Got cake?

Everyone knows that the most important aspect of a birthday is the cake. Growing up with a birthday the day before Halloween meant that every birthday cake had a Halloween theme (you know, pumpkins and bats as opposed to clowns and barbies). For my birthday this year, I made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (yum!) and I decided that I wanted to relive my childhood by putting a pumpkin on my cake. Of course, a sane person would simply buy the pre-packaged colored frosting that comes with the squeeze tube and decorating tips. I believe I have proven to everyone in the past that I am not a sane person. Instead, I decided to make my own frosting. The end result was one scary looking cake, but it's not because the jack-o-lantern was frightful.

My hubby made a great decorating attempt using the frosting I had made. But, I think it's apparent that Martha Stewart I am not. I would like to take a moment to prove to everyone that I did indeed make this pathetic frosting myself.

See all the bowls and stuff in the background? Judging by the mess I made, I think I deserve an A for effort.

My spastically decorated cake was also well-lit thanks to my hubby.

And, although this next picture doesn't prove it, I did manage to blow out all of the candles in one breath.

Unfortunately, I had about 5 wishes going through my mind at the time and I'm not sure which one I thought of before blowing the candles out. Does that mean I get all of the wishes granted? (Please say yes!)

Another year older (and hopefully wiser)

Today is my birthday. Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me (sorry - I know I don't have the best singing voice).

The best birthday present I've ever received was 3 years ago when my hubby proposed to me on my 30th birthday. (I'll hold on while you do the math. Yep. That's right. Now carry the one. Keep going. Divide by the square root of two. Uh huh. Don't forget the common denominator. Ok, now you know how old I am.) As I was saying, that was hands down the best birthday present I've ever gotten. Of course, my husband insists that our wedding was a birthday present. If this is truly the case, then that would be the best present I've ever received, but I don't actually count that as a birthday present. It was more like an anniversary present to the both of us.

But I digress... although that was the best present, this year has been pretty fantastic so far - and it's not even over yet! I've received lots of great ecards from friends (including fellow RAOKers!). And I came home to some packages last night. Take a look!

That's Penny peeking at the boxes

I tore into the first box and discovered...

um, toner for my printer. Oops! That was something I had actually ordered. Ok, then, moving on. In the envelope was a wonderful gift from Karen.

Some beautiful fingering weight alpaca. I've already decided that these are destined to become gloves (or maybe fingerless gloves or those convertible fingerless gloves with the mitten tops). I've been wanting to make some gloves for a while and I think this yarn will be perfect!

Finally, I opened up my (sniff) final Secret Pal gift.

Holy Cow! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw everything she had gotten me! I think I'm going to use the Phildar, which is a cotton blend, for another tank top. I've always wanted to use Phildar yarn (yay!). She also got me a skein of fingering weight (or is it lace weight? - I get them confused) merino/silk blend yarn. yummy! Other wonderful goodies include a Knitting Journal (which I've had my eye on for some time), point protectors and stitch holders (which I'm always in need of), a cute notepad and memo holder, a colorful magnet, and really nice pens. She must have read about my office supply obsession! hee,hee!

On top of the great gifts, I found out that my Secret Pal's name is also Nancy. Cool, huh?

Unfortunately, I have to work today. But I'm expecting my friends Tina and Anna to come by for lunch. Then I have gifts and cake waiting for me at home. And the b-day celebration is extending out until tomorrow when my hubby and I are going to go out for lunch and some shopping. So, maybe working today isn't so bad after all.

Oh! One last thing! I had planned on stopping by Krispy Kreme yesterday to pick up doughnuts to bring into work (yes, I bring in treats for my own birthday). Well, I woke up at 7:20am. This is a bad thing, because I'm supposed to be opening the library up at... 7:30am. Even if I were to leave for work in my jammies, there is no freaking way I am going to be on time. So, I had to skip Krispy Kreme and come straight into work (yes, I got dressed first). Even with driving (and paying $14 for parking!) I was 30 minutes late. Oops! Anyway, the whole point to this long, long story, is that a co-worker brought in Krispy Kreme doughtnuts for my b-day. Wasn't that nice? I've decided that fate was telling me not to bring doughnuts to work, because we would have had 4 dozen here if I had. Of course, for $14, I would have rather had leftover doughnuts for a couple of days. Know what I mean?

