Public Service Announcement: banana bread

If you cleverly peel your overripe bananas and put them into a large ziploc and pre-mash them (with the bag safely closed), you have the ideal makings for banana bread or muffins. If however, you then FREEZE the bag-o-mash-bananas, and then THAW it on the counter, well... the line between "thawed" and "fermented" appears to have been crossed sometime around 3 a.m. My bag of potential bread-and-muffins smelled like the after-effects of too many daquiris. Yikes.

No bread and muffins this morning. Dang it.

Long weekend huzzah!

Well, the past week or so has been particularly brutal - emotional rollercoaster time (don't worry, I'm getting help from lots of different places and people) but I am now 40 minutes away from the start of the long weekend and SO looking forward to it!

I have knit up the first ball of the Patons Classic for my green Henley sweater, this afternoon I'm going to put it on some waste yarn and check to make sure the sizing is going to work (hard to tell all scrunched up on the circular needle). Loving the yarn and the k3p1 rib is simple and soothing. Must dig out the camera and get pictures of it, and the scarf from last weekend, up to share!

This weekend is going to be mostly relaxation but I want to do a bit of "back-to-school" tidy-up - I've always liked September as the real "start" of the year and I have a few systems and things I want to get set up and ready to roll - kind of a coordination of all the stuff I want to do:

1. "us time" with Peter
2. Weight Watchers (including some menu plans, etc.)
3. Exercise plan
4. Depression research, counseling and self-care
5. Knitting!
6. Social stuff - visits and guild and knit nites, etc.
7. Future planning - career change, education, location change, etc.

So mostly I need to spend some quality time with my Day-Timer and block out a realistic schedule that includes both the "must do" and the "want to do". However, I'm not spending the whole weekend obsessing on this! I am going to knit, and watch movies, and play WoW, and make some good meals, and get out for a walk in the woods, and Knit Knit Knit because the cold weather is coming!

Happy Labor Day all!

Getting my knit on

Wow, yesterday I knit A LOT. I knit through movies and olympics but I couldn't tell you what I watched because really I was FOCUSED on the knitting. Which felt kind of good.

I started the Henley as planned but unfortunately after about 2 1/2 inches I was really not loving the Seeded Garter Rib (I think that's what they called it) so I ripped out and restarted in a plain K3P1 rib which I am liking better. Simple clean lines and I think the purl ribs will help it be a tad more form-fitting. I am also considering doing a bit of shaping at the waist... I may be heavier than I'd like to be but I still have a defined waist and I'd like to emphasize that! So the pattern as written is quickly becoming a template instead. What's that EZ used to say? I'm the boss of my knitting?

Also finished ball #1 and started ball #2 of the One-Row Scarf 2008; I am loving the Maxi Tosca, the stripage is random and surprising and pretty (although the colours could just as easily be masculine, they are blues with a dash of red). Thinking of attempting the hat as a One-Row adaptation but not sure if it has enough stretch for a hat. To be decided.

And I see that Yumi (and family) got home safely from their vacation - huzzah!

And now, I must go do a load of washing in preparation fo the trek to the laundromat. Unfortunately the weather man lied and this morning's rain came early, so I will need to take yesterday's washing as well and throw them all in the dryers. Fortunately those big industrial machines get everything bone dry in 15 minutes! Then it will be groceries and I think the plan for late morning/early afternoon is a visit to the in-laws and out-laws (Peter's family, then mine). I'm bringing my knitting.

A new project or three

The Adagio Shawl is in time-out. A good push over a weekend would finish it, but I am sick of the sight of it right now and don't want to be knitting negative vibes into such prettiness. Carole, my dear friend, is being super-understanding and patient and told me to "go knit something for YOU". So - I am.

