Neglect.

Wow. Have I truly not posted at all this month? Well, let's get back on track.

Firstly, I want to share SuperBaby's first handknit sweater, the Offset Wraplan, designed by Fyberduck. It turned out so well, I almost wanted to keep it just so I could admire it. The sweater is a bit on the big side for SuperBaby right now, as you can see.


A touch big for him ...

It was knit in red Rowan Felted Tweed (wool and alpaca), and has little blue fish buttons that I found at Jo-Ann's. I hope he has some time to wear it before it gets to be too small for him, not to mention unbearably hot for Iowa. (We have strange weather here. I swear I heard the weather man say the temperature will climb to 80 by the end of the week!)

Let's see ... what else is new? I've really been enjoying Dollhouse and Castle, and I read the other day that Project Runway will be back on the air this summer; season 6 will finally be aired (on Lifetime, which I'm still not sure about), and they're putting out casting calls for season 7. So glad to hear the show didn't get flushed entirely. I was really beginning to be concerned about my Tim Gunn deficiency.

Also, I discussed starting up a community musical theatre group with a few former classmates. That would be kind of fun, I think.

As for what else I've been up to, let's let some crappy camera phone pics do the talking.



Watching your parents playing tic-tac-toe with straws and fake sugar at Perkins on a Friday night is always a great way to beat boredom while waiting for your nosh. (Note: this is before I got pulled over for speeding. With the parents in the car. At midnight. Talk about awkward. Good thing I only got a warning, or as my mom said, "That was almost a really expensive dinner." But we got pie, and ate it last night and it was delicious.)



I discovered this gem, a store version of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, when I was making grilled cheese for lunch yesterday. It was sitting innocuously in my parents' fridge, and cracked me up. When I commented on it later, my mom got very defensive and there was a five-minute discussion on how often my parents got real butter during their childhoods. I think I might draw a question mark on the packaging, because the phrase is really screaming for one.



And finally, the forsythia is starting to bloom. Spring is really here. (Of course I could have told you spring was really here yesterday; I was woken up by a chorus of every chirping bird in town telling me that the sun was going to come up soon. Ah, the woes of being able to sleep with the windows open at last.)

Superbaby!

It has been nearly two weeks since my last post, and though I have thought about blogging rather a lot, that probably counts for bupkis.

The most exciting thing over the past two weeks happened last Thursday: I became an aunt.


I got to hold Superbaby!

As you can see by the way my arms envelop the little guy, he's quite tiny (as babies tend to be). As I've heard tell many times already — my mom's very talkative — he came out flying. Bounced off the doctor a little even, hence his nickname, Superbaby. I suspect his tale will be told many a time at that hospital.

Ii don't recall if I said a whole lot about my brother Brox becoming a father. He turned 20 earlier this month; a few times I saw the deer-in-headlights look on his face and I could almost hear him thinking Holy shit, what have I gotten myself into? But I think he will be a good dad.

Being a proper knitting auntie, I have already queued up a number of knits for Superbaby, not limited to something World of Warcraft-related and a peepee teepee (no, really!). Chiefly on the list, though, is a sweater with a detachable cape, fitting his aerial entrance into the world.

To justify the WoW dorkiness, I'll tell you that, in addition to some thicker clothes, Superbaby's leaving-the-hospital outfit included an I (heart) Star Wars beanie and a onesie that read I'm the first in a clone army! (And I'm very impressed with the Etsy seller WeROnesieful who managed to fit that all on a onesie.)

So. Eventful.

Also, on the way back from lunch, I saw this, er, interesting yard art:


Wow.

That's a soldier with a rifle kneeling at a noticeably-smaller-than-the-gun cross. Scary.

That's all she wrote, folks. I've got stuff to do.

Top o' the mornin' to ya!

I saw the pattern for Lacy Clover last week in the HP House Cup group; someone had made it for Charms class. Well, I snagged some DK cotton and a hook last night, and set to making the pattern. I found it was a lot easier to follow the schematic than the written instructions (once I deciphered all the symbols, that is). I finished it off this morning. Have a gander at my terrible cell phone photo below:


Just in time ...

