Ch-ch-chaaaanges.

I’m going to add a caveat to my blogging every day. With my travel back and forth to Phoenix every weekend, it’s making weekend blogging extremely difficult. I was so tired when I got home on Friday, I forgot that I had to blog and so ended up posting a one line, lame-ass entry. I did not blog Saturday because I didn’t really get online, since hubs and I were hanging out and doing non-computer things. And Sunday I didn’t blog because I got into Flag kind of late and I was tired. SOOOOooo I’ve decided to blog every weekday (Mon – Thur) and then once on the weekend (Fri – Sun). I think this will be more acceptable with my crazy traveling, and now I won’t feel pressured to post something that I could have twittered instead. I’m hoping this will lead to more interesting blog entries, with a little more thought and some photos to boot.

That being said, this weekend was nice. I hung out with my husband and the dogs. Went to the 2 pound locations looking for Mia, but could not find her. I decided that, in addition to getting some more dog food, I would buy dog treats as well. Short of finding Mia, I felt the only thing that would make me happy is to watch our rupps (short for ruppies, which is a derivative of puppies) munch on some gnarly and gross bones. It worked. They LOVED the beef knuckle steaks I got. At $6 for a pack of 2, it wasn’t a bad price. There were still bits of fat and tissue stuck to them. Completely gross, which of course means completely tasty to the girls. I think Angel buried hers. Lucy, ever the lady, daintily picked off pieces and crunched them before settling in for the big chew.

Hubs foot was all kinds of jacked up this last week. It is awful to watch him limp around in so much pain. This happens about once a year. Best way to describe it is a charley horse from hell that won’t go away quickly. We went to the hospital once last year, and they couldn’t tell what it was. At least he isn’t working right now. He couldn’t be standing on it the way it is, anyway. He gimps around as well as he can, but I know he was happy to have me there this weekend to baby him.

I ended up breaking from our usual pasta/potato and meat routine this weekend and made huge sandwiches. I used a loaf of French bread piled high with Virginia ham, smoked turkey, provolone, lettuce, and tomatoes. That’s right; I actually got the boy to eat some veggies. He loved the change of pace, and I love that I only had to wash a cutting board and 2 knives instead of pots and pans and strainers. Especially now that Phoenix is starting to heat up, cold dinners are going to be a priority for me.

And since I don't have a photo from the weekend, here's a little eye candy. This is why I want to move to the Pacific NW. The photo was taken in the first week of January 2004 along the coast of Oregon. Breath. Taking.

100th Post

Wow, that couldn't have worked out better if I had planned it. 100th post, 1 hour left in the year. 2007 has been good to me, what with graduation, marriage, honeymoon in Alaska, and a new job. We have big plans for 2008, the first of which is starting a savings account for our future house (well the downpayment anyway). I am on an organization kick and I am determined to not only get the house cleaned, but also to get my decorating done.

The reason for the long pause in blogging is The 12 Days of Christmas Swap that I was working on. Oh my god, it was fantastic. Check out the gallery.

Our first married Christmas together was awesome. My dad came to visit, and we all got some nice stuff. The Hubs mostly got stuff for his Xbox and some movies. I got stuff for the house, and we got a spiffy new photo printer! The animals also had an awesome Christmas with lots of goodies.

And now, I leave you with a very strange sight: Tweek being cuddly!

Oh give me a home, where the Frodo-lo roam...

... and the Tweek, and the Mees and Eves play.

Lots of stress lately. Exactly 2 weeks until the wedding. There is no way my shawl is going to get finished with all the other crap I've been working on. Also, I have to say, I just don't want to knit on it. I want to knit socks, or a hat, or work on my sweater or something. Something different. No more lace for me right now. Just no. Maybe I'll finish it on the honeymoon. I just don't want to rush and screw it up.

