Plum Texan

Could it be?

2011-01-03T01:03:00.004-06:00

A new and evolving home for Plum Texan? Why, yes. It could.

Come join me for all-new adventures at plumtexan.wordpress.com. The archives will be here at least until I'm certain it's all been properly moved. The new site is a work in progress - as is my crazy life, as ever. Stop by to rubberneck. There will be baked goods!

Again, that's plumtexan.wordpress.com!

Falling over for a visit

2010-10-23T15:01:00.003-05:00

So...yeah. Adventures in Being Me and Adventures in Being Married have run fast and furious throughout the year of Taking Action. It hasn't all been good, and it hasn't all been bad. But at least there's never a dull moment...?

Since, at the moment, I'm fatigued by the not-so-good, I'm going to take a few minutes and share the good with you. Never hurts to have the reminder, right?

- For a few months now, we have been fostering a clutch of three orange tabby kittens we discovered in our front yard. We were worried they'd be under a car at the wrong time...so we wrangled them into our back yard and have been feeding and caring for them since. At some point, we will probably have to adopt two of them out – but they're still young and we want to get them fixed first.

We have a boy and two girls, which we haven't officially named, but are instead calling "Boy," "Girl," and "Little," or Small, Medium, and Large. Should I ever again find my camera cable, you will get to squee at the cuteness.

- I have had the crochet bug this year and, holy crap, actually finished another project! It's the Wavy Blanky by Stephie, a San Antonio knitter, and I completely adored it. It now lives (or almost does) with Bryan's cousin and her five-month-old son, for whose use it is intended. Again, camera cable --> loveliness.

- We moved up the road about 10 minutes in July, and are now renting a house that is about 50 years newer than the previous one. It's a world of difference, and we're getting a bit spoiled...but hey, we deserve it, right? Best of all, we have already managed to have guests and gatherings, which I consider requisite for a house to be a home.

In other news...have I taken action? Well, yes. I never feel that I get quite as far on my goals as I like, but progress is progress. Somewhat unbeknownst to him, Bryan has joined in on Taking Action and is actually ahead of me.

I'm here at the moment because I have a weekend to myself with no specific plans. But I have my usual ton of ideas knocking around, and haven't given up on the idea of moving them forward.

There is always much more I want to do and not enough time/energy/resources to do it all at once. I definitely want to get back to this blogging thing, but as the BFF pointed out the other day, it's important to know your limitations, and I do. So I'm not overpromising to anyone, myself included – I'm just keeping things in my pocket until someone hands me that Round Tuit and I can really get going.

So how has your year been? Did you pick a theme, and has it guided you? How have you Taken Action?

Forward

2010-01-01T18:41:00.005-06:00

If you've been following me for any length of time, it probably won't surprise you to discover (or to be reminded) that New Year's is my favorite holiday. This *does* seem to surprise some folk, though – usually those most enamored of Halloween, Thanksgiving, or the Big C.

Not to down any of the others, but since I was a kid, the New Year has had a huge appeal to me. While I'm very traditional in some ways, and the themes of my life (wordsmithing, kitchen magic, craftiness) tend to remain the same, I also like to always be moving forward, to discard what's no longer working and forge ahead into new, exciting things.

I'll admit that's a tendency that's refining itself over time. Old habits do, indeed, die hard, and baggage (both material and otherwise) is often hard to lighten or throw away. I've seen this and struggled with it over many years, and most certainly throughout 2009.

Still, despite losing momentum, I'm looking back at the year and realizing that, in fact, I did keep with my theme of Motivation. Sometimes (frequently, in fact) it was a baby step, sometimes several. A couple of times it was a great leap forward. And still others, it was a good hard shove (sometimes REALLY hard) from the Universe.

So how did it turn out? Let's see: I found my knit-mojo. I leapt back into the kitchen with gusto. I started dancing again. I'm getting my house in order, literally. I'm eating vastly better. I'm paying attention to and getting care for all my medical issues.

I'd definitely say all this belongs in the WIN column. And that surprises me a little, because there were several times I thought that Motivation was out of reach. But something I remember from reading others who have chosen a Word (or Theme) of the Year is that often, your Word will express itself in ways you didn't expect. That's turned out to be true, despite the fact that I originally refused to embrace it.

2010 gets a bit of a different approach. I've chosen a new theme (instead of a single word), and while I know some of the plans I already have, I'm fully prepared to accept that I won't see all that's coming, and that what I want or need might change. I also know that there will probably come a time when I regret being that open. :)

But, for better or worse, here it is. My Theme of the Year for 2010 is: Taking Action.

I can't wait to see how it takes shape. Want to join me? If you decide to choose a theme, I'd love to hear about it. In the meantime - Happy New Year, and may 2010 be your best year ever.

The spirit

2009-12-24T22:50:00.002-06:00

If you didn't believe in Christmas miracles before, perhaps you will now: Hello! I'm out of hiding and only mildly insane from the season.

It's been a far nuttier year than I would have expected, sturdily punctuated by a November largely lost to illness, doctors, hospitals, and recovery. While I'll do my best to avoid TMI, I have a few conditions that have played off each other and created a perfect storm – nothing life-threatening, but certainly leaving me low on quality of life. Round 1: get the top-level, potentially dangerous things in line; round 2: a procedure to take care of a major root problem.*

So, following two hospital stays and a total of three weeks off work, you may be glad to know I've more than leveled out – I'm doing exceptionally well, better than I've felt in a while. Things that I'd started to accept as part of my daily life are disappearing rapidly, in a good way. My mom and Bryan have been even more wonderful than usual; my mom stayed with me at the hospital and drove me to a host of appointments. It was nicer than ever to have someone around who knows how to wrangle medical care.

***

And so life, work, and all the rest rolls on. I'm knitting on a single project, mostly just for the knitting. I'm spending quite a bit more time in the kitchen, which really makes me happy. I'll be trying a new quick-bread recipe in the next couple of days, as well as my good old standby pumpkin bread. I even took some Meyer lemons offered by a coworker and made a gorgeous sorbet!

Really, there's just a whole lot of happy going on for me right now. Not perky, bouncing-off-the-walls happy, but mellow, love-my-family, enjoying-every-day happy. I think I like that better.

Thanks to losing November, it took me a while to even absorb that we'd come to the holidays. But I'm with it now! We're doing it low-key, but it will be lovely. I've had a nice spirit about the whole thing...that same pleasant, mellow feeling. Mostly because I've already received more gifts than I could have dreamed: my family and friends top the list; my health is a really close second.

Yep, the sap in me is still around, too. Driving back from a lunchtime shopping trip today, I took a high overpass from the Sam Houston Tollway onto I-45 and got a beautifully clear view of the Houston skyline – the kind that makes me catch my breath and think, for all its flaws, how much I love my city, and how grateful I am to call it home.

I'm grateful for you, too. :) Merry Christmas and/or happy Winter Holiday of Your Choice...you may even see me again before the New Year!

* It's a Mayo Clinic link that explains the procedure, if you're interested; nothing gross, but don't feel obligated to click.

What's cookin'

2009-08-14T23:30:00.004-05:00

...is not as much as I'd hoped. It's been a hell of a month, you see; the health stuff is not so bad, but there has been a LOT of work insanity, and the big work thing is still to come. As such...and to no one's surprise, I'm sure...the weekliness of my weekly projects went off the rails.

Not to say that I've given up, mind you. Just last Sunday, I turned out a chocolate cake with dulce de leche filling and whipped ganache icing. (I'm not sure if it was an excuse to use my new Williams-Sonoma 8" round pans, or the other way around.) If you're keeping score: both gooey things were utterly fabulous, but the cake itself needed some work. Not to worry...it will happen.

I'm writing this from (just near) Fort Worth, my fourth trip in as many months. Not sure if I am Mohammed or the mountain, but either way, a girl can't do without her best friends, and must therefore visit them whenever she can. I got to spend a lovely evening with my favorite tall, blond, and handsome gentleman - the one who turns five at the end of this month, and who decided, to his parents' amusement and slight chagrin, to behave like a perfect angel while he was in my sole supervision.

Not much else to report, except this. In case you were one of the few mostly-sane fiber-type people left who did not think that the Yarn Harlot is the awesomest awesome that ever awesomed...well. To each their own tastes, and I wouldn't condemn anyone for a difference of opinion (so long as you are civil about it) - but before you make your final judgment, read this.

Those friends I mentioned? I'd just like them to know that, for the job of work that being one of my BFFs can be, I hope they know that I feel the same way about them. Thanks, y'all.

Inauspicious

2009-06-28T00:58:00.003-05:00

When I told you, nearly two weeks ago, that there were big things on the horizon for me...well, I couldn't have imagined what all of them were. And sure enough, a lot of really great things have already happened.

What's not so great is that many of them have happened despite, or because of, what is best called an unfortunate discovery. I'm suddenly looking at some medical issues - not life-threatening, but definitely serious - and (for reasons I shouldn't go into) I am finding myself in search of a doctor.

But back to the good - I have, as ever, a fabulous husband, fantastic parents, amazing friends, and a really great job. All of this plays into the situation quite thoroughly, in ways I should have expected. I have referrals and appointments, I have insurance...and most importantly, I have support.

I'm not yet sure if I'll be fully disclosing my issue on the internets, and even if I do, I will most likely not give a play-by-play. What I do know is that if such a thing were going to come up, I'm one of the most fortunate people in the world to whom it could happen. When I come up with a way to pay it forward to others who don't, I may be letting y'all (all four of you, now) know.
***

In re: my last post, I had only a single taker. You know who you are. :) And in the interest of being true to my word, I'll be contacting you about your reward soon.

***
Surprisingly enough, there is other news. The no-foolin' version of my Baking 52 is in swing. So far, for semi-obvious reasons, it's taken place on Saturday nights...and now that I'm really giving it thought and time, it's going pretty well. To wit:

- Week 1: Easy Pecan Praline* Bars, based on this recipe from AllRecipes.com. I had neither almonds nor brown sugar...so I substituted with pecans and white sugar, and added more vanilla and extra butter. I think I was expecting something chewier (which is how I prefer my caramelized sugar), but this turned out a bit crystallized on top.

Not to worry, though. The bars were very nice warm, and a HUGE hit with Bryan and our folks. I'll try it again to see what I get with brown sugar properly done, but also to get some more of those raves.

- Week 2: Chocolate chip cupcakes, inspired by (but not taken from) the Cake Mix Doctor's cupcake book. Since yesterday was decidedly a Good Day, I picked up some cake mixes (and brown sugar) at the grocery and went digging through the book. While I wasn't lacking for ingredients, I didn't want to get too complicated. And also, maybe, I wanted to display my kitchen improv prowess just a little.

So I took a yellow cake mix and added a bit of brown sugar, some chocolate chips and extra vanilla, and a couple of secret weapons. I'm also 99% sure I left out the vegetable oil.

The results?

Plain-looking, I know. But it doesn't seem to matter. They're practically perfect without icing - almost a creamy flavor that's sweet without overwhelming. And I'm not holding out on you, either. Just click on the photo if you'd like to see the recipe.

***
All in all, my life continues to surprise me, and no matter which way it turns, I'm still enjoying most everything. Which is not to say I wouldn't enjoy a little more calm now and then...

At least I'm starting to learn a bit not to plan quite as much. Besides, improvisation has always been my strong suit. Why not go with it?

* This is properly pronounced "peh-KAHN PRAY-leen," by the way. Because a "PEE-can" is what some people's dads made them use on road trips.

A square triangular number

2009-06-15T23:44:00.001-05:00

In the most shameless of self-promotions, I'm telling the world here and now that today was the 36th anniversary of my birth. (In case you missed the broad hints - or, as Caety would put it, "hint with a doorframe.") This is for no sort of grabby purpose, mind you. It's just a frame for the sharing of mighty big stuff:

1 of 52, no foolin' this time.

There is, quite naturally, more...much more than I'm going to voice over the Intarwebs. In my 36th year (which is what preceded today, after all), there was more examining, shifting, and revealing than I'd previously thought possible. I discovered many things I'd forgotten, and many things I never before realized I knew.

I continue to be thoroughly stunned, but this little amble of mine is far from over, so I owe the universe a heap of gratitude, actively expressed.

Or, put more simply: if you were thinking about giving me a birthday gift - or even if the thought never crossed your mind - give your funds to one of these:

- San Jacinto Girl Scouts - the Houston-area council in which I was a Junior and Cadette.
- Crohn's and Colitis Foundation - because my husband (and many other people I know) could use a cure.
- Knitters Without Borders - because knitters (and all order of fiber artists) really know how to rally to a cause.
- Houston SPCA - because if you've ever seen Animal Cops Houston, you know how far those amazing people will go to help animals.

Remember that something nice to share that I promised? Make a donation of ANY amount (you don't have to tell me what that amount is) by this time next week, and tell me about it via e-mail (blog title no punctuation at earthlink) or commentation - and I'll give one contributor* a $50 online gift certificate of their choice. Yes, really!

Many thanks, and a happy June 15th to everyone. It wasn't all what I'd expected...but then, what about this whole year has been?

* chosen randomly

Quite false

2009-06-12T23:15:00.002-05:00

I know, I know...overpromised, again. But I made an Executive Decision not to bore you with too many gory details about the DFW portion of the trip. Here's a quickie:

- The Yarn Harlot's Church of Knitting, and the attendant knitters, were quite fabulous.
- Non-blood Nephew Thomas continues to be the cutest four-year-old on two legs ever.
- DFW IS FRIGGING HOT IN MAY THANK GOD THE HARLOT DIDN'T COME IN JULY OR AUGUST.*
- Yarn crawling with Amy is still a hell of a lot of fun.
- Four-day weekends are a really, really nice refresh.

Tally for the weekend:

- Approximate miles driven: 900
- Books signed by the Yarn Harlot: 2
- Gifts given to the Yarn Harlot: 1
- Cones of Habu laceweight bamboo acquired: 2
- Skeins of Comfort Sock: 2
- Swatches begun and pulled out: 3
- Yarn stores visited: 3
- Best friends hugged: 2
- Free room and board appreciated: you betcha (thanks, Genghis)
- Cats missed: 2
- Husband missed: 1

***

Realizing that I am already a bit off-kilter with them, and also that I have a very hip Significant Start Date at the ready, both the Photo 52 and the Baking 52 will reset (again), to resume on Monday. By then, my ducks should be much more row-like and my day...far more birthy. :)

And speaking of Monday...I'm going to do my damndest to have a good favor to ask y'all, and something nice to share in gratitude. In the meantime, have an unbelievably stellar weekend, and do something good for yourself!

* Of course I knew this before. I lived up there for 10 years.

Yeesh

2009-06-08T23:07:00.002-05:00

Me and the overpromising, I swear. Here, only a day late, are sneak preview photos of the DFW adventure (click for story bits):

Amy gifts the Harlot with a private beer.

Thomas reacts to the promise of sugar.

And I develop camnesia on a yarn crawl with Amy.

***

In other news:

These little dears are week 2 of a project I mentioned in passing, now receiving full airtime. Close on the heels of beginning the 52 Weeks self-portrait project, I hit upon another way to bring more Motivation into my life...and enter 52 Weeks of Baking (or Baking 52 for short).

Week 1 were the goodies for the Harlot, as mentioned in the previous post. The cranberry cookies are a standby, adapted from Bryan's mom's oatmeal chocolate chip recipe, and rarely go awry.

The brown sugar shortbread came from this book, which is lovely and has a ton of recipes I'm looking forward to trying...but either my oven, or their typing, was off, and the shortbread came close to burning. So: should you aim to use this recipe yourself, definitely keep an eye on it.

This interlude reminded me just how important one of my baking rules can be: set the timer for half or less of the indicated baking time, and go check and rotate when it goes off. In my oven, this was slightly overbaked at 30 minutes, and would have been inedible by 35...so just imagine if I'd tried to go the full 60 the recipe calls for.

I realized that I was about to miss Week 2 after 8 pm Saturday, so I adapted a muffin recipe from Betty Crocker for cranberry goodness. Alas, I overestimated the sweetening power of cranberry-pomegranate juice and ended up with a tart-to-bland concoction. Fortunately, it was edible enough that I'll try again, with added sugar.
***

Irons in the fire, I haz them. Endeavors and potential are flying fast and furious around here. More on the DFW trip...soon!

Austin, late of mind (Harlot '09, part 1)

2009-06-06T22:01:00.003-05:00

What a week, folks. And I don't necessarily mean that in the good way. But never mind - several things came up that made me slow down and take better care of myself, which can only be a good thing.

So, Austin. Just over three weeks ago, when I first discovered that the Yarn Harlot was coming back to Texas, I very nearly panicked, thinking there was no way I could go to Austin or Dallas, either one. Then Bryan very sensibly suggested I ask my boss...who promptly said yes, and seemed surprised at my nervousness. And so:

Wed. night, 5/27: Up till 2 am baking brown-sugar shortbread (lovely, but almost a disaster) and my famous cranberry cookies. Also packing.

Thur., 5/28, 11 am-5:30 pm: On the road only half an hour late, ill-advised walk from hotel to Hill Country Weavers in late-afternoon sun, excellent Japanese fast food (!) lunch, much-welcomed cool-down in cute hotel room (as seen in previous entry).

6 pm: Get semi-lost in downtown looking for Book People, receive navigation from husband in Houston & finally find it, settle in, am joined by David, thoroughly enjoy Stephanie's talk with these folks:

Realize I have left cookies in car; go down to retrieve them and return to line up. Kinnear David again:

(Hey, it's tradition by now. What can I do?)

...give cookies to a hungry Stephanie, who seems thoroughly pleased and appreciative (also below). Tell her not only have I driven up from Houston to see her today, I'll be in Dallas to see her tomorrow. Am convinced it is the cookies that prevents her from looking at me like I'm completely nuts; she simply warns me it's the same talk, to which I shrug and respond "It's always good."*

9 pm: Meander out to car again, giddy, exhausted, and a bit lonely. Call Bryan to report, wander until I find a Thundercloud, acquire the Nada Chicken with hummus sandwich I've missed for a year and a half:

...return to the hotel, and settle in with a vat of iced tea, The Simpsons, my MacBook, and a whole hell of a lot of air conditioning.

5/29, 2 am: Finally collapse into sleep.

5/29, 10:30 am: Rise, but do not manage to shine.

12 noon: Check out of hotel, return to Thundercloud for a Nada Chicken for the road, and slide on up I-35 to Tarrant County!

The fun doesn't end there...if only the madness did, I might have been more human. Oh well. Part 2 of the journey, coming tomorrow (not an empty promise, either)!

* Which, indeed, it was.

A driving force

2009-05-31T21:22:00.002-05:00

That's me, folks. WOW, I drove a lot this weekend. But it was totally worth it...because there was this...

And this...

Story here, if you're curious.

And this...

And that was just the first day! I'm exhausted, but I had a great time in Austin and DFW. Didn't want to leave y'all empty-handed until I got my head together and caught up on my rest.

Seems it's about that time. More fun and cuteness later!

Too much cute

2009-05-25T21:28:00.002-05:00

Aren't we cute?

Isn't he cuter?

Isn't he cutest?

That's right, folks: it would seem that my flickr stream is alive again. Go. Enjoy the cuteness! I have lots to do this week (and forgot my camera cable this weekend, or would have done a whole post already), so I'll catch up ASAP. See you after the Harlot!

P.S. Didn't quite get the snood done...but my hair looked good anyway, thank God. :)

Gotcha!

2009-05-21T23:07:00.005-05:00

After all the times I've made false promises, I'm sure at least one of you is surprised to see me back today. Ha ha!

To be fair, I don't have the full brunt of the content I was planning. My evening did not go according to my schedule, so you won't get evidence of my current craftiness. I will tell you about it, though. I have once more lost my knit-mojo (seriously, people, that is getting REALLY old), so a few weeks ago, I took up crochet again. Started by learning granny squares from a video, picked out a doily pattern & started it up with Mo, and found that once I had flat and outward going, I was just fine. This particular piece will be larger than its original...much larger, since it has to fit on my humongous melon and over my hair. Because...

...we are going to DFW for the holiday weekend, and on Sunday, I'll wear period garb to a renaissance festival for the first time in 20 years of going! As a married lady, it's only proper to wear something to cover your hair...fashionably, if nothing else. I picked out a gorgeous claret thread to match the trim on my bodice, and it looks amazing in my very dark hair, too. Don't worry, you'll see.

Then, after two days back at work, I'll be on the road again...stalking the Yarn Harlot. When I saw her Texas visits were on consecutive weeknights, I had a bit of a meltdown – until my reasonable husband suggested I ask my boss about it. What a concept. Turns out I needn't have worried, and that not only will I be able to enjoy Stephanie with Amy in Plano on 5/29 – I'll get to subject the very lovely Central Texas folks (including David, who damn near made my week with his sparrow post) to my presence the day before. SCORE. (Same notes on pictures apply.)

And here's a note on the joys (yes, the joys) of Facebook. There are plenty of reasons to FB and not to FB, and I'm respectful of both. But on top of all the virtual reasons I have to be pro, I now have a couple of real ones. First, one of my dearest friends from high school recently appeared in our FB class rolls, and we've been chatting off and on for a couple of weeks. I haven't seen her in person in about 15 years, and last wrote to her about nine years ago.

She lives Far Far Away these days and lives a brilliant and exciting life, but I met her for dinner Friday night as she was home on a visit. Perhaps not an unlikely story, I know, but when it's been this long since you've seen someone, they live halfway across the continent, and they're one of only about 10 people from high school you ever care to see again, it starts to make FB look pretty good.

My other specific reasons are mostly personal. And while I did a cost-benefit analysis a few days this weekend, there was a whole lot more than I could possibly tell. It seems the winds have shifted again, in a good but very, very exhausting way.

So I roll along with my vernal equinox hyperthermia, already more than aware of how quickly the Real Summer is approaching. I scan the sweaty horizon for signs of what will come with it.

And even though they may be a little blurry and the skin tone a little yellow, I take photos with my new camera:

That would be 1 of 52. As in 52 Weeks of self-portraits. 365 daunted me overmuch, but I think 52 I can handle.

Things that are new

2009-05-20T22:30:00.002-05:00

I have nothing to show for it. I realize that, therefore, it's a bit of a tease to break blog silence for this. But I can't help myself...because people, I GOT A NEW CAMERA.

It's a Canon XS equipped with an 18-55 kit lens. I've tested the waters and got it going a bit, including figuring out the modes. I'm also itching to try out my other old EF lenses...

...but since I don't have anything other than cats to shoot, and I got home kind of late tonight, it will just have to wait. After, what, 10 or so years of digital, I guess another day won't hurt anything.

And no empty promises: I have things to tell you, and I should be able to do it tomorrow! So watch this space. I may bore the crap out of you, but I for one will be fascinated.

It's cool to be a dork

2009-02-13T21:13:00.004-06:00

Following completion of a Facebook meme in which we became aware that our detective name consists of our favorite color and our favorite animal, A is for Amy and I had the following conversation via text. Warning: significant silliness follows.

AisforAmy: Purple Cat – this is Blue Cat checking in. ;)

PlumTexan: BWA!!! I just embarrassed myself LOLing at that...uh, I mean, roger that, Blue Cat. What's your 20? Over

A: Purple Cat – my 20 is currently at a plus 7. Over. (I confess that my police talk is rusty and I can't remember what 20 actually is.)

P: Blue Cat. Your 20 is your location. Better brush up on your lingo. Over. :-)

A: Will do Purple Cat. Currently en route to a domestic dispute involving yarn. Apparently a bad sweater choice was made. Over.

P: Acknowledged. I expect a full report when the situation is under control. Please advise if said sweater is a cardigan or a pull...over.

A: Hahaha! Roger that Purple Cat. Said sweater is in its second incarnation as a pull...over.

P: *gigglesnort* Roger that, Blue Cat. Over and out.

Best. promo. EVER.

2009-02-02T14:31:00.003-06:00

Heroes returns for its fourth season (aka season 3B) at 8 pm Central tonight. Despite its shortcomings of late, I remain a loyal, squeeful fangirl, particularly of the Brothers Petrelli (aka Adrian Pasdar and Milo Ventimiglia), Matt Parkman (aka Greg Grunberg, twittering as @greggrunberg), and Noah Bennett/Horn-Rimmed Glasses (aka Jack Coleman).

I'd seen this Inspirational Poster in advance and already blown a gasket, clueless to the geek-out enablement that would soon be offered in video form. Consequently, this promo made me dang near squee myself out of my skin, right in front of a whole bunch of my husband's bewildered friends.

