last one, i swear!

Your Scandinavian Name is:

Love Freja

What's Your Scandinavian Name?

I can't really disagree with that choice....

and another, just for kicks

Your 80s Theme Song Is:

Walk Like an Egyptian by the Bangles

What's Your 80s Theme Song?

doing the pigeon...

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them! You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

list updates

ok. already knocked one thing off the list. See? This Christmas knitting thing is easy! (mmhmm...remind me I said that, and then smack me, when I'm stressing on Christmas Eve, won't you?) Mom's scarf is done, save for weaving in the ends. I'm not sure blocking it is such a great idea, since it's already pretty fluffy, and I don't want it to bloom more/get ENORMOUS (it's alpaca...and hooboy, does that stuff like to grow. Peoples exhibit a, my bluey purple socks. which are now mom's bluey purple socks. *grumble*)
made some decent progress on molly's clapotis, though i have NO idea why i'm working on it since i have many months until she comes home...

gift knitting

I've opted for a much shorter gift knitting list for this year..pretty much just 2 things. a scarf for mom that's over half way done, and a pair of fingerless gloves for dad, that are being started for the third time. (first restart is because i'm smarter than i give myself credit for...I got superwash yarn so that dad COULDN'T shrink his gloves, and yet planned on felting them.moron. second restart is on smaller needles..i'm not thrilled with the gauge i'm getting on the current set, so i'm going down 2 sizes from 7s to 5s.) I'm working on a clapotis for my sister, but since she won't be back from Europe until April, and I don't want it getting lost somewhere in Europe (4 skeins of pink malabrigo, tyvm), it can wait. though i got a bunch done yesterday, thus continuing my tradition of knitting a gift for my sister on thanksgiving.
I've got a set of socks in process for Dan that I'll try to finish if I get time...Sorry, charity knitting, but monday nights might belong to gifts for the next couple of weeks...plus i still need to finish the baby stuff for k's sister. hoo boy. that list is longer than i thought. here it is, in bullet form:

-Fingerless gloves for dad
-Scarf for mom
-baby wrap blanket for k's sister
-Clapotis for molly
-baby hats x2 (k's sister and my cousin)

giving thanks

Good lord, it's the weekend before Thanksgiving. It's the earliest it can ever be (with 11/1 falling on a Thursday this year) but seriously...already?! It didn't occur to me that it was coming so quickly until mom asked what I wanted her to bring...my response of, "how the hell do i know, i haven't gotten that far!" was met with, "Thanksgiving is in a week, you know." oh shit.
At least this year I don't seem to be possessing any insane ideas to knit my sister a lap blanket before Christmas...instead i have a baby blanket to complete. at least it's smaller...though 24" of stockinette...
This year I'm doing next to nothing for gift knitting. the scarf intended for my little sister won't be done before April (when she returns from her European skating adventure), so I pretty much just have the fingerless gloves for dad to knock out...and the first one is almost halfway done. then to felt them, then done. voila.
So I think i'll watch the Mythbusters Supersize special for the 3rd time this week (the first time, in fairness, was interrupted by the season premiere of Project Runway. I'll opine on that later) and do a little mindless stockinette. I got way too frustrated over a video game tonight, and need to put myself into a bit of a timeout. a soothing, repetitive, stockinette filled timeout. ohhmmmmmm

10 year reunion

Ye gods, has it been 10 years?? There was a reunion of the first 2 classes of the Great Northern Knowledge Factory in Portland last night...A few old teachers showed up (Tasker, Atwood, LaVallee, Farrell, Dr. Debbie...), Jim P and Jim M, the new director, Mr. Warner (thanks again!)...and a whole mess of old friends, many of whom it's been 4 years or so, some it's been even longer (it's been 10 since I've seen Angie!) Everyone looks great, is up to interesting things and some old tricks...overall, really great to see everyone. My iPod will be making a trip down memory lane for a few weeks as I revisit the music of my youth...

pot roast v2.0

Ok, so we're trying the pot roast thing again (duly noted: the piece of meat at Market Bucket labeled as Pot Roast is NOT ideal for Dan's preference towards extremely soft meat which falls apart easily. The last one did not oblige his desire to rip it apart wantonly and with very little effort. The current model, left to it's own devices over night in the crock pot, came apart with the aid of a butter knife and nothing else. A marked improvement. A little gravy flour was added to thicken the juice a bit, but most of it will be earmarked for shepherds pie for dinner tonight anyway. I'll note below what I put into to crock pot with the pot roast, for the next time when I stare blankly at my cupboards and vainly try to remember what i did...

1 onion halved and cut into large wedges
2 cloves of garlic smushed but not chopped
3/4 of a can of pepsi
worcestershire sauce
beef stock (pretty much until everything is covered
2 bay leaves
handful of whole black peppercorns

I added a pinch of salt this morning after shredding the meat and returning it to the pot to cook uncovered for a bit to reduce. mmmmm....hopefully there will be some left for shepherds pie...I am home all day....

hooray!

The boy comes home from Sacramento today...It's been a long week here without him, nevermind having the flu for 3 days thrown in (and boy did I miss him then!!) I'm very excited to have him coming home, and blissfully have the day off tomorrow to spend the day with him! (and hopefully sleep off the rest of this flu bug).

So hooray to boys returning home!