ellebee's buzzing

2008-09-06T09:39:00.004-05:00

This blogger is unavailable for the next little while (possibly until 2011....). Please see her Twitter page for updates, because incomplete sentences is about all she can manage right now. Grad school is kicking her ass.

ciao!

PS If you really love this blogger and want updates on her but are not a Twitter-er, that page has an RSS feed that you can subscribe to :D

I'm not dead!!!!

2008-06-11T19:54:00.002-05:00

Ooooh, boy it’s been a while, hasn’t it. So sorry I’ve dropped off the face of the earth. School ramped it up into high gear from January to end of May. I took 23 credit hours spring semester, and something like 20 Maymester (that would be 3 weeks…). Yeah. Not fun. On top of that, we’ve had a crazy first half of the year, with the house (literally) falling apart (our 3-year-old house’s gutter fell off!!! SPLAT!!) , 3.5 months of looking for a car for me (pictures here), deaths, sicknesses, and weddings on both sides of the family, and me being quite sick for most of the semester.

That started with a very bad kidney infection, bladder infection, sinus infection, bacterial vaginosis, and a yeast infection, and then progressed to diarrhea, positional dizziness, and extreme (like really extreme) fatigue. I was diagnosed with orthostatic hypotension, which means that my blood pressure drops like a rock when I go from lying to sitting, or from sitting to standing, and was put on a high salt diet. I also had (and still have) bizarre bone pain, both in the joints and in the long bones and intestinal pain, and unexplained weight loss (I lost like 15 pounds total, which is a lot for someone my size. I’ve since gained it all back, but still). I’ve had all sorts of blood tests, fecal samples, diagnostic imaging (small bowel series – where you swallow barium and x-rays are taken of it going through your GI tract; ultrasound of pancreas, liver, gall bladder, stomach, and kidneys; and endoscopy and colonoscopy). They thought at first that it was Crohn’s, which can have all of these symptoms, then RA (rheumatoid arthritis) which is also autoimmune and can have all these symptoms, though the GI stuff is more uncommon, and lastly, when every single test came back negative, it was chalked up to my Irritable Bowel Syndrome freaking out from when I got sick in the first place.

SO. That means that I had to start all over figuring out what was causing all the irritation. I originally cut out all dairy and anything whole wheat or whole grain, because that’s what I ate the most of and also are the most irritating to the GI tract. Surprisingly, that helped both the GI stuff and the bone issues, but did not make them go away completely. After tinkering, I believe that my biggest problem is too much animal fat or animal protein and whole grain/whole wheat. I’ve switched to a mostly vegetarian diet and I’ve cut out brown rice, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat breads, whole grains, and (bulgur and wheat berries mostly). I’ve slowly added skim milk and oatmeal to my diet, and hopefully can get regular servings of yogurt back in. I’d like to occasionally have cheesy stuff and whole wheat bread or pasta. I’ve successfully eaten pearl barley, which isn’t considered whole grain, and I’d like to eat quinoa and other whole grains every once in a while. Most of the meat I do eat is fish (mainly wild salmon) and shrimp, which I feel is less irritating to my body at this time. When I eat badly, I get a lot of stomach pains, and my joint pain is actually worse.

Also, exercising helps. Too bad I’m still pretty darn exhausted all the time, though it’s (very) slowly getting better. I’m trying to get back into exercising because I have become extremely weak from not moving around very much, which is very bad for my profession.

School News: School’s done til mid-late August. Right now I’m in a full time 8-week clinical internship, which is both amazing and extraordinarily stressful. I’m only 3 days in, but I’ve learned and done SO MUCH I can’t believe it! Also, despite me getting sick, I made all A’s both spring semester and Maymester. Go me!!! That earned me expensive restaurant trips :D

Foodie News: Mostly I’ve been too tired to cook anything fancy, but I have been trying to eat more vegetables. One of my meals is always rice and legumes in some format. I’ve become addicted to Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food (damn you TP girl!!) and I recently bought a new cookbook, Mark Bittman’s The Best Recipes In the World, and I am madly in love with both. Fast, fresh, interesting recipes that can easily be adapted into one-dish meals. I also recently made Mark Bittman’s no-knead bread (actual recipe that I used here).

Knitting News: Haven’t really been knitting very much. Still knitting that plain Jane sock, but it’s long, because how ever many yards that ball had is pretty much going to make me knee socks, I believe. Faux-cable-y socks are on hold because I have to do a short-row heel and I have to pretty much only do that, and, well, I haven’t had time to do that since before Christmas. Thermal sweater is hibernating, and I’m debating frogging the 4 inches of sleeve that I have, and eventually casting on for the body, because there are no increases/decreases for a long time, so it can be rather mindless (also, I’d really like someone to tell me how to increase stitches in the sleeves in pattern the way Laura wants it because it’s way too hard for me to figure out…). Fingerless gloves are like 30 minutes away from being done (I dropped a stitch on the last finger on the last freaking row and it laddered down, so I have to pick it back up and then cast off, then weave in the ends for that glove), and I think that’s all I have on the needles. I bought some Noro Kureyon Sock (pictures here which I’m planning on using next for my first two-at-a-time Magic Loop socks (using the new Knitpicks Harmony Wood Needles (you’ll have to look that one up yourself)), and also some Claudia Handpainted fingering yarn, which is for some other pair of socks that I haven’t figured out yet.

Random News: I got a Twitter Account (here) and I am ADDICTED. Add me if you’re on it, and if you’re not, get an account. Major love! Better than Facebook!!

Goals This Summer:
1) Blog more!! (and get on a schedule)
2) Get on a cleaning schedule
3) Exercise more, regularly, and learn to enjoy it
4) Knit more
5) Learn as much as I can about my profession

I might have less to talk about in this blog about cooking and knitting, and more about life in general, but since most people who read this really know me, I figure that’s a-ok!

