Random Things

First of all, this is what I had for dinner tonight:

Masaman curry with potatoes and chicken over brown rice. My friend CJ pointed me in the direction of masaman curry paste (or slurry) for easy meal preparation. Yum yum yum! My next curry will use tofu, potatoes, and apples.

Along the food route, here's a shot from Friday night of acorn squash bisque and the beginning of my interlocking balloons scarf:


The bisque is super yummy and super easy. Here's what you do...

1. Microwave 2 acorn squash for 10-15 minutes each, until you can easily pierce the skin with a knife.
2. Split the squash, seed them, and scoop out the squash into a bowl.
3. Saute an onion (diced) in a tablespoon of butter, season with pepper. Saute until the onion is tender.
4. Add the squash, a 14.5 oz can of chicken or veggie broth, 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1/2 tsp fresh) and boil until the squash is tender (about 15 minutes).
5. Puree the mixture until smooth.
6. Add 1/2 cup half-and-half and season with pepper.

The interlocking balloons pattern is another story. I think it will be better once I work through a whole repeat.

Other knitting....I finished an adult-sized Utopia hat last week:


It's still a little tight and a little short. I don't know what the deal is.

I also don't know what's up with this:


Why is the quad a construction zone?

Fortunately, the south side of the quad is still pristine. Here's Swallow Hall...where I spent many a long hour doing anthropology stuff:


All for now!

Live from CoMo!

Hi!

I'm in Columbia!

Yesterday, while driving home from work early (3:30 because we had just wrapped up a 2-day conference), I decided to take a trip to Columbia. I've been going a bit crazy in St. Louis and needed to take a break from my routines....so here I am.

I'll have to post pictures later, but here's a quick summary....

2:00
Arrived in Columbia and went directly to Main Squeeze for lunch. Their Tempeh Ruby (vegetarian reuben) and Ring of Fire (beet, orange, carrot, ginger juice) were as yummy as always.

2:45ish
After eating, I walked around 9th street a bit and stopped into a new-to-me store, Spare Parts Gallery. In addition to browsing goods made by local people, I ran into some familiar faces, Becky and Debbie, who are good friends with my friends Katie and Beth. So, I now have an invitation to Debbie's birthday dinner tonight at Flat Branch. My social life in Columbia is already busier than that in St. Louis.

I also stopped at Uprise Bakery and was totally overwhelmed by the selection. Since I realized that I needed to pace myself food-wise, I skipped their unbelievably yummy potato knishes and bought two little dark chocolate-black pepper shortbread cookies. Yum! Very happy with the choice.

3:00
Supposedly, Mizzou has been having a fantastic football season this year, which is killing Porkchop because she is so far away. At her request, I walked down to the university bookstore and picked out a MIZ-ZOU shirt for her. During my walk there, I was asked for directions to Harpo's...gag! Also, I found the quad to be a construction zone...maybe a couple of the buildings caught fire? More research is needed on my part.

In addition to loads of t-shirts, the bookstore also had a table packed full of zines! Yay! The zine table and their first annual zine fest (coming in Spring 2008) is organized by a woman who started working at the bookstore when I worked there. So, I picked up a few zines....not just because I wanted to support a former co-worker, but also because they had some of my favorite zines! Such as...

• Slave to the Needles. The best and cutest rock n roll knitting zine ever! The writer lives in Madison via Seattle, and I got to meet her at a zine fest in Madison.
• Doris. My favorite zine - the only one I seek out to buy regularly. I have the anthology...I really should just subscribe to it.
• The F-Word: A Feminist Handbook for the Revolution. This is the second issue; I never saw the first one.
• Tenacious: Art and Writing from Women in Prison. The 12th issue; never saw the previous ones.
• Also, I bought a 2008 Slingshot organizer. My favorite thing about these organizers...the menstrual calendar!

4:00
I went to Hillcreek Yarn Shoppe. It's a nice shop, but they didn't have any of the yarn that I was looking for (actually, the employee had never heard of Blue Sky yarn).

