Black Friday is making me anxious

What are all these people preparing to shop for? I have nothing to scout out and find the best prices and wait in line for. Why don't I have people to shop for??! Why don't I feel compelled to get a new tv?!

Disney Amazingness

 

Eggplant in my purse

It costs 5 cents to get a bag at a grocery store where I live. It's kind of annoying because I usually forget to bring my own bags, but it sometimes gets me to bring them at helps the environment, so whatever. 

But why are store cashiers OBSESSED with not giving out bags? How does it affect them!? They totally judge me when I need a bag, and stuff 10 lbs of food in one plastic bag. And then there's this. 

I found an eggplant in my purse this morning. The cashier must have snuck it in yesterday while I was paying, instead of using another bag. I totally forgot I bought it when I was unpacking the groceries and didn't find it until today. Eggplants camouflage themselves well in overstuffed purses, it seems. 

W

T

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I hate breast cancer awareness.

There, I said it.

I know I'm not the first with this opinion, but it's a new opinion for me, so I'm going to talk about it. Not even 10 years ago I was super into it. I bought anything with pink on it. (It helps that I really like pink.) Now not only do I not buy those things out of educated consumerism (Breast Cancer 5 Hour Energy cannot be that helpful to the cause), but I'm actively grumpy about it. What are all these people doing walking and running and playing cheerfully for cancer. Details of the actual disease have become an afterthought in all the pink, yet the barrage of pink is a nonstop reminder to those of us with experience with cancer. Then again, maybe I'm just bitter that there wasn't a barrage 20 years ago to encourage my relatives to go to the doctor and catch their cancer early.

Blanket #5!

Another favorite using Caron Simply Soft. All stockinette stitch alternating 4 rows of white and color, with 2 sets of each color. I did 5 colors, repeated twice. So fluffy and bouncy. I was going to add a border but liked the way it rolled on the ends. And mommy and baby love it too!

Buster's pool adventure:

sitting on benches with strangers

Last of the books

6. The Next Best Thing

7. Where We Belong

8. 11/22/63

9. Malcolm X/How Will You Measure Your Life

10. Let's Pretend this Never Happened

11. Gone Girl

12. What the Dog Did

13. The Way Home

Someone needs to invent a mechanism to ensure the proper dip to dipping item ratio. It's never even, and it just leads to a vicious circle. I'm out of pretzels but not hummus, I'll get a few more pretzels. Crap, now I have pretzels left and I'm out of hummus. I'll get a dollop more. And so on. Until the family size hummus is gone. I'm pretty sure this is how the arms race started, except with uranium instead of hummus.

Dogs in hats: sporty

Dogs in hats: jaunty

Sometimes I play dead to see what my dog will do

I'd like to know in advance if he's one of those dogs that can call 911. Do people train those dogs? How does a layperson do that? If you're training the dog, you can't look dead, and if there's another person there training while you act dead isn't the dog just gonna be like "call 911 yourself, human. That's what opposable thumbs are for."

So far, he has not called 911. I'm going to assume that he's just so smart that he knows I'm fine. Usually he just sniffs me and walks away, or sniffs me and destroys something, like "I know this 'grand experiment' is really just an excuse to take a nap, so I'm going to eat your magazine. Take that." Sometimes he plays dead with me, which is ideal, next to calling 911, because nothing is better than taking a nap playing dead with your dog. I think if there ever were a real emergency, he would take action, as long as it was around mealtime, because he has been known to paw at my head until I wake up from a regular nap if it goes past 5:30.

This is what happens when it rains at the shore...

Book Log: 3 more down

Not moving nearly as quickly as planned...my library holds are coming in faster than I can pick them up, but the reading is slow going. Anyway, I'm up to 5...9 to go. 2 of which are waiting for me and about 600 lbs each. Yikes.

3. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: meh. I really liked this as I was reading it, but by the end I was just kind of underwhelmed. Switching between World War II and the late 80s for a Chinese man in Seattle, the characters were engaging but I think it just all tied up a little too nicely for me. I am very picky about the tones of my books...not too disillusioned but not too Disney-fied

4. Mini Shopaholic: Super enjoyable as always. Cheesey, predictable, but fun.

5. Beautiful Ruins: LOVED. Another one that went back and forth between time periods, but I just loved the characters and the flow of the writing and how it all ended up.