I've been going through the house in an effort to de-clutter. I've started a "donate this stuff" box and my goal is to fill one box for each floor. If I can do that, then maybe I can do more later. Baby steps. There is some good news however. I finished all the laundry. ALL of it, and now I just have to put it away. That's a big relief for me. The kitchen is also clean, and the living room is making radical progress. Now if I can just convince The Boy to let me get rid of his huge eyesore of a couch, all will be well.

As for the title of this post, it's just a tribute to my sweet kitties. Their daily cuddles have been keeping me sane, and Tweek's recent hyperactivity has been keeping me entertained. Frodo is my buddy boy, always snuggling up for scritches when I get in bed. Evelyn creeps up by my head and chirps in my ear for her own scritching session. Mia splays out on my belly and purrs. And Tweek usually comes by in the morning for a short head scratch. Thanks to their efforts, and the wonderful attention from The Boy, I have to say I'm happy despite all the random stress.

The Fug Monster

Went with my man to meet his family down in Phoenix this weekend. I had a great time, and his family is wonderful. One of his aunts took the following photo of us, and I would normally say it is very cute... of him anyway. I look like a total fug monster, and it depressed me greatly. Can't I take one attractive picture? Just one? What will happen with the wedding? Am I going to feel like a fug monster in all those photos too? *le sigh*. :(

click to see scary, unedited version

Soft and Pricky

I got a lot more done on Calorimetry. I think it will be finished by the end of the weekend. I'm in love with Paton's Rumor. It's just sooooo soft and lovely and wonderful. I don't remember the name of the colorway at the moment, but it's a gorgeous dark rose heather.

And also, The Boy brought me 12 long stem roses today! He came home from work carrying a huge white box, and there they were. I love him so much, he's so sweet. No special occasion today. I had him take my photo with them, even though I looked like crap. He says "I bring you flowers all the time because you never look like crap to me." *swoon*

Christmas in Funky Town

Despite erratic weather patterns, we had a semi-white Christmas. The snow was sad and tired (and half melted), but it was there and that's what counts. My parents came here to spend Christmas with me and The Boy. SantaDad brought the cats a whole box (I mean like a shoebox) full of packages of treats. They, as usual, seemed to ignore most of what was going on, but Tweek ripped open a whole bag of treats before we saw it coming. So now the treat bags are hiding in the pantry, away from prying little jaws. Our Christmas tree was knocked over only a couple times, which I think is an all-time low. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the general loafing around.

It was a good haul this year too. I got a new Bernette sewing machine, an immersion blender, some bento toys, a silpat, and some bread baking books. Mom also bought me The Sims 2 Pets, which has been eating up most of my time lately. I've been cultivating my own personal musk over the last few days. It is my general tendency to take showers when I leave the house, but usually when I have no where to go I just marinate. Natural oils are good for the hair, and my skin dries out easily after bathing. But mostly I blame The Sims for the current state of funkiness.

The Sickness has now settled upon The Boy. I was pretty miserable all through the holiday season, and therefore have done any knitting (or anything productive, for that matter). And then The Boy got a fever last night, so it doesn't look like knitting is on the near horizon either. Actually, I've been going through a crafting slump. There are days when all I think about is yarn or knitting, and I can't sleep because of the visions of Bearfoote dancing around my head. But then there are times like this, where I haven't knitted and for some reason I just don't want to. The slump usually lasts a couple of months. What I need is to find a project that I'm REALLY excited about, and that should get me going again.

2006 has been pretty good to me, bringing me a wonderful man and a tweaky little kitty. 2007 is shaping up to be even better, with an engagement ring, a graduation, and a wedding. As always, I'll be posting the highlights. Until then, I'm going to go soak in a tub with my new Lush products!

Finally free.

For better or worse, finals are finally over. I spent the first couple post-exam days in a groggy state of binge sleeping and computer gaming. But then I was able to snap out of the stupor and finish The Boy's Christmas Gloves. They are the Unisex Gloves pattern from One Skein, and are knit in Tahki Torino in color 116. The Boy looooooves them and they passed their first test today in keeping his fingers warm as toast. I wish I could boast such success out of the hat for mom. I might end up frogging it and starting over. I dunno. Anyway here are some photos of the lovely gloves.