:-)

When is enough enough?

That line makes me think of the movie The Mexican when James Gandolfini asks (yummy) Brad Pitt when he thinks enough is enough in a relationship. Or, at least, I think this is the line I'm thinking of. I dunno.

Anyway... I finally got around to updating the list of blogs that I regularly read. Thanks to Bloglines this list has become really, really, really long. So now I'm wondering, when is enough enough? Is it possible to have too many blogs to keep up with? Or is that like asking yourself "Self, is it possible to have too much yarn?" Because the answer to that question is an emphatic NO. (And don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise!).

So back to my quandry, or quagmire or whatever the word is that I'm thinking of... When I'm super busy with school and the other little delights that life decides to fling my way, there is no possible way for me to keep up with all of my blog reading - even with bloglines. But when things have calmed down and I'm able to get caught up, I'm out searching for more blogs to read. It's a vicious cycle I tell ya!

By the way, for those that use Bloglines, am I the only that's annoyed by the fact that blog names starting with "The" are alphabetized under "T"? Just a mini-rant. :-)

Pizza or burgers?

I got my midterm grade back for my class-from-hell. 15 points of 15 possible. Another 100% baby! And, thanks to Annie's suggestion, I'll be in charge of dinner plans this Friday night. Well, since it's my birthday this weekend, this would probably already be the case. But I'm definitely getting what I want now. :-)

Blogger's acting a bit wonky tonight. So rather than create a long post that will probably get eaten, I'll leave you with a look at my Irish Hiking Scarf, which I've fondly renamed the Irish Commuting Scarf.

I've renamed it because I generally work on it during my Bart commute to and from work. Interestingly, because I'm able to get through a single 8-row pattern repeat during my ride, you can kind of see how many commutes I've made during the making of the scarf by counting the cables. Ok, maybe it's not that interesting, but when you're a Library Science Masters student, you take any excitement you can get.

Suddenly feeling very itchy

Apparenlty, it's not enough for my cats to be driving me to drink with their fighting and "inapproprate elimination." I discovered today that they also have fleas. So my hubby and I spent the morning vacuuming the entire place, washing all of the cat's bedding, and even throwing away some things that we thought fleas might cling onto for dear life (including a sweater that I had started to knit but hated so much that I donated it to the cats to sleep on - don't worry, it was cheap yarn!).

I did manage to finish my tank top, however. Therefore, I present to you (drum roll please), Tank Top #2:

It fits!



Not sure why my shoulders lean, 'cause I was trying to stand up straight.

This is the tank top that I designed myself and I LOVE it! It fits perfectly, it's comfortable, I really like the yarn, etc. Although I don't think I'll be designing anything else in the near future (it required more brain power than I have to spare until school is over), I definitely feel more confident about altering patterns to my liking.

By the way, I apologize for the headless shots, but I was having an awful hair day. Wanna see?

I suppose I should shower and do something with my hair before I take pictures. But, now that I've shown you my bed-head, I suppose I can show you my finished Bailey hat.

This is the hat my friend Tina of Knitwhits designed. Sorry for the less-than-stellar photo of the finished object Tina! I'll be sure to have another photo shoot when I look more presentable.

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for, stash pictures for Stacey's "I'll show you mine, if you show me yours" contest...

The standard plastic bins


More of the standard plastic bins


The Pillar o' Yarn


Almost forgot about this


Did I mention that I'm learning to spin?

Can you believe that I'm already dreaming about what yarn I should buy with the birthday money my mom sent me? I'm planning to hit the bi-annual sale over at Cottage Yarns on Sunday. (insert evil laughter here) Ok, Stacey I've shown you my yarn stash. I don't think I'm emotionally prepared to show you my stash of pattern books just yet, though. :-)

[Edited to add: I just discovered that the bi-annual sale was this weekend, not next. Darnit! Anyone in the Bay Area know of any yarn store sales happening next weekend?]

Oh! One last thing. I upgraded my HaloScan account (they're the vendor I use for my comments), so I'll now receive my comments as emails as well. This means that I can respond to the email directly rather than having to remember to go in and email the person (which I never remember to do). So keep the comments coming!

