
19. Streets and YOs
20. Purls Beyond Price
21. My Virtual Sanity
22. littlelambsyDivy
23. Purple Duckie
24. Knitalia
25. The Stripey Tiger
26. A Thing for String
27. The Knotty Gnome Knits
28. My Eclectic Mess
29. Scorpion Goddess Knits
30. Kitty Cafe
31. Bagatell
32. The Stitchin’ Sheep
33. Bienvenue à mon monde
34. Sweet Georgia
35. Midgeling
36. Bramblestitches
37. Alternative Knitting
38. Clickety Click
39. Jofrog is Knitfrog!
40. Wooly Headed
41. Divinely Crafty
42. Knitting With Rubber Gloves
43. Yarn Over Manhattan
44. WoolGatherer
45. Bella Blu Mama
46. Knit Me A River
47. Domesticat
48. Longwool
49. Island Knitter
50. Tricotine
51. Traveling Stitch
52. The Crochet and Knit Chat Room
53. Lady Knitterly
54. Brooklyn Knit Chick
55. The Knitting Patch
56. Gwibbles ‘n’ Knits
57. Wraught and Fraught
58. Kiriosity
59. It is Rocket Science!
60. A Chance to Knit
61. Tightly Wound Loosely Knit
62. Knitting in the Valley
63. Vintage Fusion Knits and Crochets
64. Elliphantom Knits
65. Knit Me
66. Knit and Play With Fire
67. Isis Rising
68. Knotty Mouse
69. Pink Monkey Knits
70. Imagine Creative Name Here
71. JenLa
72. An Ent Knits
73. Ceallach Knits
74. Auntie Ann Knits
75. Lacefreak
76. Quantum Tea
77. Plumpy Blogs and Knits It
78. Warrior Knitter
79. Madisonienne
80. Flippy the Wonder Squirrel
81. Javajem Knits
82. Kifknits
83. Pink Purls
84. Chicken Knits
85. A Good Yarn
86. Mixed Up Beauty
87. A Knitted Frenzy
88. Knittibell
89. Wine and Needles
90. Fickle Knitter
91. Crafting Jen
92. The Knit’Nabler
93. pieKnits
94. nuttinbutknittin
95. kelp! knits
96. Purl Jam
97. Yarnageddon
98. Skein Street
99. Christina’s Knitting
100. The Bitter Knitter

These are the one hundred new blogs that I visited in the last 20 days and left comments on every single one of them. If you are one of these people and would like to win this skein, please leave a comment with your first name and blog name and tell me what is your favourite word and why. This contest is open until 7pm EST Sunday night - at that point I will collect all the entries and make a random drawing. If you know someone whose name is on this list, make sure they enter - your chances are anywhere from 1 in 6* to 1 in 100! Good luck!

What did I get out of this experiment? Well, six* new people signed up to subscribe to my blog :) That aside, I saw some truly breath-taking finished objects and objects-in-progress, and not to mention a gazillion ideas of what I would like to knit next. I found places to buy online patterns from, some darling pets, cute kids, and even cried a moment or two along with bloggers. I would encourage other people to conduct an experiment like this - it really was an enriching experience.

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And... I'm letting go of my Lenten Resolution. With the packing and move I just can't keep up with it. I know I have constant internet access at work, but I refuse to blog from work. I *like* my job and would like to keep it.

To prorogue or not to prorogue

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Word of the Day 14:
prorogue
verb
1. hold back to a later time; "let's postpone the exam"
2. adjourn by royal prerogative; without dissolving the legislative body

WordNet® 2.1, © 2005 Princeton University
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I may have to postpone the beginning of my blog contest until Friday because of weather. The snow started to come down this morning and there were accidents all over the place so I was unable to run out and pick up the prize from my LYS. I hope the weather has cleared up by tomorrow! Perhaps I will still give the details of the contest tomorrow and post the picture of the prize on Friday - we'll see what happens.

The pictures of the winder and swift will have to wait a day as well - I came home today and was a whirling dervish with the packing and the place is not fit to have its picture taken at the moment.

New Toys (but no pictures! ARGH!)

I have the best knitting group in the world. My friends in my knitting group gave me a ball winder and a swift fashioned from recycled walnut furniture as a housewarming present. I would love to show you pictures, but my husband has the camera at the moment. I promise I will post some pictures tomorrow. I can't wait to unpack my stash and unwind many skeins!