100% worth it. I don't know how many of my tiny pool of adoring fans are Heroes groupies, so please...speak up if you can help me feel like less of a dork.

Hobbled and unhobbled

2009-02-01T23:15:00.003-06:00

Once again, it was a long, tough January. Different reasons this year...but the outcome has been the same: I've spent much of the month hobbled, lacking the energy, brainpower, or stamina (often all of the above) to accomplish all I'd hoped to.

Thus is the outcome when you start the new year with a bad cold, survive a layoff when a dear friend does not, get over the cold only to get the flu, and start to get rid of the flu only to come down with WALKING PNEUMONIA. (Hard to think or function when you find it difficult to breathe or sleep, really.) This caused me to miss my annual Austin trip for Youth & Government...insult to injury, and I've still not quite recovered from that, either.

Yes, I come to bury January 2009, not to praise it. But it's also time to reaffirm that my hopeful outlook for the year hasn't faded. I've managed to accomplish a fair amount of project-monogamous knitting on a gift project for one of my Top 5 people*...which, of course, I can't really show you.

I've managed some maintenance cleaning at home, started cooking dinner more often, and picked up new duties at work, too - and considering my rather pathetic state, I have to say that feels pretty good. I've already noted that January '08 didn't set the standard for the rest of the year, and I'm bound and determined that January '09 won't either. Motivation is still the Word, and one that even an inhaler and C!pr0-class antibiotic did not deter.

I can do it. February ahoy!

* Actually my Top 6, minus the one that's a knitter (aka Amy, my BFF [no longer] Local): my husband, my mom and C-dad, my BFF Emerita Caety, and her TallKid Thomas.

Couldn't have said it better

2009-01-12T21:10:00.002-06:00

Laurie (aka Crazy Aunt Purl), in her inimitable and adorable Laurie way, has expressed a whole lot of how I feel about the recession hype. No, I didn't take the plunge and go non-commercial last year (for which I heartily admire her) - but I definitely think that worry, stress, and panic are things that most of us can get plenty of without the media's help.

I'm right on that Avoid The Recession train. I think this downturn is being a) way oversold and b) seriously exacerbated by the overselling. And I think that even worse than the everyday, every-man-and-woman panic is the incorporated panic and excess that is driving companies to let thousands and thousands of people go from their jobs.

And I think that if the media would back off their OMGz WoRst Re-sesh-en EVAR coverage for five minutes, the world might be able to calm the hell down and make a good, reasonable plan - as opposed to entering Drastic Freakout Mode and shutting down for months, then going right back to bad habits as soon as things swing up again. (I'm looking at YOU, gas prices.)

Read Laurie's post, because she's done a much better job than I have of offering up a chill pill. And remember, Douglas Adams said it best:

Don't panic.

One

2009-01-02T15:28:00.002-06:00

As someone who makes a living putting words together, it's hard to imagine distilling something as complex as a year into a single one. But I found this (at christinekane.com, through Jeri's blog), absorbed it, and decided it was something worth trying.

The gist, in case you don't want to jump around: Choose a word - just one word - as your goal for the year, instead of making the same old resolutions. Apply this word to everything you can - as Christine says, "Hold that word in your mind throughout the year, and let your word guide you to take action."

To me, the idea feels like naming something that is a common thread across many aspects of our lives. Maybe it's something we've only just aspired to; maybe it's something we keep trying to achieve and never quite feel as though we've succeeded. Maybe it's things we want to do, something we want to be, a feeling we want to express and receive.

But in any case, choosing a Word is like taking the old model of all the promises we make to ourselves and turning it inside out - getting at it from the deepest levels, instead of starting at the surface. Throughout 2008, I started the process of unearthing a lot of old, hidden things in my life in a variety of ways...and I like where it's gone so far, so the Word seems like a natural extension, maybe even the next step in my journey.

Others have chosen words like Compassion. Joy. Release. Now. Yes. There are thousands of possibilitites, each bound to mean more at the end of a year's exploration than they do at the beginning.

My word for 2009 is Motivation.

For now, it's something I keep trying to achieve and never feel as though I've fully succeeded. Maybe it's also something I need to examine when I think of the why of things I do, or don't do.

At the least, I want to use it to inspire me to get up off my rear, literally or figuratively. To do more of the things that need doing, or that I aspire to do. To do the things I already do, but better. Not just to do things. Not just to Be Motivated To.

Maybe just to Be Motivated.

I'd be honored if anyone wanted to join me (and Christine, Jeri, and a lot of other folks) in choosing a Word. Read the original post and give it some consideration. You don't have to make a quick decision; you can choose a different one later; you don't even have to tell anyone (though I'd love to hear it if you do). Just ask yourself: Where could one word take me in my life?

It's an interesting question for a writer to ask herself, at least. In 363 days, what will this one word mean to me that it didn't mean today? What will it have inspired me to achieve? How will it have changed me?

I can't wait to find out.

Giving

2008-12-28T23:10:00.003-06:00

This is probably overdue, and almost certainly apparent at this point, but it has to be said:

I am giving up on my 365.

I haven't posted any photos since October, though I continued taking them through last week. At some point, they'll probably still make it onto flickr...but I think they're still on my camera.

It mostly boils down to being too busy to handle it the way I wanted to. I wasn't happy with just taking whatever, but that's what it had come to during ongoing weeks of insane overload at work. Add to that any time needed to upload, sort, and fine-tune - well, you get the idea.

I wouldn't call this entirely a FAIL, though. I had high hopes when I began:

- That I would stop hating seeing myself in photos.

This happened, to the point of being willing to mug for other people's shots. It also encouraged me to do more to look nice every day - to the tune of making more effort with my hair, clothes, and makeup. It's all habit now, and it makes me feel much better day to day.

- That I would regain my enthusiasm for shooting.

Absolutely. I got my first Canon as a high-school graduation present, but at some point my camera-wielding ways fell by the wayside. I now have a really good point-and-shoot, and my eye on a super-fine DSLR (this one, if you're wondering) that should work with some of my old lenses. It's been too long since I got excited by such a thing.

Both of these have threaded into other things. I'm more inspired to create, more inspired to take good care of myself. I got some really wonderful photos that I might have missed not so long ago, and I carry my camera with me everywhere so I don't miss more. That's not going to change.

I've been missing the girls on the Knitterly and Crafty Types flickr pool, who are certainly the other great thing about my half-year of participation. Sharing 365s in a larger pool can feel a little lonely, but this very active and very friendly group has made the whole thing a perspective-expanding adventure.

So what's next for my photo creativity? I'm considering starting a 52 Weeks project for the new year. I'd considered this originally, but decided to jump in feet-first with the dailies.

Now, I think that a weekly will be just right. There's nothing saying that I can't take dailies if I feel like it, but it will make a big difference when the weeks are long, but the days are short (if you know what I mean). There will just be more for the "rejects" set. I'll politely ask the Knitterly mods if I can post there, but if it won't work for them, I'll just stay on as an observer.

As it happens, I am mildly disappointed but not feeling terrible about this. I gave it a good solid effort and got a lot back in the bargain. And I can foresee doing a 365 of different kinds in the future...like, for example, when Bryan and I finally get around to kids.

For now, thanks to those of you who've been looking. It would be wrong to end a post about photos without one, so I leave you with my favorite of the shots that are really All About Me:

Seems appropriate, somehow.

Sparkly

2008-12-24T19:57:00.002-06:00

It's been an absolutely rapid-fire year. A better one than last year, to be sure; thank the heavens, January's standard did not hold true.

But in true rapid-fire fashion, December is almost over before I even fully realized it was here. With a couple of exceptions, my holiday spirit held out and I did manage to execute some of my plans:

- At this writing, I'm only short one gift, and only purchased two today. Some of the rest were even wrapped a few days ago.
- I turned my work cubicle adorably festive, and even got photos and video; that's to come this weekend, when I can really breathe.
- There was good partying, and plenty of housecleaning (which, yep, isn't quite done yet).
- Bryan put up a cute little display in the front of the house, sparkly and just colorful enough.

Tonight, we finish clean-up and start prep; tomorrow, our folks (and a couple of my mom's friends) join us for a Real American Holiday Dinner, which we didn't so much have at Thanksgiving. Bryan is smoking a turkey and a pork loin in his brand-new Meat Master 3000 (his gift to himself); my mom is doing her fabulous cornbread dressing and broccoli rice casserole; I'm in charge of green bean casserole (LOVE), deviled eggs (LOVE MORE), dessert, and Other Stuff.

It's a far cry from last year, for sure. And OK, I didn't quite achieve relaxed and organized - more like stressed but not crazy, and there's certainly a good bit of happy here, too. We'll put that in the Win column.

The best part, after good family time and food: after Friday (which promises to be VERY quiet), I'm off work for the last week of the year. No, wait, even better: I'll be really close to prepared for New Year's festivities, happening at our place again. Yay, my favorite holiday!

For now, the kitchen is calling. If you're celebrating Christmas, I hope it's a very merry one filled with everything you love. If you're not...I hope tomorrow is a very happy day filled with everything you love. Heck, I hope that all the time. :)

Wishing everyone everywhere love and light from me, Bryan, Pandora, and Snoopy. See you soon!

General update, plus: many thanks.

2008-11-23T18:03:00.002-06:00

So, yep, just over a month it's been. How time flies when you're doing Whatever. Not much in the way of great shakes to report: a nice anniversary weekend with my honey, a really great girls' weekend in the Fort Worth area with Amy and Caety (plus Thomas, and another special guest appearance by Jet!), and today, a tasty repast (my lands, people, that is some killer food) at the Houston Greek Festival.

If you follow my flickr, you may have noticed that the stream is bereft of new material lately. It's not that I'm not taking it...I just haven't been posting it. I am losing a bit of steam on my 365, plus not using the free time I have to my full advantage.

To some point, this means that what little I've done of interest lately is sort of lacking in evidence. Believe it or not, I actually achieved a knit FO in the last couple of weeks! My friend Gretchen delivered her gorgeous baby girl on Friday - just eight days after I gifted her with a Plum Ripples blanket (details at Ravelry for now).

The news for now is that I'm actually looking forward to the holidays this year. Seems like several years of headless chickening, plus last year's extremely high stress and sadness factor, have noodged me back in the direction of actually enjoying the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. I'm aiming for relaxed and organized (you there! in the back! QUIT THAT GIGGLESNORTING!), but I think I'll be satisfied with happy.

***

So, in advance of this week's festivities, it's time for my thanks...

That everyone I know and love made it through a big storm safely. Including Amy, as well as her loved ones, plowing through the rebuilding of Galveston as only BOI* people can.

That my parents didn't bat an eye when we stayed with them for two weeks, since we didn't have power and they did.

That I have a good job and work with people I really enjoy.

That I live in a nice house and have a car and plenty of clothes and food and two furry little cats and a big furry husband and lots of not-so-furry friends and family.

Turkey Day ahoy! Have a great Thanksgiving, complete with safe travels if you need them. I'll be back sometime before the year is out.

* Born On the Island, a Galvestonian's badge of honor.

Happy

2008-10-16T17:44:00.002-05:00

You're the first, my last
My everything
And the answer to
All my dreams

- Barry White

We've been married four years today! Tonight I knit (with Amy and special guest star Jet!) - tomorrow, Bryan and I head off on a day-trip adventure! (Probably the Hill Country. Definitely barbecue. Hopefully better 365 photos.)

It's a little odd to really, really not be a newlywed anymore...but this being married thing is pretty cool, all in all.

See y'all Sunday!

Happy birthday, Amy!

2008-10-03T09:32:00.003-05:00

It's Sea Anemone Amy's birthday today! Have her digits? Send her a text message (that's the easiest way to get it to her). Don't? Stop by her place or drop her an e-mail. Either way, she can use the happy!

Happy birthday, girlie. I wish you a smoother, easier, happier year ahead!

An old song by Snap!

2008-09-26T15:14:00.002-05:00

As if no one has heard this one before. I'm also feeling very punny this week...and I don't care, because

I'VE GOT THE POWER!!!

My neighbor called at 6 last night to let me know that, 13 days after it went out, our electricity was finally back on. Which means that Bryan and I can comfortably go home after 11 days at my mom's house.

(Let's get this out of the way quickly: I am grateful that we have no house damage and that everyone we know is OK. I know we got off pretty light, much lighter than a lot of folks [including Amy and her family]. I know we're incredibly privileged in the first place. But being robbed of my creature comforts was definitely...well...uncomfortable.)

It's finally starting to feel a bit more like normal, though my workplace is still shaken up and the evidence of Ike's path is everywhere to be seen. The good news is, this experience has pointed out a handful of things that will make next time (whether it's 25 years away, or two) better, and we'll soon be ready to jump on them.

In other news, it will be great to have something else to talk about soon. Y'all will be the first to know when I do! Thanks again for all the good thoughts. Keep 'em coming, and as soon as I figure out a good way to help Amy (and the rest of Galveston's residents), I'll shout it out.

The safe and sound report

2008-09-16T09:33:00.002-05:00

Hurricane Ike has passed over the Galveston-Houston area, and this not-so-intrepid blogger is now posted at her mother's house, where there is power and a dial-up connection. Bryan and I came through just fine, with only some down tree limbs and a continuing power outage at home.

Not that many of the locals will be able to read this, but I know there are folks far and wide that read the various blogs of the Central Houston Stitch 'n' Bitch and will be curious how we have fared. So here's the news as I have it:

Sea Anemone Amy, a Galveston native and resident, evacuated safely with her family. They have all returned to Houston and are staying with relatives, but do not know much about when they will be able to get back to the island.

Group member Liz (blogless, JanuarySix on Ravelry), a Clear Lake resident, evacuated safely to Austin and remains there at this writing.

Mo, Kelly (kelp!), Meredith, and Sarah (blogless, htownnole on Ravelry) and their respective husbands rode out the storm and are safe. I believe Katharine did the same with her parents.

There are a handful of other regulars and occasionals ([Mini]Laura, Esther, Sharron, Mingled Yarn Elizabeth) on whom I don't have news. If any of you happen to be reading, please let me know!

I will bore everyone with our experience when I have a more reliable connection. In the meantime, please keep sending all your thoughts and prayers. A lot of folks down here really need them. Here's hoping it gets closer to normal sooner than we think.

Mid-day and all is still well

2008-09-12T11:35:00.002-05:00

Howdy, all. A new day, a much scarier look at the storm. ABC13 news pointed out quite a while ago that Galveston Island is flooding and not a drop of rain has fallen yet...so the storm surge is going to be quite an SOB.

I'm happy to say that I've spoken to Amy today, and she is safely bunkered just outside Austin. Her loved ones seem to have gotten out of harm's way, too.

At this point, it looks my mom and stepdad are on their way out of town as well. They live in evacuation zone C, which for some unknown reason has not yet received an order. Thankfully, they're not waiting - they're packing up and headed toward Austin to stay with my stepdad's sister.

We're still on terra firma around my neck of the woods (and in the areas where the rest of my Houston peeps live), but that may not last much longer. Not sure what all this is going to bring, honestly. I think we'll be safe where we are (and if that changes, we can move quickly), but this could be the worst thing the Texas Gulf Coast has seen in decades in terms of damages.

Fingers crossed. Praying. Using up a lot of tape. Putting on our hauling-ass shoes. At this point, that's about all we can do.

The plan

2008-09-11T15:03:00.002-05:00

My best friend text-messaged me a bit ago to ask if I had any plans for getting out of harm's (read: Hurricane Ike's) way. My answer?

"Masking tape and hard cider."

Not to be flip about the dangers, mind you. This thing is MASSIVE and is going to beat Houston and pretty much the entire western Gulf Coast to pieces. I haven't been here for one this big* since Hurricane Alicia in 1983, which (being 10 years old) I slept through.

This is just a quick stop by for those of you who might wonder. Bryan and I will indeed be staying at home with Fuzz and Snoopy and a whole lot of canned food. Not to give you my address, but we are not in an evacuation zone and the worst we expect is loss of power.

I have also been talking to Galveston resident (Sea Anemone) Amy, who is evacuating to the Hill Country and will be safe there. (Haven't talked to other SnBuddies, but if you're reading, stay safe and dry!)

That's the news from the strike zone. Believe it or not, I'm actually *working* from home right now...remember Hell Month from previous years? Yep, we're right in the thick of it. So, as I've told my peeps, I'll be online until/unless I can't.

So, a teeny little request: all thoughts/vibes/prayers including (but not limited to) "dissipation," "weakening storm," "quick restoration of power," and "safe residents" are very much appreciated. I'll update when I can.

Signing off with vanilla vodka wishes and vienna sausage dreams...at least until tomorrow.

Notes from the (almost) quarter-point

2008-09-07T22:35:00.002-05:00

It's day 83 of my 365, one week-ish shy of the quarter-year mark, and I've decided that Now It's Time For a Breakdown.*

- Number of 365 photos including my entire face: 42
(Slightly more than half. I was a bit surprised that it was this high.)
- Part of my face: 4
- With my hands as the intentional subject: 8
- With my hands included to make it technically a 365, though my real subject was something else: 20
- With my feet as the subject: 2
- With Bryan: 7
- With a friend/friends: 4
- With my mom: 2
- With a cat (accidentally or on purpose): 3
(I was surprised by this too - that it was so low.)
- At a grocery/home sundries store: 4
- With food I was making/eating: 6
- Knitting: 2
(This is really shameful.)
- At home: 32
- At work: 13
- In my car: 6
- Taken in the morning: 6
- Friday Faces: 11

And finally, for now -

Photos that I really, really love in which I am actually identifiable: 9

That this last is greater than 10% of the current photos just stuns me. True enough, by day 15 I had already noticed that this 365 was achieving one of my goals: feeling less self-conscious about being in photos. But I didn't imagine how much change I'd feel throughout my life because of it. And I'm *less. than a fourth. done.*

What's more, even though I go lame more days than I care to admit (specifically, about 17), I'm really looking forward to showing off the rest of my year. I'm braver than I remembered. I'm happier than I sometimes think. And even when it's hard to be me, I have a lot of reasons to keep a smile on my face.

*Note: numbers include today's photo, not yet on my photostream.

To Thomas

2008-08-31T20:16:00.002-05:00

Your mommy and I have been best friends for a long, long time. So when you were being born four years ago, your daddy and I were the only people Mommy asked to be there. It was a long, long day, and Mommy did a lot of hard work to have you.

Very soon after that, you were with Mommy and Daddy at my wedding.

And before your first birthday, you were already walking!

When you got a little bigger, Daddy turned you into a Jedi.

And sometimes you and Mommy come to visit me in Houston.

And now, you're four! I am sorry that I can't be there to see you today. Mommy says you had a fun party yesterday, and I hope you had a good time.

I don't get to see you as much as I'd like to because I live so far away. But now you're so smart, and so tall, and you look so much like your mommy. Maybe sometime I will have kids of my own - but you will always be the first person that I saw come into the world, and that will always make you extra-special.

Happy birthday, Thomas - I love you!

- Aunt Susan

Five years later

2008-07-20T21:00:00.000-05:00

On July 20, 2003, I spent the early part of the day rushing around my mother's house like a madwoman. The day before, I'd just bought a new car - and by 7:30 that evening, I'd be on the road back to my apartment in DFW.

But in between, I had a first date. I was to meet him at Kenny and Ziggy's Delicatessen on Post Oak Boulevard in Houston. Though I set out from Pasadena in plenty of time, I didn't know that there were two ends to Post Oak...and I picked the wrong one, which threw me off by 20 minutes. I started to worry that my date would think I was standing him up, and panicked a bit more.

When I finally pulled into the parking lot, thankfully, there he was at the curb: a tall, burly guy wearing a navy-and-white Hawaiian shirt and a sweet, friendly face. I said out loud to myself: "Oh my God, he's adorable."

I don't remember exactly what we ate, though I'm pretty sure I had a sandwich. I don't remember which of the many waiters we've had since then was the one who served us, though I'm pretty sure they're still working there. I just remember knowing right away what I'd spent weeks of phone conversations trying to ignore: this was a guy I wanted to spend a lot more time with.

Later, the crowds and the heat at the Museum of Natural Science sent me scurrying out of the St. Peter and the Vatican exhibit in an attempt not to faint. If I could have melted through the floor, I would have; I was sure that would be the deal-breaker. Not so. He showed sincere concern, made sure I got a good drink of water and some cool air, even reassured me that he was getting overheated himself.

We made our way back to my car, parked there by the Starbucks across the street from the Galleria, and settled in for one last hour before I hauled it 300 miles north. It wasn't until I sat down with my Tazo iced black tea that I realized I wasn't alone in trying to make the time last...and at some point, right then and there, it stopped being just a first date.

We walked out hand-in-hand...stood there next to my car, not wanting to leave...kissed in the parking lot, not caring that several hundred people could see us. When I finally managed to tear myself away, I got in the car and called my mom, then my best friend (still my roommate at the time). Said, in answer to the questions: "Kismet."

A month later, we were talking marriage; two months, and we were engaged. Three months after that, I did something I'd spent ten years swearing I'd never do: I moved back to Houston.

Turns out he was absolutely worth it. So when this five-year mark came around, where else would we go to celebrate?

Dinner was, as usual, fantastic. And you know what? I still think he's adorable. I think maybe he likes me too.

Vacation, part 3: FW (short), etc.

2008-07-07T21:52:00.006-05:00

I find that I feel less guilty about not posting when I have not made too many promises. :) So...the vacation wrap-up, pretty briefly; plus a little other housekeeping.

Friday: Hot car, cute kid

After fortifying myself with Indian food and a dose of my honey, I set off for the north (with a brief detour to Twisted Yarns). One incredibly warm, four-hour-long car ride later, I settled in at a Chili's in Bedford with two of my favorite people:

I can hardly believe this is the same Thomas. He's getting close to four now, and so smart. Also, I think he might resemble his mom just.a.little.

Tasty burger, nice long BFF chat...a good Friday.

Saturday: Reunited

I met my friend Kathy 12 years ago, when we both worked for the YMCA. We were close while I lived in FW, and did a good job of keeping up when I moved to Houston...until about two years ago, when we lost touch.

Happily, we set that right with a leisurely lunch, full of talk of husbands, kids, cats, and jobs - and as is always the case with good friends, it was like we hadn't missed a day.

That's Kathy at left, Caety in the center, yours truly at right. Relaxed and happy looks good on all of us, I think.

Caety and I followed up with some successful shopping and a nice seafood dinner with her boys (seen here earlier, GameBoying away):

Sunday: Fin.

Except for a really nice lunch with Caety...the less said about Sunday, the better.

*
This vacation was definitely the re-set I needed, all in all. I didn't do absolutely everything I'd planned, but no time was really wasted and I did *plenty* all the way through. I think it also says something about how much I like my job that I didn't dread going back. It's busy again...but aside from a holiday weekend of feeling like butt, and Mechanical Failure Monday (my front tire [story here], my mom's air conditioner, and things at other peeps' houses), all is well in the land of:

(I am so loving 365, even if my day-to-day quality varies wildly.)

Up next: maybe a post about my second big sewing project. :)

Vacation, part 2: Tastiness of yum, etc.

2008-06-28T20:19:00.003-05:00

Another reeeeeally long one, with a mess of photos to boot. Hang on, here it comes...

Tuesday: Always on the lookout

I'd considered heading out to some botanic gardens, but the Too Damn Hot (high 90s, fully saturated air) state of the city made that sound like crazy talk, even in the early morning. So I took my time getting up and around, shot the hell out of my birth-daisies, and finally stepped out for lunch at Thai Bistro.
It's a small, beautifully decorated, quiet place with shy, friendly wait staff. I picked out my standards – tom kha gai (milky chicken soup) and pad see ew (flat rice noodles with broccoli in brown sauce). Everything was incredibly tasty, and while my server seemed a bit bemused at my camera, she was unfailingly nice and I was sure to tell her I'd bring Bryan back with me.

My own little slice of heaven:
From there, it was on to the Center for Contemporary Craft to check out the Craft Texas show. No photos were allowed; the best I could do was in the garden outside:

As for the show, I'm left to imitate Unphotographable a bit. There were quite a few unique, stunning, and fascinating pieces – here's the three that stuck with me the most:

- Game Table – a carnival-colored table that first made me smile, and then made me laugh out loud. The artists made use of dice, double-nine dominoes, and much more to give the feel of a family game night. The best part? Tongue-in-cheek sayings spelled out in Scrabble letters. "NO FIDDLE FARTING" was my favorite, but I think "ALWAYS BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR NEW ADVENTURES" summed it all up.

