GimmeADog

Rainy Sunday

2009-09-06T10:51:00.000-07:00

Luckily, I have already been social and productive this weekend, as today is inviting nothing more than sitting around in my flannel pjs with my laptop to keep me warm and entertained.

Friday was for fun:
Lena and Ferguson are in town for Bumbershoot, so we had a BBQ that was mostly not rained out. Rounding out the mob: Rebecca, Jenn, Erin and Erik.

Saturday was for doing:
Although there is much organizing left to be done, the office is coming together. I think it is my favorite room in the house, owing to the bright green walls, my purple files, and the bulletin boards I made yesterday. (Glued 4 cork squares each to oak craft boards, then covered in heavy oxford fabric I had in the stash.) I'm pretty pleased with how the room is shaping up.

If the rain lets up, we may do a little Bumbershoot tomorrow. Time will tell.

I can haz a blog?

2009-08-14T09:35:00.001-07:00

Just sitting here thinking, maybe I should start a blog. Then I remembered, I have a blog! Funny, that.

Update: We bought a house. It's in Shoreline. We move in next week. We're pretty stoked.

And you KNOW what having a house means, right? Aw yeah... Imma get me some dog! The plan goes:
1. Move
2. Unpack
3. Save up enough money to afford the initial outlay for a dog
4. GET MY DOG

There has been a good deal of discussion (and perhaps some arguing) about what kind of dog will be joining our family. I'm all for the medium-to-large mutt variety, my apparently blue-blooded husband prefers the premium variety. As long as it's a rescue, I'm down for most anything that wags. There will be posts as details unfold.

Usual end of the quarter update

2008-03-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

Not much to update, but it's the end of the quarter, and I typically manage a new post about this often.

This was actually a pretty smooth quarter. Busy as all get-out, but not too bad, overall. No major student issues, crises, or health trauma. The big class at Big State U was characteristically impersonal, while the small class at Community was wonderful. I had a great group of students this quarter, and I will miss them dearly. It actually felt as though we had some fun - imagine that!

In other news, there isn't much other news. Just a dull few winter months here in Seattle.

I've been working (slowly) on a baby surprise jacket for a friend who is due in a few months.

I'm knitting it from my own handspun, in pinks and oranges. I hope the color scheme appeals to someone else besides me!

I've had no time for spinning this quarter, and Fresh Yarns hasn't been updated in an age and a half. I even got hand-carders for Christmas, and haven't found the time to use them yet. I am a very bad crafter! Hopefully spring will bring a few more hours for crafting!

Speaking of things I should be spending time on, E (sister) and I have registered for this summer's Danskin Triathlon. It will be her first and my second, though the first in 3 years for me. I've got so much training to do - it's unreal. There is a commercial currently playing on tv where a character says "I'm not fat, I'm just unfit!" - and I identify completely! So very unfit! But we've got a few months to train, and this is certainly the motivation I need to get myself back into fighting shape. I'm sure there will be much whining to come.

Stay tuned!

Caucus excitement

2008-02-09T16:12:00.001-08:00

Today the H-man and I were a part of history, along with many other Seattlites. We participated in the democratic caucus!

Since primary votes do not determine democratic delegates in the state of WA (despite the fact that we can vote in the primary), and we feel pretty strongly about our candidate of choice, we decided to participate. It was our first caucus, and it was pretty interesting. I'd say it was exciting, but mostly it was just sort of hot and noisy, with tons of people packed into the gym of a local high school.

It was really cool to see so many people come out to participate, and to be a part of it ourselves. Also pretty cool was that in our precinct, things were incredibly straightforward. The vast majority supported Obama, with the initial delegate counts ending up 5 for Obama and 1 for Clinton. But after speeches were made and uncommitted participants chose a candidate, our precinct ended up going 6-0 in favor of Obama. That was pretty damn exciting.

Also pretty rad was the fact that on the other side of the gym, a precinct made up almost entirely of elderly citizens from a retirement home also went for Obama. How cool is that? More interesting than seeing the candidate that I favor gaining so much support was being present to actually see how people are thinking. I hear the daily news and general punditry, and from that I would assume that my elderly (democrat) neighbors would strongly favor Clinton. It was nifty to see what's going on directly, beyond the national statistics.