On the way to the shop, I drove by my old apartment on North 9th Street - looks the owner is still doing absolutely no maintenance to the house. So, after browsing the shop, I drove in the direction of downtown and then decided to check out another place where I used to live - a duplex at Rock Quarry and Nifong.

For about 10 minutes, I started to believe that the whole development had been torn down and Rock Quarry shortened, but then I remembered the whole "Grindstone Parkway" business. Geez! How does a big 4-lane road pop up out of nowhere complete with big box stores and restaurants on it?? It blew my mind. I had to turn around at the top of Rock Quarry and drive back down it to make sure that my old duplex was still there.

It was.

Fortunately, I love driving on Rock Quarry! It was an explosion of reds and oranges and yellows and greens. So pretty! I wished so much that Porkchop could be in the car with me instead of in New Mexico.

Murr.

5:00
After weighing my selection of coffee shops downtown, I decided on Kaldi's. Yes - the St. Louis company is now in Columbia. Since Kaldi's coffee is everywhere in STL, I didn't want to come here. But, it looks like Lakota is still being jerky (luckily, I rarely paid more than $1 for anything there when I was college thanks to generous discounts given to me by the staff - my roommate worked there for 3 years), and I never feel comfortable at the Artisan. Anyway, so here I am. Reading and writing and knitting.

What about Shakespeare's?
Yeah, I don't think I'll get any pizza on this trip. It's still slammed because of the football game, and I might have dinner at Flat Branch.

Next time! Also, next time I hope to be able to connect with my friend Jean!

Yay! Columbia!

YAY YAY YAY

I thought I would have to wait until January to see Persepolis, but it will be here on November 17 as part of the St. Louis film festival. YAY!

 

Also, Juno plays on November 14!

 

I should buy my tickets this weekend!

 

There are many other films I want to see, but at $10 a pop....or $8 if people believe my Iowa student ID...still a lot of cash for me.

Bus Number 70 Rules Again

I love seeing the ladies riding the bus and reading about same-sex marriage laws while drinking tallboys hidden in a paper bag from a pharmacy.

Yeah.

Bus number 70.

**********

What made my evening commute more bizarre....accepting a peppermint from a guy on the train wearing a huge gauze bandage on his face and bloody jeans and shirt. He hurt himself 15 minutes before his work shift was up.

I hesitated in accepting the peppermint, but I noticed that it was my favorite kind....those soft peppermints that melt in your mouth.

**********

I have my second physical therapy appointment tomorrow morning before work. I'm excited to announce that the pain in my ass is gone gone gone! Miracles!

Actually, my therapist showed me how to self correct my pelvic rotation. Awesomeness.

Pleasant Dreams

Last night, I dreamt about gay cowboys. Actually, I was one of the gay cowboys.

 

Maybe this will be a good week after all.

Not Enough Hours Gained

I love the "fall back" time change, but we really don't gain enough hours.

My past week at work was CRAZY, and this week will be even crazier because of a conference that we're hosting. Since the conference only pertains to one project, all the other project managers think I'm just sitting around waiting for something to do. Uh, no.

This weekend has been pretty nice, however, and not just because of the time change.

Yarn and Food
On Saturday, I met a few ladies from my knitting class for the opening of Knitty Couture. I touched a lot of yarn, a lot of very nice yarn, said hi to a couple of knitting acquaintances, and met Eileen of Eileen Knits. In the end, I came out of Knitty Couture empty-handed. I could have broken the bank buying yarn, but I didn't have a particular project in mind. I find it best to not blindly buy yarn.

I will definitely go back to the store - it's in dangerous walking distance of Wash U. I'm also intrigued by the Knit-a-Bit sessions - sounds like you can test knit with yarn and needles on Saturdays. That would be so great!

After browsing the store, we had a yummy lunch at Thai Cafe. Mmmmmm.....masman curry. My favorite.

Saturday night, I started making an adult-sized Utopia hat. My only worry now is that I will run out of yarn!