I started my 2008 hat/scarf combo today, the scarf part anyway - it's the One Row Scarf, and I'm making it in Maxi Tosca which I got on clearance (yay!) at Wool-Tyme the other day. The hat I don't know what I'll do but probably a simple 2x2 ribbed toque. Pictures to follow. I think the scarf will be a quick knit, I'm doing it at 22 stitches on big-arse needles (#2 old-school, probably around 7mm?). Good visual interest but really the pattern is a no-brainer on such short rows. Good thing!

Last week I got the new Interweave Knits and Vogue Knitting - today I picked up the Fall Knit 'n' Style. Normally their patterns don't do much for me but this issue (October 2008) has this really simple and pleasant Henley sweater (from KnitPicks) that I love the look of - it's a style I wear well - AND it will be the perfect use for the Patons Classic (Forest Mix) I've been hoarding for about 2 years! I did the math and I should have enough yarn for the size large, with a bit to spare. Minor annoyance - the pattern notes give you two different pattern stitches but only one is used in the pattern. I looked it up on KnitPicks site and the alternate stitch pattern is meant to be used for the men's version of the sweater. Confusion solved. I'm trying to find comfortable and flattering clothes that are work-appropriate but still pretty casual, and I think this will fit the bill nicely. I plan to cast it on tomorrow, just to keep the momentum going. Fall is right around the corner!

Oh, and thinking of work clothes, I found pants that fit (and are fit for work) today at Roots, of all places! They are men's but styles are so unisex now, I don't care. Got a charcoal-greeny-gray, a standard khaki and your basic black, all three pairs for $135 and change including taxes. I have a rule about not spending more than $50 for a pair of pants, so I am pleased with these. After the ruthless weeding-out of the wardrobe last weekend (3 bags full to the Value Village), I was starting to think I would have to go to work in my fleece penguin PJs!

I need to pull out my turtlenecks and stuff for the fall/winter and decide how many more tops I need ... well, I guess I only really NEED five but it's nice to have some variety in the rotation. I saw a pretty oatmeal-coloured v-neck at Wal-Mart today that I liked the look of... actually several pretty tops at the Wal-Mart. They are reasonably inexpensive, last at least 2 years, and are comfy and flattering. I love the long-sleeve t-shirts I got 2 years ago but they are not really flattering to the "muffin top" belly I have at the moment - a little too snug. Very flattering to the cleavage though!

Can't decide if I should call it a night and crawl into bed with my book, or find some Olympics on tv and put a few more inches on the scarf. Hmmm... maybe another half-hour on the scarf. You know, just to make the picture-taking worthwhile!

I haz a sad...

I really hope Yumi is enjoying her vacation but I am missing her (and reading her blog). YUMI COME HOME!

It's my birthday!

And so far, it's been interesting. Last night we had the Thunderstorm of the Apocalpyse (rain, hail, wind, lightning, thunder to shake the house), which blew out the transformer for our section of the park. So from 5 p.m. onward we had no hydro, which made for a quiet evening. 1 a.m., Peter's alarm goes off. 1:30, the Hydro trucks roll in to fix the transformer. 2:30, the phone rings - one of Peter's co-workers (who apparently forgot the cellphone number). 3:30 the power comes back on, which freaks out the cats. 5:00 my alarm goes off.

Yeah, I'm feeling every one of my 37 years this morning. Thank heavens for Tim Horton's!

Once more I get sucked into a Good Idea...

I spotted this over on Laurie's blog, and it seems like a good idea for my type of personality. Maybe you might find it interesting too. Happy Thursday.

The difference a good night's sleep makes

Last night I was in bed, cats locked out, lights out, at 7:30 p.m. Peter didn't get home until 4:30 a.m. That's nine hours of uninterrupted sleep. I feel almost human again. This morning was a series of minor emergencies (other people's) which I dealt with in a slightly less-accommodating fashion than usual. Example:

1) "Are we going to have x issued before tomorrow"? At 9 a.m. My response: "It'll be done before noon." It was done by 11:30.