Alright, I’m done for the night. Bye y’all!

Observation

2008-04-02T19:45:00.001-05:00

You know it's time to clean when you give yourself a paper cut on the toe because there's too much paper on the floor!

2008-02-22T15:44:00.003-05:00

Oh my goodness. Too funny:
Instructions for Baby

(as seen on my new absolute favorite blogger, Dooce.)

I love the poor baby's expressions on the "NO!" parts. My favorite is the "Bonding with Baby."

Have a good weekend, everyone!!

Aaaaarrrrggghhh!

2008-02-18T20:36:00.003-05:00

I'm still here, I promise!! I have 4 midterms and 1 final in the next 9 school days (plus I believe there are two projects that are due then and one BIG project that I have due in April, but I have GOALS, people!). Sooooo, I'm a teeny bit busy.

Good news: I have a new camera! It's so purty. I believe I've drooled all over it.

Bad news: My pissy, constantly PMSing teenager computer (aka, one of the first computers that had Vista) needs to have a .... personality change, let's say .... and thus, what's the point of loading new software for the camera when I will have to reload it in less than a week. Plus, did you see the beginning of the posts where I have 5 tests in 9 school days? Yeah, not much time to learn new software.

I am learning the camera, though. I read it's manual in the 5 minutes in between when I'm ready for bed and when the M is ready for bed (it's currently replaces my silly fantasy series that I'm reading -- my version of smut). This little camera is soo freaking cool! Love!

In other news, my Grandpa is getting married this weekend. Yes, he is about 75 years old. Yes, I do think it's absolutely adorable. We're going down to south Georgia to watch him and Ms. Shirley (as opposed to him marrying my Aunt Shirley, that'd be a little weird, wouldn't you think? Besides, I think my Uncle Olan would have a small problem with that) (and yes, they really do name people that in the South. I also have an uncle named Clyde. Yep, both those names are on their birth certificates). Should be about 4 hours of fun bracketed by about 6.5 hours of complete and utter TORTURE where I'll have to study in the car (which I HATE). Hopefully, I can convince the M that I study better in the car when I'm knitting on my pretty sock...

Ummm, no cooking news for a while because I completely overestimated the amount of food that we'd need and I haven't cooked in, oh, about a week and a half, and we're STILL in no danger of running out of food...

Okay, that's all for now. Hope your week is better and less stressful than mine (you know your life is stressful when you have to put on your to-do list "shower!!!!!" because if you don't, you won't shower, and then you'll be all stinky...).

2 Things

2008-02-09T11:34:00.000-05:00

1) I'm going to Knitch today! I have a gift certificate from Christmas and I get to GO to a REAL yarn store and SEE yarn before i buy it!!!!!!!!

2) The M bought my Valentine's Day present! (here, here, and here. We were going to buy a case for it as well, but we decided to get one at Walmart or Target, because the one we were going to get (the one that had the massively best reviews) didn't have a zipper and reviewers said they got much better ones that were cheaper and better in a normal retail store.

Yay!!!! And we're going out to a new restaurant! (ok, new to us). I've gotten AWESOME grades so far this semester and we are sooo proud of me that it's not even funny. :D

And, you wouldn't believe how fast a plain Jane sock could go when all you do is read for class all day. As soon as I posted the last post, the yarn decided to become finicky and pool everywhere, like I was concerned about here, here, and to a lesser extent, here, and I HATE pooling, so I found the other end of the center pull ball and started doing every two rows, two-ish rows from the outside of the ball, two-ish from the inside. Slightly less mindless, but I can handle it. It looks SO GOOD OMG. I am SO PROUD OF MYSELF. This is REAL, HONEST-TO-GOD KNITTING (ok, sorry about the caps thing. Can you tell that I'm a little excited??). And soon, I'll be able to put a picture up! Yay!!!!

Hopefully tomorrow, a review of my menu from two weeks ago and another menu. We'll see.

And, my grandpa's getting married 2/25!! Yay!

Cuh-razy

2008-02-06T18:45:00.000-05:00

Okay, let's talk about knitting. And how all of the sudden, I'm so busy that I can't even think hard enough to knit on my freaking sleeve for Thermal (it's hard to remember to increase every 7 rows or whatever when you are trying your hardest to zone out for 42 minutes of the first season of House, MD (the only relaxation that you are getting that day because you have literally been studying every other minute of the day). Cable Twist socks are too hard because I'm only knitting when I'm watching TV in the dark or reading, and I can't manage to do the pattern without looking. So, I was stuck. Then, the Knitting Philistine saved the day and shipped the yarn that I ~~bought from her stash reduction sale~~ won from her yarn contest (M, don't read the strikethrough! I totally won this yarn! Didn't pay for it! Nope, nope! Oh, lord, I have a problem....).

Anyway, this is a hand-dyed, varigated yarn from Hello Yarn, called Tough Sock (can't seem to find it on her site right now), in a colorway called dusty (you can see a picture of this yarn here, though it's a Ravelry link, so if you don't have Ravelry, sorry!). Anyway, it's a lot less warm than in the pictures, and I think it's going to look super with jeans. I'm knitting a plain Jane sock out of it, and it's got something ridiculous like 128 grams in this ball. Since I have small feet, and I'm knitting it toe up, I'm super excited to see how long I can get these socks. I'm planning on knitting them a la Yarn Harlot, stopping the stockingette stitch where the calf starts to expand and knitting ribbing and doing increases. We'll see.

