...but i guess it's because i keep hoping someone will have something- anything- to say about my book and/or movie list. also, not much happening here, but the world continuing to turn. i sew bags. pay bills. clean the house. go to work. the last three weekends i've spent with d, and while that's wonderful, i love spending time with the girlfriend, especially to celebrate things like birthdays or anniversaries, it does make me feel like i'm a little short on balance in my life.
but really it's bags. i am, as you may have surmised, feeling REALLY poor recently, so i've been sewing bags as fast as brigid can throw them at me. i've been averaging about 6 a week. at 2-3 hrs per bag, it adds up fast.
i've been following the flylady's basic weekly plan for about 3 weeks now and it's worked pretty well for the most part. well, it's worked well for getting me on a scedule for cleaning and shoping and running errands and stuff. unfortunately, it makes me feel like i can't leave the house midweek. but, on the other hand, i do have my weekends completely free from worry about when i'm going to go to the library or pay rent or clean the catbox. this weekend d and i did bags, played risk, did yoga, cooked mushroom sqash soup (and a bunch of beans to freeze), went to d's square dance class, sorted my closet (removing a bag of stuff to give away, putting away the sundresses and getting out the sweaters and velvet), and read novels in bed. we also went to the hardware store and i bought curtain rods for my kitchen. the lights in the back gangway used to be mostion sensor, but now they're on all the time and it makes my house qute bright all night long. and i am a in-the-dark sleeper. so now i need to buy curtain fabric too. because, you know, since i'm so poor and all i can't stop shopping.
so we'll see how this week goes with midweek activities thrown into the flylady mix. after square dancing on saturday it made me wanna contra, so d and i decided to go out and DO IT tomorrow night. houseblessing night. then d is going to iowa next weekend, so i'll be going to her place wednesday night. anti-procrastination night. i think i can make it all happen.
in fact, i'm going to crawl back into my closet NOW, so i can finish sewing these bags tonight, i can glue them after dancing tomorrow, and then i can do my houseblessing tonight and i don't have to worry about it tomorrow.
see? i am a girl with a PLAN!
30.9.07
25.9.07
resolution recap
wanted to do one for summer, too, but never got around to it. so now here's my fall acomplishments:
falures:
1. spend less than 1 hr online daily. it continues to take up my life.
2. watch 4 movies a month. i continue to average about 2.
3. go to figure drawing once a month. still have never been.
7. do a sketch every day. yeah right.
11. paint more. could i possibly paint less?
15. write more. not at all. but i'm PLANNING on doing nanowrimo. i'm gonna write a novel in november. so if i manage any of that, well. first, i probably won't blog AT ALL. but this one will certainly move to the other column.
16. go to bed on time, get enough sleep. i've been doing ok at the latter, but i suck at the former. thank goddess i don't work 9-5m-f.
18. floss. eh, maybe every other month. and the week before the dentist.
19. make my arms strong. i did this for a while. but i got out of the habit. how to get back in?
sucesses:
4. do a patternless crossword every week. maybe not EVERY week, but with frightening regularitly.
5. write a letter every week. i tend to binge, still. but i usually pull off an average of a letter every other week.
6. take a photo every day. barely a success. but i'm still tumbling the 365day track in fits and starts.
8. drink the flylady kool-aid (eg shine my sink everyday). while i'm not a dedicated sink shiner, i do have a weekely houseblessing, morning and evening routines, and am just starting excitedly on her basic weekly plan.
9. complete plus level square dance class. done and done. wish there were advanced options. want to change this to contra.
10. take violin lessons. acomplished... now i need to practice the darn thing. so it should really be in the falure catagory.
12. read more. put this one on mostly so there'd be a plus.
13. knit more. with all this sock yarn? oh yeah. i knit a sweater this year.
14. travel more- st. louis, san francisco, michigan, pa, day trip to baltimore. i think that counts.
17. celebrate seasonally (eg. ice skating in the winter, sending out valentines, decorating easter eggs, etc)i think i need to define this more. i was better in the spring. but i did travel a lot during the summer and wear lots of sundresses and now i'm making applesauce and mushroom squash soup. and i bought mums for my planters. so so i think, while not extraordinary, i'm certainly celebrating seasonally more than i'm, say, sketching.
so i'm half way there. my spring recap had 5 falures, but 6 in a "hopeful" catagory. so i definately feel there is self-improvement happening. watch me become a better person daily!
falures:
1. spend less than 1 hr online daily. it continues to take up my life.
2. watch 4 movies a month. i continue to average about 2.
3. go to figure drawing once a month. still have never been.
7. do a sketch every day. yeah right.
11. paint more. could i possibly paint less?