On this date last year

I'm beginning to feel a bit nostalgic. My birthday is at the end of October and I got married in early November. So, there has been a lot that has happened in these two months.

But on this specific date last year, I was having my gallbladder removed. I only know the date because it happened a week before my birthday and two weeks before my wedding. I never thought I would beg for surgery of any kind, but I was in pain and I couldn't eat any food with fat in it (think white rice, white pasta, and baked potatoes - all plain). Thankfully I had a great surgeon who promised I would recover in time for my wedding - and she was right!

In case you have gallstones and are curious as to what might set off the kind of attack which results in a plea for surgery... well, we had gone to Tahoe for a weekend at the beginning of October and had the Forest Buffet at Harrah's. It was brunch, so I had biscuits with sausage gravy, mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, and roast beef with yet another kind of gravy. My guess is that the three gravies did me in. :-)

More knitting and less nostalgia will be coming your way tomorrow. I will hopefully have a finished tank top to show off and I owe pictures of my stash for Stacey's "I'll show you mine, if you show me yours" contest. Oh, and I also am behind on pictures for my BAWDies get together, my Bailey hat, and my Hallowig. (Good grief that's a lot of pictures!)

I have the best hubby in the whole freakin' world!

I have (literally) just turned in my midterm for my class-from-hell. (Big sigh of relief!). My hubby was a big help, as usual. (He reads and edits every single paper I write). I've also been a bit cranky this week, and not only didn't he say anything about it but he brought me some Krispy Kreme doughnuts last night (one of life's perfect foods!).

I'm tempted to see how many more paragraphs I can write with parenthetical notes inserted (I love parentheses!), but I don't know that I have that many brain cells left right at the moment. Instead, I'll give you this quick story (and do my best to insert comments, hee,hee!)...

Way back when, my hubby and I went to see a movie with a friend. I don't think we had been dating for very long (maybe less than a year?). In any case, we purchased our tickets, got some refreshments, and settled in for the show. The credits came up and the movie began. This movie happens to have Tom Hanks who plays a lawyer with AIDS (remember this film?). Anyway, the film kept showing historical landmarks of the location. I don't remember them exactly, but the Liberty Bell was one of them. Anyhoo, at one point in the movie, they show people with signs and one of them has the city name written on it. At this point, I exclaimed "Oh! Philadelphia!" My now-hubby asked me what I was talking about and so I explained that I had been trying to figure out the location of the movie, because when they showed the Liberty Bell I thought it might be Boston (I apologize to both Philadelphia and Boston natives (Go Red Sox!)). Both my hubby and my friend shook their heads and then my hubby reminded me that the movie is titled... you guessed it... PHILADELPHIA. doh!

This story has not one, but two amazing points. One is that my hubby continued to date (and eventually marry) me, even after this glimpse into my mind. And two is that I'm going to graduate soon and be providing reference help to students in a library. It boggles the mind...

(By the way, I want bonus points for getting in a double-nested parentheses in my story. hee,hee!)

I know everyone is dying to know

It's amazing how fast time flies when you're working on homework assignments and midterm projects. But, I had to give you a quick update on the ending note to my week last Friday.

So, after I finally turned in my assignment-from-hell on Thursday night, I went into work on Friday morning and discovered that we have a new payroll clerk in our HR department. The reason I know this is that the clerk lost several employees' timesheets and these particular employees didn't get have their paycheck direct deposited into their accounts. Would it surpise you to know that I was one of these lucky employees? I think not.

Then, after I got home from work, I was reaching in to the back of my hubby's hatchback to grab my backpack and the trunk came down on the crown of my head. ouch! This was bad enough, but I finally had the chance to knit, but the bump on my head gave me a headache which was bad enough for me to (gasp!) not be able to knit.

As I'm sure you can imagine, my mood was not stellar at this point. So, when I checked my email shortly before heading to bed (with a pounding head), and I received an email from my professor telling us that grades were posted (for the previously mentioned assignment-from-hell), well... I wasn't sure I really wanted to look. But, I am truly worse than a cat when it comes to curiosity, so I checked. I received 10 points... out of... ready? are you sure? ok... 10 points. Yes, I got a 100% on that freakin' assignment. In the notes she provided, she mentioned that she especially liked some "other considerations" that I provided (these were items that she didn't ask for, but my hubby convinced me to include). So, this is especially for the hubby...