Cable Twist socks are also in danger of being frogged (again!). The vast majority of my sock yarn is solid or heathered yarns, and I just can't bring my self to knit plain old socks out of plain old yarn. These yarns are meant for CABLES and PRETTY LACE and REALLY NIFTY (and too complicated for my completely brain-dead brain) TEXTURES! I currently have three non-solid sock yarn in my house, my new sock yarn, my Cable Twist sock yarn, which really doesn't care if it's Cable Twist or Plain Jane, but really, can't you just finish me already, and then some pretty Artyarns Ultramerino 4 that really wants to be Jaywalkers (I mean really, this yarn will cry if it's not Jaywalkers. It's kind of pathetic, actually. However, we can't have crying yarn in this house. Must cater to yarn, treat it gently and with kindness and let it get what it wants....). I might take the needles off my poor little 4" sleeve, leave it on it's cable, and cast on the body if I get too desperate. If I remember correctly, there's no increasing on the body for about a million years, so I should be good for a bit.

This had better end soon, or even at my slow as hell pace, I might run out of mindless things to knit (and by mindless, I'm talking this toe is on the edge of being too hard right now. DPNs too, why don't I have a circular needle in this size? What was I thinking??). And then what will I do? The M has banned me from buying more yarn until all my unused yarn is used up (within limits. He understands that if I run out of sweater yarn before I run out of sock yarn, I should get more sweater yarn. He also understands multiple projects, so if I had more time and wanted to start, say, a complicated lace project, I could get some lace yarn. But right now, I have enough yarn for a sweater and enough yarn for 9 or 10 pairs of socks. That's enough for now). Oooh, I know! The M will need some socks, and, gosh darn it, all my sock yarn is girly-looking. (goes and hides her plain chocolate, navy, and black yarn, those are for MY dress socks, dammit!) That means I'll have to buy new yarn!

2008-01-25T20:32:00.000-05:00

Okay, so the M and I are the ultimate in laziness. When it comes to grocery shopping, we have to go to at least 2, at most 4 places. Therefore, we prefer to go only every two weeks. This requires a LOT of planning on my part, deciding which recipes I want to eat two weeks from now, trying to look at my planner and determine exactly how stressed I am going to be and how much the M will need to help me.

Also, the M eats 6 meals a day. Granted, they're relatively small meals. But still. And I cook all of them. And I make bread. And almond butter. And I cut up carrots for us (no baby carrots for us!!). It takes a lot of work. To cut down on it, I make 4 family-sized meals every weekend. To keep things healthy, I try to make 2 meals chicken, and two some other type of lean meat. That means I need a total of 8 recipes--I try to do 4 chicken and then one each with a choice of turkey, lean beef, pork tenderloin, fish, and chicken or turkey sausage. To top that, I have to balance easy with flavorful and interesting, and I try to make at least one new recipe every two weeks. If I like it, I add it to my "tried and true" 3-ring notebook, if I don't, I toss it. I then look at my list of 8 recipes, decide which recipes will be good for week one, and which will be good for week 2, and mark them so I don't forget.

I have several staples that I rely on--some of which I make at least once a month, and most of the time every two weeks, because they're just that easy and just that good. I'm going to try to post my "menu" every two weeks, and slowly put up my staples and then maybe some new recipes. As I go, I'll start linking to my recipes (hopefully) so if you want to try it, you can!

Okay, here is my "menu" for the next two weeks. I usually just plan the main dish, and we make enough rice/potatoes/pasta/whatever for these meals to last us the week, and then we just dip in them as we need them. We like fresh veggies over cooked, so the M grabs some raw broccoli and a tomato after each meal and eats them like apples, and I make myself a side-salad or eat some fruit--that way, I don't have to cook as much!

To make this weekend:
Chicken Soup
Chicken Andouille Sausage and Bulgur Wheat
Mexican Black Bean Sausage Chili (adapted)
Chicken in Yellow Curry (from Madhur Jaffrey's From Curries to Kebabs: Recipes from the Indian Spice Trail) with onions, mushrooms, bell pepper, and green beans

Next weekend:
Chicken Gunk (more on this later)
Cilantro Chicken with snow peas and bell pepper (my new dish this time, probably with a little less cilantro, and omitting the carrots)
Salmon with Asian Lime Marinade (really, I can't recommend this highly enough. I'll have a post on this by itself)
Crockpot Stiffado

Most of the time, I do a pretty good job of balancing, but some times (like this time) I notice too late that whoops! This week seems to be ALL poultry. Oh well. Then, if I like the layout of the menu, I save my little piece of paper with the menu written out, and maybe use it again.

Okay, time to return to studying. First test of the semester a week from today. Blech.

2008-01-24T20:49:00.000-05:00

We just ordered pizza. For the first time since we've been together (3 1/2 years). This is a milestone!

Why yes, I'm still here

2008-01-23T19:46:00.000-05:00

1) Why is it necessary that I must still be cold with jeans, two pairs of socks, a long sleeve button-down, and a long-sleeve WOOL sweater on in my 75 deg F house (yes, we're wimps. Wanna make something of it?)?

2) Still knitting.
Finished, in fact, with Bear's laptop a while ago.
Started Thermal by Laura Chau in Knitpick's Gloss. I'm knitting the sleeves first, because they're most like socks and more portable than the body. They're my current knit-while-reading-for-class project.
Also started (and frogged, and started, and frogged) a sock out of Lana Grossa Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch Softcolor, pattern (finally settled on) Adrian Bizilia's Cable Twist Socks, with a few mods. This is my "must need light and a bit of concentration" knitting project (just the little twist stitches. The splittiness of the yarn + the twist stitches make it difficult to do without looking).

3. Still recovering from the horrible disease known as the Kidney Infection + 2 other infections. Not sure which was worse, the illness(es) or the meds. I was a pretty sick puppy for quite a while.

4. School is kicking my ass. Well, I did really well last semester, but it's pretty much taken up EVERY WAKING MOMENT. I enjoy what I'm learning, I do not enjoy being in middle school again. Seriously. Same 42 people, same 4 rooms, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Drives me stark raving mad.

5. I'm getting a new camera soon!! My old one has died, which is one of the reasons why I stopped blogging--what's the fun in having a blog with no pictures?