Books and a Party
Among other things today, I went to my local public library branch. I didn't think I would find much, but I left with Transparent: Love, Family, and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers, The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal, a slow cooker cookbook, and Scarf Style.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I love to knit scarves. While I would like to knit an actual garment some day, I am quite content to knit a good scarf.

There are some fantastic patterns in Scarf Style that I will copy and file away for later. I will, however, start on the Interlocking Balloons pattern very soon - I have two skeins of Dream in Color that will look terrific.

The one thing that is bugging me about Scarf Style is the photography. Instead of having a clear shot of a model wearing the scarf, the photos are focused on the model's head and neck while the rest of the scarf is blurry. Yeah, the photos are all "artistic," but I really want to see the whole damned scarf before I knit it. When I was flipping through the book in the library, I thought perhaps my eyes were having problems focusing in the fluorescent lights. Geez.

Anyway, I'm tired.

I recently returned from a get-together hosted by my center's director. One of our project managers eloped last month. Since the PM is from China and didn't have a family gathering, our director decided to host a reception of sorts. It was a good time, even though I prefer to not see work people on the weekend (especially on Sunday night! the night before work begins! how cruel).

You know, I had been composing all sorts of witty remarks in my head this weekend for my blog, but they have all left me. I need some sleep.

Good night! And have a great week!

Waiting Waiting Waiting

It's nearly 7:00.

When will the trick-or-treaters arrive?

I saw kids on the street in costume, but no one has stopped at my place yet.

I have my porch light on and a big bowl full of 96 pieces of candy....just waiting. Keetah and I even sat on our stairs for a bit so we would be ready for action. I've now started doing some straightening and other tasks, like signing up for e-statements from our bank.

Muurrrr.

How did THIS Happen?

Isn't the hat pictured on the left here a wonderful little child-sized hat? For scale, it's pictured next to the baby hat I finished last week.


The only thing is....it was supposed to be an adult-sized hat.

The pattern is the Utopia Hat, and it's a really great pattern. The problem, I guess, is that I followed my normal procedure and went down 2 needle sizes because I'm a loose knitter.

In this case, it didn't work.

I think I have enough yarn to attempt a regular size hat; I'm giving the mini one to a co-worker's daughter.

Yeah...sometimes I'm a really smart knitter.

In other news, I made this caramelized butternut squash recipe, and it was the best thing ever. Yum! I roasted some acorn squash this evening, and I wished it had been more butternut squash.

Also, I just recently found the Magic Loaf Studio at the Vegan Lunchbox. I can't wait to make my own veggie loaf - maybe next week.

Have a great week!

I have a physical therapy appointment on Tuesday. I'm hoping that I can get rid of the pain in my ass. Yes, I have a quite annoying and painful pain in my ass. Sometimes I can't sleep because of it, and it's really starting to get to me.

Give a Big Shout-Out....

...to Porkchop!

 

It's the one-year anniversary of the kidney donation!!!

 

To relive Porkchop's amazing gift to her dad, go to http://takemykidney.blogspot.com and browse the archives.

 

Yay, Porkchop! Go, kidney, go!

A Font of Wisdom

For the next month, my center is helping host a professor visiting from Indonesia. For the past week, I've been helping him settle into his new office digs and become familiar with the campus.

 

This morning, we went to get his ID made, and on the way back I gave him a mini-tour of some of the original buildings on campus. We were discussing important matters such as what types of food the different campus cafes serve. On the topic of grab-and-go sandwiches, I said I didn't enjoy them very much. The professor pressed me as to why, and I stated that the bread of the prepared sandwiches becomes very soggy.

 

The professor laughed and laughed and said that he had learned something very important. Because, you know, if you're not a regular bread-eater, you just accept that a grab-and-go sandwich represents all of sandwich-dom.

 

I declared that there is a HUGE difference between a good sandwich and a bad sandwich, and the professor appreciated my advice.

 

Yes...this is what I do at work. I help make the world a better place by elucidating the nature of sandwiches.

Keetah in Profile

My friend Carmen requested more photos of Keetah, so here are two from today.

I think this one is really great:



I don't know how I was able to snap this moment. All of the previous shots were blurry.