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Word of the Day 13:
gasconade
Pronunciation [gas-kuh-neyd]
noun, verb, -ad·ed, -ad·ing.
–noun
1.
extravagant boasting; boastful talk. –verb (used without object)
2.
to boast extravagantly; bluster.

[Origin: 1700–10; from F gasconnade, deriv. of gasconner to boast, chatter. See Gascon, -ade1] —Related forms
gas·con·ad·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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I hope all of you can deal with my gasconade; I have the coolest friends :)

Tantrums

I was looking for a cool synonym for temper tantrum, but came up with this word in my search:

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Word of the Day 12:
disapprobation
noun
- an expression of strong disapproval; pronouncing as wrong or morally culpable; "his uncompromising condemnation of racism" [ant: approbation]

WordNet® 2.1, © 2005 Princeton University
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My daughter threw the mother of all temper tantrums this morning. I know she is coming off the ear infection and is stressed (as we all are) about moving, but every single bleeding thing this morning set her off in a yelling/crying jag. I had kind of hoped that at nearly 5 reason would have taken a stronger hold...

I want to knit so bad but all my knitting stuff is already packed up :(

Edited to add...

I wanted to remind all new people of my to-be-announced blog contest. If you have stumbled back here because I left a comment on your blog for the first time within the last 17 days, you are eligible for the contest. Come back Thursday for the announcement!

The Pain and The Agony

You know that part of the Lord's Prayer where you go, "...the power and the glory..."? I always seem to associate that in my head with the intro to some sports program - I think it was ABC Sports - probably in the early 80's where the announcer would say, "...the pain and the agony of defeat..."

I'm definitely feeling the pain and agony right now. My left heel is killing me and my back and um, glutes, are feeling the burn. Andrew and I have divided up the moving as follows:

1. I pack all the boxes.
2. He moves the boxes from Point A to Point B.
3. I unpack the boxes.
4. He enlists his friends to help move the furniture.

I'm quite happy with this deal - and I've been purging quite a bit of stuff. There's the pile to go to goodwill, the pile for the used bookstore, and the pile of simply garbage. We had dinner in our new home tonight - mind you, the gourmand in me said frozen pizzas were quite enough, thank you. We sat on the floor in the kitchen munching on our pizzas and watched "Charlie and Lola" on the portable DVD player.

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Word of the Day 11
antiodontalgic
a. (Med.) Efficacious in curing toothache. --
n. A remedy for toothache.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Too Tired for Anything Else

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Word of the Day 10:
sedulous
1540, from L. sedulus "attentive, painstaking," probably from sedulo (adv.) "sincerely, diligently," from sedolo "without deception or guile," from se- "without, apart" (see secret) + dolo, ablative of dolus "deception, guile," cognate with Gk. dolos.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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We have too many damn books. Fully half the boxes I packed today were books. We are in a two-bedroom apartment and moving into a 3 bedroom house... and are already plotting to buy more bookcases...

Cute Kid in a Dulaan Hat

So, I was going to stretch out the knitting of this hat since I can't work on anything too complicated right now because of the whole moving thing. I was going to watch the American Idol results show I had taped and then go to bed at 10pm. But then one of my favourite movies came on TV and I had to stay up to my favourite scene - the funeral scene from "Four Weddings and a Funeral" when the W. H. Auden poem is recited. So, the cool stripe hat magically got finished last night:



The model was actually in a posing kind of mood - although she wanted me to take a picture of her with her french fry hanging out of her mouth. I declined. Here's a side view:



The cool stripes did get smooshed a bit when it came time for the decreases, but I kept them to a quick (over 8 rows from start to finish) decrease - so it kind of looks like there is an aqua berry on top of the hat.

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Word of the Day 9:
salmagundi

1674, from Fr. salmigondis, originally "seasoned salt meats" (cf. Fr. salmis "salted meats"), from M.Fr. salmigondin, coined by Rabelais, of uncertain origin, but probably related to salomene "hodgepodge of meats or fish cooked in wine," (early 14c.), from O.Fr. salemine.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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It's funny - some days it is harder to find a good word that I don't know the meaning of. I usually start on Dictionary.com and do a free-flow association with a theme in mind. Today's theme was 'mixed feelings', and somehow I lucked into a word meaning 'mixed salted meats.' See? You never know where you'll go!