So anyway, that's that. Now to wait anxiously for the overall results from around the state.

Annaroni and Cheese

2007-11-02T22:48:00.000-07:00

Over the summer I made macaroni and cheese for some friends. They rather liked it, and have dubbed it, or perhaps me (?), Annaroni & cheese. Someone asked me for the recipe tonight, but I really don't have a recipe to give. I just *make* the stuff. It's never the same twice, and as far as I know, it's really just basic m&c. Having just made it this afternoon though, I thought I'd try to jot down, for posterity, how I make this macaroni and cheese that has garnered me a new identity and probably rushed many friends toward early coronary bypasses.

Start off with a nice big pan. I like to use my big le cruset soup pot (cheese sauce cleans out of enamel well).
Over warm heat, melt some butter. Let's say, oh, 3 Tbsp.
Crush up a bunch of garlic into the melted butter. I usually go for 5-6 cloves. Maybe more if I'm not going to be socializing. But definitely no less.
Now, being super careful, make sure your heat is just high enough to simmer the garlic a bit, without scorching it. If it get's burnt and stinky, start again! There is no recovering from scorched garlic. You must banish it.
When the garlic is just the lightest bit tan, stir in some flour (1/3 cup should do) with a whisk. Make sure the flour and butter really unite into a nice paste, or little butter/garlic/flour balls. No one should be left out of this party. Make sure everyone is mingling.
Keep an eye on the situation. You want the flour to toast a little bit, to get rid of that horrid raw-flour taste, but again - beware the scorching. When things smell sort of toasty, pour in some milk (~3 cups), using your whisk again to get everything nice and even.
Let the roux/milk situation cook for a bit on low/medium heat, stirring frequently. At this point, toss in some dry mustard and ground black pepper. I can't even begin to estimate how much. Keep simmering over medium heat. You want it to get warm, steamy and thicken a bit, but not necessarily actually boil.
Now for the fun part - the cheese! I use somewhere between 2-4 cups of various cheese. Typically, cheddar plays a big part, but beyond that, I usually go for about 4 types of cheese, total. Tonight I used cheddar, gruyere, muenster and parmesan. I also used panarello, but I'll get to that in a sec.
Grate up all your cheeses, and stir them into the milk sauce. Keep stirring until all the cheese is melted and the sauce is uniform and creamy.
While all this is going on, you should also cook a box of macaroni (or penne or rigatoni or whatever suits your mood).
Once the noodles are cooked and drained and the cheese sauce is ready to go, stir the two together. Taste some - you've waited long enough!
Spread the whole shebang into a large casserole dish. Set aside for a minute while you crush up about 20 melba toasts.
Melt about 2 Tbsp. butter in a small frying pan, and toss in the crumbs. Stir around until everything smells toasty, then sprinkle the buttery crumbs over the top of the mac and cheese.
Tonight, before baking, I also dotted tiny cubes of the panarello on top of the crumbs. That was a delicious addition, I must say.
Now, toss the whole thing into the oven at 350 degrees, for about 30 minutes (or until it's golden and bubbly and your house smells divine!).

Enjoy!

Warning: do NOT consume this mac and cheese the night before a blood test. You will fail. Your doctor might try to sue me. No one wants that.

Little update

2007-10-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

I keep thinking I should post something. Then I think I should post some pictures if I do. And then I don't seem to get around to uploading pictures, which seems to prevent me from posting.

I'm sitting here with my computer keeping my lap warm and thinking about posting, so I suppose I ought to just write something.

It's been a seriously busy few months. August was the usual whirlwind of birthdays, anniversaries and wrapping up summer quarter.

The highlight of September was Erin and Erik's wedding. It was perfect! I should have written about this sooner, but... Anyhow, the wedding was absolutely perfection. Erin was radiant. Erik beamed. EVERYONE cried. And cried. And then we all got tipsy and partied. The food, the band, the cake (oh! that cake!), the photographers, the flowers... everything was truly absolutely perfect. It was a beautiful day, and just the best wedding ever.

See how lovely?

Following our return from NY, I headed down to Oregon to do the Canby Flock and Fiber Festival with the lovely and sassy Sarah. (Who is a very good blogger, and probably wrote lots of good things about the weekend.) There may be some pictures of that, but they're languishing on my camera... maybe someday they'll make it out.