I also took a video of Keetah, but I'm having problems loading it. I'll try again tomorrow, but here's another picture until then.


What About Knitting?
I didn't have a chance to pick up metal size 1 dpns, but I did finish this baby hat:


I'm not going to link to the pattern, because it was poorly written once the decreases started. The top of the hat is all off center. If this wasn't a baby hat, I would have ripped back and done my own decreasing. But, you know, the baby will grow out off this in 4 months or so.

Although I haven't worked on my Icarus shawl much lately, I'm nearly finished with the fourth repeat of Chart 1. Ugh.

Originally, I intended to start the Utopia hat tonight, but my hands really hurt for some reason. My arms are killing me because of some weights that I did yesterday, but I don't know what's up with my hands.

I might just stick to reading What is the What.

And Food
Last night, I made a tasty red and black bean pie. Mmmmm....I'm looking forward to leftovers.

Here's how to make it:

Heat your oven to 400 F.

Thinly slice the white and green part of a bunch of green onions. Mince 2-3 cloves of garlic.

Heat some oil in a heavy, large sauce pan over medium heat. Add the white part of the onions and the garlic, saute for a few minutes.

Drain and rinse a can of pinto beans and a can of black beans. Add to the onion and garlic. Also add one 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes (with its juice), 1/4 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce, and the green part of the onions. Season with salt and pepper.

Bring the mixture to a boil, smashing 1/4 of the beans to release the starch. Simmer the mixture for 15-20 minutes until thickened.

Meanwhile, slice a tube of polenta into 8 slices. Prepare a glass pie pan by rubbing some oil in it. Arrange the polenta slices in the pan (7 slices around the outside, 1 in the middle).

Once the bean mixture has thickened, pour it into the pie pan. Top it with 1/2 cup - 1 cup grated pepper jack cheese. Put in the oven and cook 15-20 minutes.

Let rest for 10 minutes before serving. It's especially tasty served with salsa and tortilla chips. Also, if you're a fan of cilantro, you can add cilantro at some point.

Breaking Things

When I arrived at my knitting class last night, I sat down at a table and removed my still-not-finished Jaywalker from my bag.

"Shoot!" is what I muttered when I really wanted to yell something else but refrained because I didn't want to scare the newbie knitters. You know...do you really want people who are just figuring out that the knit stitch and the purl stitch are the same thing only backward to catch on to the fact that knitting can sometimes drive you to cursing?

Okay, so it wasn't my knitting, exactly, it was my knitting equipment. One of my remaining size 1 needles spontaneously snapped in half during the drive from my apartment to the school.

What the heck?!

Stupid wooden skewer needles! I'm switching to a metal set this weekend...I don't care if my gauge will be a bit different.

I will switch needles and finish my Jaywalkers, darn it!

Another Broken Thing
I can't do it anymore....this growing my hair project. I was kind of okay until this morning when I was waiting for the train at the Grand stop and the damp wind came yowling through the train yard and swept my 3.5" long hair into disarray.

While I was cursing my hair (it's been quite a week for silent cursing!), I remembered...I don't have to do this. I can cut my hair and be happy again. So, that's what I will do next week. I have an appointment all set up for Project: Cut Hair.

This hair is bugging me so much, I was tempted to get my clippers out tonight and take it down to 1/8 of an inch.

Semi-Good Things
At work, we hosted a day-long meeting on Tuesday that was part of a larger conference taking place this week. Fortunately, I was only responsible for logistics and other arrangements for Tuesday.

Everything went surprisingly well. I'm amazed when things fall into place so nicely...room setup, A/V, catering, etc.

Now I can focus on another conference that we have coming up in 3 weeks. Yikes! I have note-takers to hire, booklets to make, and many other things to think about.

Anyway....have a great Friday!

Making Things

Tonight has been an excellent evening of craftiness...I did some knitting, some crochet, and some baking. It was a wonderful comeback to a day that started out kind of rocky.

