Storytime-

Or: What I'm Thinking About Instead Of Working On That Damnable FBS.



This is P. This is his bike. It's a shiny bike. I like it. I kinda like him too. I'd rather be hanging out with him right now, instead of working on my FBS. Well, actually right now...




This is (artist's rendition) what the FBS looks like right about now. (Photo taken from elsewhere. Fear not, it is really not in a heap on the floor.) Well, what it would look like if I didn't carefully seal it back in its little ziplock baggie, and carefully put it back in my yarn chest, before I shoved the little denise needles in my tender little eyeballs. Thus rendering it impossible to read the pattern (and continue to fuck it up) and gaze upon the aforementioned bike and guy.

So in a fit of sheer stupidity, I decided to try casting on for this: (Again, not my picture, but close to the color I'm using.)



This? Is Kiri. And I managed to get to row 3, before becoming so thorougly befuddled by the stupid pattern (and the fact that it is physically impossible to achieve the number of stitches asked for in row 3) that I ripped it all out, set it aside, and decided to come down here and kvetch, before looking for corrections, or at least clarification.

Then I got the brilliant idea to check on my taxes. And the return was accepted by the IRS. Which is great. But I can't get my forms to come up on the turbotax website so I can print them, sign them, and send the page in, that needs to be sent in.

So now, I think I will just have 7 or 8 of these, and go to bed already.




Goodnight.

Tofu you didn't!

Scroll down to the link for the Tofu You Didn't! shells recipe. Go to 28 Cooks. Print the recipe. Cook it. And be prepared to enjoy one hell of a dinner.

Seriously. I'll wait. Go do it now.

(And if you use fresh spinach, and cook it with a little garlic, the set it aside, and cook a diced pepper, and a small, thinly sliced onion in the same pan, then mix the whole shindig with the tofu/cheese filling, you'll be extra happy. I'd also suggest some extra marinara on the side, but I have a thing against dry pasta.)

It is that good.

Now I shall return to Inspector Morse on A&E and the 3rd pattern repeat on the Flower Basket Shawl (version 2.0).

Cook-o-rama

So aside from the blinding headache I had for a good portion of yesterday, this has been a pretty darned nice weekend.

We started by picking up P's bike in Harrisburg. And I took pictures today, so when he sends them to me, you can see the real deal, but for the meantime, this is pretty much what his looks like- it's a 1999 Ducati Super Sport 750. His doesn't have that dorky black thing on the gas tank, though. And it's shiny. And it's red. And it's really, really pretty.

Saturday morning I snagged enough groceries to make tons of tasty food for the next few weeks, and then started cooking. Before I got sidelined I made:

Lentil Crunchies , some hummus (and learned that tahini is not something you want to taste just plain (ptui!), and yet another batch of roasted cauliflower.

Right now, there's a batch of Tofu You Didn't! shells on my counter, waiting for the oven to finish cleaning. I did modify these slightly, with some cooked peppers and onions sauteed with fresh spinach to go in the filling, but they smelled good. The real test will be seeing if my dad notices anything awry. (All I've told him is that they're "Veggie stuffed shells" and that he will eat them, and enjoy them.)

So really, this should just be an ancillary blog, or perhaps part of the 28 Cooks comments, because lately, that's all I've been cooking... heh. However, The fabulous ET has sent me some ass-kicking recipes, and they are likely to be kicked out by week's end.

So now that the cooking content is out of the way- I have to ask you guys- what the hell do you buy a 5 year old for her birthday? She is not lacking for toys, so I really don't feel the need to add to her stash, unless it's something unique. She's exceptionally bright and inquisitive, Books are my old stand-by, but I could use some suggestions. The theme is Disney Princesses, but frankly? I don't really "do" Disney. Any ideas?

And in the "Oh HELL yes!" department, I guess that being unemployed for a large portion of this past year was a blessing in disguise, as I am getting enough money back to do 1st month's and probably security on an apartment. Perfect timing, as this is about the time that the property management people are supposed to start calling. I just want a small 1BR, within walking distance of work, so we'll see what happens...

