You Spin Me 'Round...

Look what came in the mail for me yesterday!



My Knitty SP is spoiling me rotten! It's very funny, too - the other day I was daydreaming about going to MDSW again this year, and bemoaning the fact that I would have to lay off buying fiber, silk hankies, and other lovely stuff because I hadn't figured out how to use my blasted spindle. SP, you may have set me on the path to spending more money in May! Now let's see if I can master handspinning by then, okay? I love the fact that she also included a DVD; I've never actually seen someone handspin in person and I think that is partly what is holding me back - that I cannot visualize how it is done. Thank you, SP!

Something else came in the mail for me the other day - look at this cool crochet hook keychain:



I had first seen this on Nell's blog and was intrigued. The keychain itself came from 5elementknitr Etsy Shop (sorry -it wouldn't let me create a link!). I may remove the beads and smaller rings and connect the crochet hook to the sturdier ring -but I am really happy with it. It's the perfect thing for picking up dropped stitches and fixing pulls in your sweater.

What? It's not my fault if you can't center your photos.

And in Beautiful Living Colour -

May I present Dharma! She is 7lbs 14 oz and 20 inches long, and my poor sister was in labour for over 27 hours. I simply cannot imagine that! She is beautiful. Look at all that curly hair!



I'm a little sad that I will miss seeing her this small - these are the things that break my heart about living so far away from my family.

Lucky is not so impressed.

What do I care? Baby cats just cry and smell atrocious. Come back in a few years when you can open my kibble container.

And a sneak preview for tomorrow... I got a kick ass package from my Knitty SP late today!

Welcome to the World, Dharma!

Woo-hoo! My sister Teri and her husband Carl had their little girl this afternoon! This is the baby that I knit the cornflower blue blanket for... the one I was certain was a boy! I'm so happy for both of them. I don't have any other details yet - I was only able to talk to my Mom for about 30 seconds. All I know is that she is beautiful and has lots of hair. I hope someone remembers to send me a picture soon!

And now for your bad cat picture of the day:



What is Lucky sitting in? My stash of to-be-recycled plastic bags. A few loads back I had put his emptied plastic kibble bag in there and ever since he has to inspect every subsequent recycling to see if there is another kibble bag - because you never know when there may be a few stray kibble hanging around...

Oh, and I am still knitting - I am within 2-3 days of finishing the pinwheel baby blanket - all I need to do now is the solid blue border around the edge and the bind off. I'm a little scared about this. I know it won't compare to those of you who do intricate lace with a gazillion stitches to cast off, but it will have about 650 stitches, the most I have ever cast off at any given time.

Wouldn't You Like To Know

What was going on in his kitty head with this?



I can too touch my nose with my tongue. Now let's see you do it!

Some Days Are Easier Than Others

...to get an in-focus picture of Lucky.



We had a snow day here today - we received a phone call at bloody 5:22am to let us know that the school district had closed all the schools because of the inclement weather. I was all excited - I thought it was my Mom calling to let me know that my newest niece or nephew had been born. Not yet! I worked from home today and Willow had a cartoon-watching day. I'm such a meanie about school, though - I made her do two pages of phonics and two pages of math. I taught her how to use a plate of Cheerios to help her with her math homework. Don't you love it when your kid thinks you have discovered something amazing!

Thursday Book Report: The Spiderwick Chronicles: Book 1

Yes, a young adult book. And yes, I did read The Spiderwick Chronicles Book 1: The Field Guide to Willow, but I am counting it anyway as it fits my parameters of my 2008 challenge.

Andrew and I first saw the preview for the Spiderwick Chronicles movie back in December when we saw The Golden Compass and both of us were intrigued by it as we are always looking for movies for Willow. However, we both thought that this movie might be a little scary for her. My solution? I told her we would read the book together and if she wasn't scared by the book we would go see the movie.

Well, it took us all of three days to read the book aloud. And we went out and got the second book today.

We loved it! I loved that there was the odd illustration to puncuate part of the story. I loved how the kids seemed real - squabbling, a little messed up by their parents' divorce, and wanting to help each other and hide things from their mother. The three Grace children - thirteen year old Mallory and her twin nine-year old brothers Jared and Simon have moved with their mother to their great-aunt's delapidated Victorian house after their parents' divorce. They all seemed to have been traumatized by the event and have manifested this in different ways. From the moment they step into the house, something seems odd and the three of them set out to find out what is going on and stumble onto something they could not have imagined before.