It's a bit brighter than that, but my photo editing program didn't want to go there. I'm pretty happy with the project; it was fairly simple, yet challenging in some spots. (I re-crocheted the last two rows of the leaves two or three times to get it to look right, and in the end deviated slightly from the pattern.)

I would have stuck it in my hair, but my hair would have none of it today. (Not to mention it's a bit heavy, as it's DK cotton and about the size of my palm.)

Don't drink too much green beer.

Look! Her face could launch a thousand ships ...

Last night's choir rehearsal was an exercise in Making It Up As I Go Along. The rehearsal began with me coming into the sanctuary with a ton of photocopies (so the choir could at least try to learn the praise band's music for this upcoming service), and ended with a little "choral-ography". I'm not even joking. They decided it would be fun to start the anthem at the back of the sanctuary and process up to the front during the first refrain. It worked surprisingly well, and I was really pleased that rehearsal hadn't been a big explosion of Lame. (That was a valid concern, I feel.)

So, yay.

Some other things on my mind: Joss Whedon's new show on Fox, Dollhouse. I'm really getting into the show. Tomorrow's episode will be the fifth of the season. It seemed a little slow going at first, and I kept thinking there was no way Fox would keep it on the air. (Incidentally, last week's episode was the first I was able to watch in its entirety on tv. The others I've had to catch on Hulu. I'm really glad they're going online, just in cases.) Anyway, the fourth episode has been my favorite so far, though I'd like to go back through and watch them all again, because I keep feeling like I'm missing tons of the clue-like stuff Joss always throws in.

I'm also on iTunes right now, chasing Holst. Specifically, The Planets. By far one of my favorite orchestral works. I started poking around yesterday, and my dad said I should look up Tomita's version, which is his favorite. But I'm also fond of the Berliner Philharmoniker, which is who I went for when I purchased Bizet's L'Arlésienne. To illustrate the difference between the two, I present them via the Tube.


Isao Tomita: Jupiter

Pretty trippy, right? Now let's have another version.


Berliner Philharmoniker: Jupiter

Now you understand why I couldn't resist adding both to my iTunes cart. The only copy of The Planets my family owns is a cassette, and I don't have a cassette player any longer, except in the minivan.

Oh, and I added a little PDQ Bach to my cart as well: Please, Kind Sir and Variation V: Foghorn, Bell, Kazoo, Gargle (for which I couldn't find a video on the Tubes).

Anyhow, that's all I've got for now. I'm working on one shawl now, and a mystery stole pattern. Chart three will be released some time tomorrow; I'm about halfway through chart one. There's a small amount of catching up to be done. Off to the needles!

Spring Knitty: made of win.

I haven't written, dear friends, and I apologize. To make up for it, let me tell you what I want to knit from the Spring '09 Knitty, which went live this morning.

• Shipwreck Shawl: a pi (circular) shawl, with a seaweed-y central motif and a fishnet outer edge. I am in love. (And if you scroll all the way to the bottom and look at the last shawl picture, you can see the sparkling green beads in the netting. LOVE.)
• Aeolian Shawl: another beautiful shawl. This one calls for beads, which is fun. There are also 7- and 9-stitch nupps, which scare the hell out of me. (Nupps are notorious for being difficult. I've successfully done 5-stitch nupps, but these really big ones are intimidating.)
• Hanne: an interesting vest-like scarf (or is that a scarf-like vest?) that would be a nice addition to a steampunk wardrobe, I think. It would probably look pretty smashing with my new goggles, which I got on Saturday.
• Ripple: a faux entrelac scarf with a really ripply edging. Not queued yet, thought I might knit it sometime. It's really pretty to look at.
• Absinthe: beautiful cabled socks done by my classics buddy, fyberduck. She has really outdone herself, and she's a fantastic designer. (Seriously, I let out a squeak when I saw the chart for the foot, let alone the whole sock.)
• Flit 'n Float scarf: the description of this one made me want to knit it for my mom, because she likes butterflies. She also likes lavender, which is the color of the modeled scarf.
• Flock: A mobile, made with knitted branches and birds. I love it. It will be perfect for my impending nephew.