In the meantime, hope you and yours are swell. Steelers content to come...

That's good eatin'!

So G. Monkey came over last night, which was most awesome. And were it not for the fact that I have to be at work at oh-dark-thirty tomorrow morning, I'd be with her tonight at the Keller Williams show. Instead, I get to go with P to go pick up his bike tomorrow night. Not a bad trade, but I would love to hear the Price is Right song in person...

So anyway, last night, G. Monkey came over, and was super excited to have some of the infamous Roasted Cauliflower, and I was super excited that she wanted to eat some of the infamous roasted cauliflower so we got to play in the kitchen some. I wanted something to work well with the garlic and rosemary in the cauliflower, so I decided to make these:

Dead Simple Rosemary Chicken

Scale this for one person, or a crowd, just add more stuff. You'll need the following:

Chicken breasts
Fresh rosemary sprigs
Garlic cloves
chicken broth
a bay leaf (optional)
a squirt of lemon juice (optional)
Cornstarch

Take however many chicken breasts you want to use and trim them up, then pound the thicker ends flat, so they'll cook evenly. Flip them so that the cut side is up, and season liberally with salt and pepper and some bits of fresh rosemary.

Heat up your (non-nonstick) frying pan, and put a bit of oil on the bottom (not enough to deep fry, just enough to keep the chicken from sticking). While it's warming up sort of slowly, toss in a few whole cloves of garlic (smashed slightly, if you like). When the oil's hot, put your chicken breasts in, seasoned side down, and walk away. Let the chicken get nice and brown on the bottom before you season the top side with more salt, pepper, and rosemary, and flip 'em. Stir the garlic around so it's not burning (if it gets dark, pull it out). Cook the chicken breasts till the other side is nice and brown, and the inside no longer is pink (you may need to flip again).

When the chicken's done, pull it out of the pan, and place it on a plate. Turn the heat down on your pan, and deglaze it with a good amount of chicken broth. This is the part where you'll want to keep tasting it to make sure it's not funky. If it's too strong, toss in a little bit of water, and a squirt of lemon juice. I put a bay leaf into mine for a little while as well. Let it boil for a bit, then pull out the remaining garlic and rosemary, and add cornstarch mixed with water to the boiling mixture till it makes a nice little sauce. Place the chicken breasts back in the pan, just to warm up a tinch, and serve with a bit of the sauce, some roasted cauliflower, and a nice salad.

Yum.

No pictures, because I wasn't thinking of how pretty it was, just how good it was going to taste.

In other news, I ripped out my Flower Basket Shawl, partly because I think I'd like it better done in one strand (so I keep telling myself) and partly because I kept effing up the row I was on, and was ready to punch myself in the kidney. So... I'm back on the initial 23 row setup, and doubting very highly I'll get anything else done on it till perhaps Sunday. (on the upside? I do like it better with the single strand, it's a little more ephemeral, and the subtle changes in color show up better.)

Roundup

So tonight I went out shopping with G. Monkey. I went beering with her too. And we had a few pretty darned amusing moments.

Like when we went shopping tonight, and she tried on this awesome pair of lime green shoes (which sounds revolting, but they were heels, and felt like nice big pillows)... she had taken off both of her own shoes, and then when she went to put them back on? Couldn't find one of them. So picture us both all over the floor in Marshall's, trying to see if her shoe skidded under the shoe fixture, or where the hell it was, for a good five minutes. Then we discovered it, hiding on a rack, nowhere near where she had put it down... Heh.

Maybe you had to be there...

But we did have a great time, and that's good. I was really, really worried about her at the end of this past week, but she seems to have a better handle on things, and she's going to her dad's this weekend. I still worry, because that's what I do, but now, maybe not totally quite as much. (We've gone from Red to Orange on the Freaking Out About G. Monkey-meter.)

Anyway, hope everything in your neck of the woods is swell, lovely, fabulous, and otherwise good. I'm going to go figure out what I did to screw up the row I'm on in the Flower Basket Shawl, or possibly ignore it, and watch House instead.

