I told you it was done

It probably comes as no surprise to anyone, but my hubby and I did not manage to see a movie this weekend. The theater was packed! I took advantage of our failed attempt out and knit like a crazy woman. First, as promised, here are pictures of my finished poncho.

Here's my I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-my-arms-pose:

And here's my pathetic attempt at the Rachael:

I used Amy's poncho pattern (scroll down to May 1st entry) and then added the ribbing around the bottom. I actually impressed myself with figuring out how to do this, so here's a close up just for my own ego satisfaction.

The pattern also called for a wider neck, but I didn't like it, so I lengthened and then brought it in a bit. Overall I really like it. I made it a bit long in length, so it's a little hard to use my arms. But the baby alpaca sure is warm!

I also began working on the sweater that I decided I absolutely have to have for the Xmas holidays. I'm doing a raglan in the round, using The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns. I'm hoping for a sweater that has a sweatshirt feel to it. Here's a photo of the progress I've made:

I'm almost up to the armholes and then I get to begin working on the sleeves. Unfortunately, with the holiday weekend coming to an end, this will come to a grinding halt. It's a good thing this is a quick knit.

Only two more weeks of school to go. And, we've had lots of improvement with the kitties over the weekend. The drugs are working wonders and there haven't really been any fights lately. Life is good!

Frozen pizza and a poncho

Well, my Thanksgiving Day didn't go quite as I had planned. Since we weren't spending the day with family, we had decided we would go to see The Incredibles and then have lunch at Fuddruckers which is right next door to the theater. We walk past the restaurant and realize it's closed. That's ok, because we had a backup restaurant in mind. We continue on to the theater and although there were only about 10 poeople standing outside to buy tickets, the one showing of the one movie we were interested in was "full." As the box office guy said, "it's packed in there." WTF? Since it was only 11am, we weren't quite ready for lunch yet. So we headed to the video rental store and then home to kill a couple of hours. By the time we were hungry, we discovered that our backup restaurant was also closed, as were many other "what about?" restaurants. (I love the Internet!) When we had been at the video rental store, we had seen people in the McD's drive-thru, so off we went. We tried the place closest to us, and they were closed. We went back to the other McD's by the video store and... they were closed. Apparently, they were only open for breakfast. argh! We finally surrendered and went into the Safeways next door (who was thankfully open until 6pm) and bought a frozen pizza. Happy freakin' turkey day.

On a bright note, by being home all day I did manage to finish my poncho. Yay! No pictures just yet, but I'll be posting some this weekend. Right now, me and my hubby are going to try the movie and lunch scenario again. We really are gluttons for punishment, aren't we?

The origins of the Thanksgiving Day feast

Many folks, especially those in the US public school system, have been taught to believe that the Thanksgiving Day feast originated with pilgrims and Indians as a way to say thanks for the food that allowed them to temporarily escape death. Well, something like that anyway. I was a product of the Arizona public school system. Anyway, the real origin of the Thanksgiving Day feast is in honor of my mom-in-law's birthday. Yep. Her birthday is on the 25th. I'm not sure why Thanksgiving isn't always celebrated on the 25th, because it gets a little confusing when we're celebrating a couple of days before or after. But this year we actually get to eat, drink, and be merry on the proper day. So, as you're all sitting down to your meals on Thursday, don't forget to raise your drinks and give the following toast...

Happy Birthday Betty! (a.k.a. mom-in law)

Countdown

Unlike most knitters, I'm not mentally ticking off each day until Xmas while furiously knitting away at presents. Instead, I'm mentally ticking of each of the 21 days I have left until the end of the semester. I have a bad case of senioritis, so each day is going to have me getting more and more painfully impatient. Unfortunately, the last three days of the semester consist of a take-home final. The period of time where I must focus the most will most likely be the period of time where I can't sit still for 5 minutes. Well, I normally can't sit still for 5 minutes, so we'd better make that 2 minutes instead.

