Forgot to show you..

I was reminded that although I posted my finished Kimmy and Kimmy's Dumpling bag on Ravelry, I never posted it here to my blog.  So without further ado Kimmy:



Kimmy's Dumpling - made from Kimmy's scraps - will hopefully be lined at some point and used as a sock project bag.



What happened to Samantha you may ask.  I am still working on some finishing touches, you will probably see it next weekend.


I started a project, probably for the Angie with yarn I bought on a crawl through the Philly area, sponsored by her kewlness Min, when Angie was in orientation.



I am knitting it up on size 15 needles... blech.  When I first started knitting I was convinced I would never, never knit with anything smaller than an 8.  Now I say nothing smaller than a 1.  And 15's feel very unwieldy, I will power through and finish. 

In my 52 in 52 group ( we plan on knitting/crocheting 52 items in 2010) I am done with 32.  The afghan and Samantha this weekend will bring me up to 34.  I am making some mini socks which should be quick knits... sigh.  I started the year off so well.  But, even though I am not ruling it out, I really don't want to resort to a handful of dishcloths on New Year's Eve.

People Are Drawn to Your Energy

You have a real zest for life. You approach each day with optimism. You believe it's important to keep going no matter what. You're always ready to tackle a new challenge. You naturally boost the energy levels of those around you. You have a lot of enthusiasm and stamina. You know how to get people moving in the right direction. You are a natural coach.

Why Are People Drawn To You?

Blogthings: We Have a Quiz for Almost Everything

         

Cold Rainy Monday

Am I the only one who enjoys a cold rainy day??  Judging from all the grousing I've heard I feel like I must be.  An mind you I was outside in the rain dealing with trucks for an hour, the only annoying thing is the droplets on my glasses, bet that was no biggie.  I always say I'm not sweet, so I'm not going to melt.  

So I only have one minor thing to report on the project me front.  I bought myself a birthday present.  It is currently in the hall closet, because I'm not going to play with it until my birthday, so you guys will have to wait until them to see it.  Curt laughed  when he saw it and I have a feeling some of you may as well.  But he did admit even if my hints included printing out the items and the store and taping them to his forehead, he probably wouldn't have taken the hint and gotten it, because he would have thought I wasn't serious.... MEN!!

Some quick news about Angie, that those of you on Twitter ( ahem ..... Grace....) already may have seen.  There was a big tournament , the Temple Open, schools from all over the country were there ( Angie made friends with a girl from Georgia Tech Jean!!) Now, remembering that Angie is a freshman, and has had success at tournaments, but only in NJ, NY, CT, MD and PA - not national tournaments.  She finished 20th out of 71 women sabres.  She finished 2 positions ahead of her old captain from high school who fences for Haverford now. So woot! (or shoudl I say Hoot?)  Great Job Angie!!


Lastly, it is November 8th.  One of my best friend's older brother was assigned to this unit after this battle went down, he's still in the service, plans on retiring next year.  My friend was 4 in 1965, I wasn't born yet.  But since it came out, this song always chokes him up and he plays it like a million times, especially today.  And I love John Rich.  So I'll share with you.

A Saturday...

Saturday, a day that conjures up freedom and bliss.  Blech, not lately.  I woke up way, way before the sun.  I tried staying in bed until sunrise, but by 630, I was bored and my back was getting stiff, so I got up.  I laid out an afghan and realized that knitting/crocheting squares over the course of 6 months, and (here's the real mistake) using the last finished square to measure the current square, was a problem.  My squares are different sizes.  Some drastically.  Sigh.  Also since there is a size limitation on the 'ghan, my plan of 4 across and 5 down would be too big.  SO I did what I should have done in the beginning.  I got a piece of foam core and cut it to a square.  But instead of the 10" square it should have been, it was a 12" square since there were a few at 10 1/2 to 11 inches.  I am now, crocheting borders around the squares in black until they match the template.  And the 12 I will end up using are laid out so as I do the borders I am seaming them together.