You were right.

(Have I mentioned that I'm also worse than a mule when it comes to stubborness? I'm always right, never wrong. sigh...)

The rest of the weekend has been pretty uneventful as I'm continuing to work on school work. That means no interesting pictures to show you... yet. After Thursday, I can breathe for a little bit (well, that and start working on my online traffic school program - stupid speeding ticket).

By the way, I just want to thank everyone for posting comments. I love hearing from others and appreciate the thoughts you send my way!

Yes, actually, I would jump off a bridge if everyone else was doing it

I know, I know - everyone and their brother is posting about this quiz. Normally I take these quizzes, but I disagree with my "personality assessment" so I don't bother mentioning them. But how could I not agree with this one? :-)


You appear to be a Knitting Guru.
You love knitting and do it all the time.
While finishing a piece is the plan, you
still love the process, and can't imagine
a day going by without giving some time
to your yarn. Packing for vacation involves
leaving ample space for the stash and supplies.
It can be hard to tell where the yarn
ends and you begin.


What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Happy dance!

My assignment-from-hell is essentially done and ready to turn in. Happy dance, happy dance! Thank god for my hubby or I don't think I would have survived this week. Thanks sweetie!

Ok, gotta go try to update myself on some blog reading now (oh, and a little thing called "going-to-work"). Just had to let you know that I'm still alive!

:-)

Does anyone else feel that draft?

You know it's a bad sign when you're saying "It's been a loooong week" and it's only Tuesday morning. Between the fighting cats and a homework assignment from hell, I've been in a bit of an anti-social mood (hence the all's-quiet-on-the-western-front blog lately).

I have to tell a quick story, though. I went into work today all dressed up for a special event happening at the school where I work. At one point this afternoon, my pants felt... well, odd. I kept checking my zipper, but it was fine. Finally, just before I was walking out the door, I bent over and figured out what the problem was. The seam had torn open. Yikes! How long had my pants been like that?? Well, after I got home and could look in a mirror, I was able to see that that the rip wasn't as big as it felt and most likely no one saw anything (what's that kid's saying about seeing someone's underpants?). And, I was able to get a laugh out of it. So, it wasn't all bad.

I do have some good things to talk about. I met with the BAWDies on Sunday for a knitting group Birthday celebration. And, I finally finished something (nope, not the tank top, but my Bailey hat). However, I'm simply too tired to write much more tonight. So, I'll have to post pics and stories a bit later.

Is it hump day yet?

Hidden memories

I was sitting on the Bart train on my way to work this morning (knitting of course!) and I could hear these two couples talking. Couple #1 says to Couple #2 "by the way, you left your bottle of juice at our house the other day" and just like that I recall a memory of moving from my parents house in Phoenix to be with my now-hubby in Los Angeles. (There really is a correlation. I swear!)

My hubby had moved to LA for a job and we had attempted the pure hell that long-distance relationships are for what seemed like an eternity. In reality it was 6 months, but it was a looooong six months. We finally decided that I should move out to be with him. So I got a job and was all set to move out in less than a month. I was going stay with him at his apartment until I could find my own place, so my mom and I worked out what I should bring with me until I could move everything out. We had grouped all of my blouses and tops and put them in one pile. Then we grouped all of my pants and skirts and put them in another pile. Basically, we had little piles of stuff laying around the house of items that we thought I couldn't live without.

The day finally comes. My hubby flies out and we pack up my car (more like cramming stuff into the car - there's a lot I couldn't live without!). My mom and I are crying horribly as my car pulls out of the driveway. My hubby and I get to the end of the street and think that maybe we should stop at the local grocery store to get something to drink and calm me down. Once I'm better, we jump on the freeway and my life begins its new direction.