Santa is real!

Here it is, as promised. He hates it, because he was just about to blink when they took the picture. G. Monkey likes it- says it makes him look like he's about to kick your dog, or something. Heh. And The Incomprable C has already assured me that if she sees this on Sunday with an engagement under it in the paper, she will skin me alive. (And my mother will reassure TIC that she'd definitely beat her to the punch.) Heh. Heh. Heh.

More soon. Particularly, Roasted veggie pasta, if it turns out.

And now? The soon- as the roasted veggie pasta was pretty tasty. Basically, take 2 roasting pans (or two lasagna pans, or whatever) and place into them:
2/3 a crown of broccoli, whacked up
1 red pepper, whacked up
some mushrooms (3 cremini, 3 biiiig buttons, because they were on sale) also whacked up.
1 carrot, sliced on the bias
1 head of garlic, cloves whacked and peeled- save a couple for the sauce.
1 bunch of asparagus, cut into thirds
1 small onion, whacked into smallish wedges
herbs of your choice (I didn't put any on this time)
Olive Oil, salt, pepper
(Eggplant, and really, pretty much any other veggie you can think of, would probably be really good too)

Roast all that in a 450 oven for about 10-15 minutes, or till the veggies are softish, and starting to caramelize. Meanwhile, cook your pasta. (Something that will hold a sauce.) In another big pot, pop your reserved garlic, some olive oil, and maybe another pepper, whacked up. Let them cook together for a few minutes, then put in some canned artichoke hearts- cut into quarters (marinated would be fine, too) , the zest of one lemon, and some chicken broth (more if you're making a whole box of pasta and feeding the neighborhood/office, less if you're just cooking for you) and let it simmer a bit. By now, the pasta should be nearly done, and so should the veggies (if you're pacing yourself). When they're both finished, drain the pasta, and put it back into the big pot. Toss on the roasted veggies, and use a little of the hot chicken broth to deglaze the pan- pour the little roasty bits into the broth mixture... then crank the heat. When the chicken broth mix is boiling, add in cornstarch mixed with water, till you get a nice consistency (you want it to be thinner than gravy, but thicker than chicken soup). Add some red pepper flakes and fresh basil, and pour it over the veggies and pasta. Mix, re-season to taste, and serve with a nice sharpish cheese. (Feta would kick it, but I didn't have any.)

Taa. Daa.
(And if you're reading this Incomprable C, I'm bringing a big bowl of it to work tomorrow, if you'd like some for lunch.)

Could this weekend get ANY better?

Ok, first off.

We're going to the Superbowl! We're going to the Superbowl! We're going to the freaking Superbowl!

I am so freaking giddy right now I might quite possibly do a jig. Maybe three.

Seriously. Even when I knew we had it, I couldn't let myself accept the fact until the clock ran out. Holy hell, people, the Steelers. Are going. To the Superbowl.

HEEEEEEEE!!

And that was just the capper on a great 2 days.

Saturday was the big whing-ding for the local drug company that P's mom and her friend work for (think little blue lozenge shaped pills). They had 2 extra tickets, and kindly invited P and I to go. Dinner, dancing, a nice night out. I suggested making it into an early President's Day (or perhaps belated New Year's) celebration weekend, and snagged a nice room at a local hotel. We had a great time at the wing ding, I got to sleep next to a hot guy (I'll spare the other details), and curled up with him in front of the fire, to watch the game. Which we won.

Honestly, I haven't had this much fun in a while. I even got to kick it off with a few martinis with The Incomprable C. and G. Monkey on Friday night.

And yes. Much to my chagrin, there was a photograph taken. By a professional. And as much as I cringe at the prospect of having my picture taken, (among other reasons for hating professional photography) I think this one turned out halfway decent. (P, of course, hates it, as he was about to blink when they snapped it.) I'll scan it tomorrow and post. Because I can. (And because, really- how often do I get to have my picture taken with a hot guy?)

And an aside to Miss Critki- while your tonsorially challenged QB was quite frightful, he really couldn't hold a candle to our cleetus-looking QB. I think it had to do with the long hair...