Anyhoo, in the midst of my flu recovery and senioritis anxiety, I managed to get in some knitting time over the weekend. I continued working on the Irish Hiking Scarf. This is the only Xmas gift I'm making (I generally try not to get sucked into this swirling vortex of stress right before the holidays, which are stressful enough on their own). Thankfully the recipient doesn't appear to like extremely long scarves, because I bought one less skein of yarn than I had thought. oops! In the end this works out to be a blessing. Once I thought I would have a skein leftover I had the brilliant "let's-see-how-far-I-can-push-this-knitting-a-Xmas-gift-while-trying-to-get-through-school" idea of making a matching hat. Without that extra skein I'm off the hook and will only be giving the scarf as a present. Sometimes fate is quite helpful.

I also worked on my poncho that has been languishing for... well, I'm not even sure how long it's been. The last time I can remember working on it was when I went on the ferry ride around the bay with the BAWDies, and that was quite a while ago. I'm working on the ribbed edgings, so hopefully I can actually finish it before the end of the year.

Quick kitty update: So far so good. There's still some aggression being displayed, but through distraction and separation, the actual fights have been minimal. The hardest part has been the separation. I feel so bad locking up one of the cats when they've done nothing wrong. How do you explain to a cat that what you're doing is for their own good?

Where did the week go?

My flu haze has lifted and I'm feeling like normal again. Well, as normal as I ever feel. I did manage to drag myself to my computer on Wednesday and I got a very cute e-card from Lisa. Thanks Lisa! I had planned on blogging each day I was sick so I could whine and get some sympathy. But surprisingly, I just wanted to sleep. You all got lucky this time, but there's always another bug waiting around the corner.

The problem with sleeping for several days straight is that I'm woefully behind on my blog and forum reading. And I don't have much to talk about. So I thought I'd tell you about the Cheaper Than Therapy call for essays that Annie Modesitt has going on. My guess is that it's similar to Knit Lit, but she's asking for essays from regular folks, not just established writers. I'd consider submitting something, but heartfelt sentiment just isn't my writing style. Can you tell?

This is a short entry today (for once). But I know there are a couple of people who are going through some cat behavior issues right now, just as I am. So for those that are interested, here's an update on our situation. I managed to feel well enough on Thursday to bring my cats to the vet for their behavioral evaluation. The vet was extremely nice, and my hubby and I were frustrated at having to fill out the huge stack of forms before the visit, I can see where it helped. Ideally, we should have both cats in separate rooms for a period of time (depending on the cats and all, it can take anywhere from a day to a week). Since we're in a small apartment with only one separate room, we don't have this option. So the vet suggested we place Mom Cat in the separate room whenever the cats aren't supervised. When they are supervised, they can be together. But we have to pay close attention to the cats' reactions to each other. If there is any aggressive behavior, we have to distract the cats using positive reinforcement. Essentially, we're trying to break the aggression cycle and make being around each other a good, positive experience. Thankfully, good old-fashioned drugs will be helping us out in this. The vet gave us Pr*z*c (as a reminder, I'm using the '*' to avoid anyone find my blog through a lovely websearch on the drug name - as with X*n*x, I don't think people wanting info on this drug would be too happy to find my blog instead). Unfortunately, it can take up to a month for the drugs to really be effective. So, my hubby and I are having to find creative ways to distract and provide positive reinforcement to the cats. I hadn't realized how much easier it is to just yell and spray water at them.

By the way, a couple of housekeeping things...

I never did tell you the answer to the Dewey Decimal call number 746.432. This number is where you'll find knitting books. I believe 746 stands for Textile Arts in general, but the 432 signifies knitting. Some libraries also place knitting books in 746.43, but I don't remember what this stands for off-hand, and I'm too lazy to look it up. Sorry!

Also, Elisa mentioned a place called La Victoria Taqueria. It's a little place near SJSU that has great food and this orange sauce that really is addicting (she's not kidding). If you're anywhere near SJSU, you definitely need to try this place out. I'm curious to know what happened when she tried to bring some on an airplane. Hmmm...?

Finally, thanks to Dawnie for her advice on Movable Type. I'm still debating on whether to wait until I'm done with school (I graduate next May - Woo Hoo!), or take a chance and try it out in January. However, I'm feeling much more confident about being able to use it through my own host.

Okay, okay... I had intended for this to be short post...