- Earth Robe – a seven-foot-high mobile suspended from a bamboo pole, created out of origami sheets (some printed from photographs by the artist) and bookbinding thread. This was the first piece at which I gasped out loud – scale, detail, and color left me simply in awe.

- Crossover – a subdued but colorful quilt that drew the fiber artist in me right over to it, but initially made me wonder what it was doing here. At length, there was an optical impression of a cross that appeared to be composed of semi-random patchwork pieces – advanced quilting, sure, but why Craft Texas?

It didn't hit me until I moved closer...and when I saw, I nearly fainted from shock. Every millimeter of the fabric – I think it was about 3 feet x 4 feet – was covered in small hand stitches.

The patchwork appearance was created solely by color changes in the embroidery. I got a mental image of long days spent planning, longer days spent threading and rethreading and putting every color in just the right place. It's enough to make a hobbyist want to take a knee.
After a spin through a gift shop filled with more wonders (including some awesome charm jewelry made in part from drink cans), I headed to Café Rustica for sweets and blogging, plus free wi-fi. It was at this point that I decided to start photographing my iced tea*...
...and that I was finally going to join in on 365 (this is day 2).
After a couple of glasses of Blackberry Sage and a few bites of a tasty chocolate chip bar, I headed back home for Bryan and we trekked out in a rainstorm to Phoenicia. What with the rise of Spec's and World Market, there was quite a bit that was actually familiar – and even more that wasn't. Spices, legumes, grains, convenience foods...you don't realize how small your world actually is until you branch out.

Since I suffered camnesia at Phoenicia, I tried to make up for it at Raising Cane's.Some of the best chicken fingers anywhere, and what we're convinced is crack-laced Cane's sauce for dipping. (Completely addictive, and a bit of a mystery.) Sometimes, there's nothing wrong with sticking close to home.

Wednesday: Casual

This day was spent doing something I like to call "knocking around." I gave some further thought to my 365, had some quality time working on the Lace Knitting of Semi-Mystery, and enjoyed plenty of mutual cat harassment.

If I wanted to remember in more detail, I probably should have blogged it sooner.

Thursday: Toes and thunderstorms

This day started out with further knocking around of a more productive nature. I made a tres leches cake** that had been planned for the previous weekend - narrowly avoiding disaster, but getting the crucial message that my oven runs a bit hot.

Some time later, when the cake was finally cool enough to cover, I made my way out under gathering clouds for a long-overdue pedicure. Hooray!

On my way out, I was very nearly felled by a massive thunderclap, as the sky opened up just before my toes were dry. Fortunately, I survived long enough to make it to Thai Pepper (my third Thai meal of the week) to meet Bryan, then stopped to grab a cupcake on my way to SnB.

Laura offered me a belated birthday brownie, but I was too stuffed with pad see ew to accept; still, it was summertime, and the knitting was easy. So worth it...and so vacation-worthy that I suffered camnesia (except for my 365) all day long.

*
Aaaaand, part 3 (the Fort Worth portion), coming sometime. (Since obviously "soon" means nothing to me.)

* Hell yes, I'm weird. But on a side note, it turns out that June is National Iced Tea Month. Why didn't anyone tell me this sooner?
** Verdict: very easy, but waaaay too sweet. If you do this one, I would strongly recommend cutting or eliminating the added sugar. Still, the sweetened cream topping is perfect (especially when your husband adds Bailey's to it), and ripe strawberries made it heaven.

...but not a dollar short

2008-06-20T11:06:00.003-05:00

Obviously, I'm behind on the blogging of the vacation goodness. Guess I'm a bit too busy actually enjoying the damn thing. :)

But I thought I owed y'all something to tide you over. I've been doing a half-decent job of photo-ing things. And also, this:

1/365: i'm so blogging this - part of this set on flickr.

Ah, bandwagon. How good to be on you.

Off to lunch with my honey, and then...the open road. (If I45 is ever *really* open.)

Vacation, part 1: 35 and counting

2008-06-17T22:55:00.009-05:00

Warning: quite wordy, but not too pic-heavy

Apparently, as time goes on, I've become more and more of a trend follower. The latest symptom of this is my perfectly-timed vacation, a (mostly) stay-at-home affair timed to coincide with my turning 35.*

Also apparently, this is frequently referred to as a "stay-cation." I could take or leave the term, but the exercise itself is pretty much turning out to be the Best Vacation Ever. I'm going to spend a bit of time chronicling it over the next few days - partially as evidence (mostly for myself) that my life is really not as boring as it looks on the surface.

Today, I'm covering the weekend and Monday; tomorrow, I'll catch today. (Confused yet?)

Saturday: Shindig of Awesomeness
I'm going to gloss over the parts where I make myself (and a handful of people who love me anyway) completely crazy in fits of perfectionism. I'm also going to shorten the saga of my car totally dying in the Central Market parking lot (after I shopped, with ice cream in my cart, and Amy coming to my rescue), and just cut to the fun part.

I invited a whole slew of folks (and their SOs) to our place for a day-in-advance b-day party. Much enjoyment ensued, what with work peeps, knitters, and a couple of random loved ones in attendance, plus Kirk's barbecuing prowess (Bryan helped, I swear) and Amy's mad chopping, skewering, and keeping-my-head-from-exploding skills. (Also, there may have been inhaling of some very tasty cupcakes from Kelly.)

I'm not sure why, but I'm always surprised (not to mention terribly pleased) when the different parts of my life come together and all goes fantastically. Everybody seemed to hit it off, there was plenty of mingling, and I was once again reminded that I need to just remember to kick back, and the awesomeness of all my peeps will make everything perfect, in all the right ways.

It may have been a *touch* of vodka with my cranberry that got me on the road to relaxation. Maybe.

This was all so much fun that, unfortunately, the daisies are the only photographic evidence I have.

Sunday: Tired, but happy...and also, 35

Got up early to shoot the breeze with Amy, and then, it would seem, there was a lot of sleeping. Woke up just in time to start preparing Father's Day dinner for the PlumParents and GameDad...steaks of pork and beef with mushrooms, scalloped potatoes, and kabob veggies. It was a rather different experience to have a dining room dinner (at a real dinner table, no less) with our folks in our place, and certainly worth repeating.

You may also have noticed that it was my birthday. Not that I've mentioned it three dozen times, or anything...

Monday: Relaxation + getting crafty = now THIS is a vacation

Yesterday started reasonably early, with a breakfast of cereal covered in fresh strawberries (food of the deities, I am convinced). I took my time cuddling cats, watching home improvement shows, and generally kicking back before meeting my hubby for lunch.

Then, inspiration struck me. I've had a project in mind for a couple of weeks, and decided I'd head over to open studio night at Sew Crafty for help executing it. Little to my chagrin, this involved trips to Hancock and JoAnn for supplies:

(In addition to my very-much-on-sale purchases, I scored a fantastic little modular craft storage box that served as the perfect $2 solution to my earring storage problem. $2!)

Sew Crafty Sarah was awesome, as seems to be par for the course, and almost certainly helped me keep my head together. It made an incredible difference to have someone there for the bouncing off of ideas.

Further to Sarah's greatness, when I mentioned the b-day festivities, I was presented with a bag of MYSTERY. Inside...
All this, *and* the Charms Blow Pop is my favorite flavor! How lucky is that?

Once I am fully successful with the idea, I may post a tutorial, post some on Etsy, or both. For now, a tease:
While I don't have a finished sample, I did get the basic concept ironed out; I left feeling pretty accomplished, and planning to sit down and blogitall right away.

Instead, I conked out in the middle of a wonky flickr upload. (Plenty to see at the link anyway...)
***
That brings me around to today, which started slow but turned out rather lovely. I started blogging it this afternoon - patience, grasshopper fans, it will show up sometime tomorrow.

Two last things in the meantime:
Recognize this bloke? A little difficult, since you usually see him in quite a different getup. No matter. Eddie Izzard was as unbelievably funny as ever on his stop in Houston last week. This was my real, honest-to-God birthday present, and while the entire day around it (not to mention this photo) was pretty craptastic, Eddie was worth it.

Finally, if you were at my home anytime this weekend, a thousand thanks for making this event a truly happy one. If you brought a completely unexpected gift (i.e. all of them), ten thousand. And if you were one of the two people who kept me from melting into a puddle of perfectionist goo...I can't ever repay you, but I'll certainly try.

See y'all tomorrow!

* Note: Yep, June 15. Which is, by the way, the same day that Kelly turned 31. :)

FOs FTW!

2008-06-07T23:08:00.003-05:00

Today was the day - I got up early to head over to Sew Crafty Houston for my Intro to Sewing class. The place is adorable, as is the owner, Sarah. She did a great job walking us through this:Sucky photo, cute apron, right? Now, for the record, the ribbon trim and buttons are glued on - but the seaming and topstitching are totally real. It's not going to win any awards, but I am inordinately proud of myself anyway.

At any rate, I discovered that I know a lot of the language of sewing, and that I don't suck as much as I thought. Sarah gave us the step-by-step and was really good at lending a hand when things went awry.* (Not to mention a whole lot of fun. :) )

I enjoyed it so much that I signed up for the next step up - a class for a lined tote bag - before I left today! I'd recommend Sew Crafty to anyone - not only is Sarah the best, but Mo teaches the Knitting 101 classes. You can't go wrong with that! (P.S. It's walking distance to Onion Creek Cafe, which served me one of the best soy chai lattes I've ever had.)

The title gave promise of multiple FOs, so:
Here's Sharron (blogless), with her baby blanket from the Stitch 'n' Bitch group. It's a lovely lavender creation - squares made by several members of the group, assembled and finished (quite beautifully, I might add) by Kelly (who has a better photo of the whole thing here).

Not sure if the baby herself is an FO quite yet - Sharron is due on the 15th. Kelly and I were rooting for that day, since we both figure it was a pretty good day to be born (*ahem*). Alas, I missed SnB due to a serious case of mush brain and sofa shopping, in that order.

Fortunately, the cure for the common blehs approaches quickly. Nine lovely days of rest will be mine in just a week! I should really get a better idea of what I'm doing...but I'm sure I'll think of something.

What I've been doing, part 2

2008-05-26T22:20:00.003-05:00

- Kicking back now that the trade show is behind us!

- Last weekend, Bryan and I headed down to Clear Lake for haircuts. (He can get his done anywhere...but I'm really particular.) So this put us about halfway to Galveston. A quick call to Amy and we were off on a slacker adventure.

Our day on the island included lunch at Fisherman's Wharf (SO tasty), a trip to a local used bookstore, lots of hanging out at a coffee shop, and a wrap-up with green apple sour belts.

And between the bookstore and the hanging, there was this:
The remains of my chocolate soda (with ice cream) in the foreground...the restored historic Star Drugstore in the background. There are marble counters and real, honest-to-God soda fountain equipment. And the server was really nice to us. :)

- Looking out for my honey post-minor-surgery. Bryan had a small bit of hernia repair done last Monday and spent the rest of the week at home. He's been pretty well but still can't do much bending or lifting. I have a new appreciation for his cat-box-cleaning, garbage-taking-out ways, since it's been left up to me. :)

- Working on a secret project, about which I am very, very jazzed: more lace of love, more Sea Silk. The Ravelers among you can see the beginnings here. (The recipient might be a reader, but is definitely not a knitter. :) )

- Signing up for a sewing class! I'll be taking the basics at Sew Crafty on June 7 (and probably more classes later). I've run a machine before, but not very well, and I particularly want to expand my gifty repertoire.

Meredith says she'll be doing some Sew Crafty classes as well. We're not the only ones to catch the sewing bug...some days it looks like it's turning into a different kind of Stitch 'n' Bitch!

- And finally...planning a VACATION in advance of my 35th BIRTHDAY!

This will be the first time I've taken a whole (paid) week off for the sole purpose of personal enjoyment in...a really, really long time. The only traveling will probably be to Fort Worth for a weekend, but there will be plenty of time to chill and enjoy good company and probably shop and definitely knit.

The only thing I know for sure I won't be doing? GOING TO WORK. I love my job, I really do, but huzzah!
***

In other news: big congratulations to Jenny, who graduates from med school (and very quickly thereafter heads to Jersey for her residency) this coming weekend. Another Central Houston knitter no longer local...sigh. I'm going to start tying bells to y'all so I can hunt you down!

But, thankfully, more hoorayness for a short week. See you soon!

What I've been doing, part 1

2008-05-19T22:53:00.005-05:00

(Warning: pic heavy! Can you believe it?)

- Working, as usual. For the last few weeks, on the second-biggest annual trade show* we do - this one in Europe.

- Adding new family members.
This is six-year-old Snoopy. Before she came to our house, her fetch-playing, counter-jumping, tee-tiny self spent a few years at my pal Cindy's (who rescued her as a kitten off the side of 610!). She and Fuzz are still getting used to each other...but it feels better to have two cats around again.
This is Corey, a youngster Schnauzer/poodle mix. My parents have been without a dog for about six years, which was far too long by about 90%. At long last they picked out this little guy, who fits the bill beautifully - funny, playful, tv-watching, a bit incorrigible.

- Knitting on this.
That's the Ribbons Scarf by Heatherly. Not too fab a photo, but you get the gist. I heart YO SKP.

- "Helping" Amy move back to Galveston, again.
I didn't share this here, but Amy added color commentary (not family-friendly! but funny!) to my boxes when I moved back in November. I had to return the favor. A couple of them were like this one: punch lines to silly jokes. See flickr for the rest (and a whole lot of other stuff).

- Almost buying crazy stuff at Target.
Do not adjust your screen...that *is* a bacon-and-eggs face on a red-and-pink gingham tote. I'm still thinking about going back for it. (Only $10 for that much obnoxious awesomeness...why not?)

- Knitting something semi-secret, in a color I usually would not use. In the serendipity department, I found myself working away on it as I sat waiting in the vet's office. Then, I got to looking at the wall border. Then at my work. Then at Bryan, my work, the wall...why?
Look closer:
The *exact color of yarn* I was using, right next to a cat that looked very much like Snoopy. I laughed so hard I couldn't knit anymore.

- Plus a couple of other things. Stay tuned for part 2!

* I may not have been clear about this before: I work in the creative (marketing) services department at a mid-sized corporation as a senior-level writer/editor. We do web, print, booth graphics, and and and, both for trade shows and standard marketing initiatives.

Do you hear what I hear?

2008-05-01T22:34:00.004-05:00

A post for Blogging Against Disablism Day...started on time, posted a little late. If you happened to jump over here from elsewhere, welcome. I'm an able-bodied, able-minded creative blogger who doesn't often do serious business, but my family and friends mean too much to me to let this one slide.

This post leans heavily to discrimination against physically disabled people only because I have little close personal experience with mentally disabled people, and I admit my language may be out of step, and my understanding is not complete. So, with all that said...

I hadn't heard of this event before today, and I'm not entirely sure why. Probably because I cut my teeth on the knit-blogosphere and it took me a while to ripple out into other subjects.

But today, Blogging Against Disablism came at me loud and clear, and there was no way for me to skip it...even though I wasn't entirely sure which direction to go. What I was sure of is how important a role disabled people have played in my life - and how much disablism has affected them.

There are too many stories to tell. Like the ones about my Granny (my mother's mother), who had a severe heart condition well before she had to rely on a wheelchair. My cousin M, whose rare genetic disorder folds her more in half - and makes the back pain ever more excruciating - with every passing year. TechieBK's cousin T, who spent her short 26 years in and out of hospitals, frequently unable to breathe, never able to live normally despite her liver transplant. Even my beloved faces a specter of his own, one that requires he never be too far from a bathroom, that leaves him at drastically higher risk for colon cancer and could result in a colostomy late in his life.

My stepdad C has had a greater, closer impact on me and my feelings about disablism. A genetic disorder caused a high cleft palate, leaving him hearing-impaired since birth. And at five, he took ill with polio, which wasted his right leg severely. He both speaks and signs, has residual hearing and reads lips, lives in a hearing family but is in most ways culturally Deaf.

With C-Dad, the factor is raised a notch because he often doesn't hear these things, either. For some reason, this gives the worst offenders the idea that it's even more OK to be asinine. To talk to him like a small child, though he's almost 60 years old; to not look at him when they speak; to mumble on purpose.

All these well-loved people have had to deal with the usual:

- Staring. (Lesson for disablists: learn some effing manners.)
- Some (not all) getting harassed for having disabled hangtags - and using spaces - because they didn't "look handicapped." (Lesson: you never, ever know.)
- Eye-rolling and heavy sighing. (Lesson: what if it was your grandmother, your dad, your sister?)
- Snickering, commenting, or straight-out mouthing off. (Lesson: learn some effing manners before I deck you.)
- More things too lengthy, too hurtful, too nasty, too illegal to stand.

To overstate the obvious, disablists suffer from a lack of understanding of one crucial point that escapes all bigots (which has been said better by many - check here and look for May 1 to see more) - disability does not make a person less human, or less worthy of respect by their humanity alone. I've read a lot of blogging lately that focuses on our understanding of privilege, our blindness to our own prejudices, our lack of willingness to step up and speak for members of any group to which we belong...or even one to which we don't. For every person that would knowingly hurt someone for their differences, I truly believe that there's another 2, 3, 10 who would never even dream of it.

And most of them would never say a word if they saw it happening. I get this: it's hard to go out on a limb. I try, and I know others who do too; sometimes we succeed, often we fail. And yes, sometimes it's painful or dangerous to do so. And no, we can't win every battle single-handedly.

Even so, we have to try harder at it. Pick your battles if you must...but pick them and fight them. Write to Congress or to the blogosphere. Learn some patience. Learn some sign language. Tell people why words like "retard" or "spaz" are offensive, and quit using them yourself. Widen your public bathroom and its door. Let people use it if they ask urgently, no matter what company policy says. Don't pet the dog without asking, and don't be an ass if the answer is "no" when you do. Don't park in reserved spaces. Don't patronize businesses that find ways not to do equal business with disabled people. Stop staring...but look at people when you talk to them.

Never be afraid to tell the world that prejudice and abuse are wrong. Never dehumanize another human being, whether you love or hate them, evil or saintly, perfect or imperfect.

Here's one hint: we're all imperfect. Fighting disablism (or any other ism) is one good way to be a little less so.

Not fade away

2008-04-19T01:10:00.004-05:00

So, what's 2 1/2 months between friends, eh?

Seriously: there is neither sob story nor great shakes behind this most recent of my absences. So where in the hell *have* I been, then? Lately, life is just...life - sometimes good, sometimes bad. Work *might* achieve insane for the first time since January next week. I'm busy off and on, but at my leisure a lot lately.

Not that there isn't semi-big stuff happening, mind you, because there is. It would seem that I'm hitting a transitional phase - positively - in work, home life, creativity, and frame of mind. There's nothing I'm abandoning; in fact, I've picked a couple of old things back up and I'm planning to add still more.

Probably the best news, the news that I want to give most for now, is that I'm feeling...relaxed. It took me a while to get here, considering how much time I spent wound up like an overspun ply* in 2007, so I'm spending some time reveling.

It's like karmic payment for slogging through a mudpile of stress...and I am all about it.

* Lookit! Fiber content!!

Austin state of mind

2008-02-01T01:03:00.000-06:00

All hail the Annual Austin Trip. This year's is already especially chaotic, but good nonetheless (though driving was a workout due to 25-mile-an-hour winds). Pretty skies, good Starbucks, tasty dinner with good company, and a few other very nice touches that are making me smile more than I have in a while. So in my few first-night moments of peace in a nice, cushy hotel room that I didn't have to pay for or share with anyone, I wanted to stop by and say that I'm here, and I'm OK. Not great, but OK.

I'm still having Moments pretty much every day...we all miss our guy terribly. Many, many thanks to all of you for your thoughts and wishes. Everyone in my family was truly touched...and I was overwhelmed, and very grateful.

Most of you may not even know that two of my co-workers - one a good friend - got laid off January 16 (five days after our director took a new job), and the department has been reorganized. And my issues only scratch the surface. March 2006 was pretty ass, but in my cosmic web of friends, family, and co-workers, January 2008 is on record as the Worst Month Ever.

But I promise you - this post is not all about the griping! I'm working on several sorts of self-improvement and having a bit of success. Bryan and I spent last weekend in Fort Worth with Caety, who lost her grandfather last week. It's truly stunning what beautiful 60-degree weather, adorable kids, and time with your best friend will do for a grieving heart (and it's safe to say I'm speaking for both of us).

And I'm preparing to start a new lace project. I say preparing, because three hours of hand-winding does not a complete ball of laceweight silk make, apparently. But it's really hard to complain when it's the Claudia silk in Ocean Depth...a colorway that puts most everything else to shame, and y'all know how I feel about Sea Silk.

So while I think I'll finish the winding before I go home, I probably won't cast on until next week; there are too many distractions here. Too many, at least, to think that I can start a lace shawl with a 32-ROW PATTERNED-BOTH-SIDES lace repeat. It's the Fiber Trends Baltic Sea Stole (mine will be the San Diego Stole), and it's gorgeous, and I've lost my mind.

There were a lot of things I'd planned to say before my last post, and never quite had the heart to finish. That's happened a lot these past couple of years. Not to mention all the promises for interesting content to come. It doesn't mean I won't keep trying, mind you - just that I'm aiming to start under-promising and over-delivering, instead of the other way around.

There's a certain line from Wayne's World running through my head as I say that. I'm sure at least one of you knows which one I mean...but no matter. For this weekend, at least in my world, it's party time. Excellent. For this weekend, if you're not in Austin yourself, you can envy my upcoming visit to the LYSes I can't go to just anytime.

For this weekend, despite all the changes here and without, life is somewhat normal in the place that likes to keep itself weird. I'll take it. I could really use the break.

In loving memory

2008-01-17T08:05:00.000-06:00

Pablo, our Buddy
September 30, 1997-January 17, 2008
Be at peace, my baby.

Again, some more.

2007-12-24T15:35:00.000-06:00

I admit, I set about to make an official Maudlin Holiday Post tonight. A lot of words about the what and the why and the how much of my gratitude for everything, and to everyone. But I am actually aiming for a goal of Plum Texan being readable and amusing at some point (again?), and in the interest of this being a blog and not a slog, I'm going to gloss it over quickly.

Every day, no matter how much I want to pull my hair out or wish I could sleep through a week or wonder when the hell it's going to lighten up, I am grateful. My life is truly an embarrassment of riches, full of debts of kindness and love that I have no idea how I'll repay, though I will certainly spend the rest of my days trying.

To all those who have extended gifts far more generous than I could possibly deserve...thank you.

***

Oh look...real purpose ahead!

Thanks to the standard piles of work and taking care of the Buddy,* I've largely been too worn to get nearly as much holiday in as I would have liked. But I did manage to eke out a little. There are photos, which I'll share with you...when I finally unpack the box that has the USB cable for my camera. (That's any day now. I can feel it.) But in the meantime:

- Five of the houses immediately surrounding our new place put up quite a lot of bright and sparkly. I didn't want the world to think we were completely bah humbug, so I whipped up a little twinkle of my own for about six bucks. Two strands of lights and an 18-inch floral wire frame, et voila...a Very Plum Texan Window Wreath.

- I was short of time and energy to begin with, so I'd largely ruled out most of the handmade-for-the-holidays plans I'd hoped to accomplish. Then, in some evening's Bloglining, I happened across a post on Jeri's organizing blog** in which she promoted some lovely Japanese paper boxes...and that company led me to the site for Tansu. The link called it an online store...and then I discovered that the brick-and-mortar Tansu is right here in Houston...score!

Last week, I made a quick trip in and discovered a wonder of cool and awesome stuff, including a rather impressive selection of origami and chiyogami papers. I spent just over $20 for a nice stack of small items, some of which I'm using in gifts. Amy and others have said that they want everything in Tansu...and I'm pretty close to agreeing.

The best part of all this? The photos of these projects...will come with tutorials! That's right: I'm actually going to show you how to do something really cool that's not too hard, not too expensive, and really, really pretty. Crafts? On a craft blog? Who knew?

* Who is doing much better, thank you, after a week at home and tube feedings and...lots of other stuff.
** Note: while Jeri just happens to be my mom's name as well...this Jeri is someone different. :)
***

Since it does *just* happen that this is an obligatory holiday post, best wishes to everyone for a merry Christmas, or whatever happens to float your boat during December. Tomorrow, it's lunch with my parents at Kim Son, then presents and such at our house. A little bit of tasty, a little bit of togetherness, a whole lot of quiet and easy. Just about what we need right now.