Knitting progress is slow but sure

I've been working on so many non-knitting related things lately, it's been slow going on The Boy's x-mas gloves. But here is the one I finished over Thanksgiving. They really don't take long. If you knitted in a marathon, you could do it in one day. Or like me, it'll take you 3 damn weeks. They aren't made from "one" skein either. It's going to take 2 and a partial 3rd to finish. But then again, they're small balls and the book probably used a huge one (huh, the book has huge balls. y'all know, I had to say it). Anyway The Boy also has huge......... hands (tricked ya!) so that is also why the gloves are gobbling up yardage as we speak. I have the second glove cast on and half the cuff finished. This weekend I'm going to sit down and finish it completely. And none too soon, because it got COLD here in Flagstaff. Observe:

OMG Productivity!

So this weekend was nice 'n relaxing. The Boy and I played World of Warcraft a lot, and then he took me out to a burger joint for a date. I loves me flame grilled cow. But aside from that, we've done a whole lotta nothing this weekend. I've been taking many naps. That's about it... until tonight. I got really angry at how dirty the house is (see earlier post), so tonight I decreed that the kitchen be cleaned. I would have taken some before photos, but I don't want Cat Protective Services to come and take away my babies. But voila! Here is my cleaned kitchen in all it's tiny, cramped glory.

This photo is not as impressive, as the refrigerator blocks the cleaned countertop.
And here is the more impressive side of the kitchen. Check out those countertops, y'all. And the whiteness of the stove. I scrubbed that thing back to it's rented glory.

And The Boy also helped me hang the stained glass that I got from my mom (ignore the pathetic plant, I'm trying to save it).

Ok, it's been awhile.

I haven't been lazy about crafting, I've just been lazy about posting. Haven't been doing a whole lot of knitting lately (translation: been knitting my head off but nothing is getting finished). I did however start making stitch markers. I will post a bunch of stuff this weekend as it's a 3 day weekend (YAY!).

I also just turned 25. I'm now halfway through my twenties. I pretend like it bothers me more than it actually does. For my birthday, The Boy bought me a season of the Simpsons, flowers, and this gorgeous necklace. I lurve it.

Knitting, Australopithecines, and Darth Vader

What part about "I need to just sit down and finish one... just one... of my poor forgotten projects" did I not understand? I got into a knitting frenzy this last weekend, and now I have more unfinished projects!!!! I was working on a scarf for a friend of mine... just stash busting really. See, awhile ago I got over-ambitious and thought "Hey, what would be fun to knit? I know! A stockinette stitch black sweater!" And that is how I ended up with about 10 skeins of black boring Caron Simply Soft. Well, I guess it's better than having 10 skeins of red heart. At least this stuff is actually soft. Anyway I also knitted one of Knucks. So even though that one glove is done, it doesn't have a mate and therefore sits, as Kim puts it, in the Knitting Basket of Shame.

In other musings, I was up till 4am last night talking with my boyfriend about various things. The first was a 30 minute lecture on Australopithecus afarensis. I know, its sad that I know the latin name. But oh well. We got to talking about Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles (which he's read) and the theory that Jesus was a vampire. Amusing. As if that weren't enough, I started blabbing about medieval history, and how I enjoy that era the most. And then there was the discussion of Constantine and the Roman Empire. Oh yes, we talked about many things.

Our evening ended on a more contemporary note. We were discussing what it is that makes Darth Vader so awesome. His view is that Vader is a very Git'R'Done type of leader. I argued that it is Vader's incredible stillness that makes him great. I mean think about it. The Emperor is essentially a chatty cathy doll, who is always yapping and yammering about something. Vader is stealty and silent. Much more imposing in my opinion.