After the OFFF, I was ready for a good long rest. Instead, we moved. Oh, wait - I started a new quarter, and we moved. Into a house.

Don't get too excited, it's a rental. And there is a pathologically crazypants landlord in the mix. But still - house! Allow me to share these magic words: my. own. craft. room. Oh yeah - you read correctly. H and I each get our own room to do with what we will. Mine is adrift in crafty material. His is swimming with wires and gadgets and beer brewing equipment. But there's room enough for peace to reign, because of those magic words: my. own. room. It also has a backyard and two decks. Three bathrooms. Lots of closets. It's amazing how much landlord crap you can tolerate when given a ton of space.

We're having a party. You should come!

I think this is supposed to be a blog about teaching and doing crafty stuff, but it's usually just about being busy. I feel I should say something crafty.

I went to Webs! When I was on the east coast, after the wedding, I met up with Adrian and Carolyn and we went to yarn heaven! I have enough yarn for two sweaters that I will never have the time to make. But still... yarn! It was glorious! Oh, and once we were fully yarn sated, Ms. Lisa met us for the yummiest dinner in Northampton. It was glorious beyond imagination. (Marred solely by Mr. Sick E. Pants that came along despite being on his deathbed.) It was awesome to see the east coast ladies!

In other yarn-based news, which is neither new nor notable, I am still working on the shrug that I meant to wear to E's wedding. How long does it take to make a shrug? It's just sleeves! And yet, I persist. I'm getting there. The majority of the thing got done on the plane to and from NY, and in the car driving to see H's family. Definitely more than enough time to finish such a project, but no. Not me. I need to have my fingers checked... I think they're challenged. One day, the shrug will be done. Then maybe I'll finish the socks I started in March. And then on to those two sweaters.

I'll tell you about teaching some other day.

On marriage

2007-07-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

My sister is getting married in September and recently asked me to write some reflections on marriage based on experience. I came up with the following. It's still kind of rough, and there is certainly more I could say, but I sort of like this, and thought I'd share.

On a day-to-day basis, being married means sharing life with your very best friend - the person who you are closer to than anyone in the world, the person who knows you and whom you know as intimately as you know yourself. This means playing and having fun when all is well, holding each other close and propping one another up in the challenging times, and celebrating the best times. Being married is sharing - all of the moments of life, from the mundane to the very high peaks to the very low valleys.

It also means giving of yourself. Some consider marrying a sacrifice, or a loss of oneself. I don't see it that way. I see it as growing into a more fully developed person by giving up little individual foibles to be more open to your partner. In exchange, you also gain a fuller partner as s/he gives up his/her own trivialities. True, this doesn't always happen without conflict. But when conflict occurs, the ability to step back and recognize what is most important in the larger picture of your partnership will ultimately lead to an improvement in the marriage. We are all imperfect people, and I believe that a good marriage with the right person helps us to become better.

Although I was asked specifically about marriage, I'd like to share one thought on love, within a marriage. Love is so often misconstrued as a "thing." You have love or you don't, and it is a capricious thing that follows its own whims. But this just isn't true. Love is a verb, it is an action. We choose to love. We may "fall in love" during initial romantic attraction, but continuing to love is a decision we make. We all get older and in doing so, lose some of our young attractiveness, in many ways. But continuing to love one another once the romance has faded is a conscious choice. We go on loving because of commitment, because of a shared life and experiences, sometimes only because we vowed we would. The happy thing is that being in such a commitment - a daily, intentional bond - most often results in joy, comfort, contentment, and happiness beyond that first experienced during romantic attraction. It is a happy and joyful existence for the most part. But the reality is that we all have dark times, individually and as partners. Sometimes it is just hard to be good and giving, sometimes we are needy and selfish. Although this is something that will need attention and work, the commitment to continue loving one another is what carries us through these times.

Marriage is an obligation and it is work, but it is also fun and comfort and joy. After earning a Ph.D. and accomplishing several other personal achievements, I can still say that being a part of a strong and happy marriage is my biggest success, and truly the one that makes my life good.

Once again, into the breach

2007-06-17T19:36:00.000-07:00

Dear friends.