I expect that, if you're a knitter on Ravelry, that you've already padded your queue considerably. If you're not on Ravelry yet, ask me for an invite, or get yourself there and get on the waiting list!

By the way, I also got my Princess Bride swap package last Friday. Grace from Ontario sent me a beautiful package full of awesome presents.


Foam crowns, yarn sleeves, knitted Inigo doll(!), chocolate wafers, a "farm boy, fetch me that pitcher", a lovely yellow scarf, and gorgeous, squishy yarn.

All of that was packed in a bubble mailer, which is pretty amazing. I sent a box to my secret pal (who is also in Canada). Maybe I should have gone the really-big-bubble-envelope route, too, now that I know you can pack way more than you think in one of those bad boys!

Take to the sky

... or at least have a good look at it.

I just saw a beautiful image on today's Astronomy Picture of the Day. I recommend that you click through to catch the photo in its not stolen full glory, as well as catch a few tidbits offered by the crew at APOD.



The photo is of Comet Lullin, which is quite visible tonight, with a pair of binoculars or a telescope. A little more information can be found here (via @scifri).

I'm quite fond of stargazing. I used to want to be an astronomer, until I learned how much math was involved. (I can do math, but I don't particularly love it. Words and languages are, for the most part, friendlier.)

When I was little, my dad used to take the family out to some dark location, hauling his binoculars, a tripod and a camera with a long-exposure attachment, in case he decided to take a photo. (Once I got in trouble for opening the car door, activating the dome light, while he was taking a photo; I'm pretty sure I not only ruined the exposure but got a little yelled at as well.) We've gone comet watching on a few occasions, and I think this would be a nice opportunity to do so again.

What a girl needs

So I've been reading Penny Karma's blog for quite a while now. And I've been seeing this meme going around. Penny caught it, and wrote a post: WWPKD?. PK decided to see whether her online persona is different from real-life Penny. I decided to have a look and see how mine compare. (What I enjoy about this meme is that the substance, if you can call it that, is taken completely out of context.)

The litmus test? Google (of course) your first name followed by the word NEEDS, and blog the top ten results you get. So what's the difference between Christa and Xa?

1. Xa needs replacement red shutter release button.
2. Xa needs repair!
3. Xa needs to look like...
4. Xa needs to be separate.
5. Xa needs some work on the light seals.
6. Xa needs no cleaning or painting. (Damn right I don't. Cleaning is for the birds.)
7. Xa needs to know about custom capabilities.
8. Xa needs laborers!
9. Xa needs prayer.
10. Xa needs the fulfillment of some operations.

1. Christa needs us.
2. Christa needs HELP!
3. Christa needs to be put to death NOW! (Wait. Let's not be hasty.)
4. Christa needs to realize that despite the disappointing action, she is still deserving of friendship.
5. Christa needs to be judged on PTO if she is evil or not.
6. Christa needs a permanent family that will help her maintain her relationships with her birth and foster family.
7. Christa needs a loving, dedicated, attentive and supportive family who will ensure that her needs are met and help maximize her full potential.
8. Christa needs a brand description.
9. Christa needs some rest!
10. Christa needs someone genuine.

So, what do you need?

I want to be a mad scientist.

I attended a ten-year-old's birthday party on Saturday. A mad science birthday party. I can't even begin to say how cool it is to have a science party. The mom even had a "mad scientist" come for an hour. (Also, I just checked out their website, and they're hiring. How much fun would that be?) You better believe I wore my Dr. Horrible t-shirt to the party.


My mom and I doing the wave, green "slime",
and an incredibly cute hedgehog.

(That scarf the hedgehog's wearing is my handiwork: just a quick double crochet with fringe.)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: work has been driving me crazy. (So much so that I've been moving a number of my more important files to flash drive, which I should have done before.) Maybe I will apply for a mad scientist job.

I'm home!

I had a really fun weekend in Iowa City. I tried to tweet occasionally via my mobile. Some of them didn't make it through, unfortunately. I'm going to pull the texts from my phone (though if you want the Twitter, it's here).