We can't wait to get started on book number two! And incidentally, as an adult, from the moment I read on page 1 that Jared imagined his sister Mallory would grow up to be "either...an Olympic fencer or in jail for stabbing someone with a sword" had me laughing out loud and I knew it would be a book that Willow and I would enjoy on separate but equally enjoyable levels. We heartily recommend this book - and it is well-suited to reading aloud.

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And just for those of you who thought I was getting just a bit too proficient in my cat-pic-taking, may I present the fastest cat in the East?



Can't let me get too cocky here.

So Not In The Mood

So just a Lucky Shot tonight.

Shan's Revised Book Meme

I saw this on Shan's blog this morning and knew I had to do this as well. She took a booke meme someone gave her and tweaked it a bit. If you would like to play, find a book to fit each of these categories, turn to page 123, and post the fifth through eighth sentences.

Nearest Book of Any Description - Dungeons and Dragons Spell Compendium

The target of the inferno takes 6d6 points of fire damage unless it makes a Fortitude save. In each round thereafter, the fire deals 1d6 fewer points of damage (minimum 1d6) until the spell ends or the subject manages to extinguish the flames. Thus, the fire deals 5d6 points of damage in the second round, 4d6 points in the third round, and so forth. Flammable, nonmagical items carried by the target automatically fail their saves to resist this damage.

Ookay... I get the math. Beyond that, not so much.

Nearest Grownup Book - My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding

He almost looked somber as the song ended.

"Of course," Elvis continued, "you've had plenty of dates, you're a popular guy, but when you don't find that special gal, there's only one place you can go..."

He sang "Heartbreak Hotel."

The small band was inspired; it was as though he had a full orchestra backing him instead of just a few players and a lot of amps.

That sets the scene pretty well in four sentences, don't you think? The short story in this case is P.N. Elrod's "All Shook Up."

Nearest Book Belonging to ME: S. M. Stirling's Island in the Sea of Time

"They showed me pictures of grain, of bread, of cattle. They want these things, and they will give rich gifts for them."

"Ahhh," Daurthunnicar sighed.

He looked at the ax, at the wonderful sword, at the shining jewelry.

This is one of the occasions where I wish I could have chosen the previous page - it would have explained the scene much better. Nevertheless, read all of S. M. Stirling's books - especially the Nantucket series and the Emberverse series (they are connected) and you will not regret it.

Nearest Book I'm Actually READING: Krakatoa: The Day The World Exploded August 27, 1883

...The water of the sea rose and inundated the land, the country to the east
of the mountain Batuwara, to the mountain Raja Basa, was inundated by the sea;
the inhabitants to the northern part of the Sunda country to the mountain Raja
Basa were drowned and swept away with all their property...

What does it mean? To which mountain - since Kapi is not a name known today - does the passage refer? And when did whatever happened take place? Geologists, more familiar with gazing at fossils or down microscopes, have pored over this one paragraph of elegant Javanese prose and gone over it with a fine-tooth comb.

Another awkward moment since my fifth sentence caught me mid-reference to something else. A fascinating book - Andrew's parents remember their grandparents talking about the cold weather in the years following Krakatoa's eruption.

Book that is Nearest to my Heart: Little Women

Each had made such preparation for the fete as seemed necessary and proper. Meg had an extra row of curlpapers across her forehead, Jo had copiously anointed her afflicted face with cold cream, Beth had taken Joanna to bed with her to atone for the approaching separation, and Amy had capped the climax by putting a clothespin on her nose to uplift the offending feature. It was one of the kind artists use to hold the paper on their drawing boards, therefore quite appropriate and effective for the purpose to whoch it was now put. This funny spectacle appeared to amuse the sun, for he burst out with such radiance that Jo woke up and roused all her sisters by a hearty laugh at Amy's ornament.

Truly, one of my favourite books ever. I could read it over and over, and if the June Allyson version is on TV, you better not be in my way.

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And to accompany your daily Lucky shot, a better picture of Raisin's new blanket. I hadn't intended the cat to be in there, but he insisted.



Yeah... I need to take down those Christmas cards...

Monday Ennui

Yes, yes, yes. My eyes are the same colour as her sweatshirt.