The reason for the mixed feelings? There was a freaking lake in the backyard of my new house today! Granted, we had about 3 inches of rain in less than 12 hours last night - but I had gone out yesterday afternoon and bought a 10 foot section of corrugated pipe and an adaptor to connect to my drain pipe in a valiant (and pretty damn smart, I thought) attempt to divert the water away from the corner of the basement with the known water issue. For those of you who don't live in Delaware, this is not a shocking thing - We are near the ocean and two large rivers - the ground is pretty damp here. I didn't know what a sump pump or french drain was until we started looking at houses. So, at lunch today I stopped by my new house (how I love saying that!) to drop off some stuff. I was standing in front of the kitchen window pulling stuff out of bags and I looked out the window and saw a FREAKIN' LAKE! I dropped what I was doing, ran downstairs to the basement, half expecting to see a few inches of water in the basement... and all there was was a small trickle from the known corner, moving straight to the drain. I turned on the dehumidifer and went outside to investigate. My new piping system apparently worked because that corner of the yard was dry. The water is at the back of the yard - it doesn't start until about 15 feet away from the back of the house. I checked out the neighbour's yards and saw similar pools, to lesser degrees. I frantically called my father-in-law, and he assured me this had to to with the fact the ground was frozen and the water had nowhere to go. Willow and I went back to the house after work and saw the lake had receded quite a bit - so keep your fingers crossed that we have a few dry days, okay?

The good thing that happened today? Willow was accepted into the Kindergarten program we were trying to get her into. Yay! One less thing to worry about!

Random Stripage

Isn't this cool?



This is the same TLC Essentials 'Surf and Turf' yarn I made Willow's Calorimetry out of a week or two ago. I love how I have the thick aqua stripe going up around the hat. Right now I am just trucking along in a 2X2 rib, and I am a little afraid to start the decreases at the crown because I know it will mess up my snazzy stripes.

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Word of the Day 8:
recreant
Pronunciation[rek-ree-uhnt]
-adjective
1. cowardly or craven.
2. unfaithful, disloyal, or traitorous.

-noun
3. a coward.
4. an apostate, traitor, or renegade.

[Origin: 1300-50; ME <>
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We Are Homeowners! Yay Us!

The house is all ours! We had settlement this afternoon, and after signing my name a gazillion and a half times, we were handed the keys to our first home. Now comes the monster rounds of packing and moving... not my favourite things to do, but I can't wait to be in the new place!

Those of you with young children will be surprised that I didn't know the meaning of this word until today:

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Word of the Day 7:

otitis media n.
Inflammation of the middle ear, occurring commonly in children as a result of infection and often causing pain and temporary hearing loss.

[New Latin : otitis + Latin media, feminine of medius, middle.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Willow has been a bit snotty for a few days now, and after I left for work this morning Willow complained to Andrew that her ear hurt. This was the first I had heard of it - so he gave her a decongestant and some Motrin. Flash forward a few hours, and we are in the law offices waiting to sign our names to a zillion documents and my cell phone rings. It is Willow's teacher saying Willow is crying and saying her ears hurt whenever she moves. My in-laws thankfully went to pick her up and my father-in-law diagnosed her with a mild ear infection. Willow certainly didn't think it was mild!

But as I mentioned above, I didn't know what this word was until today. Willow is nearly 5 years old and this is her first experience with an ear infection. Um, lucky me?

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I've decided to host a contest concerning all these new blogs that I have been viewing each day - I haven't ironed out all the details yet, but I will let you know when I do. Suffice to say, those of you new people who have found me because I have visited your blog, it may be worth your while to check in periodically. I have finished 60 of my planned 100 blog visits...

Almost There

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Word of the Day 6:
ambuscade
n. An ambush.

tr.v. ambuscaded, ambuscading, ambuscades
To attack suddenly and without warning from a concealed
place; ambush.