And one to Anon- well, yeah! Road House rocks it. "You play guitar pretty good for a blind guy." "Yeah, and I thought you'd be bigger..." Love that movie for the cheeze alone. So good.

Rhymin' and Stealin'

Stolen from The Incomprable C's blog.


4 Jobs You Have Had in Your Life
*Salad Bar Girl
*Nonprofit Flunky
*Pecker Painter
*Bookstore Guru

4 Movies You Could Watch Over and Over
*Desk Set
*Road House
*The Princess Bride
*This really dorky Nicholas Cage Vampire movie that G. Monkey and I watch semiannually, the name of which escapes me, and I'm too lazy to IMDB it.

4 Places You Have Lived
*DuBois
*Lancaster
*Key West
*Open for debate on the rest...

4 TV Shows You Love to Watch
*Any and Almost All L&O incarnations, particularly Criminal Intent.
*House, MD
*The Daily Show
*CSI, but not much lately.

4 Places You Have Been on Vacation
*Lake Erie
*Hell House
*Rehoboth
*Key West

4 Websites You Visit Daily
*Blingo
*CNN
*Knitting Curmudgeon
*Tomato Nation

4 of Your Favorite Foods
*Dark Chocolate
*Salt & Vinegar chips
*Chicken Mexi-Melts
*Almost anything someone else cooks for me. (Ok, Fine, Fruit/veggies are good too.)

4 Places You Would Rather Be Right Now
*My happy place
*A deserted beach somewhere moderately warm
*In the shower
*Walking into a vault of my own money.

Hey! You got your peanut butter in my chocolate!

**Note, I forgot the stick of butter in the frosting recipe- the recipe has been fixed**

If I were a smart blogger, I'd post pictures. But because I forgot to take any before the cake was slaughtered, you'll have to just live with the descriptions.

Our office sort of forgot one of the director's birthdays this week. To atone for this grevious oversight, we decided to make her favorite cake for her. Specifically, a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. This is one of the few frostings I really groove on (the others being whipped cream frostings, a really good buttercream, and german chocolate) as I find most frostings (especially commercial ones) way too sweet.

The cake was declared "The best I've ever eaten" by the not-normally-effusive director, so I think that's a pretty good endorsement.

The recipes are as follows:

Hershey's Disappearing Cake

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the bottoms of 2 8 inch pans,toss in a trimmed parchment, grease that too, and cocoa powder the heck out of them both (cocoa powder, not flour- helps keep a white ring from forming)

In large mixer bowl, beat butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs; beat well.

In separate bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add alternately with milk to butter mixture, blending well. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes, then cool completely before frosting. Personally, I'd recommend freezing the little bastards before frosting, because they're wicked breakable, and rather crumbly when you frost, but if you're pressed for time, do a skim coat of icing, then a really thick coat on top of that, and it'll pass. (If it's really bad, press chopped peanuts into the side of the frosted cake.)

Now, for the frosting. You can totally whip this up as the cake is cooling, or whenever, really. You'll need:

2/3 pound of peanut butter (yes, you're going to have to use a scale. Sorry. That's how the recipe was written, and I didn't bother to measure it in cups.) and maybe a tad more, if it looks a bit skimpy
1 stick butter (room temperature)
1 pound of powdered sugar (plus a little more, probably)
1 cup evaporated milk (or a little less)
a tiny dab of crisco shortening if desired

Now, here's the skinny on the imprecise measurements- I wanted this to be a nice stiff frosting- so I tossed in a little extra Peanut Butter and Powdered sugar (maybe another 1/3 to 1/2 box, and another big whonkin' spoonful of peanutbutter- not a tablespoon, like a wooden spoon) and beat the bejeebus out of it with the stand mixer.

When the cake is cool, frost it, and if you're a purist, you can leave it plain. If you'd like to dress it up, you could decorate with the aforementioned ground up peanuts pressed into the sides of the frosting, chocolate curls in the center of the cake, use chocolate stars or chocolate frosting to decorate the top/sides, or decorate with more peanut butter frosting (for that matter, just make a big batch of frosting and eat that, without the cake, it's that fun).