Now let me go!

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Not sure what is going on, but I have been feeling dizzy all day. Like having a mild case of the spins.

Princess Willow and Sock Love

I tried denying it. Sublimating the thought. But I can't hide it anymore.

My daughter is a princess.



Gack! I was in Orlando last spring for a business conference and stumbled into the princess beauty salon in one of the shops in Downtown Disney. Little girls - none over the age of eight all tarted up - yes, make up and all - and it sickened me. Andrew and I try to avoid the girly girl stuff with Willow. She has dolls, but we try to emphasize games, books, sports, and crafts. What does she really want? A princess dress. She borrowed this one from her friend Zoey, and I will be the first to admit she looks darling in it. But the first person who comes near her with rouge gets their offending limb chopped off!

Okay - onto less tumultuous stuff. I'm in love with a sock. Don't tell my husband.



I finally succumbed to knitting a sock with a pattern - I started these Jaywalker socks on Thursday and this is how far I had knit by Sunday morning (it is longer and has a heel flap now). It is only a two-row repeat pattern and I am entranced by its simplicity and I find myself going around and around just to see how the chevron pattern comes out next. The kfb is a bit challenging on size 1 needles, but I think I have it under control now. I am definitely doing the second sock on two circulars to save time.

Lucky is particularly drawn in by these socks - perhaps just the yarn itself - he tried chewing through the ziploc bag the yarn was in before I even broke it out to start knitting with it. It's odd - that is the only yarn he has singled out that way.



Mmm... it looks like wet cat food with just a hint of tuna...

You Can't Make Me!

You don't even want to know how many pictures I took in an attempt to get one with Lucky on Willow's lap. This was the best of the bunch.

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Andrew and I went to a Korean Barbeque restaurant on Friday and it was so delicious - so much so that I forgave Andrew for throwing a tantrum in front of the initial restaurant we were planning to eat at (because while it was a Korean restaurant, it didn't have the barbecue). Semantics. I was starving by this point - and we went down the road in search of the other restaurant. It was heavenly - we had bulgogi (thin strips of prime rib grilled and wrapped up in lettuce leaves). They serve you all sorts of little dishes with miso, marinated vegetables, daikon, fried tofu strips, kimchee, soy sprouts to put in your leaf aong with a bowl of rice. It was all so good and I can't wait to go again. We didn't bring Willow with us, but I feel that we wouldn't have any problem taking her in the future.

Friday Lucky Shot

What? No one bothers me under here.

Thursday Book Report: Kiss Me Deadly

And back to the genre romance...

Michele Hauf's Kiss Me Deadly is the first book I have ever read in Sillouette's Nocturne line - and if this story is indicative of the quality, I'm hooked. And better yet, this is apparently the second book in a series and I would not have guessed that if I had not read it in the introduction.

Kiss Me Deadly (okay, I could have done without the bad 1980's song title) has an interesting take on the urban fantasy world. Centuries ago, after being constantly enthralled by vampires who soaked up witches' powers when they drank the witch blood, the witches fought back by casting the 'Protection,' a spell that made the witches' blood an ugly and instant poison to any vampire who came in contact with it. Ever since, the vampires and witches have been at war.

Ravin is a vampire-hunter witch, complete with blood-infused bullets and killer (literally) martial arts skills. She also owes Himself (think horns and tail) three favours in return for the Sight (the ability to recognize vampires among humans). Whilst completing one of these favours, she bumps into Nikolaus, a vampire she thinks she has killed. Since he was able to survive her poisonous blood, he is now a phoenix - a vampire immune to her blood. And, due to Himself's favour and an accident... now enspelled in love with Ravin.

I really enjoyed this book and hope to find more books by Hauf - and I will definitely be checking out more books in the Nocturne line.

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A pensive Lucky shot:

WiP It Wednesday: Don't Believe The Hype

Yes, another blurry photo - and Lucky is being rather rude - but the picture serves my purpose.



I finished crocheting Raisin's baby blanket for my sister Teri last night during American Idol. Moss Stitch, 4 skeins of the *freakin'* supposedly no-dye-lot Caron Simply Soft in blueberry. Do you see what I see? Four distinct stripes of colour in the blanket?!? Argh... Oh well, at least it is uniform. We will just pretend that I planned it that way.

And yes, I can still count this as a WiP - I haven't woven in the ends yet.