I went to bed late late late last night after staying up to play Scrabble with Porkchop on Facebook (I recently agreed to join so that we can play Scrabble...even though I'm not so great at Scrabble...maybe there is a Facebook Trivial Pursuit?). This meant I was none too pleased when I woke up at 7:45 to Keetah's insistent meowing and Porkchop's call to tell me about her morning at the hot air balloon festival (the same festival we couldn't go to last weekend, murr).

I finally got out of bed around 9:00 and then proceeded to make a grocery list...because that is exactly what you should do right after getting out of bed on a Saturday morning. Actually, the point was for me to go to the farmers market and pick what I could there. Unfortunately, I spent so much time looking for recipes and whatnot, that I would have been super-rushed at the market and worrying that I wouldn't be able to make yoga at 11:00. So, I nixed the market. Sad, yet for the best.

Luckily, there are two more outdoor markets left this season. The market on the 27th will be the harvest festival. I've been waiting for this festival since last year! This year, I will be prepared to feast on Ozark mushroom soup and to drink up homemade hot chocolate served with homemade marshmallows. Homemade marshmallows! I love it!

Anyway, after yoga and showering and lunch and a bit of knitting, I went to Michael's for some craft supplies and then to Dierbergs for food.

After getting home and having dinner, I made this:


I'm thinking necklaces like these will make excellent presents for my mom and sister and some of my co-workers. A woman in my knitting class called my attention to this tutorial on youtube. The tutorial teacher is a bit scary with serious fake fingernails and loads of jewelry, but the necklaces are fun and easy to make. You just crochet 3 beaded strands, braid them together, and throw on a toggle clasp. Fun! And fast! This required maybe 45 minutes, and I was talking on the phone part of the time.

Now I want to buy more beads.

After the necklace, I knitted some more. I'm making a baby hat for the son of my roommate (and good friend) from college. We recently reconnected, and I'm quite excited to send her some knitted things.

I also worked on the hat while baking biscotti. This particular biscotti uses whole wheat flour and toffee. I would post a picture, but it would just be brown on brown. Not so colorful, yet tasty. I just had a biscotti and a hot chocolate.

I wish there were 3 more hours in this night. I know I should go to bed soon, but I want to knit more!

Peer Pressure

I finally put my name on the Ravelry waiting list.

 

I put this off for so long because I'm a bit daunted by the prospect of keeping everything up-to-date.

 

Since I'm number 15,647 in line, I'll have some time to prepare. I signed up around 10:00 this morning (because, you know, I have nothing to catch up on after my vacation!), and there are now 68 people behind me.

 

Where do we all come from?

The Borders of Our Lives

Hello!

I'm watching Antiques Roadshow and relaxing after a day of getting up early and catching a 7:10 flight from Albuquerque with stops in Houston and Dallas. I'm also trying to ignore the sadness that comes on strong after leaving Porkchop.

Murrr.

Anyway, we had a very good visit, even though we weren't able to swing a trip to the Balloon Fiesta. It's okay....I've seen a couple of hot air balloon festivals before.

So....

Thursday
Porkchop met me at the ABQ sunport a little after 10:00. We took the bus into town and then stopped at her apartment before going to Tamarind. Visiting Tamarind was weird because I felt like I knew everyone, even though I had never met them before (except for Alex, who visited St. Louis recently). After touring the studio and hanging out, we all went to the Frontier for lunch. I wasn't very impressed with my vegetarian burrito, but I was happy to finally eat at the famous Frontier.

After lunch, I sat in on a demo by Porkchop's instructor. After that, we went back Porkchop's apartment and opened anniversary presents (7 years today - woot!). I received some Dagoba chocolate, a very pretty necklace from Mariposa (a shop on Nob Hill), and a toy cap gun. While Porkchop headed back to the studio, I slept for a couple of hours.

We had fast food Japanese for dinner and then later hung out at Patrick's place. Patrick is Porkchop's favorite Tamarind buddy and is a very nice (although very young) guy. At his apartment, we snacked on mixed nuts and played a fun Polish game - the name of which I cannot remember.