As another year crawls to a close...I wish you all just what it is you might need, today and always.

Finally right.

2007-12-11T22:22:00.000-06:00

A few of you have been telling me that things would get better. Not that they "have to," but that they *would.* And finally, I have no compunction against saying that you were right.

I'll spare the goriest details, but indeed: the Buddy still smells like hospital, and is still in it...but after his sister gave him a blood transfusion* yesterday, the doc feels he's strong enough for his next procedure. The cause of his troubles has indeed been the hepatic lipidosis; the cause of that is, apparently, completely random in his case. But he's been keeping food down (if not taking it himself) like a champ and strengthening up overall. If all goes as planned, he'll be home by the weekend. Huzzah!

There will still be follow-up, and while it's far better than touch-and-go now, we still have to be very careful with everything for at least a month more. Hand-feeding will have to continue until he's doing it himself (which he's not yet). But there is no reason to think that his recovery will be anything other than complete.

I won't lie - it's been a rough week. Yesterday was almost (~almost~) worse than Wednesday, and I had a few good solid meltdowns, a couple of them a little embarrassing. But today was better - my boss and coworkers are great and there are some good developments at work, and with my "kids" being OK, and my kitchen being ready for baking tomorrow...

...well, all isn't quite right with the world, but it's getting close. I'm looking for this trend to continue, and fully plan to be grinning ear-to-ear by this time next week. No doubt that baked goods and Amy time will be the icing on the healthier-kitty cake.

* She was pretty freaked out but has recovered well. And it was a good thing we tested her for donor compatibility - the other possible donor cat was no match whatsoever, so Fuzz saved the day. Buddy was nosing the cage wanting to check on Fuzz when we picked her up. Who knows if this was thanks, or if he just missed her...or both...but it was adorable. And sad...but mostly adorable.

Four words.

2007-12-07T22:40:00.000-06:00

Four words that will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about my day:

The Buddy is purring.

The Buddy is purring!!! He wasn't doing that yesterday. Also, fairly *demanding* (by way of nose and repositioning) continual head scratching. Now THAT'S my cat.

He's still having to be fed, but keeping it all down, and just altogether looking much more himself (but still yellow and still dandruffy). Ultrasound results and further bloodwork show nothing to be concerned about in the way of the Big C (though we're still waiting to see if they can do a liver biopsy).

We're still waiting it out and probably won't know much more for a couple of days. In the meantime, I am unbelievably grateful for all the wishes and kindness. It means the world and has been a huge comfort.

Now I'm just hoping that I can actually get back to, you know, creative(ish) blogging. Hey, it could happen.

Smells like hospital.

2007-12-06T20:57:00.000-06:00

A million thanks for all the good wishes. Y'all are the best!

The Buddy Cat is improving. Hydration has done wonders, and he's getting medications for the stuff the bloodwork showed wasn't so good. Plus, they're feeding him soft food through a syringe, which he is not resisting, and is now able to keep down.

There are still some pretty serious concerns, though. His doctors believe that he has hepatic lipidosis, which happens when a cat stops eating (significantly or altogether) and the liver tissue begins to convert to fat. Hence, the yellow. They have ruled out all infectious causes (which is unsurprising since he and the Fuzz only see each other and people), but they're still worried about the possibility of the Big C (which I refuse to utter) and, simply, how much damage his liver has taken.

What did help a lot when we visited this evening - because I'm stubbornly guilt-ridden and paranoid, and have thus far been too much of a dumb ass to listen when people who love me told me this - was when the doctor said that we had nothing to blame ourselves for. That cats are notoriously finicky and secretive, and that Buddy probably made it pretty near impossible to notice anything but the weight loss. He also said that Buddy doesn't fight them on the treatment and is, in his words, "a sweetheart." So true. He's always been one to know when people are trying to help him, and he's such a love anyway.

Bryan and I spent quite some time giving our boy cuddles and head scratches. I kept noticing an odd smell that I recognized from the days when my family had dogs that had puppies a lot: animal baby food, of which Buddy had a bit on his paws (right next to the yellow tape around the IV line) and face. While he was still clearly drained, he was alert enough to rearrange, plant himself, and nose me and Bryan alternately for petting. I consider this a Very Good Sign.

As for what's next, I guess we wait it out. He probably needs at least a few more days of TLC in the ICU before we can bring him home. I didn't feel up to SnB tonight, but I think I can breathe a little bit more easily, even with the smell of kitty hospital still in my nose.

A screeching halt.

2007-12-05T22:10:00.000-06:00

Progress on the new place...my bank account...my heart, when Amy said last night: "Why is Buddy yellow?"

Pablo, aka the Buddy Cat, has not been himself lately - a little lethargic, weight loss that started out looking positive (he was, after all, a bit chunky) and ended up quite a bit less than, and a lowered appetite. But he'd seemed on an upswing, the stress of the move notwithstanding. Until Amy brought it up, we hadn't noticed the very ill tone of the skin around his ears. Eyes, gums, even a little area above his nose...

Jaundiced. And in short order, we'd looked up enough information to get really scared.

To fast-forward, our beloved Buddy is having a stay in the hospital. He's had some tests (bloodwork and ultrasound) done and has been getting IV fluids; liver biopsy and a couple of other scary procedures will have to wait until the doctor considers him stable.

The good news is, while he's still definitely not Himself, he is still alert and responsive to everything, moving around slowly but still moving nonetheless. I took him in this morning and stayed until they settled him in; TechieBK went by to visit and cuddle him this afternoon. He's getting great care from nice people, and we feel somewhat better about it now than we did.

But still, our Buddy is not well. And he's not home.

There are a ton of details that I'm just going to gloss over; it took me half the day to stop bawling every half an hour, not productive when you're going back to work after a week off. But I'm going to shamelessly ask for all the best that y'all can spare in the way of wishes, thoughts, prayers, vibes, whatever you care to call them. We're just not quite ready to give him up, and we're ready to do whatever we must to keep him around, healthy.

His sister Pandora, aka Fuzz, seems to think that one cat in the house isn't quite enough. We agree. And as soon as we know when we can fix that problem, I'll give y'all a holler.

So done.

2007-12-02T19:23:00.001-06:00

At least with the moving part. TechieBK and I finally got the last of the stuff out of the old place, cleaned it up a bit, and voila - in slightly less than three days, we are completely out of one home and into another.

HUZZAH!!! While the prep and packing were still quite stressful - and there was a bit of drama (not ours) that delayed us getting our keys for a full day - it's all been ironed out, and now there are about 5 dozen (no kidding) boxes in our living room, plus many in the kitchen and a few in other rooms. This means that the truly hard part is over.

Only now, there's the exhaustion. And since I've planted myself at Borders - with TechieBK sitting next to me reading his latest purchase - I figure I ought to crank myself up and head on home. Amy took a few pictures (and wrote awesome comments on my boxes) when she was over on Thursday helping us pack up. She's promised to tell the story, and I'll let her - let's just say that everybody got punchy, and MUCH MUCH hilarity ensued. (P.S.: big, big thanks. I had no intention of "moral support" turning into "help packing," but I thank you, and my tea thanks you.)

Most importantly, I have imposed on my BFF for moving assistance for the last time. We could not possibly have accomplished everything we did, in the amount of time we did, were it not for Caety. I cannot possibly express everything I'm thinking, but I think she pretty well knows.

Also, I'm going to pay her even if it takes me forever to do it.

This Thursday, there will be knitting. Other than that, there will be unpacking and errand-running (and two more days work-free). And now, since Bryan is asleep in the Borders Cafe and I'm not far behind him, I'll just say hasta and catch up when I'm not falling over tired.

Happy December!

Still a secret. Also, still moving.

2007-11-28T15:38:00.000-06:00

Which applies both to my Pal spoiler, and - for y'all - of what she sent me. I'm moving, folks. Don't expect me to know where my USB camera cable is.

Rest assured, it's a package of awesomeness. My response was so great, I don't want to give anything away until I can show you. Let's just say there was a ton more non-itchy goodness - all of which I love! - and I'll do my level best to fill in the blanks in a Sunday Evening Post.

Yes, this week. Hush.

As you may have gathered by the time stamp, I'm already on "vacation." While I hate using scare quotes onscreen, it's the only way to express my mild frustration that my week off work will be filled with packing and boxes and moving and cleaning and unpacking.

I say mild because I've actually gotten past a lot of my stress about it. Things have gone better this week, and I finished everything at work that I possibly could without having to do any of it today.

Plus, my I Scarcely Deserve a BFF this F*&$ing Awesome BFF Caety is still heading in this evening to help, despite having a cold of yuck. My I Don't Mind Your Clutter but I'm Glad For You That You're Fixing It pal Amy will join in tomorrow for moral support. And my It May Take Me A Lot to Get Started but Once I Do I Rock husband...well...read his title there.

Many thanks to the others of you who've offered good wishes and more. Particularly Jenny, who offered more than once to help pack. Rather than horrify those of you who have never been exposed to the Plum Texan/TechieBK House of Clutter, I will try to have the locals over for a knit-in sometime soon, once we've remedied the situation.

My 15-minute break is over. Back to packing! See you on the flip side of the 16-foot truck.

Update of little import.

2007-11-18T23:30:00.000-06:00

The packing for the move, she continues apace. At, erm, a-pace much higher than I was expecting. *ducks* Today especially, I made a handful of accomplishments that gave me back a bit of pride in the whole process.

The sick, she has greatly abated. I don't feel like passing out...don't even feel dizzy...and I can *almost* hear normally again. Unfortunately, as per usual, the congestion in the chest area continues to be pretty heavy (the nose, thankfully, is minor). I still have a touch of that ugly cough that I always get with bronchitis. (If you've known me in person for any considerable length, you know the one.)

Not much else has changed; I'd love to have more to say, but you know, I'm knitting the same things (well, I started another basketweave dishcloth), doing the same things, working the same, not feeling much different. I did have quite a bit of fun holding up a wall in a laser tag bout with the work peeps on Friday, and the hanging out shooting the breeze after. Today, there was Yum Yum Cha and a bit of Amy's company, too.

The only bit of excitement is that I ordered some yarn...for my Secret Pal. I still don't want to give away too much in case she's sleuthing, even though the end of this round is the same day as my move. But rest assured: it's pretty, and (unlike the last yarn I gave her) it's something I'd be able to use myself.

This week holds a ton more SSDW*, but also: Thanksgiving with my folks, a trip to the Twisted Yarns sale (wherein I shall likely purchase more Claudia...or maybe more Cotton Stria), and a party at my boss's house (which promises to be hardcore good times). I am positively dying to start new lace, yet resisting heartily due to all the other projects (like MOVING) I have to handle. I think it will be Tuscany, when I get a Round Tuit.

Enough of my rambling! I am up way past my bedtime and really tired of boring the hell out of everyone. Since many of you will likely be out of touch later this week, I wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving with as much good food and as little family drama as possible.

OK, one more thing. I just realized that I have no idea if anyone who's in a place that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving (or celebrates it at another time) is in my tiny legion of readers. So: if you're not in the U.S., please leave a comment and let me know who and where you are. Thanks, and...happy fourth week of November!

*SSDW = same sh!t, different week. Akin to SSDD, "same sh!t, different day."

Title about being sick here.

2007-11-10T10:07:00.000-06:00

Sorry, y'all - that's practically all I've got today. I have to save up a bit of energy for house/packing stuff, since the cold that's been creeping up with me chose today to wallop me full-force. There's just never a good time for this.

I also have to maintain some strength for dinner tonight, as my BFF Caety is in town, her birthday is on Monday, and we're hitting the Melting Pot to celebrate. I was excited until I woke up feeling like I was carrying bags of water behind my nose. (I know...disturbing, but not *too* gross, I hope.)

In other birthday news, happy happy to David, whose fiber festival attendance I am again envying...next year, it will be Rhinebeck AND Kid 'n' Ewe, I swear.

And I'm off...with a weak promise to try not to make Short and Pointless Saturday a habit.

Excuses, excuses

2007-11-04T21:51:00.000-06:00

Except that I'm not going to make any. I had a long and tiring - but very enjoyable - day out at the quilt show yesterday, and then a long day of running around randomly and helping Amy warm up her new house a little. No photos today - it's late, I'm exhausted, and I only just got rid of a three-day headache* - but a bit of good news.

Our realtor informed us that we have passed the potential new landlord's credit check. We weren't too worried about this, but we know that these can be squirrelly. All that's left now is the rental history check, but we're trying to take confidence in our impeccable rental histories. By tomorrow, we very much hope to have word that we have a new home (as of Nov. 30, anyway).

In an attempt to be happy and relaxed, I am in complete denial about how much really has to be done before then, and am just trying to do it. Not much else I *can* do about it, really.

Though perhaps getting more/better sleep would help. Fingers crossed.

Out of the depths

2007-11-02T22:33:00.000-05:00

Oh dear. I did not realize that it had been quite so long, so mired in stress and tired have I been. And be warned: this hand-to-forehead style will likely continue post-long, so look away now if you're the eye-rolling sort. Unfortunately, I've had such a long, painful, on-and-off crappy week that I am invoking the My Blog Dammit rule.

But since I also really love to give mad props to people who do things to improve my day...many thanks to my Secret Pal, who gave me a big thrill when I came home (following dinner with Amy, who is MOVING BACK TO HOUSTON TOMORROW, and TechieBK) to a package from Amazon. This I tore open with abandon (so much abandon that I almost paper-cut myself to death) to discover something that, in part, resembled this:

I got a little excited. I may have squeed. I may, in fact, have said "Shut UP!" a couple of times. I know, I still didn't post pictures of her previous gifts, for which I was also quite grateful...SP, please forgive the picture-less-ness, but rest assured that I am overjoyed! Thank you!

I don't much wish to recap the stress (now, don't all of you sigh in relief at once), but there's half a chance that the Sunday Evening Post will resume this week, and that I will tell you a little about Dim Sum Lisa's wedding and the rest of Jet's visit. There may even be a report on tomorrow's trip to the Quilt Show. And pictures. Maybe. Just a few.

I swear I'm not trying to cop out in advance. I can also report that I've done several rows of the Red Shawl Dammit and a couple on the Emergency Dishcloth. It's something, isn't it?

When my eyes begin to cross of their own accord, I think it's time to wrap up...but not before I wish Amy good luck tomorrow with the MOVING BACK TO HOUSTON. Have a fabulous weekend, y'all.

Jack

2007-10-18T22:35:00.000-05:00

Because I just couldn't bring myself to use an expletive stronger than "crap" in a post title. But indeed, I've done a great deal of jack s#!t over the last few days...or at least, jack s#!t that I can show you. No knitting whatsoever, and no cooking either.

Well, the "no cooking" is only true if you don't count our third anniversary dinner on Tuesday. Those three years have been longer and shorter than I could have imagined...mostly in the good ways. :) But aside from a lovely fondue dinner (stop snickering, I guarantee you it's awesome), we didn't do a whole lot anniversary-wise except take the day off and schlep around a lot. Oh, and we saw Michael Clayton (well-acted, intriguing story, slightly thin on development).

The "no knitting" is an absolute, but it's for a good cause. Over the weekend, my generous best friend made the first of three (count 'em) trips down to help me get my s#!t together - the right way - for our move at the end of November. (I may have mentioned this before.) I can't show you that either, but suffice it to say - when TechieBK returned from a trip with his dad and best friend, having caught me several delicious bass, he was utterly stunned at the altered state of our living room. I'd be jazzed too, if I wasn't still so overwhelmed by the enormity of the rest of the task.

But so it goes. Despite the rather high level of jack s#!t being done on my Monday and Tuesday off, they did go a long way to helping my work fatigue. There's been a lot of Raveling, quite a bit of cheezburgering (despite the fact that the Buddy Cat was denied - DENIED! - even a place on the voting page), and a whole hell of a lot of Rhinebeck attendee-based envy.

(I *will* by God go next year, even though I'll probably have to keep my hands in my pockets the entire time.)

Yep, four days off and this was the best I could do. I even skipped SnB *again* trying to get a handle on this moving thing. I am so going next week, since clearly the Red Shawl Dammit isn't knitting itself.

Perhaps the best news I have from all this (well, aside from the three years married to the lovely husband, and the unbelievably generous best friend) is that I found my own personal pair of these, which I'd thought lost for nearly a year. I may not be sewing again anytime soon, but it's nice to know that I won't have to drop another $25 for the best.shears.ever.

That's as crafty as it gets tonight. Time to put the smaller of my Very Own LOLcats to bed and try not to pass out before I make it there myself.

A little peek

2007-10-11T00:20:00.000-05:00

My first package arrived from my SP11 pal yesterday! She (I'm just guessing) provided an adorable summer fun theme, complete with a loofah crab, pretty papers, bath stuff, and best of all, two balls of Panda Cotton! It's officially my first sock yarn!

Sadly, I opened the package last night in a semi-exhausted state just before bed...and I write this post in almost exactly the same way, minus the "semi" part. Last night I spent a couple of hours at my folks' house; tonight, it was late home from work, bake a batch of oatmeal cranberry pecan for a baby shower tomorrow (note to self: trust the cookies), and try not to collapse before I finish this. That is: no photos of my lovely haul for now.

I will do my best to catch up, at least briefly, as I make way in my messy, messy place for Caety's arrival midday on Friday. Key to peaceful moving: pack early and often.

This incoherent post brought to you by Plum Texan: Backing herself into corners for 34 years and counting.

Squash for dessert

2007-10-07T18:15:00.000-05:00

That's essentially what you get with pumpkin sweets. And while I can't say I love squash across the board (grilled zucchini being a notable exception), pumpkin makes me indescribably happy. For one thing, it's a sure sign that - no matter what the thermometer says - it's autumn, and autumn is my favorite season.

For another thing, pumpkin is damn tasty, almost no matter what you do with it. A lot of folks are all about pumpkin pie; I admit that this most classic of applications is a great one, but not my favorite by far - I'm just not as much of a pie person. Culinarily speaking, the big orange gourd is a fantastic chameleon (witness Central Market's pumpkin polenta)...but what's more wholesome, and more satisfying, than a dense, spicy quick bread?

Very little, I can tell you. Especially when you take this purist recipe and use it to make autumn magic. At some point in the last 5-7 years (Caety, do you remember if that's right? It's at least 5, anyway...), I went digging for something simple; much as I love Alton Brown, shredded fresh pumpkin was a bit too much work for me,* so I went with something more basic.

I confess that mine isn't drastically different from the original, but over time and (much) repetition, plus a few disasters and several near misses, I've gotten it down to a science. Or brass tacks. Or something like that.

And away we go...sorry, no photos - I got ahead of myself and forgot to take any this time. Maybe later this week, when I'm at it again.

***
Plum Texan's Legendary Pumpkin Bread
(with credit to Cathy Lowe for the basis)

Equipment:
- 3 loaf pans, 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches. NEVER, never use dark non-stick; I've had perfect results from disposable aluminum pans, and those are cheap, if you need them.
- If you're using silicone or disposable aluminum pans, you'll want a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan to stabilize them.
- 1 large mixing bowl, 4 quarts minimum, for the mixing. My favorite is an IKEA stainless steel, but porcelain and Pyrex are completely respectable.
- 1 medium bowl, 2 quarts minimum, for the dry ingredients.
- 1 medium bowl, for lightly beating eggs before adding.
- Measuring cups and spoons as needed. A gradiated one-cup, handled half-cup, and a teaspoon will cover you in a pinch.
- Rubber or silicone spatula for scraping down sides of mixing bowl.
- Mixer of your choice. Your KitchenAid is perfect for this, but I personally love using my electric hand mixer.
- Wire cooling racks.
- Enough butter/Pam/shortening and flour to get the pans ready.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs (large or extra-large)
16 ounces canned unsweetened pumpkin
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (preferably King Arthur)
1 1/2 teaspoons extra-fine salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 to 4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cloves
2/3 cup 2% milk

Place oven rack at center level and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour loaf pans. Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl.

Stir together sugar and oil in large mixing bowl. Beat eggs lightly in separate bowl, then stir in eggs and pumpkin. When first four ingredients are combined, blend dry ingredients and milk into wet mixture, alternating. Scrape down bowl sides occasionally.

Divide batter evenly between the three loaf pans (if you're measuring, it's about 2 1/2 cups each). Spread lightly to make sure the tops are even and no large bubbles have formed.

Set a timer for 30 minutes to start. After 30 minutes, rotate pans 180 degrees, and rearrange. Continue baking until cake tester comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.

Remove from oven to cooling rack and let stand 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool loaves on rack.
***

And, of course, enjoy thoroughly. My stepdad loves to put slices in the toaster oven and then butter them; I've added sweetened cream cheese a few times, which I must say is my personal favorite. And this is one of those creations that's even better the second day...dense, moist, and full of warm autumn flavor.

Yep, I know it's cheesy. It's also true.

I'd love to hear how the Legendary Pumpkin Bread goes for you, should you try it. Give me a shout anytime. And stay tuned for more baked goodies. Coming up next, baking-post-wise: MomDK's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and a remembrance. (Bring Kleenex. I know I will.)

Also, if anyone was still wondering, the Forest Canopy is definitely going to Grandma. I can always make myself another, and it just seems right.

*Perhaps not forever, though; I may actually try adorable AB's recipe at some point this year.

Amethyst shift

2007-10-04T19:15:00.000-05:00

I'm posting this as I wait for Amy's birthday present to finish baking so that I can rush it over to Stitch 'n' Bitch. Nothing will be spoken of the kitchen catastrophe that caused her pumpkin bread not to have been finished last night.

At any rate, I have found myself with a dilemma. Suddenly, now that I have finished the Forest Canopy and had a few days to think about it, it occurs to me that I have a very deserving recipient...and it's not me.

Biologically speaking, I don't have any living grandparents. TechieBK's maternal GPs are still around (and gladly so - I adore them and vice versa), but I have only one personal known-me-all-my-life grandparent left. Grandma C is my stepmom's mother, a lovely, strong-willed, practical, able person who began treating me like her own granddaughter the day I met her, when I was seven. And so, I *am* her granddaughter.

And while I'll have to tell you all about her another time, here's to the business at hand: Should I give her the Forest Canopy that I thought I was making for myself? To some point, I've wondered all along if this shawl was really mine; much as I loved making it, and adore the color, it felt like I was making it for someone else.

I think I already know the answer, but of course I need affirmation. So if you have thoughts on whether the Amethyst Forest Canopy should become one of Grandma C's Christmas presents, please feel free to share. I know the Red Shawl Dammit is definitely mine, so it's not like I'd be deprived...

And now, to cool the pumpkin bread. Pictures, recipe, and story this weekend.

FFFO: Forest Canopy Shawl

2007-09-30T18:43:00.000-05:00

(Another long, image-heavy post. Please forgive me if you view in Bloglines. Until Blogger has a behind-the-cut option that doesn't require programming knowledge and the sooper-secret code word, it's the best I can do.)

Well, it's about time. This Finally F[rea]kin' Finished Object post brought to you by the letters OMG, and the number (US)4.

This story begins, as so many of my knitting-related stories do, with Yarn Enabler Amy. I'd been tossing around the idea of doing a lace shawl for some time, so after several previous e-mails on December 28, the irrepressible enabling individual purchased me a PDF of the pattern for the darn thing.

I ordered the yarn and cast on within a month. From that point until now, I was ill three times in two months, had 10 months of stress from Mostly Unnecessary Insanity at my (really) Very Fun Job, dealt with TechieBK's bout with a Crohn's disease flare-up in June, and started getting ready to move (coming in November). My hands were pretty tied at times...and not in any of the fun ways.

But in and around all that...with much cheerleading from the SnBers, my work girlfriends, and most wholeheartedly, YE Amy...I managed to do this:

My God. It's done.

On the rails.

In the bushes. And OFF MY NEEDLES.

Now, the Forest Canopy was pretty much a breeze. It was designed that way, put forth as an easy first-lace-type pattern. It's stockinette-based, drapey, and light (but not impossibly so). $6.50 gets you written instructions as well as charts, all of which walk you through a simple leaf pattern with a basic point border.

Pre-blocking...

...and mid-blocking.

Other than knit and purl, all you have to do is YO and sl-k2tog-psso at the right places. And also not drop anything...which I didn't always manage, of course.