[French embuscade (from Old French embuschier, to ambush)
and Old Italian imboscata (from feminine past participle of
imboscare, to ambush), both from Frankish *boscu, bush,
woods.]

am'bus·cad'er n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
*********************************

This wasn't quite what I was looking for when I was searching for a new word today. I was looking for a synonym for 'acceptance' or 'resolute' as these are both things I am feeling or am at the moment. The settlement on our new house is tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Another Dulaan Hat Finished

I always need to have a brain-less project to take with me to SnB - I just can't read a pattern and be sociable at the same time. I have read some people's blogs where wine is involved in their SnBs... and I know I definitely wouldn't be able to drink, knit conscientiously, and be sociable all at the same time. So, I cast on for this Dulaan hat last week:



The yarn is Paton's something in 'High Intensity' - odd that I should remember the name of the colour but not of the yarn. Here's a top view:



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Word of the Day 5:
chapfallen [chop-faw-luhn, chap-]
–adjective
dispirited; chagrined; dejected.

[Origin: 1590–1600; chap3 + fallen]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
*****************************************************

Why this word? I was looking up for a synonym for 'frustrated.' My child's eating habits drive me bonkers. Don't get me wrong - she loves to eat... but takes absolutely forever to do it! We only have so much time when we get home. Most days I am lucky if we get home around 5pm, and she is usually in bed by 7:30 - 8pm. I hate the fact that I get angry and am trying to rush her along so she can finish her dinner, have a bath, do homework, get a story, and then get to bed all before 8pm.

This makes sense to me!

You Are Chinese Food

Exotic yet ordinary. People think they've had enough of you, but they're back for more in an hour.

What Kind of Food Are You?

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cachinnate

Pronunciation[kak-uh-neyt]

–verb (used without object), -nat·ed, -nat·ing. to laugh loudly or immoderately.

[Origin: 1815–25; <>

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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I love finding words that I have never heard of before!

I know I promised a better picture of the baby sweater, but the truth of it is we have had craptacular weather today so I wasn't able to take a good picture in natural light. It started snowing sometime around 1:30pm and has been coming down steadily since then. The weatherman is predicting 4 - 6 inches of snow by tomorrow morning.

Incidentally - my favourite Chinese food is Sesame Chicken - and I've got to have an eggroll. I'm also partial to Cashew Chicken. I don't like seafood in Chinese food, though - unless they are deep-fried prawns. How about you?

Finished Earlier Than Expected...

This baby sweater was to be my finished object for March, but then Andrew and I started watching "V for Vendetta" last night and I really got into it and before long the sweater was finished! This isn't the best picture as it is nearly 10pm and I am in a not-well lit apartment - however, I will endeavor to take a better picture tomorrow in natural light.



The pattern is Daisy from Knitty but I made some changes to the structure. I absolutely detest having to sew pieces together afterward, so I knit the sleeves to the point of the raglan shaping, joined them to the main body, and continued to knit in the round with the raglan shaping. I think it makes for a much neater work... and I have only 5 stitches under each arm to sew up when finished. The yarn is one of the new fair-isle Plymouth Encore skeins, and I really could have got away with one skein for the entire sweater (I made the smallest size), but it was easier to have two skeins so I could work on the sleeves without cutting the yarn from the body. There is enough yarn leftover to probably make a matching hat and booties.

Now here is the delicate thing... the yarn smells a bit. I noticed it when I brought it home - but the yarn store said they had just received it from their supplier, and I live in a no pets non-smoking house. The smell - well, it reminds me a bit of burned hair or wet dog. It's fainter now that I have washed the sweater, and I don't know if at this point if I am just being sensitive about it or not. Before I washed the sweater, my mother-in-law said it reminded her of wet wool - and Encore does have a smidge (about 25%) of wool in it. I asked Willow if she smelled anything and she said it smelled like sunshine (oo-kay...) Does anyone know of anyway I can de-smell the sweater before I finally give it to Teri?

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Word of the Day 4:
plicate
Pronunciation -[adj. plahy-keyt, -kit; v. plahy-keyt]
–adjective
1.
Also, pli·cat·ed. folded like a fan; pleated. –verb (used with object)
2.
Surgery. to perform plication on.

[Origin: 1690–1700; < size="1">
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
************************************

I found this word when I was looking for a synonym for 'knit.' It isn't exact, but I liked it anyway. I assume that the word 'complicate' is connected to this as well.

Seas of Boxes With No Shore In Sight

Ever have days when you just feel hebetudinous?

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Word of the Day 3:
hebetude
Pronunciation [heb-i-tood, -tyood]
-noun
the state of being dull; lethargy.