It seems I'm down to posting once every 10 weeks. I guess that's how long it takes before I realize that Blogger might cut me off if I don't post something.

There hasn't been a whole lot to say. Lots of teaching, not much spinning or knitting. I did teach myself to tie pearls. It's not hard. I gave away my first efforts before I snapped a pic, so visuals will have to wait until I've finished the one I'm working on for E's wedding.

Oh yes, the wedding! The biggest news since the last report would have to be that E's wedding shower went positively swimmingly! E, fBIL and I went to NY last weekend for the festivities. They were perfect. The venue was great, the guests were marvelous, everyone wore their party manners, and I do believe that fun was had by all. We followed the shower with a barbecue at our mom's house, with all the relatives and future in-laws. It was a helluva time.

Since then, I've wrapped up my spring quarter classes and am about to fling myself into summer quarter, starting tomorrow. One repeat course and one new one - should be a lark. At this point, not having had a week off since, um, December -?- I'm absolutely living for September. Glorious, glorious September. One whole month to recharge. Heh, at the rate I go, my next post probably won't happen until then.

Maybe I'll stop by in August to wish myself a happy 30th.

The Plague

2007-04-21T11:21:00.000-07:00

It's not just a novel by Camus.

It is also the state of things around here. H has been seriously ill for 11 straight days now. Flu (official, hospital diagnosed, flu virus), pneumonia, and ear infection. Fun stuff. He's been out of work and out of commission for a week and a half.

I managed to be the impervious nurse for the first full week. I felt fine. I was not going to catch this nastiness. Clearly I would have been symptomatic early on.

Yeah, right.

Wednesday morning arrived with full-on cough, sore throat, headache and bodyaches. My turn. Uch.

Hopefully I'll have something more interesting to offer next week.

Where is my assistant?

2007-04-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

Seriously, where has that twit run off to? Doesn't she know I've got a stack of papers to grade, lectures to prepare, a wedding shower to cobble together, an apartment to straighten up and man, I could really use a pedicure!

The quarter is going quite splendidly, to be honest. My students seem to be rather pleasant, bright, and self-sufficient. For those of you who don't spend time with the college population, this is nothing short of miraculous! This weekend's requisite busy-ness is just making me cranky. I've already graded exams for one class... delaying the article summaries that need to be graded for the other one. If only I could trick someone else into grading them!

*E, don't read this!*

I have to be the absolute worst matron of honor in the history of the world. E's shower is less than 2 months away now, and I don't have a venue for it. Oh, there was a venue chosen and about to be scheduled... with a chocolate fountain and all... but the MoB (that would be the Mother of the Bride, who is my own mother as well, but is being foisted upon others for the time-being until I get over being annoyed with her) didn't like the location. Why, oh why, did I capitulate? All of this nonsense could have been done and taken care of months ago. But no, the whining won and the original locale was scrapped. And now I'm desperately looking for a place to host a fancy shower for my darling sister who deserves the world - not my crap-ass attempts at planning a party from 3000 miles away. Seriously... if anyone out there is just dying to help plan a bridal shower in the Lake George, NY area, do let me know!

/end wedding whining.

In other news, H got a new tattoo last weekend. For those not familiar, it's a line from Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Mr. Vonnegut passed away on Wednesday, apparently satisfied that someone had tattooed his words into their flesh. RIP K.V.!

You may have noticed that for a blog supposedly about being crafty with fiber-stuffs, I haven't been very prolific in that department. Yes, that's another thing that brings me shame and sadness. I just haven't been very inspired to knit or spin lately. I'm working on a pair of socks, and have been spinning a bit... but I just haven't had the heart for it lately. Hopefully this ennui will be on its way out soon.

I did finish a necklace: The pendant is from gNeebo on etsy.com. (She has great pendants!)

Alas... back to work now.

Not much to say

2007-03-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd try something new... posting without waiting 3 months. Except I don't have much to say.

Went back to school yesterday. I'm teaching my usual lab class this quarter - yea for that. Hopefully my students will relax soon enough and we can all have some fun. Next week I'll start teaching my lecture class at the community college. This quarter I'll be teaching at the CC that's about 1 mile from my house. Sure beats last quarter's 40 mile commute! If my students are half as good as last quarter's students, I'll be happy. I did have a great class.