Just do it.

Go to 28 Cooks. Do it now.

And make something. Sure, she doesn't have a lot of recipes up. YET. But the two that I have made, the Lentils and Rice, and the Roasted Cauliflower, are enough to make me want to marry the Incomprable C.

And yes, this is how rumors get started, and I don't even care. She? Can cook. Tonight, I made her lentils and rice, (with 3 minor tweaks- I used chicken broth and water, added some red pepper flakes, and toasted the rice- pilaf style- before pouring the lentils & broth over them and letting the whole shebang simmer) And if she gets around to it after class tonight, she's going to post a recipe for tofu-stuffed shells, that she loved, and she finds tofu as appealing as the stuff you scrape off your shoe after a jog through the dog park.

And if you dislike vegetarian fare, I'll dig up the recipe I've got for some wicked good French Dip sandwiches.


In other news:

I've started working on the Flower Basket Shawl, and really like the ease of the pattern (I'm even working from the chart- a minor miracle, as I loathe charts), and the yarn is really growing on me. Progress photos to come, when it looks less like a pile of yarn, and more like a little wrap-y thing.

I got my 90 day review at work today, and I believe it actually did contain the phrase "walks on water" or darn near to it. It was overwhelmingly positive, and it was really great to get some feedback from my direct supervisor. For all my bitching, it really is a decent place to work. (and for all my screwing around, they seem to not care, so long as I get shit done)

So I'm not getting fired anytime soon. :)

Caution: Football Content Ahead

I have discovered the source of my prematurely greying hair.

The playoffs.

I've been relatively light on the football content this season, primarily because I've been otherwise occupied on many a Sunday afternoon, and/or find it difficult to stay awake through MNF. So you've all been spared. Until today, that is.

Topic 1.

Ben Roethlisberger, shave that scuzz off your face. Do it now. It doesn't make you look suave, or manly, it just makes you look like you're trying to hide some bad acne. I'd say "Peyton Manning's cleanshaven, and look at how well his team did this year", but after today's game, they're out of contention. Which brings me to topic 2.

Topic 2.
When you are ahead by 3, have less than 2 minutes to play, and have received the ball after sacking Peyton Manning on fourth & 16, take. The motherfucking. Knee. Do not make me age 10 years, nearly have an aneurysm, and have to almost take back all the smack I talked to my dad, because you couldn't take a damned knee and end the game like any normal, decent, SMART team. Don't give me crap about Indy having 3 time outs. I don't fucking care. They still had 3 time outs when you got the ball back with 26 seconds left.

Topic 3.
Dad, stop picking whichever team is playing against the Steelers, and rooting for them just to be contrary. It's annoying, and when you switch allegiances in the last 30 seconds of the game, I'm going to plant an stiletto in your skull.

Topic 4.
Troy Polamalu, call me!

Topic 5.
For those of you who watched the Indy/Pittsburgh game, that ref is a confirmed graduate of St. Mary's school for the blind, and I have it on good authority that his parents (and much of his family lineage, going back for at least 5 generations) were brother and sister. The call regarding Polamalu's interception (and lets get one thing straight, that WAS an interception) was bullshit, and I honestly hope that his children quit their respectable jobs and become journalists and crack-whores, and further bring shame upon his family.

Topic 6.
Denver? You're goin' DOWN. Seriously. They said we couldn't beat Indy, and we did. And we're not going to fuck it up like we almost did in the last quarter of this game. Mile high stadium or no, we want it, we're going to come and get it. You? Aren't going to stop us. We are going to the Superbowl.

Topic 7.
Vanderjagt, Vanderjagt, Vanderjagt. You're a kicker. And you're still an idiot. And even if you do honk a really important kick, you aren't allowed to take your helmet off and slam it on the field. Even if it is really funny. And even if your miss made Peyton Manning almost cry like a little girl. Stuff like that? Is why nobody takes you seriously.

Topic 8.