2) "I need (don't you LOVE statements that start with I need?) x information on a, b, c, d, e, f, AND g - today." My response: "I am busy this morning, you'll have it by 1:30." It was done by 11:50. I get back from lunch to a panicky-sounding call from this same person - "Call me." No. I gave you what you want, I am not calling you to decipher it for you.

Which brings me to a peeve of mine - useless phone messages. If you call someone for business reasons (or even for personal, for that matter), and leave a message on voicemail, tell them:

• Your first and last name. There are many people named "Mark", you are 1 of 15 that I know personally.
• Your phone number. Don't assume I have it.
• What you are calling about. Really, isn't that the point of the message?
• When you are available for a callback. I'm not glued to MY phone 24/7, I don't expect you are either.

There is NOTHING more time-wasting than a message that says "Hi, it's x. Call me." Odds are, when I call you back, I will have to listen to whatever your crisis is, take notes, look things up, pull files, get other people involved - all things I could have done BEFORE calling you back.

Sorry, ranting. I was starting to say how good I felt today. Yesterday I got both the new Vogue Knitting and new Interweave Knits and there are a few projects that I am considering ... down the road. Got a big list already and anything REALLY good doesn't go out of style, does it?

Good thing - Bad thing

Good thing: buying a whole pizza to share with your co-workers at 10:30 on a Wednesday morning, just for the hell of it.

Bad thing: being too tired to meet up with your bestest buddy for coffee after work due to sleep deprivation.

Good thing: finding the perfect new cardigan pattern in the new Fall Vogue Knitting.

Bad thing: not being able to afford the roughly $200 that the yarn for said cardigan will cost.

Which reminds me, that I really need to finish my Wednesday's Cardigan and see if it is at all suitable for the office. It's been so long since I looked at this project, I have no idea if (a) it will fit me, and (b) if I actually have any clothes that go with that particular shade of purple-plum yarn. It may end up gifted when complete, which really stinks because the yarn was a Christmas present. Two years ago. God I suck at finishing things!

How's your Wednesday going?

This is the Birthday that never ends...

... and it's started early!

On Friday, I treated myself to an early birthday gift of a headset with microphone, the better to hear when I'm playing WoW and I can talk on the Vent server as well without craning my neck and yelling. Very handy when one is about to die and needs assistance (in the game, in the game).

Today I stopped over to see Mom & Dad after work and they early-gifted me with a Logitech cordless keyboard / mouse combo, because Miss Mok-kitty has a clever but annoying trick of lying down ON the mouse cord, thereby immobilizing the mouse when I'm trying to do stuff. Cordless mouse = foiled kitty (for now. I'm sure she will think of another way).

I will NOT go into a rant about how setting up said cordless combo took 1 1/2 hours and much cursing (ok, I rearranged my desk and stuff too but most of the cursing was at Logitech). I've given it a good in-game test drive and now this is the official blog-maiden voyage. The mouse is small and nimble, the keyboard reasonably fast and responsive (good key-click resistance, just the way I like it). The only thing I don't like is that it does not have little lights on the keyboard for your CAPS lock and NUM lock - just a brief message flash on the screen when you turn them on or off. So the only way to know if they are on or off is to toggle the key a few times. A bit annoying, but not a deal breaker.

Anyway, my extended birthday festiviting continues on Friday, when I am playing a golf tournament and having dinner with Dad, and Saturday when the family is gathering to go to Wild Wing (my pick) for an early dinner. And I am having pre-birthday (me) and pre-vacation (her) coffee with Yumi tomorrow evening. AND and and - my boss has promised to bring a cake on my actual birthday next week! I usually make cakes for when people in our department have birthdays, so it will be a special treat to have someone else bring it (thus making up for not being able to take my birthday as a day off this year).

You know the best bit? It's not even a significant number. 37. Big deal. Happy extended birthday to me! (and in case you are wondering, the actual day is next Tuesday).