Don't ya just hate it...

when a blogger can't update their blog because they're too busy (and puts the recording on, to boot!). And then, when they finally post something, it's to complain about being sick? No? That's good, because that's what I'm doing. Ready for the whine?

I'm sick. I hate being sick. I'm all stuffed up and tired and crabby. I tried to knit for a little bit, but I had to frog back to my starting place because my mind's so fuzzy. cough, sniff

Ok, that helps a bit. What also helps is receiving a lovely RAOK package from Diane. She read about my anniversary and sent me a 2005 Zagat guide to the Bay Area restaurants. She even marked the page for The House of Prime Rib. I've been flipping through the pages and marking other restaurants that me and my hubby will have to check out. Thanks Diane!

I also came home yesterday to find a package from my sister. She sent me all kinds of goodies. No I don't have pictures. I'm sick, remember? How can you possibly expect me to move my lazy, er, sick butt around and take pictures? But trust me, there's some great items! My favorite is a book titled Buddhism for Sheep!

In case you're wondering why I've been so busy (and hence, the lack of posts), it's been a mixture of homework (what else is new?), working (ditto), attending the California Library Association conference (don't laugh), and a bunch of personal stuff. Now, I'm sure that the thought of a library conference sounds quite dull to non-librarians, but for a librarian-to-be it was really quite fun! Unfortunately, it was also where I picked up my lovely cold. Before getting sick, I met some really great folks and learned a lot from some of the workshops I attended. (Hmmm... interestingly, I got sick at this past year's Stitches Expo. Maybe I'm allergic to conferences?)

I'm finally taking my cats in to a behavioralist on Thursday morning. I had to fill forms that are equivalent to a book on each cat and it's going to cost a small fortune. But hopefully the vet will be able to help solve our problem. These cats are driving me nuts!

On a bright note, I have less than a month of school left for the semester. Woo Hoo! I'm sooooo close to being done. I also have some RAOK gifts that I'm going to send out as soon as I can drag myself to the post office. So if you're part of the group, be on the lookout!

Ok, I'm going to spare you from more whining. I'll find my husband and continue with him. :-)

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1 year? Funny, it feels like 11.

My hubby and I are celebrating our 1st wedding anniversary today. Well, considering he's at work and I'll be at my internship today, we actually celebrated yesterday. Which is really still celebrating our anniversary, because as of yesterday we've been together 11 years (We got married during the weekend of our 10 year anniversary. Say it with me... awww!).

Here's a photo taken during our ceremony...

We got married on a yacht on the San Francisco Bay. Here's a picture after the ceremony...

Although everyone had a great time, there was quite a bit of sea sickness (including my poor mom and sister) because we had a (heavy) rainstorm that day. It also happened to rain on November 8th the year before, but I had been told that it doesn't usually rain in this area until late November. And besides, as the yacht woman told me, a little rain will flatten the water out and make for a smoother ride. I'd like to flatten her out...

Where was I? Oh yes! My 1st wedding anniversary. I'd like to write an eloquent tribute to my hubby that will bring a tear to your eyes just like some other bloggers have done recently. I'd tell you that I married my best friend who accepts me for who I am, respects me, and loves me more than I ever thought was possible. He's someone who puts up with my spazziness - and, frighteningly, I think he actually enjoys it. He's been supportive in my decision to go back to school. I enjoy hanging out and watching tv with him just as much as I do spending a romantic weekend together in the mountains. Simply put, he's a wonderful man. However... eloquent just isn't my style. Instead, I'm going to tell you how we celebrated our anniversary.

Last night my hubby took me out to my all-time favorite restaurant The House of Prime Rib. I had two drinks with our meal, and was quite tipsy (yes, I'm a cheap date). At one point, I looked down at my plate of meat fat that I had cut and put to the side and I thought my hubby had noticed it as well. This, in my mind, had me thinking about how my mom actually likes to eat meat fat, which simply makes me shudder. So I said, out loud, "I hate fat. My mom's a freak." My hubby, who simply gets me and the connection I have made in my mind, explains that his dad also would eat the fat and agrees that this is pretty gross. He paused for a moment and then pointed out this bizarre statement that I had made, which got me giggling. For the rest of the night. My hubby thought that this was quite funny. Anyway, after dinner, we walked around Ghirardelli Square and looked at some shops before heading home. (As a side note, my hubby took me to The House of Prime Rib and Ghirardelli Square the night he proposed to me. Say it with me... awww!).