Intimidating...

Conversation with xxxxxxxx ok cupid:

I saw the sun rise this morning on my way to the shore, there were horses grazing in the morning mist as the sun broke inthe sky. The radiant light streamed across the sky in hues of amber and red and pink. The morning dew sparklets flickered off the blades off grass and stalks of corn as thoughts of fun in the sun, surf and sand filled my day dream.

Then I saw your pictures and all the beauty and splendor I witnessed and dreamed of for the day pales in comparison to the light in your eyes and joy in your smile. I'd rather spend an hour in your company than anyone else.

Happy of the Day July 9

Drunk-liking anything and everything on facebook and pinterest

Happy of the day July 2

Sometimes I think there is nothing more beautiful than the full moon over the ocean

Sent from my iPhone

Book log: 16 in 60

Last summer I just barely managed 15 books for the summer, so this year I'm aiming for 16. Already have 2 down! I started easy with 2 YA titles I bought at the summer reading book fair for my classroom.

1. The Red Umbrella: I picked this up because it is about the Cuban Revolution, a topic about which I know very little. It was a good story, but definitely not a YA that can cross over to adults---very little depth. Few details about the background of the revolution or the major story events. Amazon recommends it for grades 6-9, but I think that's a stretch. My advanced 6th readers would find it very easy.

2. One Crazy Summer: This tells the story of 3 girls who visit Oakland in the summer of 1968, a year about which I've read a lot, so I thought it'd be neat to read about it from a child's perspective. And it was. Amazon lists this 4-7, which seems pretty accurate, but advanced for the younger end. I think a little more background into the Black Panthers and the background of the family ad their mentalities would have helped--this assumes you have knowledge of race relations at the time--but overall a good read.

Happy of...the past 20 days?

So, that daily posting thing didn't go so well, but I'm still looking out for happys. And hey, it's summer, so every day should be happy, especially those featuring dunking in the ocean and running on the beach (followed by a dunk in the ocean). I don't think I realized until this year that just touching the water makes me smile.

Also smile-worthy: less than a week into my (super early) half marathon training, and I'm already up to 42 non-panting minutes! I'm doing the Cherry Blossom training program that worked super well for me last time because it has a lot of variety and builds up in walk x run y increments. Woot!

Happy of the day: June 4

This was free!! All free from California tortilla for my birthday

New strategy

So, I've been pretty miserable for most of this year. I tend to be a complainer and not the most optimistic, but this year it's been worse than usual. I just can't see the silver lining of things. And it seems ridiculous to type that because I have such a blessed life. (IE: I'm 2 weeks away from spending 2 FREAKING MONTHS with nothing to do but go to the beach and maybe eat some ice cream.) But for one reason or another I haven't been able to look beyond each day's issues to the bigger picture, or conversely haven't been able to take each day at a time and enjoy it without worrying about what comes 3 months from now.

So.

 I'm trying a new strategy in which each day I write about something that made me happy. I know I'm not the first person to think of this, but I thought it would be good for me nonetheless--because amidst all my complaining, I tend to get ridiculously excited about silly things. So I need to remember that. So. Backtracking a little.

 June 1:
 A few months ago a boy in my class (aka his mom) made the most amazing muffins ever and brought them for me at school. I asked for the recipe and raved about them. When my birthday rolled around, he said he was going to bring them and didn't. No big deal. A week later, he asks if I can stay after school because he wants to go home and make the muffins and bring them to me. I tell him not to worry about it. Time passes. At the end of the day, he comes by with a bag full of these delicious muffins saying he called his mom to bring them so I could have them for the weekend.

 June 2:
Took Buster to a small hiking trail, and 10 minutes in realized I could be in an episode of SVU....as I was texting my brother to tell him where I was in case I went missing, someone yelled "HUMAN!" and jumped out of the trees behind me scaring me to death. Not my happiest moment, but a reminder I'm not alone! And shortly after Buster and I completed our first rock scramble.