Reality - do the math

So I was working on Carole's shawl again last night, and watching Mythbusters. And at the end of the show, I had done ONE repeat of the pattern. One repeat = 11 rows. 11 rows = 1 inch. This shawl is supposed to be 66" long, and I have 18" to go. There is NO WAY I am going to get in 18 hours of knitting time in the next week, so I told Carole her birthday just got moved to Labour Day. *grin* She's fine with it, told me not to stress about it.

This reminds me of when I did the 2006 Knitting Olympics and did the math... every time I do the math I have this wall of reality hit me. Why is it that I think shawls are small projects? Note to self: Shawls are BIG projects. Especially shawls that are not a big open lacy pattern (Adagio is decidedly NOT open and lacy, but rather like a corrugated blanket for the shoulders. It will be warm).

If I knit as my full-time job, this shawl would take 2 weeks of full-time knitting. As it is, it is taking a little over 2 months of part-time knitting. I love it, but will never knit it again. Ever! [1]

My real job however is going pretty well - I am caught up on the stuff that gets neglected when I get busy, and am actually working at a summer pace - i.e. half my usual speed. Stuff's still getting done but I'm not stressing. That, and cutting back to 1 coffee a day in the morning, is making me sleep better at night. [2]

I still have songs from "Rent" floating through my head - that show really stuck with me. I did not go see the live show (god, that was 10 years ago!) when it was big and came to Ottawa - at the time, the idea of a musical about AIDS was just wrong to me - a little too close to home. But now having seen the movie version a few times, I see that it's about hope and love and good things, and it makes me feel good (yeah, I cry at points, but it's cathartic). Forget regret, or life is yours to miss. Yep. Also the story of the guy that wrote the show is amazing all on its own - if you don't know it, rent the 2-disc DVD and watch the documentary on disc 2. Wow.


[1] You have to imagine Jamie from Mythbusters saying "Ever!", right there.
[2] Yes, I can sleep with Peter gone. Last night I was in bed at 8:00 and out light the proverbial light. Which made waking up at 3 a.m. significantly less painful.

The price of celebrity

Well, local advertisement, anyway. My picture and name were used in a print ad for my company, which has been re-run several times in the local paper. (whee). So today I get a call from a sweet little old lady asking me all kinds of questions about our products, etc. that I just don't have answers for. And I could refer her to the right department and the right people, but I can't do that because she has somehow made a connection to me and it would be Not Good to bump her over to someone who might not be as willing to listen and help. So I will get her answers, and call her tomorrow, and hopefully that will be that.

I'm too dang nice, is what.

Moral of the story: don't get your picture in the paper. People expect you to be nice.

It's quiet - too quiet

It's entirely too quiet in the house. Squeeky is outside hunting small critters so she can leave icky corpses on the back porch for me to step on when I go out to hang laundry. Mok is napping on the desk under the lamp (her 'warm spot'). And mostly, it's too quiet because Peter is not here, snoring. Peter is on a vacation-covering-run for one of the other guys this week, and thus his shift is different. The good news is, that means no 1 a.m. phone call for a few days. The bad news is, that means not actually spending any awake time together for a few days. And the really bad news is, although I can go back to sleep after he leaves the house at 2 a.m. for his normal run, I am having a hell of a time getting to sleep because he's already left.

Granted, I enjoyed having an evening of girly movies and knitting to myself, but now it's time to sleep and there is a large expanse of empty bed (and a corresponding lack of warm cuddliness) which cannot be sufficiently compensated for by a five-pound cat. *sigh* I have a feeling that tomorrow may require extra caffeine, because despite the fact that I am very tired, I really don't sleep well alone.

However, I must make the attempt or I will be zombiefied tomorrow and that's bad for (a) getting to work safely, and (b) getting any work done once I get there. Much as I'd love to stay up and play Warcraft, I really must try to sleep. Wish me luck.

Free to be me

I know, this has turned into a very self-involved and not-too-much-knitting blog lately, but as someone wise once said, "more people are reading my t-shirt than read your blog", so I don't really care. It's a place to put down stuff that I think about, so I can look back later and see where I've been.