Road trip! Iowa City, here I come. 1:23 PM Feb 13
Just saw a license plate that read EAT KFC. 2:18 PM Feb 13
Cocktails at I.C. Ugly's. 6:29 PM Feb 13
Playing Bingo at a gay bar before a drag show. 9:28 PM Feb 13
I might turn into a pumpkin in a minute. I rarely stay out so late. 1:04 AM Feb 14
Willis & doodleberries. Bwa ha ha. 10:27 AM Feb 14
The best thing about gelato is the tiny shovel. Well, and the taste. 3:01 PM Feb 14
Sushi fills you up so much. Five pieces and I'm spent. 11:23 PM Feb 14
WTF. Techno line dance? 12:48 AM Feb 15
A song about IKEA is almost as good as going there. 12:53 PM Feb 15

So yes. We had lots and lots of fun. Hopefully those photos will end up on Facebook so's I can steal them away and show you.

Sut mae. Sut dych chi?

Afternoon, friends. (Or better: prynhawn da.)

I decided to start learning a new language by means of podcast, so I clicked through the language directory on iTunes. I ended up choosing Welsh, via the Learn Welsh Podcast. I've listened to the first episode a couple times now, and the vocab is slowly starting to stick in my head.

What I really like about this podcast is that Jason, the host, puts out a PDF with each episode so that you can have a visual idea of what you're saying (or trying to say). Having come across Welsh only very occasionally (reading and re-reading The Grey King by Susan Cooper, which takes place in Wales), I find the pronunciation to be a bit ... strange. (Of course, I'm used to Spanish, German, ancient Greek and Latin.) I think my main problem thus far is putting the sound together with the spelling. So I'll keep with the practicing.

I'm going to eastern Iowa tomorrow to spend time with some friends I haven't seen for quite a while. Hopefully it won't start snowing (at least not too much) before I leave. That would be sad.

Peace out, yo.

Bread pudding and meditation

Bread pudding makes a delicious breakfast, by the bye, if a little sweet. It's like shredded French toast, really, with raisins on top. And sugar.

As you can see, I did a little baking on Sunday, to celebrate the arrival of February and that spring is just a little closer. It was so nice that I was able to turn off the heat and prop the front door open for a little fresh air. Of course, then we were back to ice cube air by Sunday night, but spring is tip-toeing closer. And I did a little pre-spring cleaning, besides. Four bags of shredded paper? I think so. And Saturday I pulled out the washer and dryer to dig out everything from behind. I found old mail (not mine) from 2006 back there, as well as enough dust bunnies to join forces and make a dust jackalope.

I've also been doing a bit of knitting, as usual. Here's something to help with meditation a bit: the Baltic Finger Labyrinth.



Except I got a little carried away last night and will have to frog back a couple rows. Something is a little whacky with the center. I'm not exactly exactly following the chart to the letter, so that might be why my center is strange. I tried dropping the offending stitches this morning to attempt to fix it without frogging, but I think I just made it worse. So when I'm finished with choir rehearsal tonight, I'll curl up in my chair, queue up a few podcasts, and work it out.

I'm still quite pleased with how it looks otherwise. I'll have to add some edging to it to keep it from rolling — probably single crochet — as I chose to knit the project in stockinette. The original was knit in garter stitch, which probably would have been a smarter choice, but I decided to go with smooth.

That's all she wrote for today. I can't really think of a whole lot.

Let's go treasure hunting!

I accomplished the homework for another House Cup class since I last posted, and I'm a big fan of how it turned out (and I didn't bleed due to trying to put it on my cat).

Because this project was so open-ended, it took me a really long time to come up with something. In the end, I decided to make something for my steampunk alias, which I'm still in the process of developing. Her name is Ginevra Lucette Valentine (and kudos to you if you can figure out the two references in there), and she's an adventurer and explorer.



The task was to come up with a project corresponding to the Character, Heart and Social numbers unique to your name. (Numbers discerned with the help of this link.) What's interesting is that my online alias xamonster and my steampunk alias have the very same numbers: 3 Character, 3 Heart, 9 Social. (A link to the further explanation of personality numbers can be found on the link above.)