6. Not much (interesting) cooking being done. Basics. Quick. Nutritious. Usually involving a crockpot or a broiler pan. This combo does not make for interesting concoctions usually, but if you've found something that fits all (or most) of those requirements, let me know. I'm running out of yummy ideas.

7. Still reading everyone's blogs religiously (It's my escape. Is that sad? Wait, don't answer)

8. School has made it necessary for me to lug my laptop around with me ALWAYS and so I feel like I have more time for this lil' ole blog. Or so we hope.

Oh my.

2007-09-15T23:12:00.001-05:00

Wow. Okay, so while this program doesn't have the hardest material around (unlike one of my classmate's boyfriend, who is literally going to be a rocket scientist -- "Ah, so you're at X school! What year are you? What are you majoring in?" "Actually, I'm getting my PhD in aerospace engineering." "....Oh...."), it's got to have the most material covered in the shortest amount of time. Like I told TP girl, I have 6 classes. I've completely filled up all 6 of my 1" binders full of lectures, notes, etc. While each subject by itself is not overwhelming, I've gone through 3 reams of paper. In 3 weeks, people. That's a lot of shit to "know" ("You will not get anywhere by memorizing facts in this program. You must know it, the mechanisms, the whys, the hows, the becauses. You have to know it.") much less try to memorize.

Which is why I've been absent. I'll try to post more often, just to keep myself sane. But now it's late, and it's time for bed. These past three weeks have turned us into old people. Weeknights, bed at 10, weekends, we're up late if we're past midnight.

Ta ta!

Beans, beans, the wonderful fruit....

2007-08-22T15:32:00.000-05:00

So. I have stomach problems. After going to the doctor multiple times and not getting anywhere, I have decided to experiment. I truly believe that I eat too much protein. The M and I eat a lot of protein. The M is very much into working out, and lifting weights, and he believes that that is the right way for everyone to eat. I, on the other hand, really don't think I need to eat that much protein. This, along with incorporating new whole grains into our diet, has led me to come up with this completely new and innovative way of having a complete vegetarian meal! It is called ... wait for it ... salads! With beans, grains, and vegetables, mixed and marinated with some sort of "dressing." Pretty cool, huh??

Okay, so maybe this isn't a new idea, but I haven't really eaten this kind of salad before. I usually was a "salad is lettuce, carrots, salad dressing (preferably ranch or italian), and croutons" kinda gal. Then I became a burrito kinda person. Then a taco salad kinda girl. Then I was like "ooh, I could incorporate new flavors into burritos!! Make an Italian or Greek burrito!" (We have a restaurant called Willy's here that will make you a burrito-in-a-bowl, which is a full burrito (rice, beans, lettuce, everything) without the tortilla. It is HEAVEN, I tell you. Anyway, I was like "I totally could do this with different cuisines and without any meat." And so I started thinking.

This is my first attempt:

It is wheat berries, chickpeas, cucumbers, sliced bell peppers from a taco salad, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, and about a teaspoon of jarred pesto. Next time, I will slice up the peppers into smaller pieces, and add more vegetables and less berries.

I have tons of grains now for this. Quinoa, buckwheat, bulghur wheat, and couscous (okay, I know that's not a grain, but it will work for this!). I also have ideas of types of beans go with what. Chickpeas go with anything, black beans go with mexican-type food, northern with Italian, and lentils with Indian or Middle Eastern. I have pesto sauce, Trader Joe's "eggplant spread" (okay, the M's Russian. They make this stuff called eggplant caviar, which is basically mashed up roasted eggplants and lots of other vegetables, and it is to-die-for. This is a slightly spicy version, and I could seriously eat it like candy), Trader Joe's Indian something, and countless ideas for dressing and sauces. To make things even better, I have a new ice cube tray specifically for dressings, so I can make a recipe for, oh, roasted garlic balsamic vinaigrette (off the top of my head), freeze individual portions, and dump a cube into my bowl when I fix my lunch in the morning. Add vegetables that go sorta with your sauce and beans, and HAVE AT IT. Happy day!

I admit, I got the idea from 101 Cookbooks' Delicious Big Bowl as well as her other "big bowl" compilations. If anyone has any other ideas, let me know!!

In other news, I tried my hand at making my own hummus. I loosely based it off of Roasted Garlic and Pesto Hummus from 28 Cooks (she's got another hummus recipe up top now, I love this woman!!), except I didn't have time to roast garlic.

It is YUMMY, and I have permission (*wink*) to make it anytime I want to now, especially for parties. Duly noted, M, duly noted. I just took 2 (14.5 oz) cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed them, and whirred them in a food processor with 3 tablespoons of pesto until smooth and mixed. Eat like ice cream, if you want (as in a big bowl and a spoon).

Where've you been? I've looked for you forever and a day. Where've you been? I'm just not myself when you're away.

2007-08-20T14:37:00.000-05:00

Didja miss me? Probably not, I suppose. Well, the first day of school has come and gone. Well, not gone yet, I'm still at school, but I'm oh-so-done with classes, and I've studied for an hour and a half, and I feel justified in updating (considering that I haven't updated since the laundry episode, heh).

First impressions of grad school:
* Professors seem awesome. Willing to bend over backwards (hell, one prof gave us a CELL PHONE number in case we needed her!!) to help us succeed. I have a "big sis" (a second year in the program) who has already told me who to go to if you need a good hug, and who to go to if you need a tough father figure.

* At the same time, we hit the ground running. Patients? Yeah, we're seeing them this semester (!!!!). One group will start on Wednesday, but thankfully, that's not me.

* I have 3 big classes, 3 little classes. But the ratio (according to the professors) is 2 hours of studying for every one hour of class. Awesome. That means that one of my classes, I should be STUDYING for 12 hours a week.

* Thou shalt not procrastinate!! Which I haven't. I'm already done with the reading for this entire week (about 200 pages, probably). More importantly, I'm *finally done* with my Medical Terminology book! See?