Remember waaaaay back, last summer, when I got 30lbs of alpaca fiber from a friend? Well, after 5 months at the processor (is that normal??) I finally got my roving back.

Four large bags: tan, brown, black and blended. Isn't it pretty? Sadly, it's full of vm, which makes for VERY tedious spinning. However, once picked over a bit, it spins like a soft and silky dream. I love it! I will take me years and years to spin it all. It's positively yummy!

She's aliiiiive!

2007-03-23T09:35:00.001-07:00

I am, indeed, alive!

Three months, two classes, 1 nasty bout of insomnia, complete social isolation, utter lack of time for crafting or blogging and 9000 cups of coffee later, here I am.

This blogging hiatus was brought to you by the fact that I taught two new-to-me courses this past quarter - physiological psychology and developmental psychology. One each at two different schools, with two VERY different student populations. It was a 3 month long lesson in student needs/demands, the logistics of lecturing to 350 students 8 times a week, and my own personal limits on the need for sleep/proper nutrition/exercise/social interaction. (Apparently I can go for 3 months with none of the above. Who knew?) Let's just say it was an adventure. Perhaps I'll say more when I can think about it without twitching.

To celebrate spring break, darling Sarah came up to visit. It rained, which kept us from doing much lovely leisurely walking or exploring, but we certainly found ways to fill the time.

Thursday night, Sarah, H and I joined my sister and future BIL for the Brewer's dinner at Ray's Cafe. Many tasty beers were paired with tasty plates. The food was lovely and the company delightful!

On Friday we had dinner and cocktails with the lovely and talented Ms. Rebecca and Ms. Jenn. The food was fantastic, the drinks were enlightening, and we all had a bit too much fun. (Or was that just me?)

Look! Sarah brought me a terrarium! I knew that she and some other friends have been on a terrarium kick lately, and I was thrilled to recieve a wee adorable one of my very own. Isn't that just the cutest little container? And it has shamrocks and a snail shell in it, along with some beautiful moss. My very own tiny garden! I love it.

I haven't had time to spin or do much knitting in the past 3 months, but am hoping to catch up with that, now that I'm a little less overwhelmed with lecture-writing. Stay tuned for updates.

The big update!

2006-12-26T09:56:00.000-08:00

Happy day after Christmas all!

As promised, I have tons of crafty goodness to post, now that it has been gifted. But first, the exciting news: Nikol's book is out, and my knitting is in it!!

As you can see here the tank and the owl that I knitted made an appearance in the book. I'm so excited (and unreasonably proud)!

Ok, onto more recent creations...

I finally got around to making a Clapotis.
This was a Christmas gift for my sister. I knit it from my own handpainted sock yarn, using the pattern from Knitty.com, modified to make a scarf.
Also for my sister - a pair of pearl and crystal earrings. For my sister-in-law, I made this jasper and leaf necklace. I hope she likes it!

I found this awesome pendant from gNeebo on etsy.com and made this necklace for a good friend of mine.

And finally, I present the project that I was most excited about: The R2D2 hat that I designed/knit for my brother-in-law! He is a huge Star Wars fan, and asked if I could make him a hat like this ages ago. I finally got to it, and am fairly pleased with the results. (Now I have to hope George Lucas won't sue me for some sort of copyright infringement.)

In addition to the glory of having lots of obligatory crafting out of the way, Christmas was grand. We spent the afternoon with my sister and BIL, ate tons of yummies, played games, and generally vegged out. It was a very nice, low-key day. I was gifted with many wonderful things - too many to list, for fear of leaving something out. I surprised H with a beer-brewing kit. We'll see how that goes... hopefully we won't have to sustain too many errors before he gets the hang of it.Happy Holidays!!

Happy Holidays!

2006-12-10T20:21:00.000-08:00

Well then! It's been a rollicking good time in ol' blogland, huh? No crafty pics to post lately, since all of my crafting has been aimed at Christmas... possibly for a loyal reader or two. Perhaps I'll manage an ex post facto update after gifts have been given. And apologies to Shawn, to whom I seem to remember promising a Thanksgiving extravaganza post. I did manage to take this picture before getting too busy & tipsy:Other than that - please use your imagination.