15. write more. not at all. but i'm PLANNING on doing nanowrimo. i'm gonna write a novel in november. so if i manage any of that, well. first, i probably won't blog AT ALL. but this one will certainly move to the other column.
16. go to bed on time, get enough sleep. i've been doing ok at the latter, but i suck at the former. thank goddess i don't work 9-5m-f.
18. floss. eh, maybe every other month. and the week before the dentist.
19. make my arms strong. i did this for a while. but i got out of the habit. how to get back in?
sucesses:
4. do a patternless crossword every week. maybe not EVERY week, but with frightening regularitly.
5. write a letter every week. i tend to binge, still. but i usually pull off an average of a letter every other week.
6. take a photo every day. barely a success. but i'm still tumbling the 365day track in fits and starts.
8. drink the flylady kool-aid (eg shine my sink everyday). while i'm not a dedicated sink shiner, i do have a weekely houseblessing, morning and evening routines, and am just starting excitedly on her basic weekly plan.
9. complete plus level square dance class. done and done. wish there were advanced options. want to change this to contra.
10. take violin lessons. acomplished... now i need to practice the darn thing. so it should really be in the falure catagory.
12. read more. put this one on mostly so there'd be a plus.
13. knit more. with all this sock yarn? oh yeah. i knit a sweater this year.
14. travel more- st. louis, san francisco, michigan, pa, day trip to baltimore. i think that counts.
17. celebrate seasonally (eg. ice skating in the winter, sending out valentines, decorating easter eggs, etc)i think i need to define this more. i was better in the spring. but i did travel a lot during the summer and wear lots of sundresses and now i'm making applesauce and mushroom squash soup. and i bought mums for my planters. so so i think, while not extraordinary, i'm certainly celebrating seasonally more than i'm, say, sketching.
so i'm half way there. my spring recap had 5 falures, but 6 in a "hopeful" catagory. so i definately feel there is self-improvement happening. watch me become a better person daily!
birthday musings
you can catch all my stories over on flickr, i feel like. i've just been wasting so much time online... or, i am distracted by real life people and don't get a chance to sign on. there are other things i want to do, too though. contra on mondays. draw on wednesdays. find out my options for the center on halsed activities. chicago is a big place- i need to apply myself more. i had a wonderful time with ch and hugo and d this weekend... yet i feel like i need more local friends. d and i talked about having a fall dinner party, and i don't know who i'd invite except for them.
don't get me wrong- my birthday was a weekend long celebration, with yarn and music and sex and crafts. i had a good time. but i long to see what's in store for the next year. in fact, let me go find my resolutions. it's time for a resolution recap.
don't get me wrong- my birthday was a weekend long celebration, with yarn and music and sex and crafts. i had a good time. but i long to see what's in store for the next year. in fact, let me go find my resolutions. it's time for a resolution recap.
23.9.07
day 207- birthday cake
johnny b and charles baked it for me! i've never had a cake with my name on it before. what a special surprise!
day 205- don't ask don't tell
i was so sad when this yarn that sarah dyed was bought, not by me.
but it was bought by my girlfriend! and she gave it to me for my birthday! horray!
but it was bought by my girlfriend! and she gave it to me for my birthday! horray!
204- new earing!!
i've been waiting and waiting and waiting to put in this jewelry, and enough healing has occured i could finally do it! so now, i just need to take a picture that's in focus....
bountiful birthday box!
thanks so much monochromatic girl and misanthropic sarah! what a delightful, delightful birthday box! you put all other gift givers to shame!
not really a blog...
it's past my bed time, and i have bags to finish. so for the highlights of my weekend, head on over to flickr. thanks!
17.9.07
sparkle
the last item of my houseblessing is taking the trash out to the dumpster. it's beautiful in chicago tonight, so i decided to do it in my bare feet and savor my last outside shoeless experience of the season. i've done it a couple of times (taken the trash out in bare feet) and i always am fine with it until after i've dropped my bags in and i turn around to walk back to my gate and see the asphalt sparkling in the streetlights. even though y'all know my favorite color is glitter, then i always think, "eh, THAT was a silly thing to do." though i never cut my feet. so far, knock on wood. the only glass splinters i've ever gotten have been in my own house, from things dropped on the marble floor. those sorts of things make me contemplative, though. what is the lifespan of this glass? where was it before it was here? what was it before it was broken? one of the sparkly things in the light i noticed was a safety pin, head bent, most likely fallen out of one of my trashbags. that's one story i know a good chunk of. will anyone else imagine my life when they see the safety pin in the alley?