11 chapters, major systems as well as vision, hearing, and balance. This is like "gastr/o" and "-itis" kinda stuff.

I ended up with exactly 3 notecards left:

* Most of the students seem very nice. There's a good mix of people, 44 students, about 8-10 male, the rest female. About 1/3 are married, 4 are over 30, about 10 I'd say are mid-20's, and about half are straight out of undergrad. I've connected so far with the mid-20s group, mostly married, as well as a guy who is 39 years old. Probably about 10 or so have children, and most are in stable relationships.

* The M and I are carpooling. That means that I will be here from 8-5 every day, even though I don't have classes that long. Hopefully, I'll be able to get most of my studying done during this time period, and home will still be a sanctuary for cooking, knitting, watching geeky TV shows (like Stargate SG-1) and playing geeky RPGs.

* Getting up at 6:00 every day is going to be rough.

Alright, I think I'm done for right now. I have about 5 posts lined up right now, so I'll work on those, and post them when I have little time, but should post something. Prospective blogging days are Mon-Wed-Fri, because I have extra time.

Yay for being a student again!!

ellebee

2007-08-11T16:07:00.000-05:00

So. I have this problem. The problem is ..... I have (or, at least, had, we'll see) an extreme revulsion to folding laundry. You know, I can hang up all my crap so that it doesn't get wrinkled, but the underwear, socks, towels, you know what I mean, I just can't stand to do it.

I used to love folding laundry. Okay, not love, but it was not torture. However, for the past year or so (since May 2006, when I graduated from college) one of the major requirements for my job was folding laundry. I'm talking like five loads a day. Sheets, towels, pillowcases, the like. I hate folding laundry because of this.

So, for the past, oh, nine months or so, I just didn't fold my laundry. They stayed in the laundry basket we use to haul our clean laundry from the first floor alllll the way up to the third floor, where the bedrooms are. And it stays there.

Now, I'm trying to amend my aversion to laundry. Or at least, FOLD the freakin' laundry. I've thus come up with either an Einsteineaningly brilliant idea or a Homer Simpson one. I just haven't figured out which yet.

Ta-da!!

Laundry goes on the bed, and must be folded if the M and I want to go to sleep. Brilliant!!

The above picture is just the stuff from the last ... several months that I haven't folded.

After doing laundry.

All done! One week down, the rest of my life to go.

The question is, though, will this work, or will the M and I be sleeping with clean laundry in between us???

I'll let you know.....

An Essay

2007-08-10T17:09:00.000-05:00

entitled:

Why Knitting is Not Relaxing

I learned to knit to relax. I stress too much. I drink tea to help. I knit to help. I am more interested in stockingette stitch in the round than I am lace (not to say I don't obsess over lace, just right now, I want mindless knitting).

However.

Both of my projects are stressing me out. I don't want to talk about the laptop cozy right now. We are taking a break, and I may or may not have to start over. That's not the point.

My gloves, though.

Whoever told me originally that center-pull balls are better must have hated me in secret. Center-pull balls are the devil. I hates them. May I present exhibit A:

(Excuse the picture quality. My camera was misbehaving). This, my friends, is a picture of LACEWEIGHT yarn trying, unsuccessfully I might add, to turn itself inside out. It thinks it's funny. See the smirk? Bad yarn, bad!!

It was so bad that I had to cut the yarn from the glove, and rewind it into a NON-center-pull ball. Like this:

Let me illustrate.

The good:

See? Impossible to get a knot in it. The only drawbacks I found from non-center-pull balls is their tendency to roll all over the place, easily alleviated by sticking their arses in ziplock bags, closing the bag, cutting a corner, and feeding the yarn from the corner.

The bad:

Now, you can't feel it, but the center? It's hard. Not squishy like it should be. The center was one HUGE knot.

The ugly:

That would be the knot. See how much yarn is in ONE HUGE KNOT???? Just for scale, it took me TWO DAYS to get that out!!!

Just a warning to people out there. If you so much as mention center-pull ball to me with regards to my yarn, I will find you and take your stash away from you. Don't think I will? I know people, y'all. I'll find you.

Done. Finally.

Never again, folks, never again.

Oh wait....

2007-08-06T20:23:00.000-05:00

You mean you expected me to update more often than every 10 days??!! A little demanding, aren't we?

Just kidding, of course. Time kind of ... slipped by me.

When we last met, I had just gotten back from Vegas. I wish I could tell you that I was stupendously busy and having an oh-so-fabulous time, dahling, but that would be a lie. And we should never lie in our blog, now should we? Of course not.

The fact is, I have been doing absolutely nothing of interest. Watching a plant grow would be more exciting.

Except for a couple of days. Last Tuesday, I met up with the Girl Who is Famous For Using Too Much Toilet Paper, capsizing now herself. Alas, I forgot to charge my camera batteries, and she has already been reprimanded by the authorities for taking pictures in a mall, so there was no pictoral evidence. Only the sweet, sweet memories. And the fact that hopefully, next time I use my camera when it matters, I will be able to use her expertise on getting the white balance correct (my camera is more sophisticated than I thought!!)

Then, Saturday, we ventured to IKEA. I had a list, and by the time the M and I got out of there, I had used up two more (small) sheets for stuff we needed. But we came out empty-handed.

All of this changed yesterday. The M, the M's brother, and I headed back. We needed the M's brother to help us out choosing nice designs (both for textiles and paintings). Little did we know that his tastes have changed. Anyway, you should have seen us (hands were too full to get any type of picture. However, I would have given a lot of money for someone to come up to the truck we were using and take multiple pictures of us. You should have seen us. The M's brother was driving, I was in the passenger seat, and the M was straddling the middle compartment, his hands full glass jars, my hands full of this huge bag, and both of our feet bracing more glass jars. Behind the seats--more glass jars. In the back of the truck resided the big pieces. Why we took a truck is beyond me--the big pieces would have fit into the M's brother's Corolla (the back seat comes down--neither of our vehicles have moving seats). It was an ... adventure ... to say the least. Look forward in the upcoming days to see pictures of our transformed house (except we still don't have paintings. We left not being able to decide, but we will be going back once more for them).