 June 3:
 Decided to stop at the flea market after the pool. Kids from a local school were giving away what hadn't sold from their bake sale. I said I'd take a free brownie if they'd take a $1, but then I saw they had banana bread and asked for that instead. And the little girl said "you can have the banana bread if you keep your $1." Precious. But fortunately her friend wasn't so generous and took the $1! And the banana bread was delicious.

Holy crap I made a dog collar

Saturday night at 30

Dressing up your dog as
Mother teresa

Buster checking out my alma mater

Polka dot nails? Yes please

I used the pin and pencil technique. So fun!

Homemade pillow!

Spring Photo Shoot

I heart cherry blossoms

(see full image)

Sent from my iPhone

Project #3!

LOVE!!!! this blanket!

This was my favorite project so far, even though there was some stress with adding my own border to the pattern. I love the yarn, love the ease, love the finished product. It was so super soft; I'm thinking of making one for myself. It was a huge hit at the baby shower I presented it at.

Instead of the listed colors, I went with coconut, pistachio, aqua mist, soft blue, and blue heather. It was all knit, EXCEPT:

After cast on and before cast off, 2x2 rib stitch 6 rows of the end colors in addition to the regular stitches.

2x2 rib stitch 2 ribs (k2p2k2p2) on each end of each row.

I cast on 100 stitches.

So what do I do with myself now while I watch bad reality tv?? Someone else needs to get pregnant!

People with kids clearly are weird

Hello,
I'm John.

I date younger girls -- older folkshave far too much baggage for me. I have never marrried nor have kids, so I'm fairly normal. I really enjoyed your profile and pics, and I'd like to take you out.


Granted I'm on a free dating site...but what about my profile could possibly scream "looking for guy 20 years my senior who thinks he's normal because he isn't married.

Blanket #2!

Each time I finish a project, I think I'll never be as proud of anything again in my life. This one was a doozy. The pattern seemed simple...basically really big ribbing. Knit 6, purl 6. I added more colors and changed the yarn to Vanna's Choice to use up some old stash. It took FOREVER though. At one point I timed 8 minutes per row. I don't know why it was so tedious, but once I was done I was pretty happy because it's HUGE. It seemed to quadruple in size once I washed and blocked it.

Buster couldn't stay away

Pawing closer

Content.

Can I Help You?

I officially spend 40% of my home time looking at pictures of animals

Stinky pic of a great project #2!

Picked my own yarn and doubled up instead of using merino malabrigio (moms need to be able to machine wash baby blankets!!) but it turned out great

http://altadenasbabydesigns.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-baby-blanket-baby-blues.html

Birthday Snow

Why I'm single?

Carpe Diem...eventually

Ironically this Carpe Diem needlepoint has been in my trunk for 2+ months waiting to meet its new owners. Not to mention the wedding it was a gift for happened even longer ago than that. The bride is always late though, so it's apropos.

As soon as I saw this in the store, I had to have it for the bride. She loves colors and carpe diem always reminds me of her. Overall it as more than I'd usually pay for a wedding gift, but I'm really proud of it and she loves it. It only took about 4 months to make, which is the fastest I've ever done a needlepoint. I used Michael's for the framing (for the first time) and they did a fantastic job. I just love the colors and texture. Again, as always, when framing I get a quote for the cheapest price then get talked into the most expensive items, but it's worth it....right?

First project!

After 4+ months, I'm finished my first knitting project. I don't think I've ever been so proud of anything in my life. It is definitely not perfect...lots of bumps and unevenness...but from far away it looks great!

After one hands-on lesson at the Tenleytown library with the lovely lady who organizes a free knitting group, I felt pretty confident going into a full project, and found this one on the Lion Brand site. As always, I couldn't resist the colors. The lady told me it would be too hard to sew together all the separate squares and I should just knit strips and sew them together, so I did that. Next time I would do all the squares separately. I don't mind sewing them together, and I think it adds an extra dimension with the squares going different directions, especially when the same colors are next to each other.

As always, as soon as I finished this project (despite buying enough yarn for 3 blankets) I wanted to find new ones. Fortunately I have many babies on the way that need to stay warm. I think I'll stick with knitting for my craft for awhile though. There's so much to learn and so much I can do with it, whereas--since I don't have much entertaining to do--the paper crafts aren't as useful.

a true member of the family