Tuesday, October 31, 2006
It's National Candy Day!
I was tempted to not post today, because tomorrow starts the NaBloPoMo and I'm already stressed about how in the hell I'm going to think of something to say for thirty (thirty-one?) straight days.
Nonetheless, I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Candy Day! Whoops, I mean Happy Halloween!
Nonetheless, I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Candy Day! Whoops, I mean Happy Halloween!
Today marks the official start of the Holiday Weight Gaining Season, as if I wasn't having enough problems fitting into my winter clothes. It's a good thing we didn't buy Halloween candy until last night--I already made my way through half a bag of Crunch bars...at breakfast.
It's also a good thing I don't like Reese's or Butterfingers, or there would be precious little candy left for the trick-or-treaters tonight.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween. If' there's anything in particular anyone wants me to write about this coming month, just let me know in the comments. I'm happy for any suggestions, because...Dude. This is going to be a long month.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Behold the masterpiece...
...and please ignore the fact that I took a really blurry picture of it in the bathroom.
This October, the Prairie Knitter became a Pumpkin Carver. Would y'all believe that until this month, I had never carved a pumpkin before? My family always either completely skipped the pumpkin-carving and went straight for Mom's home-made pink-food-colored popcorn balls, or we painted the jack-o-lanterns instead of carving them. In hindsight, I'm pretty sure my mother's love of painted pumpkins had less to do with an appreciation of portraiture and more to do with a desire not to have her clumsy daughter anywhere near knives and other carving tools.
Smart lady. I almost took a finger off a couple of times while working on my pumpkin.
And because I always feel a strange desire to disclose all my dorkiness online, I must tell you that my original plan was to create three Harry Potter-inspired jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. I designed the owl for Hedwig, and I also wanted to do a lightning bolt and a golden snitch. After Hedwig took me FIVE HOURS, however, I decided the other two looked pretty darn good as just pumpkins. It was only after I finished that I realized I was using one of my pumpkin carving tools incorrectly and could have probably done the thing in an hour.
I should have started with the lightning bolt.
This October, the Prairie Knitter became a Pumpkin Carver. Would y'all believe that until this month, I had never carved a pumpkin before? My family always either completely skipped the pumpkin-carving and went straight for Mom's home-made pink-food-colored popcorn balls, or we painted the jack-o-lanterns instead of carving them. In hindsight, I'm pretty sure my mother's love of painted pumpkins had less to do with an appreciation of portraiture and more to do with a desire not to have her clumsy daughter anywhere near knives and other carving tools.
Smart lady. I almost took a finger off a couple of times while working on my pumpkin.
And because I always feel a strange desire to disclose all my dorkiness online, I must tell you that my original plan was to create three Harry Potter-inspired jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. I designed the owl for Hedwig, and I also wanted to do a lightning bolt and a golden snitch. After Hedwig took me FIVE HOURS, however, I decided the other two looked pretty darn good as just pumpkins. It was only after I finished that I realized I was using one of my pumpkin carving tools incorrectly and could have probably done the thing in an hour.I should have started with the lightning bolt.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Ready or not, here I come!
Believe it or not, I have also seen knit blogs that denounce the posting of pet pictures. But y'all, I can't resist. The cuteness overwelms me and I simply must share it.
I figure this way is better than taking kitty pictures into work with me.
So damn cute.
I figure this way is better than taking kitty pictures into work with me.
So damn cute.
Monday, October 23, 2006
A cuppa tea
Two of my favorite tastes right now are both Tazo teas. I've always enjoyed them, but lately, these teas are just rocking my world. Every cup is an event and I've been savoring my Tazo's the way a wine afficionado savors an...um...a really good wine?
I could never describe how much I love these teas, due to the double curses of an under-developed palate and a diminuitive vocabulary. I have never sampled a wine and thought to myself, "Well, well. I can definitely taste the oak and that tastes like apricots, and why, could that be a hint of celeriac leaf?" Unfortunately, when I drink wine, I am more likely to think, "Boy, a mudslide sure would taste good right about now."
Just know that I love my tea enough to get out the Nikon and take pictures of tea bags. And to sip a steaming cuppa Zen while getting ready for bed just now. Nighty night.
I could never describe how much I love these teas, due to the double curses of an under-developed palate and a diminuitive vocabulary. I have never sampled a wine and thought to myself, "Well, well. I can definitely taste the oak and that tastes like apricots, and why, could that be a hint of celeriac leaf?" Unfortunately, when I drink wine, I am more likely to think, "Boy, a mudslide sure would taste good right about now."
Just know that I love my tea enough to get out the Nikon and take pictures of tea bags. And to sip a steaming cuppa Zen while getting ready for bed just now. Nighty night.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Sunday morning with coffee mug
Friday, October 20, 2006
Nanda's puny plan gets results.
A couple of days ago, I had the pleasure of hearing David Sedaris read some of his stories aloud in Tulsa. I always enjoy reading David’s essays myself, but it is ten times greater to hear him read his own work. His inflections and timing are perfect. And while his writing often elicits a smile and silent chuckles to myself, it is his reading that causes me to laugh my mascara off.
While we were waiting to get our seats, the Nanda turned to me and said point-blank, “When are you going to blog again? It’s been a month, you know.” Actually, Nanda, it had only been fifteen days at that point, but seeing the desperation in your eyes and also knowing what it is to be obsessed with the blog, I've decided it's time to come out of retirement. If this were a movie, I would have one last "job" to do.
