Thursday, January 13, 2011

The missing pieces

Nothing really extraordinary to post lately.

We've had a lot of leftovers, so no food pics. I made pralines but I didn't have a candy thermometer, so they look kinda sad and camera shy.

Mark ripped out our 'pantry' last night. It's just one step closer to my dream kitchen! We have to take baby steps for money reasons (we are cheap!) and it also lets the project sink in a bit and you really appreciate all the effort and change that is happening. Plus, it gives me time to think about function as well as form!

I've decided to go with white walls. I'll pull in color from other things, like curtains and an accent wall or two in the dining area. I think this will make it easier in about 5 years when I decide I like a different color. That happens a lot... always has and I've come to accept that it always will!

Knitting!

Well, I finished Mark's handspun hat. It's really soft and squishy but needs a good soak and block so the fibers bloom. I used all but about 3 feet for the hat. I over spun the yarn quite a bit so I'll be running the other skein back through the wheel to relax it. Both of my OWLs were approved. I've gotten a bit done on the four pairs of mittens, but the East Meets West bag is still just sitting there are glaring at me. I've spun up several hundred yards of laceweight shetland and I'm going to full it in the next few days. I'm trying to keep my hands out of water because my knuckles are cracking and bleeding.They are so dry! I imagine that dunking yarn into steaming hot then ice cold water would do me no favors, even with gloves on.

I'll try not to be so lazy and have pics for you next time!

oh! and a funny little thing. Ngaio is in a really aggressive mood today. She came into our bedroom this morning with her fists up in the air and her nose all squished up (her comical angry face) and said "You wanna piece of meat!???!?!?!?"

oh so cute. ok, she's cooperating, so you get to see her cute face:

I think the Hello Kitty pajamas really tell you she means business!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Some food and other nonsense

I'm waiting for photobucket to get my phone pics.

Since I'm making all this effort in cooking, I've been really good about taking pics of what I make but not so good at posting, so this will have a couple of foodie things.

Monday was supposed to be oven baked chicken on a nice big salad, but Mark read the title as pan fried to me, then I looked at it again and saw pan fried- so I pan fried the damn chicken and it was supposed to be breaded ans seared THEN baked. I knew I turned the oven on for a reason. Whatever. It was good. Just chicken in flour then egg, then breadcrumbs (supposed to be panko but I didn't have it!). We sliced it up on some romaine, cut up some tomatoes, added ranch... oh, I even toasted some pecans (a little burnt!) and put them on top. It was pretty tasty.


Ngaio kept asking where the brussels sprouts were. Weird kid. She loves lettuce though. She also ate a whole tomato and got a nasty rash where the juice dripped down her hand. She cried a bit, but I don't think it will break her tomato love.


Last night I cooked soba and mixed it with lightly sauteed cabbage, mushrooms, peppers and onions. I added some sesame ginger salad dressing, tossed it around and VOILA! It was really yummy. Ngaio went crazy with the mushrooms and once again asked where the brussels sprouts were.


Weird kid.

In knitting news, I have TONS of crap on my needles. Since I got all finishy on my projects, it pains me to have more than three things going at once.
I have four pairs of mittens started!
A HUGE colorwork bag, that isn't cast on yet- but needs to be
A pair of socks (1.33 of 2 complete!)
A pair of leftover yarn socks. They are pretty cool. I tend to start these then quickly rip them out. These bad boys are keepers! I'm about 75% into the first one.

Ok, maybe that's not so bad. It's just all the damn mittens taking up precious needles.

I spent most of yesterday balling up the yarn in the sock yarn drawer. I was able to fit a couple more skeins in and now they are so pretty and lined up. My OCD clapped its hands and squeed! I'm thinking the reason I don't use the yarn so fast is because I don't want to pull out the swift and winder for one little ball. No excuses now! I'll have to take a pic of that right now. one sec...



The drawer above and a few bags on top are full of sock yarn too. I'd like to get it all into one drawer this year... someday... maybe never. I really love sock yarn. Can ya tell?

Monday, January 3, 2011

new beginnings

I'm pretty much opposed to New Year's resolutions but that never keeps me from making them. My resolve dissolves about now... so no spectacular life changes to report!

I think about stuff though... and some things have been floating around for awhile and really need to happen. I'm not talking about goals to accomplish in a year (but one of those will be mentioned later...) More like thinking about the person I want to be, and just being it instead of taking all these little steps. I want to live every moment being true to myself and values.

Yes, I want to lose weight. The only way I'll do that is if everyday I make little choices that make me a happy person. It never happens when I write down '2 lbs/week' and it really, really doesn't happen when I plan on walking or yoga first thing in the morning- for reallies this time! Cause you know what? I only think that right before falling asleep and then it's all happy dream time. Then I wake up abruptly because of someone's alarm or a little girl's footsteps running in to beg me for cereal.

So, I'll be less hard on myself. I'll log the daily successes. I'll keep a mental record of all the nice things that are in harmony with MY harmony!

But I did make a little commitment... My friend Stephanie got this crazy idea that we should finish up all these projects and stashbust during 2011. Then it got really nutso when we started a group on Ravelry to support our efforts. To date, 194 people joined our madness! YAY! There is something so affirming in knowing you are not the only insane person. So basically, we pledged to finish up 111 creative projects- things we've already started, new projects, and silly wishlists... whatever needs to get done, we will do! I have no problem coming up with new stuff to do, it's those old things sitting around- being all abandoned and taking up space- that I'm really excited to deal with. I haven't made an official list yet and I'll mention some non listable things I've dealt with on here.

Another thought. I've been waking up and listing in my head the five most important things to do each day. Thank you, Amber! Then when I go to sleep, I think of the five most important things I DID each day. They are wildly different lists and are really a lot of fun to think about right before you go to sleep.

So here are some mini goals for this week:

Cook dinner every night (I actually did a menu plan and bought groceries and have recipes... yay, me!)
Finish up all my spinning projects that are unfinished (111)
Swatch all my mittens for my owl (I don't want to explain this- if you don't know, I'm not telling you!)
Cast on my East Meets West bag (111, but credit given only when the whole thing is finished!)
Dye some yarn for the shop, once dye gets here

Here is what we ate last night:

Mushroom and Barley Soup
Roasted Brussels Sprouts (Ng LOVES them!)
French bread

oh, and Black Forest Cake for dessert. I've got to stop eating dessert... someday!