Only one baby blanket to go!

The 24-Hour Kid-Sized Shawl

Last Friday afternoon I was clearing out Willow's backpack when I noticed a note from Willow's teacher saying the kids were to dress up for their 100th Day of Kindergarten (which was today). Dress up how? Well - I misread it. I read the note as if the children were supposed to dress up as if it were 100 years ago. Easy-peasy. I had something Alice-in-Wonderlandish in mind, thought I could ask my MIL nicely to whip Willow up a pinafore and we we would be done. Then I asked Willow if her teacher had given them any hints or ideas of how to dress up.

"Like old people! You know, wigs, canes, suspenders."

Hrm?!?! I read the note again. Sure enough, they were to dress as if they were 100 years old. That is open to interpretation. In any case, my MIL stepped up to the plate and quickly sewed Willow a pink gingham nightgown. I went out and let Willow pick some yarn (and don't you know it, she chose Lion Brand Homespun) so I could knit her a shawl to go with the nightgown. Yeah, we were going with the theory that someone a 100 years old would be in bed. I meant to start it Saturday... but I ended up a cold-medicine induced sleep most of that day. And Sunday. So, the shawl was started sometime after dinner on Sunday and finished last night - here it is:



I didn't use a pattern. It's all in stockinette stitch; I started out with three stitches and increased with yarn overs on every knit row until I felt it was long enough. I used size 11 KnitPicks circulars and used maybe 2/3 of the skein. Willow loves it and I foresee it being reborn as a superhero cape in the near future.

Here's the front and your daily Lucky shot:



Still sick - I stayed home from work today and my sinuses feel like bricks.

My Cat Has Evil Eyes

I told you flash does weird things to his eyes.

Still sick. Bleargh.

Don't You Love Your New Food Container?

Honestly, I think the fact that it is transparent is driving him nuts.

Cristi, who takes wonderful pictures herself of Calvin and Ripple, has this to say about taking cat pictures:

The trick is turning on every light in the house and turning OFF the flash on your camera and hoping and praying that of the fifty shots you take of the cat at least one turns out not only cute but clear. Not easy. But the no flash is key. For me.

Oddly enough, that is my modus operandi with Willow as well. I need to stop using flash on Lucky - he has light green yes and the flash does weird things to them in pictures. Back to Calvin and Ripple - I think those two are Willow's favourite computer cats - she knows them by name when I am reading blogs. And I have to thank Cristi for the idea of the plastic ribbons on the top of milk jugs - Lucky goes nutso for them.

Here's a question for you cat people out there: Lucky has a few raw spots where he has scratched himself. One in the less-furry spot in front of his ear, one near his collar, and the other above his shoulder. He doesn't have fleas or other bugs. These showed up about 10 days ago when we stopped feeding him tuna (side tangent - he was getting the tuna because he was on amoxicillin for a sinus infection and the only way to disguise the bubblegum smell was to mix it with tuna. Why to they make feline antibiotics taste like bubblegum?!?! Anyway...). So, it showed up after we stopped the daily tuna. I'm wondering if his skin is really dry right now and that is why he is itchy - I know my scalp is painfully dry right now so I am just drawing a correlation. I did give him some tuna today mixed in with some canola oil. Does anyone have any insight into this?

Just A Lucky Shot

Willow and I have been felled by colds -hers a chest cold/cough and mine a sinus cold. We are miserable and Andrew is a trooper for dealing with us.

A FO! And Only Two Years In The Making!

Yes, people - it took me over two years to finish these socks. Not that they were overly difficult or my sock-knitting skills that paltry... but I finished them last night! I'm wearing them right now and I have to tell you that they are the most comfortable of all the socks I have knit for myself.

The Specifics:

Yarn: The now-defunct Knitpicks Dancing (and I can't remember the colourway), 2 skeins
Needles: Now this is one of the reasons it took me so long... size 0 DPNs. I thought I was working with size 1s, but then when I gauged them last night when I was done I was shocked to find out I was working with zeros!
Pattern: The generic sock pattern from Ann Budd's multi-gauge knitting pattern book

I have to tell you... I'm itching to start on another pair of socks (not in size 0) right away!

And now, for your daily Lucky Shot:



I have to tell you - I don't know how Jen gets such clear shots of Fee and Grady...