Peyton. I like you. A lot. And I'm sorry it had to end this way. Your commercials? Priceless. Your crazy forehead and your supercuts do? Awesome. I'd love to toss back a few with you. You're probably a lot of fun. So I'm sorry I yelled at you. A lot. And laughed when you lost. And made fun of your forehead. A lot. You really do mean well, and maybe next year you'll go all the way. At least you didn't lose to the Patriots again...

And thus concludes my football content for today. Tune in next time when I'll return to the usual blathering, rambling, and occasional knitting content.

I love the smell of cauliflower in the morning.

As some of you may know/have inferred, I work with the Incomprable C. Who is perfect. No, really. She knits like a fiend, never fails to make me laugh my ass off, has a healthy appreciation for gin, cooks like a mofo, and has her stuff together (And no, I'm not trying to inflate her ego or suck up). It's the cooking bit I want to talk about today.

Specifically, her roasted cauliflower. And before you turn your nose up at me, or bitch "I don't like cauliflower, you need to make the investment in 1 head of the stuff, and roast it. It tastes NOTHING like the watery, sickass stuff they tried to foist on you in elementary school. The recipe is dead easy. Cut up cauliflower. Roast with garlic, olive oil, and rosemary. It is simple, delicious, and, as I discovered today, great for breakfast. Which is why I bring to you:

A CLB Tortilla

Modeled on the Spanish Tortilla (potatoes and onion sliced thin, cooked with a healthy dose of garlic, then covered in beaten egg, and cooked in one nice chunk) the CLB tortilla is similar, but made with leftover roasted cauliflower*

Measurements? Hiiiighly accurate here.

Take enough leftover cauliflower to cover the bottom of the pan you're using (not packed, just sort of scattered across the bottom). Be sure to get some of the yummy garlic pieces too, and smash them up with the back of a spoon.

Warm them up a little bit while you scramble your eggs. If you're using a small pan/feeding one or 2 people, go with 2 eggs. Don't get fancy with the eggs- the cauliflower's going to season them enough. Just whip in some salt and a good bit of pepper, and mix with a fork. When the cauliflower's warm, dump on your eggs, and push/pull the cooked bits around, tilting the pan, to maximize the amount of uncooked egg getting to the bottom of the pan. When it's a cohesive mass, but the top of the pan is still shiny and nowhere near cooked it's time to flip.

Cover your pan with a dinner plate- carefully-(if your pan's too big to be covered by a plate, you'll have to broil. Sorry.) flip the whole thing over, holding the plate tight to the pan, and take off the pan. You should have the nice brown side up. Slide the whole shebang back into the pan, wet side down, and cook till done. Wash off the plate, slip the tortilla back out, and enjoy with some good bread.


*this is, of course, working with the assumption that you didn't inhale every last micron of cauliflower the instant it came out of the oven, or you made a double batch, because you learned from the last time... where you inhaled every last micron fresh out of the oven. It's that good.

Now with pictures!

Caution, knitting geekery ahead.

Also? I've discovered that this camera... how do I say it... sucks it when it comes to close ups, so you really can't see the bangin' cable that is at the bottom of this sweater fetus (in nine months, it might actually be a full-fledged sweater). But this? Is Samus.

The color in the photo doesn't do it justice, unfortunately.



It's a really pretty reddish-orangey yarn with slight variegations, and I really like it. The second skein had a lot of darkish bits, which I think will help lend a bit of an illusion of shaping to it.

And because it is literally impossible to swing a skein of yarn in my house without hitting a cat... the nanosecond I put this on the table, Silent Bob had to have a look-see. (Fear not, I will not get schmoopy about the cats. Much.)



(again with the close-up issues)

I'm thinking the camera will do better with pictures of people. I'll test this theory tomorrow, when I get to hang out with P and G. Monkey, quite possibly both at the same time. (Will wonders never cease?)

She's ba-a-a-a-ack!

Not me. G. Monkey. She finally called last night, after I had convinced myself that "really, if something bad would have happened, her dad would have called me" and was OK with just talking to her voicemail daily (well, the lady who tells me that my call was directed to an automatic voicemail system). But at least she's back!