Moving ahead one holiday, here is the Christmas letter we will not be sending out this year:

Merry Christmas!

We hope this letter finds you well and having a wonderful holiday season! It has been a busy year for us.

In February, we went to Austin for the wedding of H’s sister M to P – a wonderful guy that we adore. The wedding was beautiful, and we had a great time in Austin. The city is a lot of fun, and not at all representative of the hellhole that we had been lead to believe was Texas.

For most of the summer, H was left to fend for himself while A devolved into a primitive state as she finished her dissertation. After her defense in August, we had a huge party to celebrate her return to civility. There were cupcakes and liquor! A may just have to get another degree, if that’s what it takes for a party like that.

At the end of August, we spent a week in San Francisco. We saw the sights, met up with a friend, ate lots of tasty things, visited a pirate supply store, and learned the hard way that in SF, all seafood is served with its head intact. We had a blast!

Autumn brought visits from both A’s father and mother. Though blessedly, not at the same time. A great time was had by all, and we just can’t wait to drag visitors through the Pike Place Market ONE MORE TIME!

H’s job is still going fabulously. A likes to joke that he is “curing cancer” – but that turns out to be just the case. We would give you the details, but we’ve learned that most people would rather pull out their own fingernails than attempt to understand scientific procedures. Watch for H on Time’s “Man of the Year” cover sometime soon.

A joined her friend S in September for the Oregon Flock and Fiber festival, where they peddled their handmade wares, including handspun yarn, dyed fiber for spinners, and other yarn-related accoutrements. Upon return home, A opened a small online shop selling her yarn and other handmade curiosities. Sadly, the business did not turn her into an overnight success, and she has been forced to take teaching gigs at the university to supplement the household income.

H has also continued to be very successful with his pipe smoking. He is up to 2-3 smokes per day, and took 3^rd place in a pipe-smoking competition this year. We’re very proud! To expand on his pipe smoking abilities, in October he went on an educational retreat to the Ozarks, where he met up with other pipe smokers. They had a good time smoking and playing banjo.

In the past year, we successfully fought the urges to buy a house and have a baby. It was rough, but we feel triumphant. By not using risky financing options or leaching money from our parents to buy a house, we have gained a tremendous amount of sanctimonious self-satisfaction. It may not be earning us equity, but if you don’t have pride – what do you have? Despite the advice from several well-meaning and all-knowing friends and family members, we have decided against breeding. Those who know us best agree – we are just not fit to breed. Between H’s misanthropic attitude and A’s shaky relationship with alcohol, we feel that this is a sound conclusion.

We’re looking forward to another stellar year. We hope to hear from you, and might even see you sometime soon!

Happy New Year!

Love,
A & H

A Saturday for doing

2006-11-18T22:57:00.000-08:00

Huzzah! Thursday is Thanksgiving! I love Thanksgiving. I love making a ton of food. Whether I'm feeding the two of us (most years) or 10 of us (this year), I love to make lots and lots of yummy holiday foods. For some reason, this tendency seems to upset others around me (my husband, my sister?), but it's my favorite way to spend my favorite holiday. Plus - leftovers!

This year I got an early start, and got lots of yummy bits made today, including 4 pie crusts (hooray pie!) and sweet potato crescent rolls (many thanks to my friend Liz for sharing the recipe years ago). These are in the freezer now, awaiting the big day. The fridge has also been cleaned and arranged, and the turkey is thawing and dreaming of it's upcoming briny bath.

During rising & baking time, I also got some spinning in. A pretty aqua yarn that I'm pleased with. Pictures are forthcoming. And I've been knitting and knitting, but only on Christmas gifts, so no pictures for a while.

I managed to pursuade H to see "For Your Consideration" with me tonight. Although the ensemble was funny as always, especially ad libbing most the movie, the writers really ought to have outlined a plot for the movie. Despite lots of giggles, I spent the whole movie waiting for it to start. Such a bummer, given how much I adore the Christopher Guest troupe. (Note to said: Please stop re-making "Waiting for Guffman" - it wasn't strong in the first place, and certainly does not bear reenactment.)

Halfway through November already?!

2006-11-14T21:57:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy several weeks, without a ton to report.