Thursday Book Report: Flyboy

Look Ma! A non-genre romance novel! (Yes, I do periodically wander from the angst of werewolves and vampires...)

I picked up a couple of the Harlequin Blaze and Silhouette Temptation novels from the library, assuming that they would be quick reads and would allow me to pad my yearly book total... and boy, was I in for a surprise with this one. Way back when I was in university I used to devour these books - what can I say, I was at a school where girls out-numbered boys 3 to 1 and being cute, short, and let's be polite and say abundant... the guys that were around weren't exactly breaking down my door. So, I read a lot of romance novels. I remember them being invariably 189 pages long - fiesty girl, committment-phobic boy, snappy repartee, hot sex, and happily ever after. Not long on storyline, but honestly - that wasn't why I read the books.

Karen Foley's Flyboy has a lot of those above-mentioned attributes... Sedona is an aerospace engineer fighting her way in a man's world, Angel is a hotshot pilot who is not looking for a permanent relationship... but underneath it all was a story that sometimes made me forget why this book is sheathed in red bedsheets and has the brand name 'Blaze' emblazoned on the front. Not completely - Ms. Foley has a deft hand with that attribute as well. According to the introduction, this book is her debut novel - and I have to say I will be looking for her name again.
ETA - Apparently not her debut novel, but her first novel with Harlequin Blaze. I found her website and she has written other books as well.

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And here's your daily Lucky shot:



I tried getting an action shot but the cat is too fast and my camera not equipped for it. I did warn you I would be supplying you with out-of-focus cat shots.

Thank you Knitty SP!

Look what I got!



The dog on top is for Willow, and she loves him. She has named him mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy and she hasn't put him down since we unwrapped him. Also in the package were some specialty hot chocolates, a kit to bake chocolate cake in coffee cups, Rogers (!!) chocolates, so lovely hand cream, and the most beautiful smelling eye mask. I think my SP has paid attention to the fact I have been a bit stressed out lately! Thank you, SP!

Lucky: What?!!? I only ate him a little...



For Lent - a picture of Lucky a day, and I'm not going to eat after 8pm (and trust me, that will be the hard one!).

Step Away

She's mine now and I'm not letting her go.

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I need some suggestions - Lent has snuck up on me this year and I am at a loss as what to do on my blog for the duration. If you remember, last year I (tried) to give you a word a day, and the year before that I learned something new each day and reported on it. So... does anyone have any ideas? Because at this rate you might just have an out-of-focus picture of Lucky each day for Lent.

Third Annual St. Brigid's Silent Poetry Reading

Arctic Rhododendrons

They are small purple surprises
in the river's white racket
and after you've seen them
a number of times
in water-places
where their silence seems
related to water-thunder
you think of them as 'noisy flowers'
Years ago
it may have been
that lovers came this way
stopped in the outdoor hotel
to watch the water floorshow
and lying prone together
where the purged green
boils to a white heart
and the shore trembles
like a stone song
with bodies touching
flowers were their conversation
and love the sound of a colour
that lasts two weeks in August
and then dies
except for the three or four
I pressed in a letter
and sent whispering to you

- Al Purdy (taken from 15 Canadian Poets X 2)

Want to participate in the silent poetry reading? Please check out the details here.

Belated Book Report: High Stakes

Sorry for the delay - it was Andrew's birthday yesterday and by the time we got back from the restaurant I was too beat to write up the book report.

I learned about High Stakes a few months ago. I had been looking up a different book and saw this in a sidebar as a "if you liked 'X' book, you will love..." link. I'm glad I clicked on that link, because I was laughing from the first paragraph of this book.

Ethan is a vampire who likes going to the dentist because he likes than smooth clean feeling afterward. He also needs to find himself a wife because he is running for re-election as president of the vampires and the life of a swinging playboy is just not cutting it with the political undead these days. He thinks he has hit the jackpot with Brittany - a sweet, beautiful, tall dentist with an interesting secret... but then he meets her sister.

Alexis is nothing like her sister. She is a pint-size wispy-haired blonde with a sarcastic and mistrusting streak a mile wide. Oh yeah - she is also a martial arts enthusiast and county prosecutor and she does not take kindly to a deluded casino owner who thinks he is a vampire saying he is going to marry her baby sister.