Friday
Porkchop left for Tamarind early in the morning while I slept in (the high altitude makes me tired!). I managed to squeeze in an hour and a half of knitting at Satellite Coffee before joining the Tamarind gang for lunch at Winnings (yum! hummus sandwich!).

In the afternoon, I went on the monthly official tour of Tamarind, during which I watched Four Stones for Kanemitsu. Once the tour concluded, I hung out in the studio and watched some of the students try their hand at a blend roll.

After a spaghetti dinner, Porkchop convinced me that I wanted to make my own print during my visit.

So, we went back to Tamarind where Porkchop prepared a couple of plates for me. We used plates instead of stones because Porkchop just happened to have some scrap plates. Here are shots from Friday night...

Porkchop doing prep work on a plate that I drew on with a greasy pencil:



Both plates nearly ready to go (after a couple of hours of working):



The plate on the right will be a flat...a solid block of ink with, in this case, the paper showing through where the designs are. The plate on the left will only have ink in the areas with designs.

Saturday
After a leisurely morning, we walked down to Nob Hill to browse through shops and get lunch at Scalo. I had a delicious nicoise salad with ahi tuna, potatoes, olives, zucchini, and a poached egg. Here I am looking quite tired (again), but I like the Satellite Coffee and the mountains in the background:



The afternoon featured more work at Tamarind. More shots...

Porkchop doing more prep work:



Porkchop mixing ink for the flat:



Porkchop rolling out the ink and giving me an amused look:



Me trying my hand at the press:



Printing made us work up an appetite, so we had pizza at Saggio's.

After a bit of resting, we went out for a drink with Patrick and his parents (who were visiting from Milwaukee). After a couple of drinks, we (minus the parents) went to Valpuri's house. Valpuri is Porkchop's classmate who is from Finland and goes by Valps. Valps Finnishness came through when she offered us a drink of licorice-flavored vodka that she made by melting half a bag of her favorite licorice candies. Mmmmm...it was deliciously salty and licorice-y.

Sunday
Sunday meant sleeping in late and then going out for bagel sandwiches for lunch. After eating, it was back to the studio to print my second plate.

Here are some finished prints laid out to dry:



I was a bit disappointed with the end result, but I had a few things working against me, including sort-of-crappy plates with areas on which I couldn't draw, inexperience, and lack of drawing skills. Anyway, now that I know my limitations, I have plans for a second print that should be more successful. Next time.

Once printing was done, Porkchop and I went for a walk on campus and hung out by a duck pond, enjoying the sun, the cool breeze, and the guy who took study breaks by walking on a tight rope.

Sunday night was reserved to go to Albuquerque's Packers bar with Patrick and his parents. It was a big game, you know! The Packers versus the Bears. Unfortunately, the Packers lost. However, it was fascinating to observe a little outpost of Packers and Wisconsin culture (including Johnsonville brats and sauerkraut) in the desert.

Today
This morning came too quickly with a 5:15 alarm and a taxi to catch at 5:45.

Murrrr.

I miss Porkchop.

Really??

I can't believe Bush vetoed SCHIP.

Actually, I can believe it.

And, I'm kind of glad he did so that it's very obvious that he and his administration are asses.

Elephant Feet

This weekend has been a mixed bag...Saturday seemed like a waste of a day while today has been pretty great.

I got up kind of late Saturday morning (9:30) and leisurely gathered myself for the farmers market. The market is now pretty small with just a handful of vendors, but my favorites were still there. I picked up some tomatoes (still tasty!), apples, a sweet potato, whole wheat flour, an apple-oat scone, and a rosemary-goat cheese quiche.

Originally, I intended to go to another free yoga class after the market, but that fell through because I thought the class started at noon instead of the correct time of 11:00. Luckily, I checked the time before going to the studio and embarrassing myself. So, it was just me and my DVD instructor on Saturday. Murrrr.

The rest of the day was filled with household tidying, grocery shopping, and picking up a print that I got framed for my workplace. Even though I was able to do some knitting Saturday night, the day just felt blah and wasted.

