More Updates

  Well here's the Shawl as it stands this morning. It's just barely wide enough for the top points to go around my shoulders, and thats a BIG change from yesterdays photo. I think thats not too bad for only three days work.

 It's a lot easier once you get into a rhythm, and I shamelessly admit to putting some tv on in the background and tuning out so that my mind wouldn't be entirely focused on the repetitiveness of what I was doing or how it was getting along with the strain on my wrist.

 I think it's the first time I've actually felt like I might, actually, reallly get this damn thing done by deadline, though I'm now going to knock on wood as I say that because now somethings going to happen to try and prevent that.

 I also took a detail shot of the center 'spine'. I've got stitch markers on either side of that center stitch to show me where to make the yarnovers, and thought I'd share the interesting effect it creates. Not only in the loops, but the way the stitches tilt outward from the center bar.

 I kinda wish I'd had a slightly variegated pink yarn on hand just to see how it looked with the color changes, but I think the decorative increases will also help make it slightly more interesting on the whole anyway.  Sorry about the camera strap getting into the picture, that was my bad.

 I also finally had the opportunity to try MiniMonster in a shirt that his Auntie Roo has been ITCHING to see him in, so here ya go.

                                                           Lounge Lizard MiniMonster. <3

Trucking Along

Well as you can see we're trucking right along on the shawl. I've moved it over onto a new set of needles, my Harmony Interchangables ((which I've managed to keep from unscrewing themselves this time. HURRAY.

 Now that I've sorted out that little problem they're working much better I'm happy to say. ;)

 I also got two more balls of the same yarn at JoAnnes yesterday... and of course I forgot my coupons.

Knitting a Hug from the Family

 My Mother in Laws sister was diagnosed with cancer, and her younger sister, (My Mother in Law) is really worried about her, though I understand the Prognosis is good. Still, Cancer is a really really scary thing, and I don't blame her. She asked me to help her by knitting something for her in pink, so I'm knitting an shawl in pink Caron Simply Soft because it's soft, lightweight, and easy to clean. Also it will show the lace details better than RedHeart moon and stars, which was the other pick by my Mother in Law.

 I just moved it onto a pair of round needles, and I'll be working hard on it to try and make sure it's done by the 15th, when Nana J will go out to try and visit her.  We're going to at some point go out together as well and see if we can find a really nice shawl pin to go with it.

Ice Ice Baby

So we had a heck of a snow storm yesterday, and another one today... to the extent that my Husband, who fortunately brought his work-laptop home, is working from the kitchen. I'm glad he is because when I snuck out for a couple of groceries yesterday, I felt like an extra in 'Tokyo Drift' at 15-20 mph. It was bonkers! And now we've got a nice mix of ice and snow falling.

 The picture of our bush, right outside the kitchen window, actually predates the falling of the ice, I took it before the sleet started falling because I thought it looked pretty cool... so to speak.
MiniMonster had yet another restless night, he woke up twice, though that seemed as much to be the work of 'pacifier gremlins' as anything else. ((he lost his pacifier.)) So I'm -still- tired, but it could be worse, and besides I have Redbull.

 He did discover Blueberry Preserves however. That he seemed to like quite a bit! ((Sorry for the blurry photo, I'll look for a better one later to show how much preserve ended up on his face.


Also I've got to kind of respectfully disagree with my friend Liza of Gnome Season, for the entry linked. I don't technically follow the Oscars, I really couldn't give two dog farts what a bunch of critics think I should like the best at the movies, or what people were wearing, or who Branjolina have adopted NOW. I do however have to say that I'm kind of in favor of voting for parenthood being pretty freaking important. It may not be glamorous, or flashy, or require a degree (although I've seen enough examples of horrible parenting by irresponsible people that it probably should...) but it is a massively, crucially important role. Maybe not to the rest of the world but to the child.

 Sure you could dismiss their importance, say they're less important than the next movie, the next platinum record or degree from an Ivy League college, but then again, you could sit down and go hey. I brought a real, unique. HUMAN LIFE into the world. They're dependent on me for everything. They depend on me to help show them how the world works, what to believe in, to pick them up when they fall down and encourage them when they need it. They rely on me to be there to tell them that they can be anything they want. They rely on me to foster their dreams, their hopes, their future... everything until they're ready to strike out on their own. I mean if you have to hear that from a television show... than I'm really sorry. That's supposed to be something you hear from a parent.

 There's no degree for it, no Oscars and set of 'who's wearing what', but maybe their should be, because we all owe a great deal to our parents. They got us here to the point where we have the right to personally decide what is the most important thing we've ever done, and screw what anyone else thinks.

 Maybe you've got to actually BE a parent to understand it, but I wouldn't trade -anything- for the first time I saw my MiniMonster smile.

I'm Stylin'

 So according to the wonderful Wanda from the Fickle Forgettery, I've got a stylin' blog! I'll argue with photobucket again in a minute to see if I can add this awesome award to my side bar, but in the mean time, he's me sort of following the rules.

Seven things about me:

1: I didn't start 'officially' role-playing until I was in college. My sister started first, she said I wouldn't like it. 10 years later, I'm still going. I love the cooperative storytelling and unpredictability.