This is the first book in a series and I know I will be seeking out the subsequent novels. Ethan falls hard for Alexis - and while Brittany would have been a more politically sound choice for his wife, he can't resist Alexis. Their romance cracked me up - especially when her idea of foreplay is beating the hell out of Ethan - just because he won't complain she is playing too hard. If you like paranormal romances, pick this one up - it lacks the angst of a lot of novels in this genre, but it makes up for it with sheer silliness.

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Okay, January is over - how am I doing with my 2008 challenge so far? I read 9 books (2709 pages!!) in January - so if I can continue this rate I can make it to a hundred books.

Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For...

In lieu of boring pictures of baby blankets in progress, I bring you this Mind Hump meme:

In the song I'm currently listening to, U2 proclaims they still haven't found what they're looking for. What are you looking for? Have you found it?

What am I looking for? A pair of shoes to love. My feet are shaped like the rest of my body - relatively short and squat. I suppose in an odd way things got better feet-wise after Willow was born because my feet grew while pregnant. Yeah... that is one of those weird things that baby and pregnancy books rarely mention. I went from a size 5.5/6 W to a size 6.5 W. So I have small, wide feet. They actually rather square-ish. The kicker (haha - pun intended) is that wide shoes usually start at size 7. So, I have plenty of pairs of shoes that my feet slide around in and which is probably causing me to walk weird. I also have a few pairs of mules or slides - because there is no back to the shoes I don't have to worry about slippage so much. I really want some cute slightly heeled (chunky is better) leather mary janes. I have a pair of MUDD ones I recently bought and love - but even those are slightly roomy. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Pretty Socks and Hats

Aren't they lovely?



These are the socks that my friend Michelle knit out of the self-striping sock yarn I hand-dyed for her for Christmas. I am so pleased with how they turned out - the credit is due to Michelle's great knitting skills.

I also finished up my Silk Garden hat last night while watching a bunch of stuff I had recorded on the DVR (Coupling, No Reservations, and the documentary about Life After Man - in case you were interested). Oh my I was sitting close to Michelle! (Note to self, sit further back and lift up the chin...)



Here's a close up of the colours in the hat - like I mentioned before, pretty muted all the way through. I like it - in fact, I am still wearing it right now for no good reason other than I like it.

What do you do with a craptastic day?

Buy yarn. I've had a miserable emotional morning. Enough said.

I'm getting itchy because I have not had a finished object yet in January. I have been working on Asami and Teri's respective baby blankets, and as satisfying as making baby stuff is, the monotony of it all is getting to me. Right now I would say I am 70% finished on Teri's and maybe 50% done on Asami's, so there is no real end in sight.

So, with getting some stuff for my next Knitty SP package in mind, I went for a drive out to an Asian supermarket and one of my LYS. That could be construed as a hint, but I honestly don't think my downstream SP reads my blog, so it doesn't matter. I came out of the Asian supermarket with microwaveable sushi rice, rice seasoning (furikake), and some SP goodies. I came out of the LYS with this Silk Garden beauty:



It's actually muted all the way through. Whilst rolling it into a ball I expected to find a swath of magenta or orange, but it is all blue/green/grey. This will be a hat for me.



And my all-time 'make-me-feel-better' yarn... come on, you can read the label:



Just on touch factor alone this one is a winner for me. This will probably end up being a hat, too. I love Malabrigo hats. Plus hats are super-quick and will probably alleviate my baby blanket doldrums. Oh yeah, I bought something for my SP there as well, but can't show you a picture of that!

Gratuitous Willow shot:



Why yes, she did dress heself today! And she thinks my badminton racquet is a banjo... See the carpet she is standing on? Here's a somewhat better shot:

We picked this up at IKEA yesterday (oh, how I love going to IKEA - it rivals going to yarn stores for me!) for only $14.99. Andrew picked her up a small wooden train set as well. She can't wait for Ray to come over so the two of them can go crazy on it. We also bought some new dishes and looked at some armoires. As much as we love our house, the closet space sucks.

Really? I Thought I Was Wittier Than That.