I actually have spent these past several days getting ready for said IKEA trip, which is why there was no blog post--do you really want to watch me clean and organize? After the final IKEA trip, all that will be left is a trip to Wal-Mart (I know, I know) for bookshelves (I already have one, and I'll get two more to match) and pantry organizing stuff. And then, everything will be wonderfully easy to get to for school!!

Question: what should one do with upwards of 30 Real Simple magazines? Keep or throw away? I don't have time to go through them all and save whatever I want. Take up needless space for three years or more, or perhaps lose something that I might have wanted? Hmmmmmmm.....

Aaannndddd.... I'm back!

2007-07-27T22:20:00.000-05:00

Guess what? That super-hot desert-y place known as Las Vegas? Yeah, cooler and cloudier than the ATL when I was there. And it rained twice too. Bizarre.

However. I did have a *fabulous* time, and I did take TONS of pictures.

Knitting? Didn't even bring it (I knew the only time I worked on it would be on the plane, and the only thing I could work on is a) my gloves with the super-sharp needles or b) start on some socks, that would also have sharp needles and I was afraid of having them carted off by the TSA nazis. Flying was way more fun before 9/11).

Cooking? Rach and Trent were in the middle of tiling their floor, so the stove was.... in the garage. Along with a toilet. So, we didn't cook. However!!! I got several new (yummy) Mexican recipes that I can't wait to try! Actually, I can't wait to unpack them! Mmmm, ok, maybe not that....

But! But!! But!!! I did get to have lots and lots of cuddle time with my new best friend, the rather slobbery but oh-so-adorable Annalisa.

And this was my first time being West of the Mississippi for more than 24 hours, and I got to experience the true desert. I'm talking air so dry my skin peeled. I'm talking I didn't wash my face after the first time because my skin was so dry. I'm talking so dry I didn't have to wash my hair the *entire* time I was there, even though it was hot as an oven.

Lemme tell you, folks, Atlanta and Vegas--VERY different. At first, I wasn't so sure about the whole landscape thing (Okay, your grass is colored ROCKS? Wha....???).

Then, the last day, we went to Red Rock, and Oh. My. God. That was seriously one of the absolute most breathtaking places I've ever been to.

one

two

three

Best of all, I got to spend time with my oldest friend, and her new family.

I got to know Trent better, and hopefully, the next time I see Annalisa, she won't be five yet.

I quite honestly believe, that after being with her for a bit, that she is the cutest, sweetest baby I have ever been around (and I have like 19 cousins, people!!)

Thank you, Rachel and Trent, for letting me crash at your place, and for letting me be a part of your family for a couple of days. It was an unforgettable trip, and I miss y'all already!

Off to..

2007-07-22T15:15:00.000-05:00

Vegas! Will be there until Thursday, but don't expect anything on Thursday. In the meantime, I'll give you a chance to go ga-ga over the little family that I will be staying with.

Yes, I do believe Rachel does know that the only reason I'm going is so I can kiss Annalisa's fat widdle cheeks!!

I bring ye....

2007-07-20T20:30:00.001-05:00

Knitting pictures!!

It cleared up this afternoon, and I was able to snap some decent pics of mah current knitting projects. The pork will have to wait--I ate some before I remembered that I wanted to take pictures of it. However!! There are TONS of leftovers, so I'm sure that I will remember some time or other to take a picture.

Without further ado, knitting pics. Both of these projects were cast on about the same time, which was late January/early February. I'm a slow knitter, and I only knit during computer games and football games. Football in the fall/winter, computer games any time else. I'm getting to the point where I can knit without looking, so hopefully when school starts, I'll be able to have some mindless knitting projects to busy myself while I'm reading.

First, my sister, the Bear, requested a laptop sleevy thing. It's kinda wonky, my gauge swatch was majorly off, so had to improvise. We'll see how it turns out....

I've basically taken the stitch from My So Called Scarf and expanded it into laptop sleeve width and length. The yarn is Malabrigo in the Polygala colorway. It feels like a cloud, but it's not the best yarn/stitch combination in order to be able to rip out mistakes. Which is why I kept on knitting when I figured out that my gauge was so off, because I can't rip back more than two or three stitches at a time. More pics:

This is the most accurate color.

And a closeup of the stitch pattern.

Next up, my rendition of Hooray for Me Gloves, which basically means, I took her pattern, figured out the measurements, and went off by my own gauge. See, the yarn that I'm working with is actually doubled up laceweight yarn, which gives it about 10 stitches per inch, and something ridiculous like 14 rows per inch. Yeah. Teeny. Yarn is Knitpicks Shimmer in Maple Leaf, which is 70% alpaca and 30% silk, so it's both warm, silky, shiny, and fuzzy all at the same time. I knit the first one up until the divisions for the fingers, then I put it on scrap yarn and started the other, because I have to figure out a better way to do the fingers than the pattern suggests.

The halfway finished one:

This one doesn't look like it fits, but the rolled up part next to the fingers is like *way* rolled up. I think that the pinky might actually end up too big. Oh well.

This is the most accurate color. It's kind of weird since it's variegated yarn doubled up, it happened to be that the yellow kind of overlaps. It's getting better with the second one though. I have lots of extra yarn, so when I do the same with socks, I'll make sure that no colors overlap too much.

The one on the needles:

Fuzzy goodness. Pointy needles. I have a callus from knitting these gloves. Yay calluses!!

An artsy closeup.

I accidentally put the flash on with this one, but I like how it turned out. The silk shines really nicely, and accentuates the stitches.