In addition to the biopsych class I was planning to teach, I've also been asked to teach a developmental psych class next quarter. Against my better judgement, I agreed, and am currently prepping 2 brand new classes that I've never taught before. Awesome-o!

I've been a bit behind in the crafty department, but have been able to make a bit of yarn and a few baby gifts, as shown below. (The blue blanket in the upper left hand corner, and the yellow bonnet on the left, middle.)
Other than that, we're just looking forward to having a full house on Thanksgiving. Family + friends + wine + pie = FUN!

Gratuitous crafty post

2006-10-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

In and effort to keep up the appearance that I occasionally turn something out, here is a pair of socks I made.

(Shhh, don't tell... I actually finished them in July.) I just forgot to take a picture of them until last week, before they finally flew out to their intended feet.

They are made of handdyed, handspun, superwash merino, using Adrian's Afterthought-heel recipe.

Mmm, pie!

2006-10-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

After I mentioned taking some comfort (over our recent home-buying let-down) in an NPR report on delinquint mortage payments and the idoitic borrowing practices that have lead to such a state, H sent me a link to this: Schadenfreude Pie.

Yes indeed, Schadenfreude pie is just what I need a little slice of these days.

As my mother would readily tell you, I'm a rotten person. But, aren't we all, at least a little?

I don't want to talk about it.

2006-10-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

Rather than erase half of my last post, I'm just going to say this - plans have changed and we are not going to be buying a house, condo, etc. at this point in time.

Yeah, I'm sad about it. But life goes on.

Progress

2006-10-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

A completed project - finally!
I've been working on this pinwheel baby blanket for months now, on and off. I finally finished it the other night. Washed and blocked, it's very soft and a reasonable approximation of what I was going for (i.e., a round baby blanket). Since the little person I started it for is now virtually in college, it will go to a newer little person, who shall remain nameless for surprise reasons.

This leaves me with approximately 25 baby gifts left to make. *sigh*

It's been quite the week, with plenty of emotional ups and downs. These mostly stem from the fact that we are slowly beginning to wade into home buying. On one hand, this is just plain old exciting. We're going to buy a home! But on the other hand, this proposition is fraught with lots of worries and pitfalls. For one thing, we are looking for a home in Seattle, WA. For anyone reading this in the rest of the country, thinking "but home prices are coming down!" - no, in Seattle they are not. Which is why I keep using the term "home" and not "house." The likelihood of finding a house in our price range that is actually habitable is slim. So, while owning *anything* will be good, my dreams of a cute little cottage are being killed by the reality of the situation. At least I have H's promise that I CAN get a dog, even if we are in a condo, to keep me going.

And then, of course, I also feel stupid that we are only just now approaching home-ownership. At 29 & 30 years old, I feel like we are totally behind the curve on this. Getting my degree was what kept us in limbo for so long, and now that I have it, that should be of some comfort, right? Unfortunately, teaching one class while I deperately scramble to find "real" academic employment is not exactly the fulfilling situation that one might imagine. (And then, let's not even get started on what kind of big fat loser "drops out" of science to teach...)

Alas, I'm such a whiny pile.

The good news is that, at the rate that I update this blog, chances are pretty good that I might actually have a house and a dog and 2.5 kids by my next post! On second thought, let's scratch the kids...

Making stuff

2006-10-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

I keep thinking "I should post some stuff." Which is rapidly followed by the thought "Just let me finish one more thing, then I'll take some pictures." Ok, so at the rate that I work, I'm never going to post anything if I keep that up. So here's what I've been up to lately. Besides school.

After the OFFF, Sarah and I swapped hand-dyed fiber. This is what she gave me:

And here it is, all spun up and plied:

I call it "Sarahndipity" - the colors are so perfectly Sarah's colorway. I just love it. I'll post a picture once it's knitted up.

I have also spun up a bunch of thick and thin for my etsy shop. And in other craftiness, I constructed a lightbox in which to take pictures of my yarn. I fear the colors actually come out truer when photographed against a blanket or sheet on the couch. Meh.

Oregon Flock & Fiber Fest!

2006-09-25T19:29:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was my debut, along with Sarah of Maisy Day Handspun,at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival in Canby, OR.