Curt and I were going to go out to lunch while running a bunch of errands today.  The first place we went to is 5 Guys Burgers & Fries which recently opened a location in Denville.  This place has gotten massive amounts of good reviews from it's other locations, and has been featured in a lot of different magazines and newspapers.  It was a really cute retro themes restaurant, with white tiles accented by red ones, vinyl booths etc.  But looking at the menu - they only cook their burgers well done.  Now it has been my experience that places that fresh grind their beef ( Fatburgers, Fuddruckers to name two) will cook rare burgers. Or at the very least medium-rare.  It's why I won't order burgers at places like Applebees, and at Ruby Tuesdays the only burger I'll order is the fresh ground angus burger (which admittedly the last time I was there was a few years ago so I don't know what they have currently).  I like my burgers rare!! I do not like my burgers medium much less well done!! Now I still would have gotten a burger, because Curt was looking forward to trying their burgers.  BUT, their fries were done in peanut oil and Curt is allergic to peanuts.  So Curt couldn't have the fries, I wasn't going to be happy with my burger we left.

We headed to a place that had "Mediterranean  food"  We had gotten their menu a couple months ago, and I have been looking for a good falafel sandwich nearer to home than Paterson, which is close to work, and honestly I'm never detouring through there on my way home.  So we pull in and they are closed.  And there is a handwritten for sale sign in the window.  My tummy wasn't happy.

So at this point I. Am. Hungry.  and a tad grouchy about it.  So we head for the Alexis Diner, always a good choice, except during peak "diner" times when it can be a wait because it isn't a really big diner.  ( OMG they make the most AWESOME Irish Lamb Stew, but it isn't always on the menu)  Since I was wound up for a falafel sandwich I went with a gyro (same tzatziki sauce, OK not the same, Alexis makes the best tzatziki I've had)  and Curt had a bacon cheeseburger, rare, with fries that wouldn't kill him.

We still had more things to do, and it was 3:45 by the time we got home.  I took a nap.  I had my alarm set for 5. It went off.  I couldn't get it to stop buzzing.  I tried every button, and it was turned off, everything was off.  I unplugged it. Still buzzing.  Then I realized it was the alar,m on my cell phone.  blech.

On a positive note, the Temple Owls beat Kent State 28-10, giving them a 8-2 record, 5-1 in the MAC, and first place in the MAC. 
Have I mentioned that Angie loves their new coach, Al Golden??

You Are 75% Creative

You are beyond creative. You are a true artist - even if it's not in the conventional sense of the word. You love creating for its own sake, and you find yourself quite inspired at times.

How Creative Are You?

Blogthings: Discover the Parts of Your Personality that Have Been Hiding

     

I stole Grace's Friday Fill- ins.

I'm kinda pissy today.  Almost got my butt fired, but she couldn't.  :P
I realize I haven't posted all week (there were no thunks yesterday!!) and I wasn't feeling very inspired so I stole Grace's Friday Fill-ins.

1. Sometimes, I just want to run away and start over.

2.  I'm still really pissed__ about the whole thing.

3. Small  brains and big ego's are a volatile combination when encountering my temper as an ignition source.
 
4.  How people respond to stress  is very enlightening.

5. I keep meaning to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.
 
6. They haven't been able to figure out the rules that allows them to win  ..yet.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to homemade gnocchi_, tomorrow my plans include _laundry, grocery shopping, mail Angie a care package (SPOILED KID) and of course college football and britcoms at night___ and Sunday, I want to _watch Tony win the race___!


This quiz came out frighteningly accurate!

Your Thinking is Concrete and Random

You are naturally inquisitive and curious. You're excited by new ideas, and you are a true independent thinker. You are interested in what is possible. You like the process of discovery. You are often experimenting, challenging old ideas, and inventing new concepts. Rules, restrictions, and limits don't really work for you. You have to do things your own way, and you can't be bothered to explain yourself.

What Kind of Thinker Are You?

Blogthings: Our Quizzes Weren't Written By Bored 12 Year Olds

       

Please Vote!

Remember there are people in parts in the world wait on line for hours and risk their lives for the opportunity to vote.  Don't take your rights for granted or else don't complain when you find you have none!!

Project Me (6) - Atonnement spoilers.