Here's my description from the project page:

I chose scarlet (S9) and tangerine (C3) for my main colors. I chose to do a travel case (h3) for a map (C3): no true steampunk treasure hunter goes exploring without a map! I opted to crochet my case in order to have a stronger fabric.

The disc for the base began with 6 stitches (3+3) around, increased to 24. I continued in dc for 9 inches before finishing in sc with 3 tangerine stripes. The disc for the cap began with 9 stitches around, increased to 27 (9x3), dc for a few rounds, then adding sc with 3 tangerine stripes. The strap was dc on a base 3 stitches wide.

To reinforce the case, there is a cardboard tube, which will (at some point in the hopefully not-so-distant future) painted a metallic color with a Mod Podge top coat to protect it.

Check out my sexy coffee table. It's a trunk that used to belong to my great-grandmother.

That is all.

Tweeting around in my head

Twitter. I do not use it. However, I have recently started subscribing to certain RSS feeds of certain Twitter users, just so's I can follow their tweets.

It started innocently enough, with Felicia Day and Dr Horrible. Then I saw that Unclutterer has one, which I call TwUnclutterer. And then Ravelry and Amy over at Knitty got Twitter. And then Felicia made a list of authors who use Twitter. I learned that Neil Gaiman has Twitter, as do Stephen Fry, John Cleese, John Lithgow, and Wil Wheaton.

As I was skimming tweets Monday morning, I noticed that Wil Wheaton had sent a tweet to Brent Spiner, and then somehow I got to Levar Burton. I have a Trek trifecta! How fantastic is that? (I'm such a dork.)

But I'm still going to stick with the Plurk.

Edited to respond to binerman's comment: I have a clan of knitters on the Plurk. And FYI: xamonster.


Foremost in my mind today, however, are two phrases: "President Barack Obama" and "former President George W. Bush". Tuesday was a good day for the country.

I will taunt you a second time

How, you may ask, did you manage to get a cat to hold still long enough to place a hat on his head?

In short, I didn't. This photo is some kind of miracle. Most of the brief photo shoot this morning actually went like this:



This is the aptly-named Demetrios is an angry French cat hat, but is known on Ravelry as International Cat Hat: France, Le Mieux. There is a small number of hats for other countries: Germany, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom — even the US (a stunning rendition of the Statue of Liberty's crown and scepter).

That's all I can muster today. Happy MLK Day!

In which my toes are a little cold.

As I may have mentioned previously, I feel that Neil Gaiman has a way with words. Let me once more demonstrate:

Oww. Windchill. Cold like knives cold.

Twitter from neilhimself

Concise, yet accurate as always.


I also learned last night that I am, in point of fact, a bad person for wanting to de-claw my cat primarily because he keeps making holes in the window plastic. I would make him duck tape mittens, but he would just gnaw his paws off. Ah well. Patchwork Window Project continues. More photos ought to follow.

Also, I have finished my January Charms project, Urchin. Expecto patronum!



Nice, eh? Now back to your regularly scheduled cold air, which is probably causing hell to freeze over again.

Secret boyfriend?

I have broken a taboo.

I watched Saturday Night Live.

I had an excellent excuse: Neil Patrick Harris. Have I ever told you that I love him? Probably not. His appearance as Dr. Horrible last July made me turn in to a bit of a NPH fan girl. (I bought the Assassins soundtrack on iTunes primarily because he sings on it.) Seriously, he's up there with Johnny Depp. (This is kind of a scary thing, friends.) I'm going to have to find a cardboard cutout of Neil as well.

The reason SNL is such a taboo for me is that in recent years it has come to be the most un-funny-yet-trying-to-be-funny thing on the planet. I think they try too hard. I mean really, is there still a writer's strike or something? Their sketches are awful.

But Neil, oh Neil. He made SNL worth breaking taboo watching. Admittedly, the funniest bit of the show was the "Digital Short". (Was there really anything digital about it? Do they film it ahead of time and just call it "digital"? That's kind of a cop-out if you ask me. Which you didn't.) Doogie Howser theme for the win. And did you see that Neil was playing? I love that he can play the piano. (Let's have a moment of silence for some fan girl squee, shall we?)