When we got home, we got out the small cake our baker made for us.

It's the same cake we had at our wedding - chocolate cake with one layer of truffle filling and one layer of mousse filling. Yum! We then sat down with our cake to enjoy one of our favorite activities.

The Simpsons annual Treehouse of Horror episode. (This year's was ok - not great, but not horrible). Don't worry, we didn't eat the entire cake. We managed to save half of it for tonight, which is our actual anniversary.

Not how you pictured our celebration? Sure, we would have liked to have gone somewhere romantic for the weekend. And we had actually talked about it. But with me in school, this was as good as it was going to get. And you know what? I wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world.

746.432

My mind is a bit fuzzy right now. I was in my cataloging class all day Friday and Saturday. For non-librarian folks, cataloging is the process of creating the record for a book that you find in your library's online catalog. This weekend we learned how to assign the call numbers for a book, which is called classifying. Sadly, I dreamt about this last night. Anyhoo, my favorite Dewey call number in the entire world is in my title. Can anyone guess what kinds of books are found here?

I finally took pictures of the yarn I received last week. Here's the cotton yarn that Bente mailed to me.

Any ideas for what I should do with this? I'm thinking some sort of an open weave. Maybe a poncho or shawl?

This is the yarn I got from Elann...

The picture is blurry and you can't really see the color too well. But, I'm running out the door so I figure this is the best picture I can provide right now. Once I get some swatches done, I'll be sure to post better pics.

I also got a non-knitting toy this weekend - an iPod! I'm still trying to figure out how to use it, but I've managed to figure out how to get a couple of my cds transferred to it (the soundtrack cds to Gross Pointe Blank that my hubby got me for my bday).

Speaking of trying to figure things out. I'm getting annoyed with Blogger (I either can't log in, or I get logged in, but the program hangs up on me). I was planning on trying Movable Type on my own hosted site. I know Typepad is a hosting vendor that uses Movable Type, but I've heard some others complain about it so I'm thinking of just trying to host it on my own. The thing is, does anyone know how easy or difficult Movable Type is? If there's a steep learning curve, I'll need to wait until school is over, because I don't think my brain can take on anymore information right now.

I had the weirdest dream last night

I dreamt that I woke up on the morning after the election to hear that Kerry conceded the election to Bush. Crazy, isn't it?

Thankfully, I woke up in time to get a couple of packages. I love packages! Bente sent me a Random Act of Kindness package full of some really cool cotton yarn. I can't even begin to explain this yarn. Unfortunately, I'm heading out the door in a bit and I won't be able to post pictures until later this weekend. So, for now, trust me on this! (Have I ever given you a reason not to trust me? I thought not.)

I also got an Elann order. I decided that I wanted to bring a handknit sweater back to PA with me when we visit family for Xmas. But the only handknit sweater I've made was not exactly a success (but it's my first, so I'm keeping it intact forever - remember, I'm a sentimental packrat!). So, in Yarn Harlot fashion, I've decided that I'm going to make one now to bring with me. However, unlike the Harlot, I'm a slooooooow knitter, so I need big, chunky yarn and a simple design if I want to get this done in time. I ordered some Filatura di Crosa ZarOne (which is considered a Polar weight). Now I just need to come up with a simple design. I can't decide if I want a turtleneck, mock, or crew. Decisions, decisions.

I promise there will be pictures later.

I can't sit still

I told myself that I wouldn't look at any of the election websites tonight. My personal opinion is that we probably won't know the real results of this election right away. There will be lawsuits, possibly some recounts, etc. So I reasoned that it's silly to watch the results as they come in and get all worked up. What am I doing then, you might ask? Refreshing several websites at a time to see the election results as they get updated. sigh... I'm at work, so I can't even knit while I anxiously watch. In fact, I'm trying to be productive in between refreshes. ha!

So... Canada is a socialist country, right?