Luckily, today has been different. I got out of bed a little after 8:30 and started making cookies around 9:00. The cookie dough looked nice and fall-like (now if only the stupid weather here would cooperate and stop being in the 80s):



The cookies use whole wheat flour, dried apricots, cranberries, walnuts, and dark chocolate chips (along with things like sugar, orange juice, vanilla, and so forth). The finished product is quite tasty:



Yum!

My Trip to the County
After video chatting with Porkchop (we both had bedhead and pajamas on), cleaning up, and having a bit of lunch, I drove out to the South County mall.

You might be asking why?

Because Porkchop saw some polka dotted slip-on Vans in Albquerque that she liked, and they had them on sale at a shoe store in the South County mall. That's why.

I picked up these little shoes for myself (also on sale):



I wish I could buy all of the designs that Eleanor Grosch has done for Keds. My favorites are the owls and swallows. I had a hard time deciding between the elephants and the parrots today; the elephants won because they fit better.

After talking to Porkchop some more, I made a tuna noodle casserole for dinner. The casserole is a bit of an upscale take on tuna with red bell peppers and artichokes. I also had a super-terrific salad of mixed baby greens, chopped apple, cranberries, walnuts, goat cheese, and raspberry vinaigrette.

Now I'm going to listen to some internet radio shows and knit. Also maybe call some people.

This Week
Even though I know work this week will suck AGAIN with its crazy busy-ness, it will be a great week because I leave for Albuquerque early Thursday morning.

YAYAYAYAYAYYAYAY!

Have a great Monday!

Salvage for Victory

I've been half-watching Ken Burns's documentary about World War II. Right now, people are talking about the recycling and conservation efforts during WWII. Wouldn't it be nice if the government still sponsored messages like, "Buy only what you need," "Salvage what you can," and "Recycle what you have"?

On a different note...

I just returned from a terrific yoga class at South Town Yoga. The 90 minutes flew by and the instructor was totally great. Since the studio is offering free classes during its first month, I will be returning this weekend. I would buy a month membership, but I don't think it would be worth it monetarily, so I'll do a drop-in class every couple of weeks instead.

This is proving to be quite a busy week! Work is crazy, I went to yoga tonight, and tomorrow is my knitting class.

Oh, yes, I never mentioned this knitting class.

A couple of weeks ago, I went out for a decaf coffee drink and some knitting, and I stumbled upon a knitting group! Of people my age who are really nice! I quickly agreed to take a knitting class with them at the Nottingham continuing education center. While I haven't had a burning question to ask the instructor yet, I like having scheduled knitting time during the week.

Also, one of the women in the group was one of my classmates during the Missouri Scholars Academy. So, I already knew someone in the group. Kind of, that is...if you count someone you knew for 3 weeks when you were 15.

So, anyway, that's it! Have a great Wednesday!

A Pocket Full of Mumbles

Today has been an incredibly irritating day, but I shall not talk about that. Instead, I'll talk about knitting and cotton.

The Knitting
I made a trip down to Jonesboro this weekend to see my parents, and I did quite a bit of knitting.

First, I finished the second repeat of chart 1 for the Icarus shawl. It doesn't look like I have much done yet, eh?



It's no where near the widest point yet, but each row takes a good bit of time already. I look forward to the more interesting parts...I have to plug along through 3 more chart 1 repeats first. *sigh*

Also, remember this guy?



It's the second sock from the pair of Jaywalkers I started in March! I stopped knitting the second sock during my knitting slump this summer. I didn't *want* to pick up stitches for the heel gusset and it was so hot out!

So, I picked up those stitches down in Jonesboro and made a good amount of progress. I also snapped one of the needles while doing a double decrease.

I am so strong, eh?

If I knit another pair of socks, I'll definitely switch to metal needles.

The Cotton
My trip back to St. Louis yesterday was BORING, so BORING. I listened to the greatest hits of Simon & Garfunkle about 3 times until I finally picked up the St. Louis NPR station in time for most of This American Life.