Ok, back to business. Something that really irritated me about SNL (aside from the un-funny sketches and scenes that drag on too long [like that dreadful Penelope tripe — what was that?]) was Taylor Swift. I've heard her music on the radio, but when it comes to watching her perform, I'm confused. Why is she holding a guitar? She strums two chords and is done with it. Guitars are not accessories, music industry! Bah.

That's all she wrote, for now. I went through the yarn stash last weekend, and there are photos. Scared yet?

Ra Ra Ravenclaw!

This post is going to be primarily about knitting and Harry Potter, so if you're not interested in any of that, you probably ought to skip this post.

I finished my Luna scarf, which was my first project for the new term of Harry Potter Knitting / Crochet House Cup. I'm knitting (and crocheting, as you can see below) for Ravenclaw again, which is nice. I was prepared to knit for another house again, but the numbers ended up being fairly balanced and I think everyone got their first choice.


Luna Lovegood scarf. Slightly twisty, slightly itchy, but sweet

The scarf was crocheted from stash wool, which is amazing in and of itself. I ran out of the first color (the lightest) and went stash diving to dig out some more coordinated colors. The Luna scarf was an assignment from this month's Defense Against the Dark Arts class. The task was this:

This month you will be learning the Imperius Curse: Go to our Group Members Page. Close your eyes. Click on a fellow Housecupper. Make something from their projects page. (Because it’s like the other Housecupper controlling you - but there’s a certain amount of agency, because you can choose what project you do…and also because if you hate everything, you could choose another person - we totally wouldn’t know.)

So I thought the assignment was pretty cool. I clicked on a person called MOEgir198, who had already made a Luna scarf, and there you have it.

Here's a quick rundown of the rest of the classes for this month. (And the list of classes available to take has been expanded, which was nice.)

• Herbology: cleaning the greenhouse. Clean your Ravelry queue, update stash and needles lists, organize yarn stash (with before and after photos) and make a 12-month plan of at least one project per month to work on.
• Care of Magical Creatures: knit or crochet something that will keep the magical creature in your home warm. These items can also be donated if you don't happen to have any pets.
• History of Magic: knowledge. The first assignment is a 25-question quiz; the answers are to be found in the seven books of the series, as well as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages, and Tales of Beedle the Bard.
• Charms: the Patronus Charm. Create either a cure for seasonal depression (i.e. something to make YOU happy) or depicts the patronus as a messenger (a messenger bag or book cover).
• Arithmancy: the magic in math. Using the site Intro to Arithmancy, obtain your three numbers of interest: Character, Heart and Social. Then craft a project that features these three numbers.

I have a few ideas so far, and I have already started on my project for Charms class. I'm knitting a beret called Urchin which is from the Fall '07 issue of Knitty. The wool I'm using is the giant cake of black wool from Heartland Fiber Co (that new LYS in town that I finally visited*).

A new thing for the winter term is OWLs (Ordinary Wizarding Levels). The assignment is to choose a class to attempt an OWL for, present your written portion, and then commence the project, which is due at the end of the term (end of March). I'm thinking of doing a project for Herbology ("students should be able to easily manipulate oversized organic creations"). My project plan is a cabled blanket, Serenity. I was also thinking about Charms, for which I'd knit a shawl. I'm still up in the air about that.

That's really all I have to say. Kudos to you if you've made it through this whole post!


*This link, coincidentally, is the same one I shared two posts ago when I mentioned the cortisone shot for my shoulder. Weird.

In which I share someone else's content

You might know that I enjoy reading books that Neil Gaiman has written. I also enjoy reading blog posts he's written. I would like to share bits of a couple recent posts with you.

Firstly, something about the new year, which I enjoy most particularly for the photo (which is completely and thoroughly hijacked from Mr Gaiman's blog post At the turning of the year).

