| I hate lace, but it looks pretty |
[07 Nov 2009|11:59pm] |
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Lace is a bitch. There’s a reason I like cables and hate lace — in cables, 99% of the time you have the same number of stitches and it’s relatively easy to see in what direction the pattern is going, and relatively easy to pick up dropped stitches or frog a few rows. With lace, it’s not. I’m constantly missing YOs, or adding extras, and not figuring out that I’ve done it for a few rows. Since I started developing hand problems, it’s even more frustrating because my knitting time is limited already and I hate spending the time undoing what I’ve just done.
Which is why it took me three tries to get this project started, but eventually I did. This is Ingrid Happy with it so far, even though it’s only about 4″ long at this point, I didn’t want to overwork myself since I haven’t knit in about 3 weeks. I’m using US9s instead of US7s, trying to get a larger gauge, but even so the scarf is only going to be about 5″ across, which is narrower than I’d like, but I do like the pattern. And since it is so narrow, I should have plenty of yarn leftover (hopefully enough to make a pair of fingerless gloves?)
(I know — you can’t see any stitch definition in pics taken on a camera phone. But this is NaBloPoMo and I’m too impatient to find my camera cord!)
Mirrored from December Project. Comments are preferred there.
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| What unholy union is this? |
[07 Nov 2009|09:53pm] |
Most of you know that I like to try new candy. Most candy is new to me anyway, but still, the more unique it is the better!
This leads Yazuu to buy me some of those new Twizzlers Sweet and Sour Filled Twists.
Um...now I like sweet and sour candies (I have a soft spot for sour gummy candies) but whoever thought these demonic Twizzlers up should probably be shot.
And yet...
something about them...each one tastes better than the next and I can't stop eating them and DAMMIT, I don't even like lemon!
*goes back to chewing candy playdoh smelling satanic sour strings*
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| By the numbers |
[07 Nov 2009|09:27pm] |
Abstracts/Summaries written: 5 done, 3 to go
Discussion assignments: 4 done, 3 to go
Book Critiques: 1 done, 4 to go
Essays: 1 done, 2 to go
Key Terms assignments: 4 done, 3 to go
Exams: 3 done, 5 to go
Quizzes: 4 done, 3 to go
Books left to read: 3 + 6 academic papers and a handful of PDFs
Term Project: 1 to go
Research Paper: 1 to go
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I am reading you all, but replying to you is a little patchy and for that, I apologize. I am just really swamped for the next month and a half as the term comes to a close. Hold down the forts until I get back? Let's just hope I come back somewhat sane. *flail hands*
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| Random Things, and some lost books |
[07 Nov 2009|02:29pm] |
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thoughtful |
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music |
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Hmmm, music would be good. |
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We went out to breakfast this morning at the Beach Chalet. The surf was gorgeous and high, so we drove to Rodeo Beach and watched the ocean crash in from there. We also almost got eaten by wavelets, but survived the encounter.
I have a story due this evening - anyone want to read it for me when I finish it? Eeep.
I have a hachiya persimmon to snack on while I write, as well as water boiling for mint tea with honey, lemon and fresh chopped ginger - my throat hurts and this concoction will help.
There are two books I'm looking for - ones I read when I was a kid. I don't remember the titles, of course, and the plots are sufficiently vague as to be difficult to explain.
The first one is easier - a boy moves to NYC with his distant and distracted mother. He's new to the city and (I think) to living with her at all. He's befriended by a vibrant woman who lives in the same building as he - eventually she dies of pneumonia and he retreats to catatonia. His mother essentially abandons him, but the woman's lover (a nice man, really) sort of takes him in. There's a kind social worker as well. I think it's called The Boy Who Could Make Himself Invisible, but a google search on that title doesn't bring up anything useful.
The second one is harder because I remember less of the plot. The story's set in the Oakland/Berkeley hills - there's a massive earthquake and a subsequent flood. A girl, who's sort of in denial that she's psychic, boats around and gathers up a bunch of other kids to live together. An adult finds them, and somehow he convinces them he's In Charge, but really he's Dangerous. She ends up making him fall out of a window and die, but this locks her psychic powers up more, until one of the other kids, a boy, helps her unlock them. I remember thinking that there were sequels, but I can't find this story at all, let alone any others in the same universe.
So, any ideas?
I'm going to be writing for a while, so I'm online but focussed on my own story. *whimper*
Stasia
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| In Lieu Of Actual Content: Recipe Poll |
[07 Nov 2009|08:37pm] |
This poll is brought to you by that guy who still feels tired and grumpy and doesn't get much done but at least he tried out several new dishes this week and started a recipe collection in a card index box.
Poll #4568 Your Recipe Of Choice
Open to: All, results viewable to: AllWhich food recipe should I post next?