And bonus, the only Outer Banks pictures that turned out:

Me looking goofy.

My mommy and me.

The Wright Memorial. I can't believe this one turned out. I had the settings totally screwed up and this was literally the only one that wasn't all narsty.

And lastly, the only thing that I have in common with the Wright Brothers.

Kinda-sorta Char siu

2007-07-20T14:46:00.000-05:00

Whew! Busy couple of days! Weeeelllll, okay, not quite, seeming as I have no job currently and school doesn't start until exactly a month from now. Still, I feel like my days have been quite full and wonderful. I am leaving for Las Vegas on Sunday, and I am trying to make enough food so that the M can subsist on my delicious left-overs. Which brings me to to the point. While, unfortunately, I have never tried authentic char siu, which is, from what I gather, a type of Asian slow-barbecued pork. I say Asian because from what I gather (though I have no concrete resources to cite, only memories of what I've read from blogs), several Asian cultures have a similar-style barbecued pork. Anyway, I believe that char siu, which I think is a Chinese term, is mostly cut up into sandwiches, seen here, added to fried rice, dumplings, buns, whatever one wants.

It it typically made with relatively fatty cuts of pork, such as shoulders, or loins, but since we try to only cook tenderloin, I've adapted it into a tenderloin roast. Inspired by The Traveler's Lunchbox's delicious description and pictures, and guided by the trusty instruction of Ms. Irma and her daughter, I adapted Melissa's recipe into a delicious, juicy, healthy roast. We usually eat it with plain brown rice, the sticky sauce from the glaze giving the rice a faint flavor, but you could easily slice it up finely and lay on top of a green salad with an Asian-inspired dressing (truthfully, I've been eyeing this one from 28 Cooks, but I keep forgetting to write down the ingredients so I can make it) or make a vegetable fried rice or even something truly different, like garlic-lemongrass roasted new potatoes. The possibilities are endless. It gets even better as left-overs, too!

Char siu-esque Roast Pork Tenderloin
1.5-2 lbs pork tenderloin (two long pieces, is what I usually do)
1/4 cup Chinese soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup honey
2 TBS fish sauce (for those of you who don't have that, you can sub. 1/2 tsp salt)
EITHER:
1 TBS finely minced ginger
1 TBS finely minced garlic
OR:
2 TBS ginger-garlic paste (my preferred way. That way, I don't have to mince up crap, and it leaves the sauce with a smoother texture)
OPTIONAL:
1/2 tsp chili-garlic sauce OR 1/2 tsp red pepper

Trim off large pieces of fat off the pork if you want to (I personally don't, it gives a better texture and flavor to the pork). Dump pork into a gallon-sized freezer bag. Blend all other ingredients (I highly recommend doing it in the order listed, it makes things *much* easier!) in a bowl or blender, depending on how lazy you are, and then dump mixture into freezer bag with the pork. Marinate in the refrigerator (surely I don't have to tell you that!) at least two hours and I've done it as long as 24 hours with no nasty consequences.

When you're ready for a delicious smelling house (or you're hungry, whichever one comes first), preheat the oven to 500 deg. F. Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil, and put the little rack on top of the foil (*very* important, you'll have a nasty mess to clean up if you don't. Listen to the voice of experience). Take out bag, and lay the pork on the rack. Dump the marinade into a small saucepan, bring to a boil, and reduce until it's roughly syrup consistency. Turn heat as low as it will go. Place roast in oven, and roast until a thermometer says 150 deg. F, basting with the yummy sauce. It takes about 36 minutes in my oven, so I set the timer for 9 minutes, baste, flip roast upside down, baste, stick it in for another 9 minutes, then repeat. When the roast is done, take it out of the oven, cover it with aluminum foil for 10 minutes to let it finish cooking, and then slice and watch your tablemates pass out with joy at the delicious food that you put in front of them!

(No pictures today, it has been raining all week (weird for GA at this time of year)! That's also why I have no pictures of knitting....)

To Do Today

2007-07-17T09:08:00.000-05:00

Maybe this will help me keep track of things today!

*~~Go grocery shopping (see, the daunting part of this is, grocery shopping requires Costco, an International Market, and today, Wal-Mart. Narsty)~~ Costco had a swiffer so I didn't have to go to Wal-Mart!!
*Clean all bathrooms in the house (including the one downstairs that we never use and that hasn't been cleaned since we moved in...) Okay, one bathroom clean. There was a .... crisis. I figured out where the fruit fly infestation was coming from. Instead of cleaning the bathroom, I've cleaned out the pantry and begun work on the kitchen
*Get two hours of studying done Might not happen today. I'm exhausted.
*Cook something. Anything.... maybe fish.... See above about studying.
*Load beach pictures onto computer, and figure out what I need for Flickr on this computer
*Set up new iPod from said Costco trip

Oy vey. I'd better get off this thing and hop to it!!

Oops!!

2007-07-16T20:21:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm back, after 10 days of not posting (though I suppose that doesn't even come close to the time between the last two posts....)

Work is done. YAY!!!!!!

Vacation is done. Not so yay, though it wasn't anything like I had imagined. I don't think M and I will be doing any more 9-hour one way trips any time soon. I took like no pictures--well, I took pictures at the Wright Memorial, but I thought my camera was being stupid, because the pictures turned out crappy. Turns out, I was being crappy, because I had the film speed set at the fastest possible, not the slowest. *Note to self: when going to Vegas, and taking pictures OUTSIDE, set film speed to 200!!!!* Also, next time, I will make sure that I make more us time during family vacations, and less, "ellebee with the family, M by himself" time (M is terribly shy, and feels that he has to watch himself with the family 24/7, because my family walks the straight and narrow path, and M dances in zig-zags around it).

