it’s christmas

It’s been a nice couple of days here. Last night we went to Yoshi’s to see Clairedee perform her annual Christmas Eve show and it was really wonderful! The music was great and we shared a table with a couple super nice ladies. Good times!

I realize today is Christmas, but even though I tried to make things festive and we ate cookies and pepperoni rolls sent from our mom’s and opened gifts it’s just not the same without the rest of your family. Now, don’t go feeling sorry for us or anything. We had gifts to open and I was able to use the ceramic Christmas tree my mom painted way back in the 80’s. Pretty!

And there’s always the Yule Holiday Log channel. I really tried to take a picture of Santa’s arm coming in and stoking the fire, but I just didn’t have the patience to sit around and wait for the phantom arm to show up again.

What was really nice about today is that Leeloo took a nap mid morning and I was able to get several pattern rows done on the shawl. I am getting really excited about wearing it, but that dang chart is complicated and if I’m not totally focused on it I tend to miss the yarn overs. Super annoying.

In the afternoon we went to see Tron Legacy in 3-D. Loved it! I thought they did a really great job in moving the story forward. Interesting side note, after the movie I mentioned to Joe that I was going to put the original Tron (from 1982) in my Netflix queue and he said it probably isn’t there. Something about Disney being embarrassed about it cause it was really bad. Hmmm… so yeah, not currently available on Netflix and I checked Amazon to see if it was available. So? Yeah, it’s available. But only from third party sellers for crazy prices. No one seems to be selling it retail. Check here for what I found. I find things like this intriguing. It’s like Lucas updating the original Star Wars. It’s just weird. You just can’t compare a movie made today to one made 20 + years ago. Things change. You can’t remake the past. Time to move forward.

Speaking of moving forward. I’ve also been working on my big Noro blanket. I happened to unfold it today, which apparently I hadn’t done in forever. Wow! It’s much bigger than I realized. Heh. I feel like I might be able to finish this thing up sometime in 2011. I guess that makes it a New Years Resolution.

big news or maybe it’s nothing

At the moment I am sitting in the middle seat in the rear of a plane flying to San Francisco. A lot has happened in the past few weeks and it’s been a crazy whirlwind of time and energy. The short of it is we may be moving to said city and the long of it is filled with major, minor, and the mundane that relates to this kind of decision making. For now we are planning as if we are going so as not to be caught with our pants down. With all the stress and sleepless nights I’ve lost two pounds. Heh. Maybe I can market this as the new wonder diet plan for the ages.

I wish I could say April Fool’s, well, not really… cause I am so excited about the prospects of this kind of move, but the uncertainty of it all is so very daunting. For us it’s a decision of epic proportion that’s as easy it is hard.

So we are off to SF and tomorrow Joe will have his first face to face interview and I will scout the city to see what neighborhoods seem livable with a few apartment viewings thrown in so we can be reminded just how big small 1500 square feet really is.*

So that’s our big news. It’s time to get back to knitting this really lovely Damson shawl. I seem to be having issues with yarn overs at the moment so hopefully this short break will help me gain a little perspective on how this very very hard simple shawl should be knit.

Toodles!

* I do love a really good run on sentence…

computers and knitting

Computer dismantlation has been happening at Chet JS(squared) this week. Due to my husbands love of all things tech/computer related we were apparently due to a system overhaul. Here is a sampling of the innards of one of our ready to be upgraded PC’s. Lovely!

Actually, I can’t really complain. The computer I am on now is running super fast and everything has been cleaned up before our friends show up for some Sunday Grillin’. Keep your fingers crossed that the rain stays away…

I’ve been diligently working on my Secret Garden Shawl for the Unique Sheep KAL. I finished up Clue 3 this morning so now I have two weeks to get through the next one. Wish me speedy knitting! Especially since I am at 382 stitches around.

the sky, new yarn, and a secret kal

Coming home from yoga tonight the sky was really beautiful.

 

This was from the opposite direction. I love seeing the clouds in these amazing colors.

On a yarny note… I caved last week and bought some really lovely Malabrigo sock yarn. The last thing I need is more sock yarn, but this color just smacked me upside the head and said, Here I Am!

I mean seriously… could you pass up a yarn named Velvet Grape? Yummy!

I am still diligently working on my Secret Garden KAL. Here it is after Clue 2 plus a couple of knit rows from Clue 3. Tonight I started in earnest on Clue 3 and will be ready to start on row 41 tomorrow. Only 14 more rows to go with 192 stitches around. I hope I can get this done by Friday so I can be ready for Clue 4. I am totally excited that I have been able to keep up with this so far!

a few of my favorite things

I finished my first clue for the shawl Friday night. Can’t wait to get the next clue on Friday to see where this will be going.

Last night we went see a friend of ours act in some local fringe theatre. It took place outside in a parking lot behind a warehouse on Central. This is where we sat to watch Fight Club.

It was put on by Citizens of the Universe. Here is the director, James Cartee, in front of the set. It was gritty, but that was the idea. We really enjoyed ourselves.

Totally random for they day, but does anyone know what these are? I think they may be female wild turkeys… they have been hanging around a road near our house and I am pretty curious.

Tonight I made brownies, but not just any brownies.

These are S’more Brownies I picked up off of Joy the Bakers blog.They look so yummy!

Here is the finished product and they are pretty darn good. A little more of a cake like brownie, but still delicious! I’ll have to make these next time we have friends over to grill. The perfect summer time dessert. Thanks Joy!!

introducing...

the yarn. Isn't it just delightful? This came from The Unique Sheep and I am getting ready to start my first secret knit along. Introducing the Katherine Luxe yarn I am using for The Secret Garden Knitting Club.

I wound my first skein just a moment ago and after a few other things get done I will be casting on for the first clue!

In other news, we seem to have a resident frog in the pergola out back.

This will give you a little perspective on him. Ignore the glowing eyes, he really is a friendly little guy. You may have to click on the picture to embiggen.

you know it's all going a little to well...

I felt like I was getting pretty good at posting a little something on a semi-regular basis, I was creating some good habits (going to yoga, walking), and getting things done on my to do list like a good little girl. And then. It happens. I get deathly ill. Seriously. I don't get sick. Ever.

Thursday night was unbelievable. I won't go into the details, but I made fast friends with her porcelain holiness. It was really horrible and then I was so weak for the rest of the weekend and really didn't feel like my normal self until Wednesday. Just wrong.

So now, I have some catching up to do...

They are replacing a set of escalators in one of the buildings downtown. Have you ever seen the inner workings of one?

These are the old ones. Dirty.

I attempted to take some pictures of Cozy to post, but they didn't turn out all that great. At least it gives you an idea of how far along I am. Last night was the first night I had been able to work on it since early last week. I hope the lace blocks out a bit more so you can see the pattern better, but since it's cotton I'm not sure how that is going to work out.

Today I took Rosey & Roscoe to the vet for their annual looksie and to get their crazy long nails trimmed. Seriously, they were longer than mine and the buns are only like 3-4 pounds each. Here they are in bunny jail waiting to go in for the exam.

Roscoe came out with a clean bill of health, but Rosey was another story. Turns out she has a bit of a yeast infection in both ears (treatable with some regular cleaning and ear drops) and some crazy messed up teeth. It's called malocclusion and it's not a good thing. Good thing I took her in for a check up when I did, it looks really bad. Tomorrow I have to call and make an appointment with a more experienced rabbit vet up north to have them looked at. The life of a bunny owner is full of surprises!

This is what they should look like. Who knew that in less then a year rabbit teeth could go from completely normal to crazy. Poor Rosey!