Your Score: the Ham

(42% dark, 42% spontaneous, 10% vulgar)

your humor style:
CLEAN SPONTANEOUS LIGHT

Your style's goofy, innocent and feel-good. Perfect for parties and for the dads who chaperone them. You can actually get away with corny jokes, and I bet your sense of humor is a guilty pleasure for your friends. People of your type are often the most approachable and popular people in their circle. Your simple & silly good-naturedness is immediately recognizable, and it sets you apart in this sarcastic world.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Will Ferrell - Will Smith




The 3-Variable Funny Test!
- it rules -

If you're interested, try my best friend's best test: The Genghis Khan Genetic Fitness Masterpiece

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman

Don't You Think the Author of a Wild Peculiar Blog Should Have a Peculiar Aristocratic Title?

Stolen from Dulcedosa...

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Very Lady Josephine the Lachrymose of Tempting St Mary Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Thursday Book Report: Plum Lucky

Boy, I got this one in just under the wire. It's been quite the week, people -between home stuff and work stuff - I was hard-pressed to finish reading a single book. Luckily for me, Janet Evanovich's Plum Lucky was just the thing I needed.

This is one of Evanovich's 'Between-the-Numbers' books - and why is that? Well, the main character, Stephanie Plum, is the hapless heroine of a series of books with a number in the title ( One for the Money, Two for the Dough, Three to Get Deadly, etc.). This is the second between-the-numbers novel - and at 166 pages, more of a novella, but fun nonetheless. Stephanie works as a bail bond recovery agent, and trust me - nearly every catch she makes is by pure luck or happenstance. She and her lively and colourful companions (Lula the former 'ho, Grandma Mazur, a mysterious guy named Diesel) are all out to recover some money that Grandma Mazur thought was hers (finders-keepers, don't you know?) that rightfully (?) belongs to the mob.

There wasn't much romance is this novel, and I was happy that Morelli was only given passing mention and Ranger actually played a small role (oh, I am a Ranger girl all the way!). Maybe it was just the mood I was in at the beginning of the week, but for me the laughing out loud didn't happen until the last third of the book. If you like funny mystery novels, pick up this series. Once again, not great literature, but definitely something that will make you smirk, smile, laugh, and giggle.

WiP It Wednesday

Thank you to Zonda for reminding me so prettily it was Wednesday...

Here is the Pinwheel Baby Blanket, still in progress:



My rows are now 460 stitches around... it is getting harder and harder to add any more diameter to the blanket. I have only just started the second ball of yarn as well. As tedious as this project is at this moment, I could really see myself making another one.

And as for the pose? What am I supposed to do? It's already on 40" needles. Plus this way I don't have to worry about her blinking every time the flash goes off.

Michelle's Vest Socks

It doesn't much look like a vest, does it?



Remember the socks yarn I dyed for my knitting friends for Christmas? Well, Michelle is halfway through her second sock. I had intended it to be self-striping and I am quite pleased with how it turned out. When she is finished both socks I will try to take a picture in the sun to give a better representation of the colours.

Snow-delayed Book Report: Then We Came To The End

Sorry everyone - we had a bit of a snow squall here yesterday afternoon. Lucky also had a vet appointment. I thought I would be able to get up there and back and have time to write my book report... but in the slow snow traffic it took me about 70 minutes to drive 7 miles up the road. By the time I got home past 8pm, I hadn't had dinner yet and all I wanted to do was curl up in my flannel jammies on the sofa. Lucky is okay - he has a bit of a upper respiratory infection, but now has medication to take care of it.

Without further ado - this week's book report is on Joshua Ferris' Then We Came To The End.

I had such high hopes for this book. I first read about it in a New York Times article on the best books of 2007. Even before I saw what the book was about the title intrigued me. I later learned the title was an homage to another book - Don DeLillo's Americana.

This book is the story of a corporate office in the early 1990's Chicago and what happens when business starts dwindling and layoffs become a painful reality. It's rather timely considering the news you hear every day - Company X laying off 2000 workers, shutting down this call center, outsourcing work, etc. Sounds pretty morbid, right? Well, once I found out that the book was a dark comedy about layoffs, I snapped it up.

I'll admit I snickered in parts. On page 5 you will find, "Karen Woo always had something new to tell us [in staff meetings] and we hated her guts for it. She would start talking and our eyes would glaze over." Omigod, that is me! But, for the most part Ferris' passive prose drove me bonkers and toward there seemed to be some continuity problems toward the end. I am not going to go out of my way to recommend this book - for laughs concerning this subject matter you would get more out of "The Office" episode where Michael Scott has to decide who to lay off.