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| Day 7 Check In |
[07 Nov 2009|05:49am] |
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mood |
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 exhausted |
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14398 / 50000 words. 29% done!
I'm exhausted. Going to bed. Long day on little sleep doesn't make for good writing on Saturday, but I'm determined to crank out some more words after I get all my crap done for the day.
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| Pumpkin Soup! |
[06 Nov 2009|11:59pm] |
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Not sure when this turned into a food blog, but that seems to be what I’m working on lately. And since the fabulous Juliana is requesting pumpkin recipes (and since I didn’t get around to making my chili today after all), that’s what you’ll get…
A friend passed this along to me a few years ago, so I’m not sure of the source. I also tend not to measure much, and I can say that the only time I’ve ever screwed this one up is when I added too much pumpkin and didn’t balance it out with extra spices. So really, everything is approximate and spice to taste. Also, I’m writing this from memory so forgive the lack of exact step-by-step directions.
Pumpkin Soup
4+ cups broth
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 15oz can pumpkin
1 tsp sage
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 chopped cooked potato (optional, to thicken)
Directions
1. Saute onion and celery for about 5 minutes in a bit of olive oil.
2. Add half the broth and spices (and potato, if you want). Simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Take off heat and puree in blender or food processor.
4. Return to heat, add the rest of the broth and stir in pumpkin.
5. Simmer for another 10-15 minutes.
I usually end up adding extra vegetables and with about 6 cups of broth by the end. It’s pretty hard to screw this one up, as long as you don’t burn the onions.
Mirrored from December Project. Comments are preferred there.
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| Because I love this! |
[06 Nov 2009|09:50pm] |
He's so cute! ^___^
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| Moral of the story: Don't Lie |
[06 Nov 2009|08:30pm] |
So, for a while, my grandmother (who is in her mid-80s) has been in and out of the hospital. It started when she fell in her kitchen and scrapped herself up pretty good. Since then she has claimed to have fallen in her apartment several times - each time ending up in the hospital.
It turns out that this was a lie. She had not fallen and she was just using the hospital to get attention from her family.
Okay, a little background. My grandmother has always been a little bit, no, scratch that...a lot manipulative. She has always been the first person to lay a guilt trip on somebody. It wouldn't matter how many times you visited with her or went over to see her, it would never be enough. And while you were visiting, you would be treated to all the gossip about everyone else - even people you didn't know. This talking behind other's back has cost her a friend that she had had for 25 years, but that is another story.
This leads to now, with her being in the hospital. While in the hospital she starts not only playing up the "can't walk" thing (yet refuses a wheelchair) but also starts telling falsehoods of neglect to the nursing staff. This leads to the staff calling in a caseworker from the state. She lied and said that her family never checks on her or visits her.
Grandma is assigned the caseworker and the woman calls all grandma's children (one being my mother). She tells my mother, my aunt and my uncle that grandma needs round the clock care and that they have 24 hours to figure out what to do with her.
Well, my aunt lives in a cramped trailer over 2 hours away, my mother is nursing a broken knee and is in the process of moving and my uncle - well, he has frickin' power of attorney over grandma, which is why he checks on her damn near ever day. But Grandma lied about people visiting her, so therefore the state thinks that the family is neglecting an old woman. This despite the fact that my uncle and my cousin, D, check on her on a daily basis and my other cousin, W, drives her around.
So, due to all her lies, she no longer can go back to her apartment. The apartment where she had a lot of freedom to do what she wanted to do and all the independence to do it. Now, the state is going to send her right from the hospital to a nursing home. One in which she has to be signed in and signed out and they dictate the schedule.
Well, I hope that she is satisfied with what her lying has given her in the end. I am quite sure that it was not her expected outcome. I can just shake my head at the situation. She didn't want to go to a home when the family asked her before, and now, she will probably end up in the same one where she committed her own mother. Irony, this has it.
So, the moral of the story is: don't lie. See, people will find out and it will come back to bite you (even if it takes a while). I wish I had sympathy for her, but knowing what a liar she is...it may seem awful of me, but I just don't.
I am sure the family can fight the state on the case of neglect to get her back into her apartment, but you know, she has so many of us burned out and just burned now, that I don't know how many of us give a damn. Hell, maybe in the nursing home she will have whatever she wants now - people who she can talk trash to about other people and the opportunity to bitch to us how she is being treated. I hate to say it, but I don't recognize this woman any longer and I really don't like who she has become.
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| Crying is not productive |
[06 Nov 2009|05:05pm] |
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Particularly when there is quite literally nothing to cry about.
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| Librarian Job...GOOOOOO!!!! |
[06 Nov 2009|07:30pm] |
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 bouncy |
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On Saturday I start at the downtown library as an official Librarian. It's a second position, so I'm still at the suburban library of West Seneca as a Library Associate. I'm at both places part-time.