Related forms : hebetudinous [adjective]
[Origin: 1615-25; <>

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
*****************************************

It looks like I am building a fortress from Boise paper boxes in my living room. I get these boxes free from work and they are nice because they are sturdy and you can only put so much into them so they can't get too heavy. But I am sick to death of looking at them! Green is normally one of my favourite colours and that Tudor green on the boxes is starting to make my stomach clench.

I'm coasting along in my experiment of commenting in 5 new blogs every day to see what kind of response I get from people. The segues that take you from blog to blog are very interesting - Pagan Knitters to Midwest Knitters to Queer Knitters to SAHM knitters to Sexy Knitters to Bad Ass Knitters. I have been primarily using the webrings to find new places. I have been keeping track of all the blogs I have been frequenting and I will post the list of 100 when I am done for everyone to see.

Yeah, this about sums it up

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Word of the Day 2:
corybantic
cor·y·ban·tic [kawr-uh-ban-tik, kor-] -adjective
1. frenzied; agitated; unrestrained.
2. (initial capital letter ) Also, Cor·y·ban·tian [kawr-uh-ban-tin, -tahyn, kor-] of or pertaining to a Corybant (Greek Mythology: A priest of the Phrygian goddess Cybele whose rites were celebrated with music and ecstatic dances.) .

[Origin: 1635-45; Corybant -> Corybant + -ic ]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
*****************************************

Less than a week until our settlement day. I am frazzled. I think I need a spa day. Honey, we haven't had Valentine's Day yet...

Lenten Resolution Kick-off

I love words.

I love to read.

I love using unusual words and foisting them on unsuspecting people. One of my co-workers loved the word 'imbibe' after I used it a few weeks ago that she went around the entire day using it instead of the word 'drink.' My Mom has long maintained that she thinks Sesame Street taught me how to read, because she didn't do it (although she is an amazingly prolific reader herself) and I was reading by the time I was 3 years old. Do you remember the V.C. Andrews "Flowers in the Attic" series? I read them in the third grade. My reading habits now spread through many genres from ancient poetry to alternative history, and I will admit to an unhealthy propensity toward paranormal romance. I especially love books in series because they give you plenty of time to immerse yourself in characters; the downside of this is there really is a distinct sense of loss when the series inevitably concludes.

As I mentioned in my last blog entry, coming up with a new word every day will not be a hardship for me. I found today's word in a Jeopardy question calendar my manager gave me for Christmas:

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Word of the Day 1:
theophobia
Part of Speech: n
Definition: a fear of God
Etymology: Greek theos 'god'

Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.6)Copyright © 2003-2006 Lexico Publishing Group, LLC
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What struck me about this word is that it really isn't a synonym for the idiom 'fear of God.' You wouldn't say, "My father put the theophobia into me when I was young." It is a condition - to have a fear of God. Interestingly enough - I couldn't find what should be the technical opposite ('theophilia' - love of God) in any of the dictionaries I looked in.

***********************************************************************

Back to knitting... I am about 50% finished my Daisy sweater for my friend Teri who will be having a baby girl in a few short months. And since I always need a mindless project around, there is another hat on the needles. Pictures to come soon!

February's Significant Object (Don't Look, Lisa!)

Yeah... Totoro wanted to get in on the action...

Here is February's Significant Finished Object (Not a Hat!) © :



This is a baby blanket I crocheted for my friend Lisa, who will be having a little boy in May. The whole blanket is crocheted in moss stitch out of Plymouth Encore. I used 6 skeins altogether, and had about 2 - 3 yards leftover for Willow to play with. The striping was created completely by the yarn with no effort on my part (just the way I like it!) I will be putting it in the mail this week, Lisa (you didn't look, did you?!!?)

Here's a close up of the blanket and the lovely cake of sock yarn that came in the mail today from Jen from 144 Inches of I-Cord for confessing I had it bad for John Taylor from Duran Duran and Jason Patric when I was a teenager:



Totoro just couldn't leave the sock yarn alone! It is Opal Sock Yarn and the colour is called "Happy Knitting!" - How apropos!

Tomorrow is Mardi Gras / Fat Tuesday / Pancake Tuesday, so I know what we will be having for dinner. Lent starts the next day, and some of you might remember what I did last year for Lent. I loved doing that, and wanted to think of something similar for this year - but the truth of it is with moving and all I know I won't have the time to dedicate to that sort of resolution. So, I am going to learn a word a day instead. My degree is in linguistics and I love etymology so this isn't really any hardship.