...to mark the passing of Edd Cartier (and the nearly-done-ness of 2008). Of all the pulp magazine artists of the 30s-50s, including such masters as Virgil Finlay and Kelly Freas, Cartier was my favourite, particularly his work in Unknown Worlds. Marvellous stuff. If I had known he was still alive, I suspect I would have written him a fan letter. Instead, I discovered the other day, from Locus, that he (and James Cawthorn, who was, with Mal Dean, the definitive Moorcock illustrator) had just died, and now I know that Mr Cartier was alive, it's too late.

The other post I want to share (Another year) has a couple different fun bits. The first celebrates the knighting of author Terry Pratchett, and the doffing of caps.

Let's see. The biggest and the best news of the day is that Terry Pratchett is now Sir Terrence of Pratchett. Hurrah.

I shall doff my cap the next time I see him. It will be the best-doffed cap in the land.

I shall buy a cap first, specially.

The second bit of the post shares his wishes for the coming year.

...I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you'll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.

Neil truly makes me smile. Now back to your regularly-scheduled Tuesday.

In which there are haircuts and to-do lists

Happy 2009! I know a lot of people who had a rather rough time of it over the past 12 months, and I hope that this year goes a lot better for them.

That being said, I have not made any concrete resolutions. I have started using a to-do service (Toodledo) and it helps me to keep track of things that need to be done. Right now I have categories for knitting, cleaning, work and Ravelry. It's pretty cool.

I don't have a whole lot to say today, I suppose, other than the usual hooray for the new year bit. I got my hairs cut recently, and got a fairly cute PhotoBooth shot of it last week.



I'm feeling a little weird today. I have a bit of a headache and feel kind of dizzy. I'm also a bit flushed. (This is a good reason for not showing you a PhotoBooth of today's look, although my hair somehow gave itself sausage bangs.) And I got a bill for the $88 my insurance decided not to cover from the cortisone shot I got last month, which was nice. I suppose I should be happy that they covered some of it, eh?

I need to go now. I started writing this post four hours before actually publishing it.

On French taunting and gifts

I had a really nice holiday. I got some cool gifts (including Wii Music!) and got to see Spamalot at the Civic Center in Des Moines.

The show first: it was a riot. My mom got the tickets for the family as a Christmas gift. There was a 2-for-1 price for the show on Christmas day, so eight people ended up going (the parents, both of my brothers and their girlfriends, my "third brother" [who is really just one of those random hangers-on, but we love him anyway], and I).

It was a nice way to spend the evening. The cast was extra funny, and there was a lot of ad lib going on. A couple different performers stuck Christmas songs in the middle of their pieces, and the insulting French guard said, "I will taunt you a second time. I throw shoes at your president." We all cracked up at that one. If you get a chance to see Spamalot, I highly recommend it.

Gifts: My mom's a rock star. She got me some nice things for the house that make life just that much nicer. One thing she found is a tension rod shower organizer. The best part is that the baskets and hook are adjustable and can be whatever height you need. The chief reason she got the thing was for the hook. When my bathroom was re-done, the landlord installed a curtain rod that has a 90° turn in it, which is great except for one thing: it sags from the weight of the curtains. The hook on my new organizer eliminates the problem and works a treat. Yay!

Another cool home thing I got was a curtain rod that has a hinged elbow piece, allowing it to hold a curtain at an angle. I have a very heavy lined curtain separating my upstairs bedroom from the rest of the house, which helps keep heating costs down. (For some reason there are no heating vents upstairs, but only a return.) To stay warm at night, I have an electric sheet. I had always had issues with getting the curtain to stay; it was always just too short to fit the gap. Now the curtain turns the corner and fits pretty much perfectly. (In truth I am amazed at just how nice a job the thing is doing. Just 20 minutes after having hung the curtain on the new rod, there was a noticeable difference in temperature between upstairs and down.)

I also received an iTunes gift card, a Target gift card, and a book, as well as a random assortment of chocolates. I used the Target gift card already and bough some new in-ear headphones for my iPod and a copy of Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii. (I have been wanting a new AC for ages, and now I finally have it! I'm so excited. My new town is called Growly; my character is Xa and my brother's, Rawr. We are silly people.)

That is all I have for now. If I don't post again before Thursday, then I'll see you next year! Here comes 2009 ...