Fortunately, I'd already learned about lifelines. This saved my ass at least twice; the most I had to rip back was five rows. Amy suggested leaving one previous lifeline when I set each new one, which was great for my peace of mind. And Laura gave me a great tip for setting them, just before I finished the original row count: since I was working on the KnitPicks Options, I threaded my lifeline through the keyhole of the empty needle and knit on. Brilliant.

A few lessons from this one:

- I love Sea Silk.
- Even so, I should not try to knit lace when I am (a) so stressed out I'm vibrating, (b) so ill I can't breathe, (c) so tired I can barely lift the remote, or it is (d) after 10 pm.
- Even on the rare occasions that items (a) through (c) did not apply since the beginning, I was absolutely correct about (d) and always stopped working on it as soon after 10 as I could manage.*
- I can knit lace on slippery needles.
- I really love Sea Silk.

Details!

Pattern: Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl by Susan Pierce Lawrence

Final dimensions (wingspan x center back, in inches): 66 x 27.5

Yarn: HandMaiden Sea Silk in Amethyst – one standard skein, plus somewhere between 2 and 4 yards from a second.

Needles: KnitPicks Options, US 4 (3.5 mm). I started on Clover Bamboo, but found the Options much easier going.

Modifications: Added several pattern repeats to achieve a larger shawl. Pattern was written for sport-weight yarn to be knitted on US8 (5 mm). It’s still a bit smaller than I expected, but thanks to blocking, it will work fine as a shoulder shawl.

Additionally, I shortened the eight-row edging to six rows. I thought that would give me enough yarn to finish in one ball, but alas, going up to US7 (4.5 mm) for the bind-off ate up much more yarn than I expected and I took a couple of yards off a second ball.

And finally, when I knit another of these (and I definitely will), I will change the center stitch. It was written as a k1b right side, purl wrong side. It looks OK, but I preferred how it looks on the wrong side – so next time, I'll be purling on the RS, k1b on the WS.

Pattern difficulty: 2 out of 5 (advanced beginner to intermediate).

Knit it again? Oh hell yeah. This is a great way to build your confidence and discover if you will hate, like, love, or become obsessed with lace. So far I’m at the “love” stage and expect to wind up beyond.

Many, many thanks (as previously mentioned) to everybody involved:

- Amy (who declared how thrilled she was that she was "a part of history" when I called her in the middle of binding off, and who was here to help me get the blocking thing right), Kelly, Laura, and Katharine all helped save me from disasters, ranging from simple missed YOs and lace "reading" problems to tragedies of near-epic proportions. All hail the Lace Doctors!
- Plus a little extra to Kelly, who prevented a total meltdown in my very amateurish pre-blocking attempt (which is better left further undescribed).
- Laura's additional contribution of the brilliant lifeline thing was a HUGE help.
- Everybody else who cheered me on (which was most of the Cafe Express group), especially Jenny (it's very helpful to have real medical help on hand when your lace is melting).

Now that I know that lace doesn't have to be a big bunch of drama at all times, there will be more – much more. I'm hooked and I can't stop staring. There's a big bunch of Sea Silk hanging around waiting for me...not to mention that Claudia lace silk (which is still trying to hook up with my MacBook – it's getting embarrassing).

Finally, one more photo for the road...because Pablo just loves being covered up (no, seriously).

He is so very metro. Though he did let me know in subtle gestures that the Amethyst isn't quite him and that he rather prefers the Sangria – more striking against the black and white, don't ya know.

On that note: Happy 10th birthday to patient Pablo (aka The Buddy, Buddrick McFatStuff, and Big ‘un) and his darling sister Pandora (aka Fuzz, Darlin’ Girl, and Sweetness). They don’t look a day over two.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go knit some stockinette.

* Well. Except for the night I finished the knitting...because I was gosh-darned determined that I was going to finish before I went to sleep. I finished the last stitch at the stroke of midnight.

Comment. Ary?

2007-09-27T22:24:00.000-05:00

It's quite a business, this blogging thing. I am quickly realizing that there are far more of you reading all.this.rambling than I had imagined. And a lot of you have been commenting recently too...who knew?

Being that I'm still breaking bad correspondence habits, and that I don't have a lot of utilities at my disposal for quick replies, I've been really lazy about saying hello to some of you when you give me a shout. Pretty shameful, really - it's not like I have hundreds of e-mails to wade through.

In lieu of making excuses or promises, I just wanted to take a moment to say HI BACK, and thanks for every time you make the effort to type something in. I am always oddly thrilled at every comment I receive, particularly if I don't know you very well (or at all) but you still found something I said worth responding to.

***

Ever the f*#&ing apple polisher, I've started something else to make my readership even more attentive. Beginning with this post, I'm going to run an ongoing, semi-invisible, randomized contest. Winners will receive a nice little reward.

Here's the official rules:

- Every reader who is willing to provide a working e-mail address and accept a shout-out is eligible. You may win up to twice.
- To enter, you MUST e-mail me at plumtexan at earthlink dot net with your answers. Please include "Plum Texan Random Secret" in your subject line. In the event that I receive more than one correct answer, it's first come, first win.
- Do not enter by submitting a comment, and if you figure things out, PLEASE don't reveal the overall contest idea.
- No hints as to the nature of the game or the winning answers will be provided. Prizes will vary slightly in value depending on the game installment, but all of them will be good.

That's right: y'all have to figure it out for yourselves, heh heh heh. Again, please note that the contest begins today and runs until it doesn't amuse me any longer. Going forward, I'll announce when someone has won, but I won't tell you what or how.

So read well, my peeps. I'm really, really hoping that some of you actually win - for it will reinforce even further that in the blogosphere, truly, I am among my people.
***
Speaking of which...is anybody watching Heroes? I LOVE THAT SHOW. Give me a holler if you do too.

/fangirlieness
***
And finally, be prepared, because next week is going to be a plum humdinger. (Sorry, couldn't help myself.) The Sunday Evening Post will be a BIG one (if you happen to know why already, please keep it a secret until then!), and there will also be baking on Wednesday. (I've promised Amy my legendary pumpkin bread for her birthday...the first pumpkin bread of the cooler seasons!)

I wish everyone true autumn weather and a very, very enjoyable weekend.

Knitterpated

2007-09-19T23:59:00.000-05:00

(Warning: image-heavy and very long. I *know*!)

Not exactly original, I know. But if you'd had the time I had last night, you'd feel that way too. There just wasn't much that sucked that one couldn't expect of Houston, really (count 'em: heat, humidity, mosquitoes, and traffic).

Enough of that, then: I am ready to move on to the fun.

For those of you unfamiliar with the sprawling purgatory of concrete that is the metropolitan Houston area, I'm providing map links. It won't quite do it justice, but perhaps you'll gain some understanding of the lengths to which we'll go for the Harlot (and, of course, for great yarn sold by great staff).

I begged an early afternoon off weeks ago, even though this is the last week of hell for this particular work season - and got it. (Believe me...it's been earned.)

So I left the Hobby area just before 3:30 and headed for the Rice campus to grab Everwhelming Liz, then to Montrose for Meredith. Rush hour considered, we fairly sailed all the way out to Spring and Twisted Yarns, grabbed a quick dinner, and found a parking spot just as Stephanie was walking in. I'm really, really glad I didn't run over her.

I couldn't quite believe my eyes (or my luck) when I saw him in the parking lot, so imagine my surprise when, a mere few minutes after we arrived, a comfy chair opened up in the vicinity of:

David, all the way from San Antonio - replete with sweater, kilt, Marshmallow kilt hose, cute knees, kick-ass camera, and...well. You get the idea.

Christine was also on hand for the circle of comfy chairs (and throughout the evening). I pulled out the Red Shawl Dammit, and Liz nestled herself into the Cotton Corner:

as Meredith (and I'm sorry...my pictures of you were sub-par) did a bit of shopping. We whiled away a good 30-45 minutes before taking a "short" walk over to the Wunsche High School. Folks, let me just say: this was not a high school, it was a mini-mall. New construction, fabulous decor, an OPERATING coffee shop...open for the knitters, and most importantly: killer air conditioning. Aaah.

Then, check-in, door prize tickets (plus a hug from Janet), and row stakeout. I gave Meredith an extra chair on my left due to my significant seated arm span, and two very cool, very vocal characters took up residence at the far end of the row. We soon spotted Amy and other SnB denizens, who chatted at the entry for a bit, leaving an empty seat to my right...

...just long enough for David to ask if he could occupy it. How could I refuse? ;) In short order, he'd semi-unpacked, offered to buy me coffee, ended up sharing his water, and laughed heartily at my witty repartee.*

Amy took a seat by Liz, and we soon saw Jen and her cute mom, plus Jenny and Sarah. During the door prize giveaways, it quickly became apparent that our entire section was a bit rowdy, and I thanked my lucky stars, because the smartasses are so much fun. Liz lucked into some Cotton Yarn of Orange Randomness, I whimpered at others getting the Lexie Barnes and Della Q bags, and the color commentary grew more and more colorful. Then, some intro from Twisted owners Eve and Shelley, and finally:

HARLOT. (Yes, she's blurry. Blame me if you must.) There were Traveling Sock photos. There was (briefly) a curly head on my shoulder (that didn't belong to me). There was a lot of laughing (especially at shared knowing looks with Amy, and at David's well-placed cough). There was a lot of nodding in agreement. There were a few "amens." People, it was Knitters' Church, and Stephanie is well and truly the traveling preacher. We all seemed to love every minute. (I did so while trying desperately to neither sweat nor blush too profusely. I was only somewhat successful.)

Afterward, I discovered that Melissa was now a *former* colleague (but she landed on her feet and is employed again), and that Amy was parked at the school so that she, Jenny and I managed to avoid walking back. Thank God. Because the humidity had multiplied...and I swear it was hotter at 8:45 than it had been in broad daylight. We gathered at the Twisted Yarns door:

Tried to figure out what the hell this bug was:

Queued up (and P.S. - I'd love to know if the really adorable ladies from Austin who were behind me in line ever stop by - give me a shout, I was too goofy to catch your names!):

Obliged each other some photos:

(Jenny at left, Amy at right.)

Got the giggles:

(That's Melissa on the right.)

Realized that the Harlot reads our blogs:

and completely lost our shit and turned into blithering idiots. (Well. I can only speak for myself on that one. Bless Melissa for catching the moments for me!)

Oh, and gave her presents (Brown Paper Chocolates and Central Market honey-roasted pecans):

The "reads my blog" part was reinforced when she asked if I wanted a sock picture. I said yes, but that I couldn't touch the actual sock. She said, in that very astute Stephanie way: "I know."

I held it by the needles instead.

Beyond that, there was blerphing, a little milling, a lot of repressed squeeing, and a shit-ton of driving. Not to mention not nearly enough sleep, which I seem to be repeating** in the interest of avoiding as much blog-heckling as possible.

And now...it would appear I've done it. I've made a photo-laden post only one day after an event. Is that a plague of locusts outside my window?

No, wait: I live really close to a major side street. And there's still traffic at midnight. That's Houston for you.

*Nice work if you can get it. Though the Divine has a wicked sense of humor to not let such things happen to me for most of my life...until after I'm married.
**Confidential to one anxious reader: 15 minutes...an hour...what's the difference? :)

Blerph

2007-09-18T23:56:00.000-05:00

Oh yes, my faithful few, it is now that I recall what a complete pile of DORK I become when too many awesome things happen in one night. I may have been a squeeing fangirl in the presence (and due to the kindness) of not just one very famous knitblogger, but also other very lovely knitbloggers with varying degrees of notoriety.

For the title? Is what I heard coming out of my mouth when I met the Yarn Harlot for the second time tonight. And she remembered me. And what I gave her the last time I saw her (Texas dishcloth and St. Arnold's beer, for the record). And there's more, too.

It's also what was running through my head off and on throughout the evening, for a variety of reasons. Considering my second instance of serious intoxication due to Harlot influence, yarn fumes, kilt happiness, and camera envy, I think I'm saving most of the rest for tomorrow.*

So let me keep this simple, lest I embarrass myself still further: many thanks to Liz and Meredith for fun carpooling; Amy and Jenny and Jen and Sarah for being good company as always; David for being a great row-mate, providing a great deal of mirth, and tolerating my silliness; Melissa for photos with the Harlot; the passel of knitters with whom I chatted at random, most notably the two adorable ladies from Austin who were behind me in line.

Pictures and more stories tomorrow. Seriously - this time it will actually happen.

(Amy. I can hear you all the way from the island. You are NOT allowed to laugh that loudly at me.)

* Note that there is no mention of the late hour. It is presently 12:24 am, whatever my post time might say, and I doubt my ability to sleep for a while to come.

An acceptable time

2007-09-11T21:04:00.000-05:00

Wind, unicorn, and boy merged into a single swiftness.
- A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Madeleine L'Engle knew how to make children believe in magic. Scientific abstractions, thin veils between worlds, mythical creatures...she knew them all, and how to tell their stories.

She also understood young girls awkward in their adolescence, little boys isolated by their genius, children whose parents or personalities or looks make them stand out in ways that they'd rather not. And she knew that the magic she spun was something these children needed - something that made them less lonely, that let them know that someone else in the world could see life through imagination's eye.

I don't know if she imagined that millions of people would adore her for the love and sadness and wonder she poured into every word - but we do, and always will. Madeleine L'Engle wrote books, raised a family, won awards, and lived a very long life...and in my world, that may be the greatest fantasy of all.

Feast or famine

2007-09-09T21:23:00.000-05:00

I just realized that's how it's going to be around here, at least for a while. Right now we're at the "famine" stage. You see, I just put in something approximating 2/3 of a workday in time, but thanks to the magic of being at home closed in a quiet room with no one interrupting me, it equals at least a full day, if not a day and a half, of actual work.

With, of course, the added benefit of delivered Indian dinner, plus an adorable husband and cats to cuddle on stand-up breaks.

All this to say that while my interest in keeping all dozen of you informed about my latest ~~snoozeathon~~ goings-on has not waned, my ability to do so is hampered for at least another three weeks. Last week's photo fest was an anomaly inspired by two solid work-free days (you'll note that I didn't actually get an entire holiday weekend) and sufficient sleep. I'll be bucking to hang on to the sufficient sleep, but my brain will still be a fritter until the last weekend of the month.

I'm rather itching to give y'all more, and it's available! Cat pictures. Yarn pictures. Pictures of more yarn molesting my MacBook. Progress updates. I'm going nuts to cook and bake again, and I'm getting through even more of the clutter, a little bit at a time. If my workload were normal, I don't think anyone would recognize my house, much less this blog...for I would be achieving previously unimagined levels of productivity.

But alas, all I can do is yammer. And also mention that since my brain is rather taxed, I took the Red Shawl Dammit back up temporarily, and managed a lovely non-wool new-ball join thanks greatly to TECHknitting's advice in several posts (yes, I'm being lazy about this part). Having something to keep my hands busy also satisfied my need to multi-task and helped prevent me from becoming distracted by the Internets as I worked. Now if they'd just let me do it at the office...'course, I might be tempted to use my sharp-pointed sticks for endeavors not related to fiber artistry...

And to my Thursday-night knit sibs (tm Brenda Dayne) - believe me, I was not fit for public consumption or any kind of knitting last week; I hope this week is different, but it's not entirely likely. So the Forest Canopy sits, still missing a YO and not getting any more finished.

Rest assured that y'all will be the first to know if another anomaly comes along. Oh, how I miss my rather limited sanity.

The many loves of Plum Texan

2007-09-03T00:02:00.000-05:00

This post brought to you by my newest love affair, an as-yet-unrenamed MacBook whom, I think you will agree, is quite the luscious lovely.

Yes, despite the recently-mentioned work insanity, I find myself in love with a number of things these days. Work itself, for example - Friday was two years since I first walked in the door. No matter how much it wears me out sometimes, I'm really lucky and really grateful.

I also don't have a great photo you haven't already seen for the next one: adorable Thomas turned three on Friday. No, I didn't miss it; I left his mom a voice mail to play for him, and now I just hope they all survived the weekend (two parties yesterday, I was told). It just seems remiss not to pay Interweb tribute to the first (and so far, only) person whose birth I attended. Happy belated birthday, darlin!

Catching up from last week, a little more love:

The gorgeous Claudia silk laceweight from Twisted Yarns, in the Last Night's Wine colorway. It would also seem that the Claudia and the MacBook have developed a mutual admiration society:

They sure do look cozy. Now that's a pile of pulchritude I could really go for.

Oh...did somebody mention birthdays?

Yep, you guessed it: the last love for tonight is the love of my life. Here, my freshly-groomed TechieBK Bryan holds forth during dinner at Saltgrass (mmmm), all in honor of his third turn through the Chinese zodiac, also known as his 36th birthday. Amy, my parents, and more friends - Bryan's BFF Kirk and his wife Patty - joined in for a nice long sit-around, replete with jokes and inappropriate humor, how-we-met stories, and it's-a-wonder-we-made-it-through-childhood stories. The best kind of evening, in my opinion...and, it seemed, in his too.

Happy birthday, handsome. You're another year goofier and I love you for it.

Unbridled joy, straight out of the box

2007-08-26T20:13:00.000-05:00

That's right...Plum Texan is now coming to you from my couch, courtesy of my kickin' new MacBook. Woo hoo! I've waited a long, long time for this, and so far, it's everything I'd dreamed.

I chose the 13.3-inch MacBook, which you'll notice is not appended with a "Pro." While I would certainly have loved the extra functionality, size was paramount, and even the smallest Pro has a bigger footprint than I wanted.

But I otherwise topped out the speed and other features, and with the able assistance of one TechieBK, upped the RAM to 2GB. She floats like a dragonfly, this one - especially with the addition of a wireless router (huzzah!) and a $40 IKEA Dave laptop table. I picked her up on Friday evening and spent today getting to know her, which has included a little fun and a fair bit of work - only mildly to my chagrin.

Meanwhile, Saturday was spent on an exhausting but satisfying adventure with one Sea Anemone, who let me twist her arm so very, very hard and have her join me on a trek to Twisted Yarns. We got to enjoy fantastic yarn talk with Janet, the other awesome store staff, and a handful of lovely customers from Pasadena. Then we happily let IKEA beat us to pieces, experienced the somewhat unnatural but very refreshing perkiness of Container Store staff, and heartily bitched nearly non-stop about the late August heat. Ah, good times.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll have a moment to share my small but lovely yarn bounty. I may even aim for a photo or two!

Awww...dayum...

2007-08-20T23:17:00.000-05:00

As one might have gathered, I've been in a world-class funk the last few days (though I did just give myself a chuckle at a typo I made trying to type "funk" the first time). I have a variety of reasons, many of which are TMI...and some of which are just...ugh.

Not least of which, the kick-assedness that is Sea Anemone Amy, aka Yarn Enabler Amy, is moving way the hell back to Galveston. I'm thrilled that she was able to escape her yucky job for a great brand new one, but DAMMIT my bestest local pal farther away DAMMIT!

So when I visited tonight to see her tell the story to the blogosphere at large, I was not surprised to see that someone had nominated her for this:

But you see, that's not here because I just nicked it; it's here because Amy nominated me today. So here I was, enjoying a perfectly good wallow, planning a pity party, Grumpytown population: me, and I go and I'm all ready to mope all over Sea Anemone Knits, and instead...I melt into a puddle of grateful.

Well, OK...maybe I still moped a little. But it's hard to keep a grouchy countenance in the face of such...niceness. Seriously: friendship means everything, and the day-to-day things matter more than we know. But when somebody tells the world that you rock - well, that just sets
things spinning a lot differently.

So thank you, my favorite Yarn Enabler...and may the next step on your path be the best ever. (But I'm still going to miss you, dammit.)

***

And in honor of the award's spirit, my RGB mad props go out to Sharon of Sharon's Knitknacks, the first knitblogger I ever read and still one of my very favorites; and Colleen of The Pretty Pear, a repository of awesome knowledge on good-looking plus-sized clothes and fashion. (Not that there aren't many more...just that most of the rest I know have been nominated already!)

Weekend blehs

2007-08-19T22:47:00.000-05:00

Feeling not so hot for a couple of days + too much alone time + WORK TO DO + headache + actually needing to get on my own computer but can't + having to rearrange stuff so that the maintenance guys don't get stuff all over my yarn = yeah, not so much of an update. I even have Random Photos that I can't load up, because my husband is using my computer and I've griped at him enough today...so, little fibery stuff.

Suffice to say, the weekend did not go as I'd hoped; the major positives were a nice tapas lunch on Saturday with Amy and her BFF, about a row of the Forest Canopy, and some really great pork loin (courtesy of Soup King and Pork Prince TechieBK). I'm not even going to put hopes or projections up today; I can't bear to miss any more deadlines.

I'm sure that you'll all be glad to hear that I'm keeping the not-so-perky post a short one. See y'all at some point this week...and I'll try to be in a better mood.

SP11 contest, etc.

2007-08-16T20:59:00.000-05:00

Abnormally for a Thursday night, I'm at home - hence why you're seeing me before Sunday. That fibery update will still wait till then, as there's nothing new to report.

My attendance at SnB tonight was already in question when Erin swung an arm over Houston today and dropped several inches of rain, but feeling under the weather (and not just under the precipitation) sealed the deal. Still not 100%, but I can't sleep too much or I won't sleep tonight.

So instead, I'm going to respond to the Yarn Yenta's SP11 contest. I already accomplished the first part (yay me) with my questionnaire. Now I'm answering these:

1. What is the one knitting accessory you could not live without?

This sounds like a duh, but: my measuring tape. Instead of a roll-up job or a sewing one, I carry around a compact, quarter-inch-wide Stanley 10-foot metal tape. Never stretches, never catches, quite useful for stuff like shawls and blankets.

2. If you're heading on vacation, do you take knitting with you?

If so, how much and what type of project? Oh, definitely. I usually take 2-3 projects, depending on what I've got going - a shawl or blanket, if it doesn't take up too much space, and almost always a dishcloth. I'll probably have a traveling sock at some point too.

3. Where have you travelled to that you'd consider your favorite spot?

Edinburgh, Scotland. There wasn't anything I didn't love about Edinburgh: the touristy-historic stuff, the amazing restaurants, the scenery (landscapes AND men in kilts), the underlying warmth...and of course, the people - I found most Scots as friendly as most Texans (which is to say, very), and I felt very much at home there. And it's much easier to get a sense of how old the world is when you're not in the US.

I rang in 2002 on the Prince's Street in Edinburgh with my best friend and my ex. Thousands of people speaking dozens of languages...a true teeming throng...and I can honestly say I've rarely felt safer, and never enjoyed a midnight more. I can't wait to do it again someday. :)

4. What is your favorite knitting book at the moment? Do you own it?

I love what No Sheep For You is doing for allergic crafters like me, and how it's introducing everyone to all the amazing sheep-free fibers out there. I don't yet own it because while the patterns are beautiful, I'd only make the Tuscany Shawl. I'd still like to have it at some point for the rest of the advice within.

5. Do you listen to podcasts? Which is your favorite(s)?

I listen to a few podcasts and have tried a few more. CraftyPod is great, though I don't usually listen all the way through in one sitting because it gives me ideas and gets me thinking about other things... :) I always go back to finish it, though!

My favorite is Cast On; I really like Brenda's stories and the guest essays are absolutely spectacular.

And it's not knitting-related, but NPR posts podcasts of selected This I Believe essays. I highly recommend this one; they're usually 5-6 minutes and often really uplifting, thought-provoking, etc.

See y'all this weekend!

Secrets and plies

2007-08-15T22:38:00.000-05:00

Secret Pals! Knitting! Get it?!

...OK, that's about my bad pun quotient for the month, I think. Now that I've got that squared away...

It's Secret Pal 11 time! I've signed on for my first round, and I think it's going to go really well. Obviously, there's not much I can say about my spoilee, but she will be easy to spoil, I think. We've already exchanged notes and she seems really cool. I'll say the same for my spoilER - a nice note from them makes it sound like a great time will be had by all. Many thanks to you both, though probably only one of you will see this... :D

This may not make for much in the way of generating interest, so I'm going to do some shameless trolling for comments while I let y'all do some shameless self-promotion. If you sell your handwork of most any kind - hand-dyed yarns, knitting accoutrements, natural candles, bags, anything affordable and easily mailable - leave me a comment with a link to your Etsy, eBay, or personal shop and I'll come check it out...I may even buy something!

I promise to at least stop by and take a good look at your stock. This offer applies even if I know you IRL, but especially if I don't (so that I may share the love as much as possible). Handcrafters unite, right?