I've been home since late Saturday night, and I still have not accomplished anything, except catching up on Bloglines, LJ, and Facebook (okay, okay, Myspace as well...) and making chicken soup because both M and I are on the verge of getting sick. I have put a list together of what I should make and freeze, however. Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll feel better and get my arse in gear and go grocery shopping and begin deep cleaning the house. And maybe I'll find my camera cord and upload the two good pictures of us at the Memorial.

Must play Planescape Torment (spoilers for those who are interested and haven't played yet) now!!!

2007-07-06T15:45:00.000-05:00

A recent conversation:

me: And
me: can i talk to you about something else?
me: not related, and sorta silly, but i want to express some frustration
M: sure!
me: ok, this is knitting related, so i'm just warning you
me: it's silly
me: ok, so
me: there's this thing called a knitalong. it's when a group of people all knit the same thing, and they have a forum about it. i've never done one (duh) but it sounds cool
me: now, there's this thing called the Mystery Stole (like a lacy scarf), which is a knitalong, BUT only pieces are emailed to you every week. so after a certain number of weeks, you have a lacy stole.
me: i REALLY want to do it, it's FREE and EVERYTHING (all you need is the yarn and the beads) but it's not for beginner lace knitters, which makes me mad!!!! i want to DO IT WITH EVERYONE ELSE!!!!!!
me: WAAAAAHHHHHH!!!
me: *pouts*
me: (told you it was silly)
M: it's silly, alright... sounds like too much of a time sink
me: i could probably get everything for like $15, but i'm SO MAD
M: girlie has no time to be a knit-head
m: nothing wrong with dabbling, though
me: can i PLEASE be a knit-head when i graduate??????
M: lol
me: AND like half the knit-blogs i read are grad students, so i know it can be done
me: most of these ppl can knit while they read (they knit without looking, which is what i'm practicing, which is WHY I KNIT WHEN WE PLAY!!!)
me: lol
M: well, if you're that good...
me: see
me: a lot of people make sweaters while they study
me: so you could get sweaters out of this
me: these three years
me: and socks too
M: :)
me: soooo
me: maybe you should fund my knitting more and be nicer about it
M: :D
me: so is that a yes?
me: you'll buy me some sock yarn??
M: hehe... we'll see

uhhhhh... I signed up. The info page, Clue 1 and Clue 2 are all printed. All I have to do is.... learn how to knit lace, lol. Sigh. I will do a lace project, and then I will do this one, muah hah hah hah haaa!! Info is here, but it closes Midnight, 7/6/07, so you kinda have to hurry (and especially since I don't think anyone reads this yet, that could be a problem).

On lottery tickets, jobs, and other such matters

2007-07-03T19:13:00.000-05:00

After 7:00 this evening, I only have two more days at my job. Tomorrow is Independence Day, so it's like a little tiny vacation right in the middle of the work-week, and then there's Thursday, and then finally Friday, and after that, I am FREE!!! Until, that is, August 20, which is when I start grad school.

Do I want to go to grad school? Yes and no. I suppose, since I am not Paris Hilton, I must actually make something of myself, and this is definitely the career that is right for me because of my circumstances, but I think if things were different, I wouldn't be going to this particular grad school.

See, I have a secret. Ready to hear it? See, I still have an unrealistic dream about life. M (my partner in crime) was asking me what I would do if we won the lottery. For him, it would be simple. Quit his job, upgrade his life ever so slightly (nicer computer system, slightly nicer house, though we're truly happy where we are and do not ever plan on moving), travel more, and when we're at home, play video games, preferably with me. For me, it wasn't so simple.

I wish that I could live like a VIctorian male aristocrat. I wouldn't need much money (like in the Austen books, "Oh, she gets 2000 pounds a year, enough money in which to live comfortably."), maybe enough to to have someone come and clean when it needs it, enough money to travel, and most importantly, enough money to be able to buy and devour as many books as I need. I'd love to be a life-long scholar, studying whatever I fancy. If I want to take up painting for two years, I'd like to be able to do it with no one to tell me no. If I wanted to move onto the nuances of what caused the war of 1812, no department head would be able to tell me that I can't do it because I belong to the art department (which is why I don't want to be a professor).

Which is why, I suppose, that I find myself in grad school for what I'm doing. This way, I will work for forty hours a week at a job that I love pretty well, and I will make a pretty decent living, and then I will have the rest of the week to do whatever I want to do, because it's impossible to take this job home. And if M and my plan works, we will be retired quite early and then I truly will be able to do whatever I want.

It's wrong of me to seem so depressed about this. In actuality, I am ecstatic about starting grad school. I have my first book (Dear new grad student... If you get bored this summer, we will be having a test on This Book (ISBN number XXXX) during the first two weeks. It might be a good idea to know it backwards and forwards. Have a Fantastic Summer!! Much love, Your Slave Drivers for the next three years XOXO) and I am already on Chapter 3, despite only getting it about a week ago. It's So Much Fun to be studying again after taking a year off!!

Anyway, even though I started this new blog a while ago, I have written in it, but recently, I couldn't take the "composing blog entries in my head and then doing nothing with them" phase that has pretty much been the past two years. I'll be a lot less busy this next month and a half, and then I'll want to procrastinate, so I think that I will be blogging on a semi-regular basis.

Next week, we'll be going to the Outer Banks, NC for a beach trip/family reunion, so hopefully, I'll get a couple of blog entries with pictures out of it, and then in a couple of weeks, I'll be going to Las Vegas to visit my best friend growing up and her new baby, so hopefully, that will be good blog fodder, and then I'll be back in the habit.

One last thing before I stop blabbing on and on ... this will not be a knitting blog, but I do knit, and I am rather proud of myself when I do a cool thing, and this is not a cooking blog, but I do love to cook, and I'm pretty damn decent about it, if I do say so myself, so there will be cooking posts and probably recipes. This is just a new place to sort out my thoughts and ideas.

Until next time....

Hey there

2007-04-25T21:44:00.000-05:00

First post, more to come soon...