Yesterday I got to thinking that I tend to over-commit, and it's time to pare back my online commitments. So I left a few Ravelry groups that I was in, including the Mission Possible 2008, because I was starting to resent my knitting "obligations", and that's a Bad Thing. Also about the gym and whatnot - if I go to the gym I feel good but if I don't, why should I feel guilty? Ditto food - dammit if I really want chocolate cake or ice cream, I'm gonna eat it - I'm still eating better/wiser than I used to (down a pound from this time last week, BTW, so something's working).

And fall is coming on, which is when I typically make my "new year" plans (I was SUCH a back-to-school kid, and that sticks). Not doing it this year. Just gonna live each life one day at a time (ooh how 12-step of me), and for good or bad, each day will continue to pass into the next no matter what I do about it, or with it. Maybe it's the "Rent" influence - No Day But Today.

Anyway, that's my navel-gazing for Friday. I'm gonna knit some more on Carole's shawl this weekend. I want to finish it for her birthday. Then I'm gonna knit whatever the hell I want, because I can. No Knit But Today's.

It's all downhill from here!

As of this morning, our total debt is now less than $10,000. Which means, if we keep to the track we've been on the past while, we will be debt-free by March, 2009. Assuming of course, no crises, broken cars, loss of employment, etc.

Wow do I feel good this morning!

Long weekend recap

In a word: LAZY. Here's the timeline:

Friday night: out to dinner at Wild Wing (fabulous tastiness of doom!), then hit TWO video stores on the way home to stock up on movies for the weekend. Early to bed since Peter had to work Saturday morning.

Saturday: up at the crack of dawn, watched Rent (wonderful) and Swing Kids (wonderful) and got a bunch more done on Carole's Adagio Shawl. After lunch, played WoW until bedtime.

Sunday: up at the crack of dawn, watched the new Harold and Kumar movie (OMG LOL but don't watch it while eating), planned to go to the Knit-Out at the Experimental Farm but unfortunately my stomach had other plans (oogy). Pepto, peppermint tea, heat pack and more WoW until bedtime again!

Monday: Guess... yeah, more WoW! Played 'til midafternoon and then took a break to tackle some dishes and laundry. Watched Smokin' Aces (so so, wannabe Usual Suspects but not quite) and started to watch Brotherhood of the Wolf, but got interrupted by one of our skanky trailer-park neighbours and her wigger boyfriend parking their car on our lawn (!) and blasting the bass so loud it was vibrating the house (!). I stepped out on the front porch to have a polite word with them (*ahem*), and was so infuriated by the incident that I couldn't watch the movie anymore. At the risk of being an intolerant snob, I really REALLY need to get out of the trailer park, before I totally snap. We ran the numbers not too long ago and it looks like next Spring will be financially viable. It could be another Very Long Winter, I'm afraid...

Anyway, setting aside that moment of unpleasantness, it was a terrific weekend. Peter and I had tons of quality togetherness time, I got some extra sleep, ate reasonably well, got lots of knitting done, and really RELAXED. I even finished reading "Tale of Two Cities" last night. Sad ending. Great Book.

And now it's back to work for a shortened week (only 3.5 days because we get Friday afternoon off), and so far so good. Happy Tuesday!

PS - go visit www.yumiwebster.com to see some really cool photography. Go! Go now!

Long weekend!

So I am 15 minutes away from a 3 1/2 day weekend - huzzah! Only concrete plan is to go to the Knit-Out at the Experimental Farm on Sunday afternoon, otherwise things are pretty much wide open... I plan to do some knitting, some reading (Tale of Two Cities is gripping!), and maybe a bit of extra sleeping. I've been cutting back on my caffeine all week and going to the gym every day so I'm feeling pretty body-tired and brain-fuzzed.

So in case I don't post before Monday, happy Halifax/Dartmouth Natal Day!