To get back in the swing of the blog, I’m going to join Fussy's National Blog Posting Month. I will attempt to blog everyday. Because of this fact, and the fact that I’m still not knitting anything I can blog about (why do I insist on starting Christmas crafts every October?), this will be more of a personal blog and not a knitting blog next month. I kinda feel the need to make that clear, because I often read knit-blogs whose authors ridicule knit-bloggers that discuss their personal lives. Unfortunately, I don’t finish objects frequently enough to make this a pure-blood knit-blog. A Knitblog with a capital K. If I only blogged when I had progress pics and finished objects, Nanda would only get about ten posts a year!
And if I remember correctly, I started this blog (one year ago, this month, actually) as an online journal. Somewhere along the way, I forgot that motivation and started feeling self-conscious about the fact that I don’t knit faster or more often. Knitting became an object on the To-Do List. Knit more! Knit more! In fact, “Knit more” even made it onto my list of New Year’s Resolutions (which, by the way, I would like to officially recant on the grounds of it is October and I am not likely to lose weight/organize my entire house/whatever the hell else I listed within the next two months). The official entry was something like, "Knit more! So you can RELAX!!!!!" And whether it’s a consequence of my attitude towards knitting or not, I have actually spent less time knitting this year than I have since I began the craft in 2003.
So as my one year blogiversay approaches, I plan to transform this site a bit. And by transform, I'm afraid I don't mean that I'm suddenly going to learn how to make a masthead or use a scanner. "Learn to use a computer like a normal person" is not one of the purposes of this blog. By transform, I just mean that I'm going to blog what I want (what I really, really want). No more self-censoring all the time and no more apologizing for the lack of knitting. I'm just going to knit what I want (what I really, really want) and if that means I have fifteen new scarves next year at this time...well, good. I happen to love scarves.
I hope the long-winded self-absorbed rant didn’t scare too many folks off. Though really, what blogger isn’t at least a little self-absorbed? That’s part of the point, right? Oops! I should probably save that topic for another post. I’m gonna need all the inspiration I can muster during the bloggy days of November.
While we were waiting to get our seats, the Nanda turned to me and said point-blank, “When are you going to blog again? It’s been a month, you know.” Actually, Nanda, it had only been fifteen days at that point, but seeing the desperation in your eyes and also knowing what it is to be obsessed with the blog, I've decided it's time to come out of retirement. If this were a movie, I would have one last "job" to do.
To get back in the swing of the blog, I’m going to join Fussy's National Blog Posting Month. I will attempt to blog everyday. Because of this fact, and the fact that I’m still not knitting anything I can blog about (why do I insist on starting Christmas crafts every October?), this will be more of a personal blog and not a knitting blog next month. I kinda feel the need to make that clear, because I often read knit-blogs whose authors ridicule knit-bloggers that discuss their personal lives. Unfortunately, I don’t finish objects frequently enough to make this a pure-blood knit-blog. A Knitblog with a capital K. If I only blogged when I had progress pics and finished objects, Nanda would only get about ten posts a year!
And if I remember correctly, I started this blog (one year ago, this month, actually) as an online journal. Somewhere along the way, I forgot that motivation and started feeling self-conscious about the fact that I don’t knit faster or more often. Knitting became an object on the To-Do List. Knit more! Knit more! In fact, “Knit more” even made it onto my list of New Year’s Resolutions (which, by the way, I would like to officially recant on the grounds of it is October and I am not likely to lose weight/organize my entire house/whatever the hell else I listed within the next two months). The official entry was something like, "Knit more! So you can RELAX!!!!!" And whether it’s a consequence of my attitude towards knitting or not, I have actually spent less time knitting this year than I have since I began the craft in 2003.
So as my one year blogiversay approaches, I plan to transform this site a bit. And by transform, I'm afraid I don't mean that I'm suddenly going to learn how to make a masthead or use a scanner. "Learn to use a computer like a normal person" is not one of the purposes of this blog. By transform, I just mean that I'm going to blog what I want (what I really, really want). No more self-censoring all the time and no more apologizing for the lack of knitting. I'm just going to knit what I want (what I really, really want) and if that means I have fifteen new scarves next year at this time...well, good. I happen to love scarves.
I hope the long-winded self-absorbed rant didn’t scare too many folks off. Though really, what blogger isn’t at least a little self-absorbed? That’s part of the point, right? Oops! I should probably save that topic for another post. I’m gonna need all the inspiration I can muster during the bloggy days of November.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Happy October
Apparently, all I had to do was say how much I like the cooler weather for there to be a sudden warm-front to ruin my weekend gardening plans. I couldn''t plant and transplant when the 10-day forecast calls for 90 degree days....
So what did I do instead of planting? I had me an 8-hour Lost-fest!! Woohoo!
And I did start a wee little something out of this pretty stuff:
Hashbrowns topped with two fried eggs topped with leftover chili topped with seasoned fries topped with cheddar cheese.
So what did I do instead of planting? I had me an 8-hour Lost-fest!! Woohoo!
And I did start a wee little something out of this pretty stuff:
I'm also doing a bit of Christmas knitting, which I can't post pictures of, so it's going to be slim pickings around here for awhile. Actually, I've been feeling a bit too plugged in lately, if you know what I mean, so I'm going to take a short break from blogging this month. I want to really enjoy this October, which for me means being outdoors and offline! Hopefully, I'll have plenty of knitty tales to present when I return later this month. Otherwise, you'll have to endure endless little quips about nothing, such as the bachelor food that Rick whipped up for himself the other night (and which I will now record for posterity):
Hashbrowns topped with two fried eggs topped with leftover chili topped with seasoned fries topped with cheddar cheese.
Ew.
Happy October, everybody! See you soon.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Self-Portrait Sunday, outside looking in.