*Canadian* SP Goodies and WiP It Wednesday

Oh, Knitty SP - you made my heart go pitter-patter... and it wasn't just at the level of caffeine in this box!



Tim Hortons coffee! And it is even coarse ground so we can use it in our french press. Coffee Crisps! (My all-time favourite chocolate bar and it is scarce in the USA) Licorice Allsorts! My husband won't kiss me when I eat them but I love them so! And *real* Smarties (analogous to M&Ms but so much better). For some reason here in the US they think Smarties are powdered sugar tablets. Yech. Thank you so much! I think I am going to watch 'The Tudors' tonight and get all sugared up...

And now - a real-live WiP. I know I haven't posted a WiP in a while, but I had a good reason. Okay, so maybe it was a lame reason, but none of the things I was working on was anywhere near a recognizable state. Here is a pic of the spiral baby blanket I am working on for my friend Asami:

I know it kind of looks like a tam right now - but trust me - it will be a big round baby blanket when I am done. I am up to 350 stitches now... and am only about a third done. I foresee the eventual binding off taking a few hours in itself...

The Pig Story

You really want to hear the pig story? There are actually a few different pig stories. The summer between ninth and tenth grades we moved and my parents bought a hobby farm. There may have been two acres, and we had chickens, 2 calves, bunnies, 2 goats, a half dozen pigs or so, and a big garden. Sound idyllic? It wasn't. It was a lot of dirty work. I remember entering a radio contest that summer about the best/worst thing about your summer. I wrote about how horrible it was to have blissfully lived in the suburbs and have your parents wrench you out of your comfort zone and make you shovel manure all summer. Yeah, I won the contest. The only thing was I didn't even know it! My friends back in our old town called me to tell me.

Anyway, back to the pigs. Pigs aren't bad creatures. If you keep their pens clean they don't smell bad. They don't poop where they eat. And piglets are just like little puppies - all they want to do is get close to you and play. In fact, we used to put our little miniature poodle in with the piglets and they used to chase each other around. When a sow is farrowing (giving birth), she is in a gestational cage so she doesn't harm the babies. She's half a ton, they are maybe a few pounds each. Unfortunately, some sows goes psycho after they give birth - they will stomp and rampage or eat their piglets and the sow has to be euthanized. This happened to us once and my Dad managed to save a single piglet from the litter. For the life of me I can't remember his name - Mom? Ter? Do either of you remember? But we brought this piglet into the house, bottle fed him cow formula, and my sisters and I treated him like a baby. It was one of those times after I had given him his bottle and he had fallen asleep that he peed all over me.

And yes, before anyone asks, we did eat him. That was one of the first lessons we learned - and perhaps a hard one considering my sisters and I were all teenagers when we came to live on the farm. Don't get attached to the animals because they are either food or a commodity. I think that perhaps because of this I tried being a vegetarian for a short time when I was 16. I lasted three months, McDonalds did me in.

Lucky Update

Yay! He started using his litter box! I was a little worried when I woke up this morning - but Willow came bounding up the stairs with, "Good news, Mommy! He used the box!" And I have seen him a few times today wake up from his nap on the sofa, go downstairs and do his business. Yay! It wasn't the first time I was peed on - I think that was when we were raising piglets in the house when the mother pig went psycho - but it is never a fun thing.

My in laws came over to meet him this morning and he jumped up into both of their laps (I told you he was a lap cat!) He is very curious of my knitting. If I pull long on the skein and a bunch comes out he pounces on it and looks at me. "Are we playing now?" Willow has a half dozen of my small odd balls on the floor in the living room - it's no wonder this cat is napping right now - a five year old girl with her first pet really puts him through his paces! He also likes combing Willow's hair with his claws. I have seen him do this twice now when Willow was snuggled next to me and he was in my lap. He stretches out his paw and combs it through her hair.

Why didn't we do this sooner?!? Someone asked about Forgotten Cats. When we adopted Lucky he was neutered, was tested for FHIV and Feline Leukemia (negative on both), had all his shots (except his last Distemper one which I need to arrange for the end of the month). He was also flea-dipped and had his ears checked for mites. He didn't have a backstory with him, but I honestly think he must have been somebody's pet. He is very loving, great with Willow, and doesn't seem to have an aggressive bone in his body. As I had mentioned before, all he wants to do is snuggle in your lap.