Oh, and if I don't know you (IRL or otherwise) and don't already know how you found me, could you pass that along too?

In other news, the Seven Weeks of Hell have begun at work. It's again time for the biggest trade show of the year, which is when I most appreciate how much I like my co-workers. We are slammed, buried, up to our eyeballs, busier than one-legged men in a butt-kickin' contest, more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. And so far, we're still having a great time.

But since that may not last...and at the very least, since I'll be getting home much later than normal for the next six weeks...there's a chance that you'll only see me for the Sunday Evening Post. That's almost certainly when you'll see me next, at any rate, at which point I promise an update of a fibrous nature.

Until then, I trust my fellow denizens of the Texas Gulf Coast to keep their heads (more or less) dry during our first tropical storm deluge of the season. Fingers crossed for everybody in the path - this is a small one, so maybe it'll just be...squishy.

Only a little bit late: My SP 11 profile

2007-08-11T21:20:00.000-05:00

(Updated 9/1 with new book and fiber info, and a couple of tiny details.)

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

I guess I can get the not-fun part out of the way: *allergic knitter warning.* I break out in rashes, itching, and sneezing when I handle anything that was once on a sheep, a rabbit, or a llama-type animal. (I specify because a lifetime of pets has drastically reduced my dog and cat allergies.)

Fortunately, silk and plant fibers are no problem whatsoever. :) The quality of synthetics has also improved drastically in the last few years. So nearly anything that falls in the "no sheep" category is OK by me.

My all-time favorite (of course it's a pricey one) is Sea Silk. It's OUTRAGEOUSLY great to work with and so beautiful! I'm also a big fan of Manos Cotton Stria, KnitPicks Shine, Patons Grace, and Patons Bohemian. Dishcloth cotton that ends in "'n' Cream" is always welcome.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

I use mostly KnitPicks Options, and I have the set with the zippered binder. My few sets of DPNs are in there as well.

My hooks are now stored in a zippered pencil case. And my other tools are in a Clinique GWP cosmetic bag, plus a lovely little multi-compartment box from Container Store (less than $3!).

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I learned to knit in December 2003, the first time I attended a Houston Stitch 'n' Bitch when I'd just moved back to town. Right now I'd call myself an intermediate knitter – I'm working on my first lace shawl & it's going very well. I technically know how to knit in the round; I'll learn socks when I need a break from lace (which could be a while).

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

I do have an Amazon wish list: click here to see it.

5. What's your favorite scent?

Ack, another touchy one. While I have scents that I love, I have to be careful with them; my sensitivities can leave me with headaches and nausea from the wrong thing.

Happily, I've discovered that a lot of what method home makes not only smells good, but is completely tolerable. I love their pink grapefruit, lavender, and mint scents. There was also a holiday offering of peppermint vanilla, which may be my favorite of all time.

Even as much as I love method, I have tested their lemongrass, green tea, and sweet water scents and have not been able to tolerate them.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

Chocolate (with any combination of caramel, cookies, pretzel, almonds, cranberries, or toffee), whenever it's NOT summer in Texas...and when it is, any of those components without the chocolate. :) Also sour belts and other gummy sours, Pixy Sticks, almost anything sour apple, and butter candies (like Werther's).

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

I love to cook and I'm CRAZY about baking. Cookies (especially oatmeal chocolate chip) and quick breads (especially pumpkin) are my favorites, but I love to try new things.

Trying to learn to sew properly; eventually VERY MUCH want to do mosaic and glass etching. I bead a little and make quite a few marble magnets; I've also been known to do glass painting, as well as decoupage, paper stuff, stamping, and assorted random small crafts.

I don't spin; I plan to learn down the road, but there's a lot of other things in front of it.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

As a child of the '80s, most any pop music from that era is still a lot of fun to me. I like a lot of Celtic stuff as well: Enya, Blackmoor's Night, drum-and-bagpipe. I admit a significant fandom for the works of Roy Orbison and Weird Al; I think Shakira completely rules; I cannot resist ABBA. 10,000 Maniacs (in the Natalie Merchant era) is my all-time favorite band. And finally, my two completely oddball genre loves: big band/swing and disco.

I have an iPod and my car can play MP3 CDs, as far as I know.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?

Love: deep or fiery true reds (garnet, ruby, claret), a wide range of purples (plum, amethyst, aubergine), a variety of rich blues (sapphire, cobalt, cornflower, deep teal), greens (forest, emerald, sage), and anything that accents them well. I’m partial to silver over gold, but I like both.

Not so much: yellows, most shades (except as accents); super-bright/neon-type things; pea green; super-pastels and "baby" colors; 70s-type harvest colors.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

Married since October 2004 to the most with-it muggle ever (a sweetheart techie gamer geek with a big ol' dose of goofy); no kids; two cats (littermates, almost 10 years old, one male and one female – catnip-free).

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

Not really – and even if I did, Houston doesn't provide much opportunity to wear them...plus, I'm quite warm-natured. Though I would (see next two questions) wear a light shawl even in spring and autumn.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

Blankets, shawls, and dishcloths. (Yes, I realize that these are all flat...)

I completely adore working lace! Very addictive and so satisfying. Cozy blankets are a lot of work, but I feel so accomplished when I finish them. And dishcloths are a) my go-to shove-in-the-purse project, since I don't yet do socks, and b) the perfect way to practice stitch patterns.

13. What are you knitting right now?

I’m trying desperately to finish my Forest Canopy Shawl in Amethyst Sea Silk (LOVE!). I have determined that I am two repeats, the edging, and the blocking away from completion.

The other, which has moved somewhat to the back burner, is a design I call the Red Shawl Dammit (a rectangle with zigzag eyelets) in Manos Cotton Stria. Both are making me very happy.

This is something of a rarity for me; I'm normally working on between 4-5 things at a time, not to mention the 2 or 3 additional UFOs in the closet. My mind is a bit too Short Attention Span Theatre* to think I'll ever achieve project monogamy, but I'm going to try this two-at-a-time thing for a while to see how it goes.

(As above, my corollary is: Dishcloths Don't Count.)

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

Of course! What kind of a crafter would I be if I couldn't accept someone else's loving handwork? :)

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

Circs, circs, circs. 24” cords minimum. I have big hands and find straights uncomfortable. And metal – I adored Addis before the KnitPicks came out; now the Options are my Holy Grail needle – they bring with them a cute little secret that makes setting lifelines a hell of a lot easier. (I've handled the Addi Lace needles and didn't care for them.)

I will most likely use DPNs instead of circs when I get to socks. So far, of the couple I've tried, I actually like the Boye Balene II.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

Neither. I prefer to hand-wind and work from the outside of round balls, so I probably won't get a winder – but I find swifts very helpful. I tried a portable (Japanese-made?) metal umbrella swift at SnB once and loved it.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

When my best friend was in labor with her son – whose birth I attended – I started a blanket for him. I have now handily missed the most recent deadline: his third birthday was August 31.

Though as I wrote this, I realized that I have a UFO that pre-dates that: a cosmetic bag in Lion Brand Microspun, which I started about two months after I began knitting. It is on the last pair of single-point straight needles I own.

18. What is your favorite holiday?

New Year's...because every year that passes is another chance to get it right.

19. Is there anything that you collect?

Mostly motifs: dragonflies (big time) and other members of the Cute Bug 4 (ladybugs, bees, butterflies); cherry or citrus prints; cats; pop-art florals.

I used to collect Tarot decks and am still fascinated by the artwork. Religious icons intrigue me as well.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

Oh, this is getting dangerous. My current obsession: Knitting Lace Triangles by Evelyn Clark, not available on Amazon and desired over all other knitting books. I would love to get my hands on Victorian Lace Today and A Gathering of Lace; I'd also like to have No Sheep For You (no, I haven't bought it yet! :) ) and Big Girl Knits. (All but the first are on my Amazon wish list.) I very much want to knit the Diamond Fantasy Shawl by Sivia Harding.

I'm DYING to try Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sock Candy (but don't like the kit colors) and Silk Thread (I love Covelite, Tanzanite, Lunasea, and Tide Pool) , as well as Claudia Handpaints lace silk (UPDATE: just bought my first skein of Claudia in Last Night's Wine!). And I'm curious to try KnitPicks CotLin; HandMaiden Silken or Flaxen; and most anything nice made with alternative/innovative critter-free** materials.

I don't subscribe to any knitting magazines because I rarely see more than one pattern I want to make; I usually borrow them or pick up single copies.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?

I need to start learning charted lace, and how to modify cardi/shrug patterns to size up.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

I don't yet knit socks, but it's on the agenda because I have giftees who'd like to receive some. I almost never wear them myself...which is probably a good thing, since my foot is wide and over 10" long.

23. When is your birthday?

June 15. I’m 34!

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?

Yes indeedy. I'm plumtexan there as well.

* Big, big points if you recognize this reference.
** In this particular Texanese usage, a "critter" is a four-legged mammal.

Cha-chiiiiing!

2007-08-07T22:47:00.001-05:00

(If you're not familiar with Queen Anne's Lace - though I'd love to see a show of hands if anyone is - imagine that sung in seven-part harmony. It's really quite lovely.)

I suppose at least three of you want to know who won. That's right, three (count 'em!) entries were received for my contest. I was stunned to discover that only Laura, Kara, and Jet were interested in free stuff, but of course that made my job a bit easier...which I am all about.

Everyone got it at least half right. On July 20, 2003, I met TechieBK Bryan, sometimes known as Mr. Plum Texan, for the first time. A great story, but one I'll tell later. At any rate, this is the part for which you all came up roses.

Other (really good) guesses included my "knitiversary" (which is actually about December 15, and it'll be four years this year), and kitty birthdays (September 30, and they'll both be 10!). Only one got the second one right: on July 17 of last year, after ten and a half months as a contractor, I was hired permanently for the Best Job Ever.

Kara, come on down! (Or let me e-mail you...not that I'd mind if you did come down...oh, you know what I mean.)

And thanks also to Cable Queen Laura and Jet Lee, International Crime Fighter for making this fun. Maybe more of you will feel lemming-like next time...

*****

A bit of something to make up for the rambly:

A macro of the back of the Forest Canopy. I've just finished another repeat, and I'm thinking one more might cut it. My dwindling but dense little ball of Sea Silk is still quite the wonder. Also, I still love my camera.

*****

Coming tomorrow: my Secret Pal 11 questionnaire, complete with permanent link for my pal's convenience. Yay! Giving and getting secret stuff! :)

It didn't start out that way

2007-08-06T23:15:00.000-05:00

I had an up-and-down but mediocre day that turned into a horrible, awful, no-good, very bad evening. I don't wish to discuss it...I just realized that I said "August 5" and didn't announce a winner for the contest. I hope I can be forgiven if I don't do it tonight, either...but there is one, and I'll try to make it back tomorrow.

My secret love, revealed

2007-08-05T15:00:00.001-05:00

I adore memes. In other online journal incarnations, I've been known to do nothing but; in this one, I've largely avoided it because I really am doing my best not to feel as though I'm copping out.

Of course, if I feel that way, it's my own fault. A good meme can be fascinating, and so I'm giving in today, possibly in lieu of a real post later, possibly not. I'm doing my best to turn this into a guilt-free Sunday.

Here now, attributable to Grumperina's influence and credited to Bella Knitting, my feelings on creative interests. I also like the way Grumperina did it, so I'll do it similarly (with my own twists).

Anyone else?

1. I have no interest (in doing it myself).

shibori, cartooning, toy/doll making, macrame, flower arranging*, calligraphy, video/filmmaking, needlepoint

2. a) Would love to try it.

canning (fruits & vegetables), tile/glass mosaic, hand quilting, decorating, stained glass, polymer clay, dyeing, spinning, machine embroidery

b) Might like to try it.

jewelry-making, paper-making, painting, inventing

3. I do or have dabbled in it.

Do: crochet, beading, stamping, graphic design

Have done, WILL do again: dance (swing, C&W), entertaining, gardening, gift wrapping, storytelling, sewing

Have done, may do again: glass painting, poetry, acting, drawing, music, scrapbooking, dance (tap, raks sharqi [belly dance]), soap making

Have done, not likely to do again: cross-stitch, candlemaking, stage work

4. Love it! This is my thing.

writing (fiction, essays), knitting, baking, cooking, photography (landscapes, scenery, botanic gardens)

* This is mostly due to allergies and fragrance sensitivities.

Thank you, Marvin

2007-08-01T23:11:00.000-05:00

This awful business, again.

RIP Marvin Zindler, consumer reporter extraordinaire, Chicken Ranch squawker, man whose yelling his sign-off scared the bejeezus out of me for the first five years of my life...laid to rest today at Beth Israel Cemetery in southwest Houston.

And what a story Marvin's is. His name probably means little to those of you not in Houston - but Marvin is most certainly a local legend, and say what anyone will, he got a lot of things done in the 35 years he was on the air. His weekly "Rat and Roach Reports" exposed health violations at restaurants all over Houston (say it with me: "Sliiiiime in the ice machine!"), and his Blue Ribbon is still the local gold standard for restaurant cleanliness.

Aside from helping hundreds who'd been swindled or otherwise cheated, he recruited Marvin's Angels (local businesses who stepped in to assist those in need) and earned nearly as much attention for his charity as he did for his love of cosmetic improvements. Marvin was a character in many senses - one of a fast-disappearing breed of old-fashioned colorful local broadcasters, and a fixture in the life of millions of Texans.

You'll be missed, Marvin. I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing you an afterlife filled with good golf, good tennis, or whatever makes you happy.

Your Title Here

2007-07-31T21:38:00.000-05:00

The only eye candy I could muster today: a crocheted hacky-sack that I did not make. This is one of the things I won on my excursion to Main Event; the rest of the haul went to Thomas, the Coolest Kid Ever.

It figures that today, of all days, I'd come down with a massive case of writer's block. And it would seem that my brain did not return from my mini-vacation as quickly as I did, because I've been pretty well behind all day.

But here it is, y'all: my one-year blogiversary...and all the dragonflies and Sea Silk in the world can't help me find something interesting to say. I know it's temporary, but it's profoundly annoying. Really, just...nothing.

So let me keep it simple. To the 20 or so people that probably ever read Plum Texan (including the 8 of you subscribed on Bloglines), I'm much obliged. Someday, my Nefarious Plans for a blog readable by dozens will come true.

Also on that day: I will finally be able to meet a self-imposed project deadline. (And El Diablo will need a parka because it will suddenly be rather chilly in his neck of the woods...)

At any rate...not the best day for a celebratory post. I'm still happy to be here, though! And thanks to Kara, there's now a second entrant in the contest. You know, that thing where you can win stuff? :) Enterenterenter...

I'll spend the next couple of days trying to get my shiznit together to give you some real content. Hey, quit laughing - it could happen.

Ahh (or: What I did on my summer vacation)

2007-07-30T22:33:00.000-05:00

Time is running out. Tomorrow, I will again have to rise at 6:15 and get ready to greet my cube with enthusiasm after a mere five days away.

But hey, who am I kidding? I'm seriously jazzed. It's been a nice mini-vacation, and it really didn't feel all that short. Not every day went as planned, but with no major mishaps and a lot of relaxation, I think I'll count it a success.

As for the "what I did" part: haircut, Fort Worth, BFF, movies and bowling and games, coolest kid ever, good food, double dates, not much else. Which is more than fine with me.

Now, sure enough, today is the one-year blogiversary of when I made my skimpy first post. And tomorrow is the 'versary of the full-fledged one. Of course, little to everyone's surprise, I'm woefully unprepared, despite Kelly's best efforts on my behalf. I've had a lot going on (most of it good, but not all of it blog fodder), and I'm completely scattered in my energies as per normal.

I still plan to make a big comeback, though...and reader enthusiasm would sure help...so is anyone else going to enter my contest? So far, Laura is the only one who's hazarded guesses (much appreciated). Come on, folks! Free stuff of your choosing!

The biggest news for today is this:

My Canon PowerShot A570 IS, self-portrait courtesy of the 10-second timer, a nicely lit bathroom mirror, and a flipped image. Preliminary tests indicate that it's easy to figure out and will drastically improve the quality of my photos. To wit:

My everyday bag, shot with my old Olympus D-380. Used the digital zoom for detail, and (obviously) flash. And as you might expect - a little blurry, undefined, washed-out colors, bad white flare, and pixellation even on slight enlargement. This is what I've had to work with; in the words of Agent J in MIB 2, "old and busted." And this:

is the new hotness, shot with the Canon - in this case, 1.5x optical zoom, flash, full auto, macro setting. Sure, there's a bit of white flare...but look at the difference. In focus, sharp definition, amazing detail; I couldn't see pixellation until 300% enlargement on my screen. As impressive as that is, this:

is what took my breath away. It loses a tiny bit in resizing for Blogger, but folks, you can see *the weave of the fabric.* It's slighly less than color-true, but MUCH better than before.

(Be sure to click for larger views...Blogger-sizing reduced some of the drama. :) )

The quality and detail wouldn't surprise me with a good 35mm, or even a well-made digital SLR, but on a point-and-shoot that cost less than $200? It's a godsend, and I'm thrilled. I was expecting this to be a half-step between the Olympus and the Digital Rebel I eventually intend to get; it's starting to look like three-fifths, at least.

*****
As for the rest: Forest Canopy? Still in progress, still fixing missed YOs (IDK WTF I was doing week before last). Red Shawl Dammit? About to come to the fore again, seeing as how I'm a bit brainless these last few days. Husband and cats? Still cute and obnoxious. Other non-blog-worthy things? Rather good.

Odd that I'm feeling a bit out of sorts tonight, but I'm hoping that will improve over the week. As for y'all? Enter my contest, yo. I need to feel the love, even if I'm extending the deadline due to lack of previous interest. See below and change "July 31" to "August 5."

And come hell or high water (both distinct possibilities on the last day of July in Houston), I'm busting out the champagne tomorrow. See you then!

(Note: all photos unretouched except for sizing and cropping.)

Tinkering, timeliness, and a contest

2007-07-22T22:30:00.000-05:00

The Sunday evening post is no longer a piece of Americana...it's now my pattern, apparently. I step in with a sigh, as I'd intended to post more this week, and if nothing else, to have the Heaven and Hell Cake photos up on Flickr.

Alas, no such progress. The week just got away from me, what with work getting busy again and me trying to reorganize my life and, also, preparing for a mini-vacation this week. Yep, there's a whole lot going on.

Nope, no photos today...but that's about to become a less common occurrence, as I finally picked out and purchased a new camera. The Canon A570 IS is winging its way to me this week. I can't begin to tell you how much I'm looking forward to photos that don't need much tinkering, and since it seems I can't stand still even when I think I am, the image stabilizer will be a great help. Expect much crowing when I get the thing in my hot little hands.

The Forest Canopy is still in the works; the rows are hellaciously long now, and I really want to finish. But it's going very well, despite missing several yarn-overs and not discovering them until Thursday night, when Kelly helped me figure out where to ladder them up (thanks again!).

Kelly's also taking a look at my bloggish stuff, since I need a techier mind than mine to get all the way to a rework. I haven't been doing nearly enough legwork on this; I want to re-template and get everything the way I'd like it, but I lost a bit of steam this week. Still, I'm proud of myself for doing this weekly; I've long said that if that's the best I can do, it's a good standard to hold.

You will see some progress, that I can promise. In fact, I came by just to raise some interest in sticking around to see what comes next...especially considering that my real blogiversary - that is, the anniversary of my first post with actual content - is just over a week away. So: a contest!

*****

How to enter: Answer the following question by sending an e-mail to plumtexan AT earthlink DOT net. Please DO NOT leave your answer in the comments, so that everyone can guess as wildly as they like with no extra help. :)

During the month of July, I celebrate three anniversaries that are very important to me. Obviously, one of them is my blogiversary, July 30-31. I marked the other two last week - one on the 17th, one on the 20th. What are they?

(In a fit of generosity, I'll go ahead and tell you that my wedding anniversary is October 16...so keep guessing!)

The winner will receive some Very Nice Yarn or Books in the form of one $25 gift certificate to an online retailer. TechieBK will draw a name at random from all correct answers (or all similar answers) - unless there's only one right answer. If only one of you guesses correctly, that one will be the lucky recipient. I'll announce the winner on July 31...and if all goes well, it will be framed in a new template.

*****

I'd also planned to tell you about my upcoming five-day weekend - but it's bedtime, so that may have to wait until I'm actually on it. Have a good week till then!

Co-Cola + Chocolate = Yum. Plus other baking and a bit of catching up.

2007-07-15T22:24:00.000-05:00

Warning: this is yet another long one. Since figuring out the CSS for cuts is more than I want to learn tonight, I apologize that you'll just have to bear with me. There are links to food pr0n ahead; it may be worth your time. Thank you.

*****
First, while many other Texans (and others) have discussed this in a more timely fashion, I wanted to pay my respects to Lady Bird Johnson, the third well-known Texan lady par excellence to pass on within the last several months. I didn't follow her life as closely, but I am enamored of what she did with her prominence. On top of being a calming, charming influence on late 60s politics and a devoted family woman, Lady Bird considered conservation and beautification of "green space" to be of the utmost importance.

So when millions of people drive up and down I-45 (and a lot of other roads) in late March and early April, we have Lady Bird to thank for the profusion of bluebonnets, Indian blanket, evening primrose, and black-eyed Susans lining the shoulder. And her efforts are further enshrined in the Wildflower Center just outside Austin that bears her name. Small things to some, but to those of us who love photos of wildflowers more than any others, it's made a world of difference.

Rest in peace, Mrs. Johnson, and thank you for keeping Texas beautiful.

*****
A photo to tide you over throughout the rest of this lengthy post:

Pandora's not a big fan of being in photos, but she humored me for this one.

*****
So I may have mentioned once or twice that I was handling cake for July work birthdays. And I knew that my kitchen wouldn't hold up to making one big cake - so I decided to make three desserts instead.

Dessert the first is a creation from The Cake Mix Doctor: Old-Fashioned Cola Cake. It's based on legendary recipes that add a touch of fizz to a standard-type chocolate sheet cake...and its icing. Coke and chocolate? It's a sin I've never made this before.

Of course, as I am a good Tex-Southern girl, "cola" most assuredly meant Coca-Cola. And in the interest of avoiding the scourge of high fructose corn syrup, I asked TechieBK* for Mexican Coke...pure cane, baby. You can see this beaut of a sweet chocolate cake in living color.

Second, assembled mostly from what I already had, are Cranberry-Pecan Oatmeal Cookies. I started with Mom K's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, which never fails, and which I normally leave alone (except for omitting the nuts).

I decided to mix things up, and went for the cranberries instead of raisins as some of my work peeps think that raisins are evil (a sentiment I do not share, but there you go). I almost never use nuts in baked goods that I plan to eat, but it turned out that the pecans absolutely lifted the texture and flavor a couple of notches. See the cranberry-pecan-oatmeal goodness at your leisure.

And finally, I took the Cake Mix Doctor's recipe for Basic Yellow Pound Cake, added Smucker's strawberry jam for filling, and slathered it in cream cheese frosting from the good ol' Betty Crocker Cookbook, 40th Anniversary Edition.

I didn't have a name for this at first, but it finally came to me after my work peeps and I devoured it: Heaven and Hell Cake. Because it's so luscious it tastes like heaven, but you feel like you're going to hell for eating it. (For the record, you're not.) Pictures were taken, but photo editing is slooooow...you'll see it next time.

*****
One thing this process brought home for me was how very desperately I need a better camera. My Olympus D-380 is really showing its age (which, if I remember correctly, is about 6 years at this point), and it was never all that flexible to begin with. Not a bad buy at the time, mind you, but I could get more than triple the camera now for what I paid then...and all things considered, I couldn't pay much.

I was going to buy Amy's camera, which is much newer and definitely takes better shots, but due to some recent misfortune, she won't be parting with it just yet. So I've returned to doing extensive research and trying to determine how much I'm willing to shell out. $350 is the outside limit for sure, and I'm focusing (heh) on Canon. I'd really like one that's pretty small and pretty powerful; the PowerShot SD800 IS ELPH is topping the list at this point, and it's at the upper end of my price range.

I swear, I used to take much better photos. While I'm a fan of digital's convenience, I started shooting film in a semi-serious way when I was about 11, and it still holds a lot of appeal to me; I'm not sure I've ever thoroughly gotten the hang of good digital shots. I think that something more functional will get me further down the road...at least, I hope it will.