I'll be at the Humanities & Social Sciences reference desk (which has been combined with Business, Science, & Technology...so basically all of nonfiction). As far as I know, there's some sort of training checklist/program I have to go through. I heard from my boss today (she took me out to lunch ^^!) that it can be intense because you have to utilize the approved sources. Being that I'm familiar with the library databases, things should go well. Also, it's pretty much going to be strict reference (as compared to smaller branches where you do a bit of everything).
However, I'm a mix of nervous and excited. This is my foot in the door. I make a good impression here and I have the opportunity for more hours, a position with benefits, and security during an unstable budget period. I must do well, I will do well.
I can't wait to hear patron questions!! I learn so much from them!! The urban environment should be interesting as well. There's free parking in downtown Buffalo on weekends, which is a plus for my first day. Though, it will suck when I have to pay for parking on the weekdays, but I'll make back the money.
Cross your fingers for me everyone!! ^___^
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| Argh - am I the only one? |
[06 Nov 2009|02:24pm] |
I've been reading lots of craft and food and other blogs recently and there's one mis-spelling/mistaken word use that's increasingly prevalent and increasingly frustrating to me.
Peak is not the same thing as peek.
NOT.
You can't (sensibly) 'peak' into your oven. Well, not in a blog that's supposed to be worksafe at any rate.
Argh.
Stasia
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| *grin* I love ideas like this |
[06 Nov 2009|02:15pm] |
Well, okay, here's what I'll be doing soon.
Pies in a jar
How many of these do I need to make? (The correct answer is Loads and Loads, oh my yes.)
Stasia
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| News of me |
[06 Nov 2009|09:46pm] |
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I've got internet! I'd like to thank my new ISP SFR, who managed to give me internet access a whole 10 days before the estimated day, yay!
My new address is available in friends- or access-locked posts on DW, IJ, and LJ. If you want to send me a card and can't see any of these posts, let me know. Speaking of cards, have you signed up for your Holiday Card?
This entry was originally posted at http://snakeling.dreamwidth.org/156823.html [ comments]. You can reply there using OpenID.
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| I am spoiled |
[06 Nov 2009|09:30am] |
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mood |
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For the latest SPN. I am now barely able to contain myself while I wait for the download to finish downloading (and then I'll have to wait until tonight to watch it; woe!).
I am a bad person in that I want to write PR apocafic so I can title it "The Lone Ranger". I am a worse person in that this idea was originally, "I wish there was an Autobot who transformed into a Ford Ranger, so I could call a fic..."
In spite of all of this, I kind of want to cry. No, there is no particular reason, aside from my brain being a very fucked up place. Work should be all KINDS of fun today. :P
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| "I can't help being angry when I'm furious!" |
[06 Nov 2009|03:25pm] |
Källa: DN
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| PROGRESS! |
[05 Nov 2009|10:45pm] |
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mood |
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 hopeful |
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I've been so preoccupied with RL, I feel like I've hardly been around my journal(s). I've been reading small fics and keeping an eye on you all, but mostly either running around to the gym or various heathcare appointments, or fretting over my resume, the seemingly endless process.
Today I finally feel like it's DONE!!! Oh, there will still be tweaks, and multiple variations and formats and postings and cover letters and and and, but I finally read it and feel like it's good.
What an amazing feeling, to be suitably impressed with my own career! After all the effort my miserable (nearly former!) boss devoted to convincing me I'm incompetent, it feels really great to rediscover myself.
It seemed impossible to ever get ready to make this change, and I still can't see how all of it will work out, but it things are lining up, and change.
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| NaNoWriMo |
[05 Nov 2009|08:14pm] |
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mood |
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 gloomy |
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No writing today on the Nano story. I was up early for me and off running around doing sales calls. This meant I had no clue what was happening in Texas until the news came on at 5. To say the least, I was shocked and am wondering how flisters in that area and with relatives in the military are doing.
Tomorrow marks the one week anniversary and I will be spending a bit of time with the parish Priest at the pet cemetery. Hopefully this will help me stop being so easily upset.
so, how is everyone else doing?
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| Reading Project - trying to get people to read |
[05 Nov 2009|07:59pm] |
Finally starting to keep track. Makes us feel accomplished and that in turn keeps us motivated.
Goal: Read as many books as we can (hoping for at least 35) from September '09 -- September '10. Since we have to share time this is an acceptable goal. Hopefully we will shatter this.
Definition of "book": any book/any length, whether fiction or not; does not include textbooks that we have to use (unless that text is read purely for pleasure), but will include books used for book reviews and critiques; re-reads are okay
Books read so far: 11
What We're Currently Reading:
Some Trouble With Cows: Making Sense of Conflict by Beth Roy
Across The Pacific by Akira Iriye
Bound by Donna Jo Napoli
Recommendations always accepted.
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4 (36.4%)
okay