Many hours later, we pull up at his apartment and unload the car. Um... where are my pants and skirts? I've got shirts. Toiletries. Everything except pants and skirts. My mom calls at about that time to explain that I had left all of these items hanging on the back of my bedroom door. The funniest thing (well, I think it's funny) is that my parents realized this fact immediately after my hubby and I had taken off, so they jumped in their car with my clothes and went looking for my car on the freeway. While my hubby and I were buying drinks at the grocery store down the street.

Anyway, it's Saturday and I start my new job on Monday. With no pants or skirts. We decide that she'll ship these things out to me first thing Monday and I'll just buy two pairs of pants to get me through until they come in. Well, nothing can be that simple, right? Remember the big UPS strike that happened in the late 90s? It started shortly after my mom shipped my package. Yep. My pants were sitting in a box at a UPS location somewhere between Phoenix and LA while the workers were on strike. Of course the strike eventually ended and I got my clothes. But, seriously, what are the odds?

One midterm down

...one more to go. And, as if on cue, Lynne (who has not only the best, but also the longest, blog name in the world!) sent me a wonderful RAOK in the mail!

Inside the package were these goodies.

I have to be honest and admit that the Ghirardelli Caramel Square wrapper that you see in the picture is, um, empty. I tried to wait. I really did. But, it's Ghirardelli! I did manage to hold off until the photo was taken before diving into the hot cocoa (french vanilla flavor, yum!). I also tried to get close-ups of the cute post-it notes and the paper clips.

I have to admit that I'm obsessed with office supplies. I love going into office supply stores to browse and buy little gadgets. Now, this obsession may not seem funny to those who don't know me in person. I mean, there are lots of anal personalities out there that label and organize everything they comes into their universe. However, I'm a bit of a pack rat. I shove things into every nook and cranny I can find. My one (sort of) organizational habit is paper piles. But that's pretty much where it ends. I guarantee that I have friends and family reading this about me and they are simply shaking their heads in amazement. Or maybe the thought of it is making them laugh so hard that they cry. Or maybe they...

Wait... what was I talking about? Oh, yes! So, because I have an obsession with office supplies, these post-it notes and clips are absolutely perfect for me. I love them!! Thanks Lynne!

In other news

I gave two library orientations yesterday at my internship. I was showing library resources to students that have to write speeches. My first orientation, which my supervisor observed, was awful. No, I'm not being hard on myself. My 60 minute presentation was done in just over 15 minutes. My supervisor told me that even he was lost in a couple of places. Amazingly, he convinced me to go ahead with the second presentation. (Actually, I begged out of it, and he said ok. But then I guilt-tripped myself into doing it. Yes, I'm such a master guilt-tripper, that I can even guilt-trip myself!).

Anyhoo, he and the other librarians had a meeting during the second orientation, so I was on my own. Know what? It went great. My supervisor had given me some pointers, which I followed. I even joked around with the students in the class and I was so much more at ease. I still think I'll be practicing a bit more in front of my cats, though. Practice makes perfect. And it can't hurt to teach my cats how to work on my research assignments for me (I just need to make sure they're staying away from the kitty porn.)

Excuse me.

If you happen to see any of my resolutions, can you send them back my way? I seem to have misplaced them.

Thanks!

Yarn on film*

I had a small yarn photo shoot in my house tonight (to my hubby's bewilderment). I thought I would indulge everyone in a small fashion show.

(Imagine Duran Duran's "Girls on Film" is playing in the background)

Thank you for coming to today's fashion show. Today's models will be showing what's up-and-coming for the Fall season.

First up on the runway is a gift from my Secret Pal!

Merino roving, New Zealand Merino fingering weight, and a Chibi are all the rage in Paris, er, Pacifica this season!

Next up is Peruvian Alpaca.

This lovely number will soon become an Irish Hiking Scarf.

Last on the runway is a Micro Spun.

This chunky little number is destined to become up a lavender-liscious cardi!

I hope you enjoyed today's fashion show. Our next show will (hopefully) have models highlighting the season's finished objects.

~~~

This concludes my spastic blog post. I will resume my normal (yet still spastic) posting next week.

Happy knitting!

*I believe I've mentioned before that I was a teenager in the 80's. I was absolutely in LOVE with John Taylor from Duran Duran. Last year, the group came to San Francisco for an outdoor concert and my hubby was sweet enough to go with me. It was, like, totally awesome!