****
Still here? Amazing! At any rate, sorry for the delay on this, and on the promised bookishness. I couldn't let another day pass, though. I'm really glad to be writing regularly again, and it appears I even have a little readership now. Thanks!

No promises on when, as usual, but this week should hold at least one post before the weekend. Ta-tas, until then.

* Let me tell you, folks - my husband, knowing full well that not all of the baked goods were staying in the house, still volunteered (volunteered!) to go to the store and pick up everything I needed. If you have not already done so, I highly recommend acquiring an SO or spouse that will do this for you.

Good idea...bad idea

2007-07-08T21:39:00.000-05:00

As I'd planned, there was Big Love, knitting, and baking this weekend. Also a little apartment hunting, a big headache, and some cleaning up.

Fortunately, only one of those things was bad in and of itself. But all the rest, combined with the return of the summer sun (and, consequently, the heat) have left me...well...plum tuckered. So, a quick rundown:

- I got one repeat of the Forest Canopy done. I'm forgiving myself the one I didn't get through, since I accomplished so much else, and it is growing pretty rapidly.
- We did some more planning for an autumn move. Right now, our challenge is finding a place that will allow us to reduce our rent without too many compromises, most importantly in neighborhood safety and kitchen space. We're batting about .500 at the moment, but there's more on the horizon.
- Significant baking did indeed go on today, with more - plus further documentation - soon to come. There is Old-Fashioned Coca-Cola Cake and a whack of oatmeal cranberry cookies ready for my co-workers to devour on Tuesday. Tomorrow, I'll stir up a moist yellow layer cake with strawberry filling and cream cheese frosting.

The second cake may put my next post off to Tuesday, but you'll get to see final results on all the baked goods...and perhaps a step-by-step on the oatmeal cookies. I do continue to question my own sanity, what with all this baking in mid-July...but so far, it would seem that the results are worth it:

I think Bryan and I both are going to have fits trying to keep our hands off that cake. The cookies have already been gently assaulted, and it would seem that cranberries and pecans work just as well as chocolate chips.

So for now, a quick hello to any new readers that might be out there, and hasta luego, before I collapse on my keyboard.

To clarify, plus: weekend, etc.

2007-07-06T21:17:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all the good wishes! I'm quite OK now, but indeed, I was driving down the tree-lined River Oaks section of San Felipe when the errant Sub appeared in front of me, in the same lane. This morning, it even occurred to me that he might have been playing chicken...in hindsight, it didn't seem all that accidental, and the driving was pretty steady, if a bit, you know, EFFING MISPLACED.

*shakes it off*

Enough of that, then. I'm presently enjoying the hell out of Paula's Party on Food Network (Paula Deen, large blocks of cheese, handsome young Army officers in tuxedoes...what's for a Southern f*t girl not to love?) and gearing up to plow through a couple of rows on the Forest Canopy.

Further to the FC, I turned in a couple of Netflix and may be receiving the first two discs of Big Love tomorrow. If they arrive, it's occurred to me that it's perfect knitting wallpaper. I'm aiming to complete at least two more repeats this weekend...guess we'll talk about that on Sunday evening!

I've been greatly looking forward to the end of this particular week. I'm kind of tired and am experiencing some work burnout, though we're not yet insanely busy again. Soon, though...soon.

Hence why I have scheduled myself a nice FIVE-DAY weekend at the end of the month. No mistake, I still adore my job - but I really need a break to get my groove back before flying headlong into the Big-Ass All-Consuming Trade Show Craziness in August and September. There are no grand plans for now, except for continuing the home progress of the last few weeks and knitting a whole hell of a lot. Paradise Found, if you ask me.

My plans continue to build here as well. Kelly has graciously agreed to give me a hand with reworking the site, and as I go, I'll be making good on my promise of diversifying the content, as I'd originally planned. Coming next week:

- I'm reading two different fiction books at once and have at least three more in the wings. So I'll give you a quick list and a few extra details.
- Because I volunteered to make departmental birthday desserts for July, I'll be doing practice baking this weekend. Step-by-step photos ahoy!

Speaking of photos...here's one for the road: Pablo (aka The Buddy), caressing his dearest love.

Still more progress, and going All In

2007-07-05T23:33:00.000-05:00

(Nope, no new photos...all my photo mojo went to eBay last night.)

I'm now a full repeat past the original body chart on the Forest Canopy. With a couple of hands from Sharron at SnB tonight, I determined that the blocked wingspan would be approximately 40". Only 25" to go! (My personal wingspan is about 68", and I figure a couple of inches less is OK.)

So tonight, mad props go out to:

- Sharron, for the aforementioned handiness;
- Laura, for showing me in short, unpanicked, profanity-free fashion how to fix my profanity-laden eff-up (I'd missed a YO...it was the easiest fix ever);
- And Amy, temporarily to be re-nicknamed Panic Disabler Amy, for talking me down from a near panic attack incurred when I was - no exaggeration - nearly hit head-on by a Suburban on my way home from SnB.

No, I'm not kidding...yes, I'm mostly OK (if still a bit shaky even an hour later). I think I may have cashed in a couple of karma chips on this one. (If anybody can tell me how I earned them in the first place, please do, because I think this was pretty close to All In and I might need to restock.)

Anyway, thanks, y'all. Is it any wonder that I live for Thursdays? (Oh, jeez, no pun intended.)

What a time to be low on cash

2007-07-04T01:13:00.000-05:00

So I stopped by Blue Moon, that I might continue to ~~stalk~~ look out for Sock Candy (cotton sock yarn). I still did not achieve a non-kit Sock Candy sighting...

...but I did find this.

Be still, my lace-shawl-knitting heart. It would seem that I need to step up the pace on creating the Plum Texan colorway.

Enjoy the holiday, y'all!

Yarn pr0n and shameless promotion

2007-07-01T19:08:00.000-05:00

It took me a while to catch on to the Sea Silk craze. I started out as a blanket knitter and got used to thinking of sportweight as "ridiculously thin" yarn. Sure, I quickly tired of Boye circulars and moved on to Addi Turbos...and then to KnitPicks Options, but at one point you would have had to pry my Lion Brand Homespun from my cold, dead fingers.

I still believe that Homespun (not to mention Sugar 'n' Cream) has its place. But at some point in my three-ish-year career of knitting large, flat objects – when I'd decided that maybe my skills *were* enough to manage it, and was in desperate want of a garment that I could actually wear in Houston – I decided I wanted to try lace knitting.

So after several false starts, including purchasing Folk Shawls, failing at the Knitting Olympics, and developing a serious infatuation with Sea Silk at Yarntopia, I thoroughly mined all of HandMaiden's online stockists and settled on Knitty-Noddy.com. It's a clean, easy-on-the-eyes site with great navigation, not to mention specials and information everywhere. Owner Evelyn has an impressive list of brands from mid-range to luxury, and impressive stock to boot. Best of all, she takes fantastic product shots and makes thumbnails of every colorway; click, and you get a much larger picture; double-click, and a new window with a *still larger* picture opens.

Amy the Yarn Enabler was over at my place New Year's Eve, and helped me choose (after a loooooong decision process) the Amethyst colorway (as seen in the previous post for the IP Forest Canopy). This was just before midnight on December 31...and by 10 am on January 1, Evelyn had personally e-mailed me to let me know she'd send it out the next day. And lo, on January 5, I came home to the trifecta of Excellent Online Retailing:

- A lovely, sturdy package, neither too large or too small for the...
- Perfectly packed purchase, wrapped gently in plastic and nestled in tissue paper, and...
- Shipped by inexpensive, efficient Priority Mail.

Even more, there was a personal, handwritten note from Evelyn, a touch that will put any purchase over the top for me. I e-mailed my thanks and undying loyalty, and she replied warmly. An unbelievably great experience all around...no small thing when you're spending more than $30 a skein on *any* yarn.

I soon discovered that the expense was more than worth it. Just one repeat of the Forest Canopy, and I was head over heels in love – both with lace and with the Sea Silk. I acquired the two skeins of Berry at the lovely Yarntopia, but even this left me wanting more.

Then, on April 1, Evelyn announced HandMaiden's happy error of the 150g skeins (previously mentioned here). I wondered if it was an April Fool's joke, but she kindly disabused me of the notion. This made it impossible to resist, so I didn't: that's when the Ocean, Vintage, and Sea Storm (below) found new homes (i.e. mine). Evelyn showed incredible patience with my selection process, and gave me the same lovely, speedy service she had before.

What's more, we exchanged several e-mails, which included some discussion of my fiber sensitivities and, ergo, why Sea Silk was practically the perfect product for me. Evelyn mentioned that she'd requested a second shipment, which finally came through in mid-May.

Once again, I failed to resist the Sea Siren...hence, the Sangria. A special-edition Storm Water Stole, reworked from the original scarf pattern, came along for only $1.50. And yet a third time, Evelyn came through with the best service around. What more could you ask for? (Aside from more cash for more yarn, of course.)

Here's what, for all you HandMaiden/Fleece Artist fans and sheep-free types like me. In addition to the Sea Silk, there's the new Flaxen, plus Silken, Lace Silk, and much more. Colorways you don't see just everywhere. The ability to special order *any* HM/FA yarn in nearly *any* colorway on the cards.

For the sheepless and sheep-full, Knitty-Noddy.com also carries woolly Fleece Artist stuff, Claudia Handpaints, Lantern Moon, Fiber Trends, Interweave, and tons of other yarn, accessories, and patterns...all this, plus the distinct advantage of personal service from a small business owner who really knows her stuff - and her customers.

In short, stop by Knitty-Noddy.com the next time you want handpainted yarn wonderment. Evelyn – who completely deserves your business – is an absolute yarn wonder her darned self. And when you're buying even a single skein this fancy, you deserve a wondrous experience.

*****

Further to the Forest Canopy shawl, I have completed yet another repeat, plus two rows. This brings me within 4 rows of the original body pattern. Much as I'd love to tack on the edging and call it a day, the shawl is still a bit wee. In the next couple of days, I'm going to pin it out for measuring and determine how much further I want/need to go. And still my enthusiasm has not waned!

Three posts in seven days...has the world gone mad?!

You wanted photos?

2007-06-25T22:49:00.001-05:00

You got 'em: The in-progress Forest Canopy...

...and the in-progress Red Shawl Dammit.

It's amazing what feats Ravelry will inspire. If you're "in" over there, my profile (plumtexan, of course) has tons more old FOs for your enjoyment.

Up next: yarn pr0n. No promises on when, of course. :)

tomato puree, vinegar, and sugar...

2007-06-25T00:01:00.000-05:00

...also known as "ketchup." Yep - I'm back, I'm punny, and I still don't have any new pictures to add. I figure three months is about long enough for you to wait for newness, however disorganized.

There's been a lot going on - some of it good, some of it not. Good: I still love my job, I'm really happy with the knitting I'm doing right now, and I'm getting my, ahem, *stuff* together slowly but surely.

Bad: I was sick three times in four months, sometimes work is way too busy, and my husband has Crohn's disease all the time. (He's fine now, but Bryan had a bad flare-up over the last few weeks and it took a while to get him back to [ab]normal.)

I've been away for both the good and bad. More specifically, the not-so-good has taken up a lot of time in the last month; when it hasn't, I've mostly been spending time on the good. I'm still working on the Red Shawl Dammit, and have been really getting somewhere on the Forest Canopy. Plus, I'm starting to plan ahead for rather a wide variety of things.

Since those things include knitting, I was pretty jazzed to finally get my Ravelry invite! There's not much I could say that everybody else hasn't said already, so I'll just add to the chorus of love. And another testimony that the system works: I found someone else (in Canada!) who had done the Forest Canopy in Sea Silk on US4s, which is exactly what I'm doing. She really helped give me a clue as to how many repeats I'll want to add to get it to the size I want.

Speaking of Sea Silk, I've bought a whole lot of it since I've been away. As an update to the Yarntopia outing I mentioned back in March, my total haul was two skeins of the stuff in Berry. Of course, I thought that was enough.

This was before lovely Evelyn at Knitty-Noddy.com announced she'd received (as did several other stockists) a whole bunch of 150g skeins of Sea Silk. "Like white on rice" doesn't even begin to describe how on that I was. So now, in addition to the IP Amethyst and the two skeins of Berry, I am the proud owner of 600m each of Ocean, Sea Storm, Vintage, and Sangria.

At least it's the only yarn I've bought lately, right?

Almost as stunning as the Sea Silk (and believe me, it's stunning) is the fact that I've only been working on two projects for a couple of months now. I reclaimed a few random UFOs recently, one of which I started working into a quick desk coaster for work (Sugar 'n' Cream, of course) yesterday...but otherwise, it's the Forest Canopy when I can focus, the Red Shawl Dammit when I'm mindless.

All my creative mojo must be going to the shawls, though, because it's certainly not coming out in my cooking. I've been doing more of it, but it hasn't all been great. To some point, it's "only" weeknight dinner stuff and is therefore almost acceptable...but I like cooking mediocre food even less than I like eating it...and that's saying a lot, which you know if you've met me in person.

All in all, there's just a whole lot of getting my groove back. On the one hand, it was good to discover that I'm more prepared for a random crisis than I realized...and on the other, random crises SUCK ASS. As does seeing your husband ill and knowing there's not a whole hell of a lot you can do until the flare-up passes. We both think he'll be fine - all things considered, his form of Crohn's is still the (ha) mild one - but he has to get the right medication and the right doctor, and we both have to learn how to help him maintain. That's all right with me, even if I wish we didn't have to.

So it's not altogether a cohesive post, but it's a start. Back on the planning note, I'm trying to pick back up on being Plum Texan and telling you lovely folks (if any of you are still out there :) ) all about it. My blogiversary comes around on July 30, which gives me about 5 weeks to Bring It (Back). Ideas are in the works...there may be polls, if I can figure out how to use them...and I could very much use some assistance with CSS, if anyone local is interested. (I pay cash and/or yarn shop gift certificates. Seriously.)

P.S. No photos now, but I'm working on getting my Flickr together and taking more shots. I make no promises, but there's a chance that your patience will be rewarded this week.

Quick, sick, and late

2007-03-23T23:33:00.000-05:00

Just a few items:

1. Work has been completely kicking my rear - most days for the last month, I've worked 8a-7p or more, plowing like mad the whole time. This week was finally a little slower...which is a good thing, I guess, since...

2. I am presently being spanked like an ill-behaved 7-year-old by what appears to be a combination ear-nose-throat infection. I spent today at home on doctor's orders, and I got a bit tired of staring blankly at the TV or trying to sleep and failing due to a hacking, disturbing cough that must have the neighbors convinced that I'm about to die of something really gross. Also, despite the fact that I can more or less breathe out of both nostrils now, my right ear feels completely closed over and nothing, flat nothing, is making a difference.

3. Those of you with standard-issue domestic critters really, really need to look at this if you feed them wet food. It's a HUGE recall of foods that have caused kidney failure in both species and, worst of all, caused several hundred deaths, and while most of it involves store brands, it also includes Iams and Eukanuba. A few days old, but worth passing on nonetheless.

Knitting time has been especially slim for a couple of weeks, though as my SnBers can attest, I've made what I think is admirable progress on the Forest Canopy shawl. I will probably not make my 43 Things challenge deadline of March 31, but I will forgive myself. The Sea Silk is indeed a dream to work with, and after three years of knitting and grousing to the contrary, I finally find myself loving small needles (US4 Clover bamboo circulars). Of course there are WIP pictures to come, but not quite yet. To wit:

Item 1 is the major reason I've been AWOL lately - plus, with the new-Blogger switch, I have a hard time posting without wanting to fix everything I lost...and sleep is of the essence these days. If I'm going to come back to real posting, I want to do it right.

So I will remain scarce until I have time to get things together...here, at home, at work...and then I'll be back all shiny and pretty and new. I still don't promise to post more than weekly (again: in knitting vs. blogging, knitting is scissors-cut-paper every time), but I'll be going for the more all-my-interests content that I originally intended.

Please note that an exception may be made for the Yarntopia anniversary event next Saturday - because I am setting aside a bit of bank and may consequently have to Flash My Haul.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go cough up a lung.

A difficult matter

2007-02-03T12:39:00.000-06:00

Only one day late (give me a break - I'm still in Austin and don't have constant access!), I bring you the post I wanted to make yesterday - my contribution to the Brigid's Day silent poetry reading. Had I been more together, I might have posted something of my own; instead, I'm taking you on a short trip down (my) Memory Lane.

I used to be a shy person. While I didn't exactly have a hard time making friends when I was young, I did so slowly and carefully, and was very quiet most of the time. At the beginning of my 10th-grade year, I had to make a last-minute elective change, and my mother insisted that I make it a public speaking class. I'll save words by telling you that I was Not Happy about this, but it happened anyway.

By my senior year, I'd been elected president of the speech and debate team. While it didn't turn me into a boisterous, exuberant social butterfly, performing began bringing me out of my shell. Since my mid-20s, I've had several people laugh when I tell them I was once a shrinking violet, though plenty of folks still notice my reticence in new situations and with unfamiliar groups.

I won't say the change is all due to speech tournaments - the older I get, the less I worry about what people think of me, which is the important factor - but it certainly helped. In honor of this, I'm going to share one of the two poems I performed together that first year. T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats is oddly whimsical and (particularly to those of us who have cats...including 'Jellicles' such as mine) fantastically real. I paired the poem below with "The Naming of Cats" to meet length requirements for performance...but this one is my favorite.

[Disclaimer: I do not share Eliot's apparent dismissive disdain for the canine mentality; in fact, I adore most dogs...so no hate mail, please. ;) ]

The Ad-dressing of Cats

You've read of several kinds of Cat,
And my opinion now is that
You should need no interpreter
to understand their character.
You now have learned enough to see
That Cats are much like you and me
And other people whom we find
Possessed of various types of mind.
For some are sane and some are mad
And some are good and some are bad
And some are better, some are worse -
But all may be described in verse.
You've seen them both at work and games,
And learnt about their proper names,
Their habits and their habitat:
But
How would you ad-dress a Cat?

So first, your memory I'll jog,
And say: A CAT IS NOT A DOG.

Now Dogs pretend they like to fight;
They often bark, more seldom bite;
But yet a Dog is, on the whole,
What you would call a simple soul.
Of course I'm not including Pekes,
And such fantastic canine freaks.
The usual Dog about the Town
Is much inclined to play the clown,
And far from showing too much pride
Is frequently undignified.
He's very easily taken in -
Just chuck him underneath the chin
Or slap his back or shake his paw,
And he will gambol and guffaw.
He's such an easy-going lout,
He'll answer any hail or shout.

Again I must remind you that
A Dog's a Dog - A CAT'S A CAT.

With Cats, some say, one rule is true:
Don't speak till you are spoken to.
Myself, I do not hold with that -
I say, you should ad-dress a Cat.
But always keep in mind that he
Resents familiarity.
I bow, and taking off my hat,
Ad-dress him in this form: O CAT!
But if he is the Cat next door,
Whom I have often met before
(He comes to see me in my flat)
I greet him with an OOPSA CAT!
I've heard them call him James Buz-James -
But we've not got so far as names.
Before a Cat will condescend
To treat you as a trusted friend,
Some little token of esteem
Is needed, like a dish of cream;
And you might now and then supply
Some caviare, or Strassburg Pie,
Some potted grouse, or salmon paste -
He's sure to have his personal taste.
(I know a Cat, who makes a habit
Of eating nothing else but rabbit,
And when he's finished, licks his paws
So's not to waste the onion sauce.)
A Cat's entitled to expect
These evidences of respect.
And so in time you reach your aim,
And finally call him by his NAME.

So this is this, and that is that:
And there's how you AD-DRESS A CAT.

Don't panic

2007-02-01T09:17:00.000-06:00

I know this looks a bit different right now, and I also have lost most of my links in migrating to the new template (which appeared, you know, *required*). I'm not dissing anybody, believe me.

Plus, the entire reason I stopped by in the first place was to announce a long weekend in Austin. Don't get jealous - I won't be sitting around! It's my 11th YMCA Texas Youth & Government state conference - time to corral teenagers into creating a newspaper for the Youth Government that will be at the Capitol this weekend.

In no way do I consider the trip to Hill Country Weavers when it's all over a cherry on top. Rather, it is a grave responsibility. *somber face*

After starting over Saturday night, the Red Shawl Dammit is moving along nicely. I keep taking it out just so I can tell people what I'm calling it.

I'm going to try to borrow a better camera to take progress pictures. I'll also be starting a Log Cabin to donate to a silent auction for a work event. LB Homespun on 11s should go quickly, right?

As blog posting inhibits my ability to finish packing, I'm off. I'll miss the SnBuddies (tm) tonight! Somebody split a brownie for me.

And can I get some "rain go away" vibes for good measure?

P.S. Yes, if the trip to HCW turns into SEX (non-knitters: stash enhancement expedition [I should put up a glossary]), I will show you what I get.

In the front car, with my arms in the air

2007-01-25T00:52:00.000-06:00

I've been on quite a roller coaster ride for weeks. But you know what? The best thing about roller coasters is, no matter how nervous the highs make you, how queasy the lows make you, how dizzy you get from spinning and twisting...if you get to the end and the sum total is pretty much positive...nay, exhilarating...

...you jump off, look at those on the ride with you, holler "Let's go again!", and jump right back in line.

Lately, most every day has been like that for me. I'm not precisely where I want to be yet, for sure - and sometimes it's hard to think I'll ever get there - but for every death-drop day like yesterday, there is a gradual, giddy climb like there was today...and a few fabulous moments, here and there, of hanging suspended upside-down in space. There is so much going on. I am so tired, and I have so much to do...and I'm loving every minute of it.

Here's to getting back in line.

*looks around, hollers "Let's go again!", and dashes off to the turnstile*

Sheesh

2007-01-18T17:24:00.000-06:00

This is how you go a month without posting to your blog: I could have *sworn* I posted right around New Year's Day. Imagine my surprise. I swear, I really *do* mean to post more often this year. In my defense, when one spends all day, every weekday (and, apparently, some weekends) playing with words for a living...it's sometimes a little tiring to do so for enjoyment.

I felt that I needed to give the holidays a little space before I announced that I was pretty glad they're gone. This may have been apparent from my last few posts, I'm afraid; Bryan and I both found it hard to muster enthusiasm this year. I think all of us (meaning our parents too) had some trouble processing the holiday season with Bryan's mom not here. It's still difficult to say too much about this, at times – but the one thing I managed was to make tons of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from her recipe, and in succeeding to make them tasty, I also managed to honor her skill and flair in the kitchen. That helps a little.

In consideration of my extended absence, and in lieu of my standard irregularly-scheduled, rambly post...oh, who am I kidding? This is as rambly as normal. You will note in advance the lack of photos...and you will deal, K? Hit the links instead.

- Just after Christmas, with assistance from Amy, I decided upon the Forest Canopy shawl as my first lace project. In short order, Amy both gave me the pattern as a gift and scheduled a trip to Yarntopia to help me search out some HandMaiden silky goodness for the task.

Fast forward to NYE, when (with me still sitting by empty-handed) Amy and Bryan voted for the Amethyst colorway of Sea Silk, and I put in my order at Knitty-Noddy. (Digression to note that Evelyn was extraordinary...so much so that she deserves her own post, which she will receive on my next round. In the meantime, go buy yarn from her.)

Then, fast forward to last Thursday, when I decided to hand-wind one of the two GORGEOUS OH MY GOD GORGEOUS hanks. Meredith magically produced a "portable" swift for me to borrow, and I spent the next two-ish hours in winding bliss...results to be shown soon. It's very pretty. Really. As in, I wanted to hold it and pet it and gaze into it as if it were a crystal ball. I am trying to refrain from dubbing it "the precious," because that's been done.

No, I have not started the Forest Canopy yet. This is because Still More Insanely Busy Work Time has rendered me a bit of a stress ball in off hours, and consequently, I have lacked the focus required.

- Instead, I have been working on a couple of baby items from Mason-Dixon. Don't get any ideas, folks. My co-worker Mary has three daughters, two of whom are pregnant. One of them – the one that lives with Mary - could pop at any time. I have a Baby Bib O' Love to embellish, and a Baby Genius Burp Cloth (which may be my favorite Mindless Project ever) on the needles. Mary is a crocheter, so it sounds as though blankets are taken care of...but I'm really looking forward to surprising her.