Edited to add: Woo-hoo! I forgot to say this qualifies as a Project Spectrum Finished Object! Yay me!

See What Happens When You Try...

...to take pictures of finished objects by yourself after midnight?

Here you are, Dad - your birthday hat:



Dad's hat is knit from Malabrigo in Rojo Vivo and I still have about a third of a skein leftover (and the leftover goes into my Dulaan hat pile stash). Dad requested this wool without even knowing what it was - I had brought bags of leftovers with me up to Canada for our Christmas vacation last year and when Dad said he wanted his hat knit "from that really soft stuff," I knew exactly which one he meant. I *love* knitting with Malabrigo - it's so smooth and not tight and the colours are beautiful.

Now, as the title points out, there are some inherent problems with taking pictures of yourself after midnight... as you can see from the above picture, I look like death warmed over (appropriate since I was having my own personal CSI catch-up marathon while finishing the hat). Also, since I have to prop the camera up to take the picture on a timer, there is no one to tell you if you are actually in the viewfinder or not:



Actually, I like that picture above - it did catch how the colour spirals around just like I was attempting to do. After that attempt, I appropriated one of Willow's balls and put the hat on it to try and catch the colour swirl:



I'm in the picture in this next one, but it turned out rather dark:



And the most embarrassing of all, the "I accidentally clicked the picture button without setting up the timer first" picture that gives you an un-needed close up of my lately ungroomed eyebrows...

Ah well. You can't win them all. Dad, the hat will be in the mail this week. Happy Much Belated Birthday!

The Wonder That Is Ikea

Oh my, we had fun today!

Andrew and I went off to Ikea this afternoon to get some ideas of what do with all the space we will have in our new home. Specifically, while large on room space, the bedrooms are skimpy on closet space - so we needed to look into armoires and wardrobes. I say 'and' because Andrew seems to think I am speaking French when I say 'armoire', and his Dad said he thinks they are actually different things. In any case, we will be needing more closet space in the new place. The first happy surprise was that we ran into my friend Asami, her husband Gara, and their cute-as-a-bug son Ray. This was a neat coincidence - both of us in the same (huge) place at the same time on the same day in a town that is not where either of us live.

We only came home with $15 worth of tools and some small stuff for Willow - but with lots of ideas. I want to get a bookcase or shelving unit to put all my knitting supplies and wool in to keep them in somewhat neat and orderly condition. We had a good look at the dishes and kitchen supplies as well - I know we will need new dishes (as one broke so we are down to 3 dinner plates). My Mom has one of those hanging do-hickies in her kitchen to hold all her pots and pans and I would like to get one of those, too.

And the next to best part (after the ideas, of course!)... I got to knit all the way to and back from Conshohocken and am about 30 minutes away from finishing my Dad's birthday hat. Um, yeah... Dad's birthday was at the beginning of January...

I Now Know What A Children's Hospital Emergency Room...

...Looks like at 3:30 in the morning... Funnily enough, pretty empty.

Willow has croup. She woke us up a little after midnight with sounds that sort of sounded like coughing/choking. I won't get into the body fluids part of it all, but suffice to say there were some. She couldn't breathe back in after coughing and was getting frantic so we whisked her down to A. I. DuPont Children's Hospital, which incidentally is the closest hospital to us anyway. She had a fever and the triage nurse diagnosed her right away as having croup. They gave her some tylenol and pedialyte popsicles, and we had to wait until nearly 4am to see one of the doctors. I understand the point of triage and children more sick and/or injured than Willow were coming in... but we were bloody exhausted by the time we got out of there. The doctor gave her a steroid dose and sent us home with instructions on how to deal with croup. It's interesting - if she is having a coughing episode, they said the best immediate thing to do is change her environment - either take outside into the cold air or put her in a steamy shower. So, we are dealing on less than 4 hours of sleep today - that kid better damn well go down for a nap.

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I am going to conduct an experiment. I have been a little disappointed in the number of comments of late - thank you so much for those of you who leave comments - I must say I wonder sometimes what compels people to comment. I know I don't have (and am not attempting to recruit) some of the numbers that other more popular blogs have, but it's bewildering sometimes. I will write something I feel comment-worthy and no one leaves a comment - and then I write something fleeting and flippant and ten people feel the need to say something. I put in a site meter a few weeks back (you can click on the link on the lower right side of this page) and I was really surprised at the numbers of people who read my blog and where they come from. On the flip side, I know even though there are about 50 blogs that I track and read, there are only about 10 that I comment on regularly. So, what I propose to do is surf a bit more (yeah, my husband is going to love that) and leave comments on at least five people's blogs everday. Let me clarify - five people who I have never commented on before. Maybe I will find some fun new blogs to read... and maybe a new reader or two of my own.