Yes indeed, for the past month, I've been working like crazy to get ready to sell my wares at this great festival. And now that it's over, it's safe to say that we were quite successful for first-timers! We had a blast, made lots of contact with great people - both shoppers and other vendors alike, and sold a whole buncha stuff!

Here are some pictures of our booth while we were setting up. Unfortunately, I forgot to take more pictures the next day, when things were in full-swing!
This table has a basket of Maisy Day hand-dyed sock yarn, a selection of my hand-dyed fibers, and my needle cases.
And this table (as yet uncovered in this photo) has more of my hand-dyed fibers, my hand-spun yarn, and a basket of my sachets. Oh, and those are my hand-dyed sock yarns up on top.

The third table featured Sarah's hand-dyed fibers and handspun yarns, along with another basket of my sachets.

Here is a closer view of some of my hand-dyed superwash and regular merino.

These are my hand-sewn needle cases.
And these are 2 of the 3 tote bags I brought along. Although they garnered much attention, none sold. Alas!

We also featured a variety of Maisy Day handturned tools (nostepinnes and drop spindles). Those were a big draw, as they are lovely, and impossible not to touch!

We had such a great time. This was my first time selling my handmade goods, and it was incredibly rewarding to see that people were interested. I am definitely planning to go back next year!

If you are interested in my handmade goods and couldn't make it to Canby, I am happy to announce that my Etsy shop is now in business. Please check it out at FreshYarns.etsy.com. It will be updated with more goods very soon!

Girly

2006-08-18T16:04:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling very pearls-and-Chanel today. Perhaps it is the new eyeliner I bought yesterday... so dramatic and swoopy on my eyes. Perhaps it is standing on the precipice of adulthood (on the eve of my 29th birthday - I'm a bit late in coming). Whatever it is, I'm feeling terribly girly, in that Audrey Hepburn, classic, sexy, demure way.

Too bad my jeans and flip-flops betray me.

Done

2006-08-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

Writing a dissertation does not make for a very bloggable life. Hence, my recent silence.

However, I am now here to shout from the rooftops: I'M DONE!!

Yep, I defended last Thursday (8/10) and turned the thing in yesterday (8/15). I have a little signed receipt that says I'm all done! It was fairly anticlimactic. The defense went exceedingly well. My committee was great, and I feel like I performed pretty well. I was close to done with my revisions then, so I polished the manuscript up over the weekend, did a final check Monday, and trundled it over to the grad school Tuesday. That was it.

There were no choirs of angels, the clouds didn't part... I was just suddenly done being a graduate student. After 7 years. The nicest thing, I think, is the feeling of relief and amazement that floods me when I stop and realize that I'm done. I did it. I successfully earned my Ph.D. Sure, that was the whole goal, and I said I'd do it. But now that it's done... whew! I can hardly believe I did it.

And now, onto life as a grown-up. I'll be teaching the same class I've been teaching for the past year again this fall. But I get all of September off. Despite the lack of paycheck coming my way, I'm very excited for a whole month off! I am planning a grand month of cooking dinners, exercising, and being as crafty as I can possibly be.

Woot! I love being DONE!

Happy Anniversary to us!

2006-08-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Today marks 8 years of marriage for H and I. It's been a very good 8 years, with each one better than the last. I owe H so much, but most of all, I thank him for the happiness that he brings me day in and day out. I could go on and on and get sloppy, but I'll just say that we make a very good team.

Today also kicks off August. I took a very deep breath yesterday, as I don't anticipate breathing until mid-October now. In the space of one month we will celebrate our anniversary, turn 30 (H, not me!), defend our Ph.D. (me, not H!), turn 29 (me again!), go to San Francisco, and play host to my father. September promises to be about half as busy, which is still busier than most months. My head is spinning just thinking of it all.

Work on the dissertation has progressed (devolved?) to the point where I can no longer make sense of certain sections of it. I've read it so. many. times. I think it's going well, although the anxiety dreams have been coming full force. Last night I showed up for my defense and realized I had to take a written test that I wasn't prepared for. Awesome! I can only imagine that the dreams will get worse as I start to freak out in waking life as well. Wait, did I say "start to"? Yeah, that's begun as well. There are moments where I feel calm and ready, and then there are the moments when I remember that defending one's dissertation does not guarantee passing. I'm close, but with no promises.

9 days to go... we'll see what happens.