2: I didn't learn to knit until after college, I learned the basic garter stitch from a woman I worked with at the time, and then later learned how to do the purl stitch from Bear and Turtles mother, and then took 'real' lessons with Elsie, who walked me through making my first sweater (In Manos del Urugay yarn, which is quite expensive but so richly colored....) And she also taught me how to make socks on an antique sock machine. Since the machines are SO expensive, (although they're much easier to use than their modern equivalent.) I'm trying to now teach myself how to turn a sock heel. Next I plan on trying to learn Lace Knit. I keep stalling out and getting confused because I can't read the charts easily.

3: When I was growing up I wanted to be the first female president. Or a Jockey. Or a teacher.

4:  I have tried National Novel Writing Month and beat it. (once.)

5: I'm terrified of needles but I kind of want a tattoo. So far the fear of needles has won out.

6: I was engaged once before I married my husband, to a guy I'd known for five years. He turned out to be hiding a lot of negative traits from me for those five years. One day he went to work, and I packed everything I could into my car and drove a couple hours back to my parents place. I left the ring on the kitchen table with a note.

7: I own 4 Batman Shirts and One Batman Sweatshirt. One of the Batman shirts is bubblegum pink.



I also don't know 10 different people to tag, so I'm gonna tag:

 Erica from Adventures in Surrogacy and Liza from Gnome Season.

The Other Side of the dinner-table

 Now I'm as big a fan of "Bitchy Waiter" as anyone, or else I wouldn't have her blog on my link list. ((Which reminds me I need to delete The Langham Fat Farm... again.... HI WANDA! I LURV YOU. 8D

 But that aside, I've gotta admit, every time I read the lastest round of bad customers getting their just deserts, I remember an occasion in which I got an incredibly Bad Waitress. If you just read Bitchy Waiter you'd probably feel that there are no Bad Wait-staff, only people filled with justified rage at idiots. ((And Really, who hasn't felt some rage at various idiots in their lives?))

 Sadly they do, in fact exist.

 My sister and I were out at Applebees a few years ago, (It served as the nicest place within about an hours drive for a long time.) We were there with Turtle and Bear (Bear is Turtles brother.), and I think we were celebrating someone's birthday. I think it was Turtles. In any case. ENDE and I were treating, not, in this case, the guys.

 So the Waitress comes, and surveys the table, Boys on one side, Girls on the other, then Immediately turns her back to the girls entirely, and leans over meaningfully to show her cleavage... her navel... and probably her toes to the guys. She introduces herself and asks if they would like any appetizers. She continues to beam at them as they order, and then her smile fades into an teeth clenched SNARL as Turtle directs her attention to Ende and I. Smile gone entirely, she looks as though she'd like to overturn the table on us as she takes our order for side dishes, even though we're both pretty sure we've never met her before, let alone tap danced on her dead grandmother, which would probably deserve the sort of attitude she's radiating in our general direction.

 So that was fun, we settle in, chat for a while, make a few jokes about her flirting with Turtle and Bear (Who are collosally and amusingly embarassed by the while afair).

 Then after appetizers, we go into the dinner order. She does EXACTLY the same thing all over again. In fact, she started to walk away after Turtle and Bear had ordered, we had to drag her back to remind her that there were still, in fact, two other people at the table. She even rolled her eyes.

 ((Bitchy Waiter if you read this: I -swear- to you we did not demand lemons, anything off the menu, or kick her repeatedly in the leg while ordering. We just asked for some Sodas and a appetizer off the menu as politely as possible.))

 We got round THREE, including trying to walk away again over Desert, and this point, all of us are actually pretty fed up. We debate the entire situation over our desert selections, and check with the guys to see if they noticed what we did. They did. They very much did. They are dumbfounded by her attitude. They assume, as do we, that she figures that they're the ones paying and is vamping for tips, either that or she's genuinely hitting on them. Either way, trying to shaft what she must have assumed was other peoples dates is a pretty shitty behavior for someone who lives off tips, and not a great way to make an impression.

 So yeah, Ende picked up the check after our evil deliberations and we left her what the entire table was a very reasonable 'tip' on the tip line.

 "Girls are Customers Too."

Popcorn

 Some of you may already know that MiniMonster is a big fan of popcorn, and who can blame him? Done right it's pretty tasty stuff, and fun to make!

 Well, these days of microwave popcorn it's slightly less exciting. Throw it in the microwave and watch the bag bounce around.

 We've mostly been using the "Jiffy Pop" version, since we don't have a microwave, but we've branched out into making it in a pot on the stove. We've got an nice little pot with a glass lid, and Tilmani cooked up some popcorn in it last time.  I brought Mini over and let him watch it cook. Obviously it wasn't massively exciting at the get go, but once kernels started to jump around where he could actually see them, he found it much more entertaining than just watching the Jiffy Pop foil poof up.  He also thought it was hysterical when the popcorn reached sufficient volume to slowly lift the lid of the pot and form a pillar of popcorn. He giggled.

 He also quite enjoyed popcorn seasoned with a touch of salt, pepper and paprika. :d

 Try and find that in the supermarket aisle!

 It kind of made me wonder how many kids in his generation will ever see popcorn made that way, in these days of take out and microwaves.