Not Quite What We Were Expecting

The last few weeks I have read many people's blogs - oddly enough, many of them in New Mexico, where they have been having many snow days... Well, we had an ice day yesterday. It had started to snow in the afternoon of February 13th - but it was that fluttery fly-away powdery stuff and many people I work with assumed that was the worst of it. Like always, the weatherman had over-estimated the system. I did bring my computer home from work, just in case.

Valentine's Day morning I work up to an odd dinging/pinging sound. After I came to, I realized it was ice hitting the windows. Not just sleet - but mini hail balls of ice. The top half of my bedroom window had about a half-inch of ice on it and it was like looking out of bathroom window glass. At 6:30am Andrew went out to try and clear off our cars and I hooked up my computer to the broadband (thank you!) and started to work. After about an hour Andrew came back in, having broken the teeth off all of our ice scrapers and breaking one of my taillights in an attempt to break off the ice... The roads were just too dangerous to drive on so Willow and Andrew had an ice day and I plugged away on my reports at the dining room table. I didn't go out all that day - Andrew and I decided we had to postpone Valentine's Day until the weather is a bit more amiable. The system had cleared through by this morning, so I took my computer outside to show you a bit of what had happened the day before.

This is a tree in our back courtyard:



A close-up of the poor frozen pine cones:



And an icy rhododendron in my in-laws' front yard:



I had to get to the office - but I saw many neat things along the way that I would have loved to take pictures of. With the sun coming up in the morning everything looked as if it were gilded in gold.

I will have a finished object soon - and keeping with my New Year's resolution of one significant project a month, it is not just a hat ;)

Soundtrack of my Life

I found this over at Trillian's blog and thought this was something I could run with:

Directions: If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?

1. Open your mp3 library
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press Play.
4. For every question, type the song that's playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the Next button.
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool.
7. Don't skip songs.

My Movie:

1. Opening credits: Girl Next Door – Saving Jane
2. Waking up: Funky Blues – Charlie Parker
3. First day of school: Eleanor Rigby – the Beatles
4. Fight song: Into the Fire – Sarah McLachlan
5. Breaking up: Baby – Iggy Pop
6. Happiness: Blown Away – the Pixies
7. Life's okay: Supernova – Liz Phair
8. Mental breakdown: Why Should I Love You – Kate Bush
9. Driving: Lightning Crashes - Live
10. Flashback: I’ll Do The Driving – Fountains of Wayne
11. Getting back together: How Strong Do You Think I Am – Alexz Johnson
12. Wedding song: Hooked on Polkas – Weird Al Yankovic
13. Birth of first child: I Can Hear You – They Might Be Giants
14. Final battle scene: Jimmy Neutron Theme Song – Bowling for Soup
15. Death scene: King of the Mountain – Midnight Oil
16. Funeral song: Love is a Battlefield – Pat Benatar
17. End credits: Mystify - INXS

I did have to fudge mine a little bit because we have audiobook files on our list as well, and it didn't feel quite right when Chapter Something or Other from a Shelby Foote book came up - so I just skipped it until a song came up. And I will admit that a full third of these songs were Andrew's additions to the music library and I am not familiar with them at all...

Knitty Secret Pal 8 Package!

Look what arrived for me yesterday!



From New Mexico, no less... that through me off :) Enclosed were 3 skeins of Big Mexiko socks yarn (thank you - quick sock satisfaction here I come!), a blue striped vinyl box (which I will be taking to work to put all my various post-it pads in), a bag of white chocolate Hugs (yum!), a Chibi needle set (I've always wanted one of those), some size 7 bamboo dpns (no doubt for those socks!), some on-th-needle stitch counters, and a Bunny sticker set for Willow. I'm saving the stickers for this afternoon for her to play with as we pack - thank you for thinking of her, too! The funny thing about the stitch counters is that I almost bought some yesterday but then reconsidered it because I was in dire need of a nap. Thank you, SP!

Look, Mom! My bed was made!