It would also appear that it marks the end of my knitting being novel to my male co-workers. I joined two of them for lunch at our favorite wings place (I always get the boneless...no mess on the hands), pulled out the Baby Genius while we waited, and neither of them even blinked twice. (Consider that the *first* time I pulled out a project in front of them – a Ballband Dishcloth – it attracted a great deal of curiosity and started a 10-minute conversation.)

- This weekend, I began working in earnest on a rectangular shawl in a zigzag-eyelet pattern. On my never-before-detailed December trip to Twisted Yarns, I took advantage of the Gumball Sale to get 15% off a massive quantity of Manos Cotton Stria in lovely red. This was because, as I said to Amy (who surprised me by appearing there out of nowhere that day, when I was off work and on my way to Fort Worth), "I want a red shawl for myself, dammit!"

Consequently, this project will henceforth be known as the Red Shawl Dammit.

I'm quite enjoying the yarn so far. It's a teensy bit splitty, as roving-wrapped-in-thread yarns are wont to be, but it's squishy, neither too thick nor too thin, and should give me just what I'm aiming for. I did a swatch in pattern, a bit too loose on US7s, but likeable; I'm working the project on 6s, which seems to be going well so far. The pattern is fairly easy to memorize, and about three notches above mindless, so it's good for "after I've unwound" evening work.

In other news, my husband is a really good cook, which is especially nice when I get home at 7p after starting work at 8a, or when I wake up (and spend all day) with a killer migraine. Bryan cooks like I do – get ideas from recipes, then wing it to your liking – only more freeform, if that's possible. And let me say that the man has a way with pork. Loin, sausages, roast...he knows just what to do with all of them.

Oh yeah - also: it's cold. Not other-places cold, not historically cold, certainly not Armageddon-is-coming cold, but seriously chilly all the same. Must. Complete. More handknits. For self. And still, maybe, not as cold as it was a couple of days ago...but, um, nippy.

Finally, a random WOO-HOO for the 100% fantastic, talented, and beautiful America Ferrera, who won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy (TV)...which means that I should probably start watching Ugly Betty. I've adored her since her debut in Real Women Have Curves; she's a hell of an actress, and lovely, real, and smart to boot.

I don't know *when*, but look for pictures next time. (No promises.)

What made today better than I expected

2006-12-25T23:36:00.000-06:00

Sleeping in, then making our way to have the best dim sum anywhere in a nearly-deserted shopping district.

Some nice, quiet moments with my really awesome parents.

Adorable friends who loved the gifts I gave them.

Leftover turducken, broccoli-rice casserole, and meatballs (oh yes, meatballs).

Falling asleep with Pirates on the TV.

An open CVS, well-stocked with Haagen-Dazs.

The non-stop company of my goofy, blockheaded, hilarious, loving husband.

Silver bells

2006-12-24T11:12:00.000-06:00

Christmas in Houston is always...pretty much what you expect it to be. It could be anything between 25 and 75F, the traffic in front of the Galleria and Baybrook Mall will look worse than you've ever seen it, people drive even more rudely than normal (probably because, in my estimation, they leave their brains at home for the entire of December), and you will not get done everything you meant to, though you have given it the old college try. Frustration in the city - like any city, anywhere - is par for the course.

I'm not an organized person, either, so the holidays will usually not go as smoothly for me as I ever hope. Nevertheless, I do still have a few Favorite Things.

I love driving down Post Oak and seeing the rows of white-lighted trees.

I love walking in a store and smelling cinnamon.

I love turning out baked goods that make people gush.

I love that my husband, as much as he misses sometimes, always gets me Just The Right Things for Christmas. (To wit: an iPod dock with speakers and a box set of Good Eats DVDs.)

I love that people put Santa hats on their dogs.

I love seeing little girls in pretty red dresses, and little boys in dress-up shirts and pants.

And no matter what we've been through, or how often they drive me crazy, or how much trouble it took me to figure out what to get them...I love my family, and my friends, who are the "family I choose."

There have been times this year when it's been hard to be grateful. Times when I just wanted to hibernate, just to hole up with Bryan and the cats and knit and nosh and watch TV for days on end. Some of them have even been within the past few days.

But the thing is: I have a good life. A husband I'm crazy in love with, parents that adore us, more good friends than I ever imagined, a great job, a kitchen full of food and gadgets, and a lovely stash of yarn. It's not perfect, but it's really, really good. It is, in the end, the Best Christmas Gift of All.

Thanks to all of you for reading, to the commenters, to the knitters I see regularly and the bloggers that I don't - for the inspiration and the cookies and the yarn and the friendship. I wish an abundance of blessings on all of you...

...and that every day is full of things you love.

Miss me?

2006-12-11T21:50:00.000-06:00

Yeah, me too. Work blah blah, holidays bleh bleh. I have, as usual, somewhat overcommitted myself to projects - though, in my defense, I have actually accomplished quite a bit on some of them. Just...not as much as I'd maybe hoped.

But still, there's a lot of (if not quite enough) knitting happening, a few things going on in the kitchen and the craft room, and still more time than I would normally have to handle at least part of the over-planning. Most importantly, I think I'm more truly inspired than I have been in the past.

I can, alas, share little of this inspiration now. Yes, I know you've heard that several hundred times from several dozen other bloggers, but such is the nature of surprise, yes?

So, while I'm stuck for things that will prove my relative industriousness, I *can* share a few bits and pieces that are giving me a completely non-chemical holiday buzz.

- I feel like cooking again. Yay! Starting with my Best Batch of Pumpkin Bread Ever in October, I have been About the Kitchen Stuff lately. I'm making my award-winning (well, at least among Bryan's Crew) Chili Masala for the department party on Wednesday, and probably starting on the baked goods tomorrow too. (So, Central Houston SnBers: yes, there will be home-baked goodness coming your way in the next two weeks.) I also talked to my mom today about cooking for Christmas Eve, which is when she'll have The Big Dinner for several out-of-town visitors.

- I just spent the weekend with my lovely BFF, her neato husband, and Thomas The Coolest Two-Year-Old Ever again, this time on their turf. Thomas has thoroughly learned my name and used it rather often, which I love. I took pictures, but they weren't so great.

- Bryan and I were shopping in Target last week when I came across the method holiday display. Now, we're regular users of various method products - it's one of the few lines that has fragranced home products that are pleasant, useful, and tolerable by overly-sensitive me. (We have pink grapefruit and lavender items in use in different rooms.)

A quick sniff of the three holiday fragrances, and I'd found a new household love: peppermint vanilla hand wash. People, I can't even tell you how giddy this stuff makes me. It's lightly-scented happy in a pretty bottle, it's cheap, and it's useful. You should get some, or at least try it, and maybe try the frosted cranberry and spiced pear stuff too.

- Finally, something that actually looks like Christmas, right here in a post. From me. (Hey, you never know.) This is from the Central Texas Mini-Tour II, which Bryan and I undertook on Thanksgiving weekend. That Friday, there was unbelievable barbecue in Lockhart, and a stroll through Bastrop's Riverwalk, which was scattered with lovely little displays like this:

Christmas lights are officially my favorite part of the holiday, to be sure. But really, the best part - warning: mush ahead - was strolling along with my honey on a cool, breezy evening, enjoying each other's company. It wasn't a stunning show, no one sprung out any priceless gifts or fancy dinners, and we were thoroughly dressed to chill. But I still think that night will sit in my Best Things Ever mental scrapbook for a long time to come.

...And so to bed. Remind me to tell y'all about my trip to Twisted Yarns this past Friday. :)

The people are demanding.

2006-11-05T14:59:00.000-06:00

Seriously...you people are noodges! Fine, then. It's a post with photos, now with added best-friend goodness.

This is Catherine, my best friend and former roommate. She's wearing her birthday present: a feather-and-fan scarf (one repeat with a two-stitch garter border) in Lion Brand Suede, Seacrest Print, about 1 2/3 balls. Not measured, but it's approximately 62" x 5 1/2". This turned out very plush and silky, and she loved it. Caety lives in Fort Worth, where she'll actually have a use for the thing.

This photo was taken outside of Yia Yia Mary's Greek Restaurant in SW Houston. Notice that this means Caety was visiting me! We visited the Renaissance Festival yesterday, then had lunch with my folks today. Caety brought along Scott, who my mom got pictures of but I didn't, and...

Thomas, the coolest two-year-old ever in the history of two-year-olds. My mom brought him a little stuffed Blue (of Blue's Clues), who posed with him, and a double-decker Matchbox bus, for which Blue became a stopping wall. In this photo (he was wiggly today, so I did not actually capture the bus), Thomas is making the bus go "zoom" across the table.

Here, he's hanging out in my mom's lap, eating a lemon. Already a culinary adventurer, Thomas had also enjoyed hummus, pita, olives, and a little chicken souvlaki and french fries.

My "nephew" is quite the fun kiddo. He's pretty articulate for his age, adorably funny, loves to give hugs, bouncy but well-behaved, completely entertaining. The scarf was Caety's early birthday present (which was actually late...it was supposed to be for her *last* birthday).

Her other present: I'm going to Fort Worth next weekend to visit and babysit so she and Scott can go out, and so I get some more Fun Kid Time. And to drag her to Super Jo-Ann with me. (By the way, will somebody remind me to write Jo-Ann and ask why the hell they don't have any Superstores in the Houston area?)

More knitting content:

My first (and possibly only) Ballband Dishcloth. I like the way it turned out, but I just didn't enjoy the pattern that much...I've never worked with two colors before, which could be part of the problem - my edges looked a bit messy. Perhaps my problem was that it was boring, but not mindless. I don't mind boring if it's mindless; then I can do something else for the fun.

As for interesting and not mindless:

The "fingertip towel" in Sugar 'n' Cream Countryside Ombre; stitch is a fagoting panel from the Reader's Digest Ultimate Sourcebook. Not sure how useful it will actually be - I mostly did this to get a good idea of the rhythm of knitting a lace pattern. But I'm really kind of proud of it - not a mistake to be found in the lace - and I love the angular "S" thing that the ombre did. My next step in practicing lace: sport weight yarn, more complex pattern, larger item.

And, since I cut off the top of her head in the photo above:

A much better photo of my mom, taken in August 2004 at my wedding shower. She had a great time today - Mom is the biggest fan of little kids, and Thomas takes to good people like a duck to water. He and my mom have always been crazy about each other, and I know the visit just made her week.

It made mine too - I really miss living closer to Caety and her family. Not that my family or great Houston friends are chopped liver, mind you! If I could just move the three of them down here, or move all that's good about Houston to DFW...sigh.

Other news briefs:

- Amy gave me a whole bunch of jewelry supplies after I mentioned some of the projects I had planned for holiday gifts. Yay! Thanks, Amy! My newest pointy sticks: a five-piece set of jewelry pliers (I bought those myself).

- Speaking of holiday gifts, I'm now working on them in earnest. One of my 43 Things (of which I don't yet have 43) is "give an item I handmade to each recipient on my holiday list." There will be beads and wire, knitting, baking, and a few other skills involved.

Hey, quit laughing. I actually have a few done already.

- Caety bought a bodice from Unicorn, and I bought a pair of Dream Shoes, both for ren faire garb wear. We've been swearing for about a decade now that we'd go to faire in garb; now it looks like we're taking the steps. Over the years, it's been "time, but no money" or "money, but no time" to buy or sew what we want...plus, I'm still developing my sewing skills. But I do believe, come time for Scarborough next spring, we just might be ready to make good on the threat.

FINALLY (heh!): no complaints allowed on the length of this post - when the people demand photos, they must take the words that go with them! In all seriousness, I'll be working on updating twice a week, with more frequent photos. The joy! The anticipation!

The miles and miles of BS!

Three pointy sticks and old-man laughter

2006-10-25T09:56:00.000-05:00

And I am again ashamed to say I have no photos to share yet. It's not that I forget, exactly...it's just that...yeah, I got nothin'.

At any rate, there has been more crafty action going on. I finished the lacy fingertip towel (which The Crochet Dude declared would have to be used on "really small fingertips"...thanks, Drew :) ) at SnB last week, as well as what may be my one and only Ballband Dishcloth ever (looks snazzy, but I just didn't enjoy the pattern that much).

So, some missions accomplished, I've started working on a freeform-knitted spiderweb, full of random increases and YOs and interspersed with elongated knit rows. Yes, I'm happy to report that I got the knack of the double wrap and the proper way to drop it. This will come in terribly handy for Christmas knitting.

This week's third pointy stick...well, I suppose that's a bit inaccurate, as I used chopsticks at dinner last night, and there were a lot of pins involved in my newest endeavor. At any rate, I am proud to report that on Monday evening, having never done such a thing before, I properly wound and loaded bobbins, then threaded my sewing machine - and last night, I used it.

Now, I've had my hands on a machine before, and I'm only sewing straight seams so far. (Well...straight in sort of a Dali-istic way.) But I'm pretty proud of this, as I have largely stayed away from seamstressy pursuits up to now. Unlike knitting, I don't get an immediate sense that I'm just going to love doing it - but it's a useful skill to have, if nothing else, and I'm glad I've taken the first step.

Finally, I couldn't resist sharing a Rhinebeck post with you. While there are tons and tons out there, Kilted David has written what has to be my favorite, including a Harlot reference and some lovely descriptions of New York's turning leaves and of eating at the CIA...

...not to mention one passage that made me laugh so hard I couldn't breathe. If you don't already read David's blog, or know him personally (color me jealous!), I highly recommend it - there are frequent photos of Himself knitting and wearing Utilikilts (often at the same time). He's also funny as hell and really great with a camera.

The next few days promise to be hellaciously busy outside of work, but I'll photograph the spiderweb (if not the sewing) and try to show it to you in the next post. I might include the other FOs as well...scary!

...fortunately, unlike my current projects...

2006-10-19T16:38:00.000-05:00

I swear that my long posting absences are not a pattern. Really! My previous post summed up most every weekday for the last four weeks, up to last Friday. As I told my S'n'Buddies (yipe, I'm making *myself* cringe) two weeks ago (which was when Bryan insisted I go to regain a measure of sanity...and yes, it worked), the Really Big-Ass Trade Show took a whole hell of a lot out of me, and out of a lot of other people, too.

Fortunately, the RBATS was this week - is, in fact, closing up shop right now. Monday still had some loose ends, but the last three days at work have been been filled with:

- Bloglines
- Yahoo! Groups
- Television Without Pity
- Cute Overload
- Watching the entire episode of Heroes that I missed on Monday

...and very little work or angst to interrupt it. I was actually given half of Tuesday off on comp time (which, you know, doesn't really exist and all) and inadvertently spent it with my mom, which still worked out OK - partially because I finally picked up a couple of boxes of kitchen toys from my wedding registry.

From my wedding. Which was TWO YEARS AGO on Monday. Procrastinate? Me?

On the other side of that, Bryan picked out Pappas Bros. Steakhouse as a venue for the eating of Wedding-Commemorative Meat. As I so often get verbal smackdowns for making people hungry with my food descriptions...and as I'm not into drooling on my keyboard at the moment...suffice it to say that he had ribeye, I had lamb, and a good time was had by all. Certainly worth missing Heroes, hee.

As for the rest, my brief evenings and coveted weekends have been devoted to doing Anything But Working, Much Less Thinking About Work, and involved much semi-dressed, husband-couch-cats-knitting time, with a little shopping thrown in. I picked up the Reader's Digest Ultimate Sourcebook on stitch patterns...

...and employed it to create an AFO in the last two weeks. I'd say "look, here it is," but...yeah, I generally suck, even when I have too much time on my hands. As a preview, it's my first almost-complete lace pattern project, employing a fagoting panel with a four-row repeat. OK, so I wussed and it just happens to be a hand towel...on 8s...in Sugar 'n' Cream. But it's really pretty, I promise! I'll finish it tonight and post pictures soonish.

I enjoyed working the pattern quite a bit - not too fiddly and gave me a chance to get accustomed to the rhythm of lace. I'll certainly need more practice, but it's given me a chance to get my sea legs while not overtaxing my already overtaxed brain.

Otherwise in the works? Gifts - one of which is for someone who's now a confirmed reader, whose birthday is exactly 150 days after mine, who put up with sharing space with me for a looooong time, and who's bringing her fantastic TallKid, TallHusband, and TallSelf to my neck of the woods in just over two weeks.

So no, I'm not telling. :D

This weekend, there will be knitting, sewing (!), and - oh yes - the first baking of the autumn season. After much ugly rain and a couple of days of early-summer temps, Houston is also benefiting from one of its five Gorgeous Weather Days a year: 70F, sunny and clear. It's all I can do not to make little happy noises every time I walk out the door.

Since I'm all out of "all I can do" after the last month, I've at least tried to keep my voice down as I sigh contentedly in the breeze.

It's good to be back.

Spinners on a dirty minivan with an Ernie doll hanging from the rearview mirror

2006-10-03T19:59:00.000-05:00

If you have been up since 6:30 am, and are in the car going home at 7:40 pm, and have not been home before this, and barely had time to eat lunch, and laughing at the aforementioned
minivan has been the best thing in your day so far...well, it sucks.

If, however, you walk in the door to your adorable husband waiting on the couch with Chinese takeout and an episode of Star Trek: TNG on the TV, in waiting for the season premiere of Veronica Mars...your day just got a whole lot better.

Dragonflies in my belly

2006-09-22T20:28:00.000-05:00

Actually written at ~1:30 pm

My hands are figuratively (spiritually?) twitching and my insides are doing flip-flops. Why? I have a creative burst just BEGGING to pop out of me like...a really gross analogy I just decided not to make. How about...like spring snakes out of a tennis ball can?

Seriously, I have dragonflies in my belly (like butterflies, but more fiery and much more original, don't you think?). I have started listing. I have been shooting around on crafty blogs looking for ideas. It is all I can do to not grab my purse and my portable Ballband-in-a-bag (don't you love it when you find the perfect shoulder bag?) and haul ass to any of 85 creative stores I can think of right now. I even feel sure that the Sucky Jo-Ann on Weslayan* could yield magnificent possibilities.

So why haven't I? What is holding me back? Why am I writing a blog entry when I could be:

a) finishing the Ballband
b) stopping by my mom's to pick up the supplies I left there Christmas before last
c) meandering through Michaels or hopping through Hobby Lobby to get more supplies I don't really need
d) fast-forwarding to tomorrow, when I get to go to High Fashion Fabrics† on a mission with Holly
e) at least sitting in front of Mom K's sewing machine and pretending to start on my Easy Cotton Tiered Skirt**
f) starting my first Curve of Pursuit†

Because, my dears, I couldn't be. Because I Am At Work.

The beauty part of my job is that I write and edit for a living...so if I handle my Windoze just right, I can look for all the world as if I am Working Hard instead of Hardly Working.*** This is one of those cases. I dared the Fates and surfed for a bit, but at the moment, I am creating this very entry in Word.

I think it's a serious case of autumn fever...those couple of days of cool breezes (even if they were only in the evenings) have me itching for more. And it's making me nuttier, as evidenced. There are pumpkins to carve, scoop out, mash, and bake into goodies. Skirts to sew. Objects to knit. Paper to cut and fold. And it's at least another three and a half hours before I can get anywhere close. I could pull something out of my hat on the lunch hour I still have coming – but then I wouldn't want to come back, and I already don't want to be here.

Suddenly, I find myself also feeling sympathy for those of you who are reading this right now. Creative schizophrenia and being antsy for autumn do not good writing make. Would it help you all to know that this is making me feel better?

No? Okay then.

One actual creative update. I took the time last night to plot out the squares for Curve of Pursuit in Illustrator, so once I get the whole thing properly set up, I can easily switch in and out to create color arrangements. Sure, I understand that the concept of Log Cabining is to wing it...but I just couldn't bear it if Curve of Pursuit looked too...well...wung. So this solution is effing genius, if you ask me. Short rows, here I come.

The Ballband will be finished this weekend – this I decree. Beyond that, there will probably be baking and possibly sewing and origami. There will definitely be shopping.

And now, there will be lunch...though I can't promise that I won't do a few rows of Ballband, too. I'll take what I can get at this point.

Update, 8:30 pm: Haven't touched the Ballband yet. Have, however, just polished off a lovely bar of hazelnut chocolate. I am all about the diligence.

* I must ask that you all forgive the Rampant Use of Unnecessary Capitals.**** It's just the Mood I'm In.*****
† These two are not my fault; the titles really look like that.
** But you were warned.
*** Thoroughly warned.
**** I can't stop myself.
***** Somebody help me.

Curvy pursuits

2006-09-18T21:51:00.000-05:00

I've been neck-deep in goings-on - haven't even made it to Stitch 'n' Bitch in a couple of weeks - but things on the creative front are going pretty well. I'm making very nice progress on my first Ballband Dishcloth from Mason-Dixon, though not on much else project-wise.

On the other hand, this...

...arrived in the mail today. This is the pattern for the lovely purple swirly afghan thing - aka Curve of Pursuit, by Pat Ashforth and Steve Plummer at Woolly Thoughts - in M-DK, which a great many folk have been going ape over. It was, in fact, that photo of Ann Buechner's interpretation of the LPSAT that convinced me to buy the booklet.

For obvious reasons, it's become very popular...and I'm way jazzed about getting my very own. The pattern looks quite easy - Log Cabining with short rows and more reserve stitches. Chances are that I'll do mine in purple too - but especially since I've read more about the premise now, I'm going to do it with a different color arrangement, and probably with more than two.

And finally, I broke down and bought my first Euroflax at Twisted Yarns on Saturday. For reasons I cannot explain, three hanks of the Emerald colorway jumped into my hands. I swear: I was reaching for the red...I tried to pick up the brown...but I was inexorably drawn to the green. I *like* green, but there is very little of it in my home; I don't know anybody else who's a big fan, either, so I'm at a loss as to why I had to bring it home with me. My dear girly friend Holly thinks it's probably because the red was going to bleed. I wonder if it's because my life needs more color variety.

In any case, I've just tied it into a pillowcase and washed it, in hopes that my hands will not go raw working with it. I hear the washing works well; guess I'll see when it comes out of the dryer. I think it wants to be a shawl. Unless I can think of someone who has a bathroom color scheme that hand-knitted emerald green linen hand towels would fit into. And for whom I would not flinch to give $60 worth of yarn and several days of effort.

If I think of anybody...I probably won't let you know. :) And in the meantime, I'm about to finish the Ballband, start planning some sewing, and get the party started on the Neutral Log Cabin.

Nefarious plans enter my head even as I speak. *evil eyebrow*

The sharpest tack...the tallest tree

2006-09-14T22:12:00.000-05:00

"A tall tree fell in Texas today." - State Comptroller John Sharp

I have been an ardent admirer of Ann Richards since high school, when she ran her first campaign for governor. She was, quite simply, someone who made me prouder to be a Texan - and a woman. And I am still thrilled to say that I once had the distinct privilege of meeting the lady herself.

I had just transferred to TCU at the beginning of my junior year. The governor was scheduled to speak at Convocation (lots of professors walking down in robes, much boring talk, one keynote speaker), and I just happened to have a class break in the time period. No. way. I was missing it.

The lady spoke, and was as fantastic as you might expect. Just unbelievably brilliant and a tongue like an adamantine sword. When it was all over, the auditorium cleared out rather quickly...except for about 10 of us who sort of hung back to see what her "people" were going to do with her. Within a minute or two, we'd all clumped up at the edge of the stage, a diverse little clump of eager faces peering up towards her.

Her handlers started to walk her toward the back, but a few brave souls shouted out "Governor!" She stopped, turned and saw us waving. One guy took her elbow and tried to push her on.

Let me tell you: if looks could kill, that guy would have been nail-gunned to the back of the auditorium. She gracefully retrieved her elbow, strode purposefully toward the edge of the stage, and extended her hand to the first person on her left.

Who managed to say, in utter awe and amazement under her steely, amused gaze: "Hello, Governor, I'm Susan Hopper."

Our Lady moved all the way down the line, shaking every hand and posing for several photos. She was regal and gorgeous and such a very, very strong presence. And we were all as giddy as if we'd met a rock star.

I cried this morning when I saw old video of her - but I do sense it was her time to go, for some reason - a lady always knows when to take her leave. I will sorely, sorely miss her - and we will never see her equal. There is just so much that I want to say, so much I will miss about her being on the planet. And I just don't feel that anything I *could* say would be sufficient.

So I'll close with this:

All hail Our Lady of the Lone Star State. May I ever display a fraction of her steel, charm, wit, and wisdom.

Rest in peace, Governor.

P.S. This is a good place to start if you don't know much about her career. I also recommend checking out Google News for great stories from the NYT, Time, and numerous other venerable pubs.