She sounds good, and she got her admission letter from "prestigious ivy league school" so she's definitely IN for grad school, and will attend in the summer. We're going out tonight, and she's going to meet P tomorrow, and she's going to come with me on Monday when we do a little "I need a quesadilla/hummus platter, a martini, and a laugh" whingding after work, with lots of ladies from the Giganto-Mega-Hospital.

(Assuming, of course, that she is feeling up to all of this, and today's visit from her mother doesn't go awry. Her mother can bite me, but that's just me.)

In other news: I have a week to find a pair of pretty, reasonably painless slingbacks or kitten heeled not-too-pointy-toed slides that will not cost a kidney (or even a skin graft) for a little wingding. I've been invited to the "Local arm of a drug conglomerate" Annual Dinner Dance, as P's mom has 2 extra tickets at her disposal. I think it'll be a lot of fun. I just want to be able to enjoy the "dance" part (hence the not excessively painful, wide enough for my box-feet request). Whee!

Sometime this weekend? There will be photos!

Monday at the latest...
Or Tuesday.

They haven't won.

I was chided today for not posting more. I confess, it has been a quiet week or whatever. G. Monkey bailed on me this weekend, and I've left a few messages, but this doesn't surprise me a whole lot. This happens. If I don't hear from her in a day or two more, I'll call out the search party (or her dad, whichever is more convenient). She did come home this weekend, her leg was getting pretty gnarly, and she got that looked at, was supposed to go in for another look-see today, and probably more antibiotics/whacks upside the head for doing something so stupid from the doc*.

I was out of commission myself this weekend, the sore throat from the great beyond (or P & Ferret Trimmin' Gal) turned into "dear sweet Lord, just take me now, or let my sinuses/eyeballs explode already, would you?" on Sunday, and I actually called in sick Monday. (And as parsimonious as I am with my Paid Time Bank, something's wrong if I call in sick.)

I'm feeling much more human now, and am breathing unassisted. Life, is jolly.

Otherwise, there's really not much to report. The incomprable C is tempting me with yarn, and interesting patterns, and I'm now probably set till I'm 80 for stuff to make, but that's OK. Next onto the needles (or possibly tonight, if I find the right yarn in my stash) is this, the Flower Basket Shawl (I'd probably go a tiny bit bigger than is in the picture... (pdf) either in Mulberry zephyr, or something else. And I'm still plugging at Samus and mom's purple Branching Out. And hey, maybe there will be pictures eventually, now that I have a camera!

Hope you are all having a happy, and a merry, and a festive whatever today might be.



*Kidding, her doctor wouldn't whack her upside the head. I did, though. Verbally. But in the kind, "dude, you can't do that shit" sort of way.

Rainy Monday

Well, New Year's Day started out auspiciously enough, and I'm hoping that I can carry the happiness and optimism from it, through the rest of the year. Personal traditions and superstitions have been dealt with, and my fingers are crossed.

I haven't asked for positive thoughts and well wishes in a while, but I'm asking today. And this time, it's not for me- G. Monkey needs 'em. Needs 'em really badly, actually. She's going away tomorrow, and I'm not sure how long she'll be gone. She's been dealing with a lot of shit lately, and the ways she had been dealing weren't exactly healthy, productive, or effective. (Well, except the therapy.)

Anyway. She's trying to do some things on her own first- will be staying semi-nearby, close enough that I can go visit her on the weekends if she wants. She's going to try to take her meds like she is supposed to, and work on the self-destructive stuff, and keep seeing her therapist, and hope that the change of scenery helps. But if that doesn't work, she's going to let the professionals take over.

I'm not as worried as I have been for the past month and a half, and specifically the last 2 weeks, because she's recognizing that what she was doing wasn't healthy. And she's making changes to try to get healthy. Or at least healthier, and maybe a little happier. So send your positive vibes, prayers, crossed fingers, and atta girls to her. She needs everyone she can get to be pulling for her.

Thanks y'all.