WOW!  My last project me post was 10.04.10 that was just about a month ago.   So to try to recap.  The book I read from the 1001 list took me all month.  Part 1 was really hard to get into.  But, Angie liked the book - I have mentioned she's really smart right?  It was literally over half the book!  Once  again an over indulged spoiled little girl is the main character.  Her naivete/fantasy/assumptions change her sister,  her cousin, her father's protege and her brother's friends lives and destinies.   Part 2 was seen through the eyes of a soldier retreating across France, wounded with a fever and only partially lucid, but a great improvement over the first part.  I guess it was the triumph of love, and the determination and will to live to reach the true love made this short section necessary, as well as letting the reader catch up on what happened since Part 1 ended. Part 3 was interesting, the whole girl grows up, realizes her mistake and tries to redeem herself.  Dealing with the casualties of war also forces her to grow up in one long day as a probationary nurse.  IF it had ended there, the reader could imagine that her sister and her lover, after finding each other again live happily ever after, that perhaps while never achieving the lost closeness of sisters, there are repairs made to the relationship.  But in the final section "1999"  the girl, now an old woman, facing slow dementia due to micro-strokes is wrapping up her life's business.  You would be led to believe that the first three parts are the result of her lifelong project - a book.  But as she takes stock, we discover that the soldier - her sister's true love- dies of a blood infection, probably from his wound in France, a few weeks after she sees him and her sister.  Her sister only survives a couple of months, dying in the German bombing of London.  Her cousin, who has married her rapist, now the couple is Lord and Lady, and dedicated to charitable works.  And as the narrator heads to her own birthday party, a full circle is made, as the grand and great-grandchildren of her brother and cousins, stage the play she herself wrote at 13, that she was trying to stage with her cousins for her brother at the beginning of the book.  I don't know, it just wasn't a satisfying ending.

I also checked out Gregory Maguires new book The Next Queen of Heaven  I loved his wicked series (also just got a Lion among Men) and his fairy tale books - Mirror, Mirror and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, are 2.  But this book, happens in upstate New York, with an exceptionally obnoxious teenage girl, who just needs some sense smacked into her.  I got about 50 pages in and decided that live was just too short to deal with another book with an obnoxious girl. So I closed the book and returned it to the library.

I was going to go for my semi-annual hair cut (annual this time, I missed the spring and then it was getting too close to summer - I live in fear  of not being able to put my hair in a ponytail/bun)  but some things came up and now I have to reschedule.   If and when I finally get around to it, don't worry you'll get to see it.  It is tough, because I hate blowdrying - and let's face it I leave my house at 330 am- so it really isn't happening  well - ever!  So the cut has to work with the way my hair wants to fall.  

I did find a new nail polish - I am totally in love!!  It is red ( painted a streak on a piece of paper towel because it was hard to tell) but so dark red that it just about looks black.  And there is a ton of glitter in it so it almost glows in the sunlight.  Of course when I went to take a picture it was hard to find the right light, but here's the best I could do:





They look almost brown here, sigh maybe I'll get a better picture this week!


I went to grace's daughter's a couple Saturday night's ago, to a Lia Sophia jewelry party.  I did get Angie something which for obvious reasons I can't tell you about until after Christmas.  It was kind of fun - haven't seen her husband Tom for a long time (he installs carpet,so when we agree and she doesn't, we chalk it up to carpet fumes)  and I only briefly met her daughter once.   And it was just kind of different from my usual Sat night, with my usual suspects.

I went to lunch at Mara's (local coffee roaster, dessert shop, cafe) with Grace last week.  I picked her up/ broke her out!  LOL!  We had the best pumpkin spinach quiches ever!  She was good and had a salad ( she's lost over 40 pounds since last spring - way to go Gracie!)  Me, I indulged and had a New England Clam Chowder and spiced hot caramel cider.  It was fun catching up. (and she listens to me whine about work, and about Braun's not sending C etc without complaint, and I think she's actually able to follow my jerky, disconnected, ADD  random trains of thought!

Temple annoyed me, they said they didn't receive a tuition payment, and weren't going to let Angie register for next semester, and for some reason we couldn't pull up the image on the computer so Curt had to go to the bank and straighten everything out.  Angie is doing well so far in her classes, she's feeling the work load, but all the time management skills she has from her HS days are serving her well and she's staying on top of everything.  She had a bad cold and since a lot of people in her dorm were coming down with strep, she got checked out, but no strep thank goodness. I sent her a care package with microwave chicken soup cups, zinc/ecchinacea drops, airborne, a lot of hand sanitizer (she did start out with   several large bottles in August, but just to be safe) and I made her some homemade chocolate chip scones with red/white colored sugar on top ( Temple's colors).

She has been keeping up with politics on campus.  She went to MSNBCs Chris Matthew's show broadcasting from the Temple campus, a few days later Bill Clinton was there, and Saturday she gave up the football game (the Owls won without her) to see President Obama on campus.