Anyway, part of the leg between Jonesboro and Kennett was full of picture taking (thanks to Porkchop who reminded me that my phone has a really decent camera in it).

It's cotton-picking time in the Bootheel! I took these photos for Porkchop, who has never seen this process (maybe you haven't either).

Here's what a cotton field looks like before it's picked:



Pretty!

I couldn't get a good picture of the combines (pronounced COM-bine), but look here for a good picture (fun fact: combines cost nearly a quarter of a million dollars!).

Then, machines like this are used:



I don't know what the implement on the left is for, but the one on the right is the baler. It makes bales like these:



Actually, I like to call these things loaves because they remind me of giant loaves of bread. Later, a giant truck will come along and pick up the bales.

When I was growing up, cotton was transported to gins in big iron mesh trailers. The cotton was loose instead of packed down, so cotton flew everywhere. Also, a friend's dad inevitably was a cotton farmer, so you usually got to play in a trailer half full of cotton. Fun!

The End
That's my trip report.

Now I'm irritated from work, suffering from sinus drainage and a sore throat, and bleeding.

Things could be better.

A Too Short Weekend

Today has been a weird day.

I got up super early to take Porkchop, her friend, and her friend's boyfriend to the airport for an 8:00 flight. Murrrr.

Murrrrr for Porkchop leaving and for getting up so early and not having much sleep anyway because my stomach was angry. I felt so not-so-hot, I ended up calling in sick to work, returning to bed after I got home, and sleeping for a few more hours.

Why my Stomach Hurts
Sunday was a really weird food day.

At my insistence, Porkchop and I had brunch at La Dolce Via.

Here's Porkchop looking very cute with her biscuits and gravy:



Here's my golden beet and white cheddar scramble and potatoes:



We also shared a raspberry scone. While we were finishing up, Porkchop's printing partner came in with a group of friends. When Porkchop started yelling at this group of early-20-somethings wearing skinny jeans, I couldn't fathom how she knew any of them. Then I realized what was going on.

A few hours after brunch, Porkchop's parents picked us up and we went for a late lunch. For some reason, Porkchop's mom LOVES the Old Spaghetti Factory in Laclede's Landing, so that's where we went. To date, I have been to OSF with Porkchop's parents 3 or 4 times.

After eating, Porkchop's dad took us on an unexpected tour of construction projects that he has worked on. We were all over...North St. Louis, Central West End, and the Loop. At the Loop, we went to Ben & Jerry's and had an enormous amount of ice cream.

Oh, my stomach.

After finally returning home, not much time passed until Porkchop's printing partner called and asked if we wanted to meet up at Bailey's Chocolate Bar. Not being able to have any more dessert, I stuck to a glass of Reisling.

After returning home again, Porkchop had to finish printing an image from my laptop. I finally had to turn in at 11:00; Porkchop had to stay up much later. Of course, I couldn't get to sleep forever and I kept waking up with stomach uneasiness. 5:30 came awfully early.

I'm glad Porkchop doesn't hate me for getting to sleep more.

Saturday was a Good Day
Saturday morning, I rushed around the house cleaning and baking almond-orange shortbread in preparation of Porkchop's visit.

Picking up Porkchop was strange. I had gotten used to Porkchop being just a voice and a video on my computer, so seeing her in the flesh was weird for the first 15 minutes.

After the airport, we went to ArtMart for paper, St. Louis Bread Co. for a quick bite to eat, and then we went to the salon for Porkchop's hair cut. That night, we had a leisure dinner at Bahn Mi So 1.

Even though Saturday was a short day, I enjoyed hanging out and doing regular things with Porkchop.

Knitting Note
I just finished the first Chart 1 repeat on the Icarus shawl.

I have much more to knit, but I'm quite happy with it so far. I've only had one major mess-up from not paying attention, but even it is not so bad.

Food Note
After not eating much today (a banana, half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and an orange), I had a good dinner, even though everything was store-bought. At Local Harvest, I picked up Amy's tomato soup, Goatsbeard Farm cheese, and olive tortilla chips...a great combination.

Anyway...all from me. Have a great night!