hapy anniversary
d and i celebrated code 3 at the flowershop this weekend, abrieviated ha. we met a year ago saturday. to celebrate, we spent the whole weekend together. d picked me up at the flowershop on friday after work, because we had a dying tree i wanted. so i have a cute new tree in my apartment, and i think it is going to be so much happier here in my sunny home than any stuffy office building! then i paid my bills while she cooked dinner for me- she made these AMAZING zuchinni pancakes we put cranberry chutney on, and stuffed eggplant and apple nectarine crisp. we had the zuchinni pancakes for breakfast the next morning- it was SO nice, saturday morning sunlight (the kind that pours in like butterscotch and sticks to all your sences) and library books to read and a girlfriend to cuddle with and fancy herbal teas and fancy pancakes and fruit... it was supercozy.
but we pried ourselves up from that to go to the renegade craft fair. i was looking for something specific, and found it, so horray! necessary shopping taken care of. we stopped by d's house to check her mail and get some food she had to eat up, and then we came back to my house to eat dinner and change for concert #1. we took the train to hear nervous but excited at schubas! they were very good, they have some wonderful new songs. they opened for natalia zuckerman, who was also quite excellent- we stayed to hear much more of her than we thought we were going to! then we went to mi tierra to have margaritas with ch, then BACK to schubas for concert #2, ingrid michaelson. she was enjoyable too, though the night was getting late. she has a quirky personality, but her precise singing style and clever songwriting make it fun to listen to songs of hers you don't know.
sunday d woke up first and went to devon market, then made me chocolate crepes with nutella, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, kiwis and grapes! oh so yummy! and her crepe making technique keeps improving- they were really paper thin! i really wanted to be lazy, but there were bags to do. once done with breakfast, we listened to npr and i sewed. i broke my last stupid needle, and had to take a trip to joann's. but i got all but one of the bags done before we had to go out for dinner!
d had never been to a restaurant where you have to make reservations before, so my anniversary gift was to take her to the green zebra. it was really successful. as always, an amazing dining experience full of taste sensations. i had:
-Roasted Baby Beets, watercress, horseradish panna cotta
-Sweet Pea Raviolis, baby carrots,goat cheese, pinenut sauce
-Zuchini cake, brussels sprouts, almonds, squashblossom
-Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream Cake, coconut foam, dark chocolate sorbet, passion fruit
d had:
-Corn Soup, cornbread crouton, black pepper sweet cream
-Chickpea Pancake, fried chickpeas, basil, piperade
-Roasted Halibut, baby fennel, romanesco broccoli, new potatoes
-Toasted Corn Cakes, plum compote, sweet corn ice cream
i really loved the bitter brusselsprouts on the sweet zuchini cake, but my favourite of all may have been d's corn soup. we didn't know what piperade was, and so d was quite disturbed to find it's a pepper relish, so that wasn't her favourite course. i was getting full and couldn't decide if we should get two deserts or one, but i'm really glad we got both, because mine was lovely and amazing, and the corn ice cream i LOVED, so much better than the discription. yum!
after that, we headed back to schuba's for concert #3, girlyman! they were excellent as always, despite playing so many songs we don't know yet from their new album. they played lots of old favorites, too though. and i certainly love girlyman when i don't know any of their songs, so it was as always delightful.
but now it's monday. and i have to clean my house. cause that's what i do on monday. sigh.
but we pried ourselves up from that to go to the renegade craft fair. i was looking for something specific, and found it, so horray! necessary shopping taken care of. we stopped by d's house to check her mail and get some food she had to eat up, and then we came back to my house to eat dinner and change for concert #1. we took the train to hear nervous but excited at schubas! they were very good, they have some wonderful new songs. they opened for natalia zuckerman, who was also quite excellent- we stayed to hear much more of her than we thought we were going to! then we went to mi tierra to have margaritas with ch, then BACK to schubas for concert #2, ingrid michaelson. she was enjoyable too, though the night was getting late. she has a quirky personality, but her precise singing style and clever songwriting make it fun to listen to songs of hers you don't know.
sunday d woke up first and went to devon market, then made me chocolate crepes with nutella, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, kiwis and grapes! oh so yummy! and her crepe making technique keeps improving- they were really paper thin! i really wanted to be lazy, but there were bags to do. once done with breakfast, we listened to npr and i sewed. i broke my last stupid needle, and had to take a trip to joann's. but i got all but one of the bags done before we had to go out for dinner!
d had never been to a restaurant where you have to make reservations before, so my anniversary gift was to take her to the green zebra. it was really successful. as always, an amazing dining experience full of taste sensations. i had:
-Roasted Baby Beets, watercress, horseradish panna cotta
-Sweet Pea Raviolis, baby carrots,goat cheese, pinenut sauce
-Zuchini cake, brussels sprouts, almonds, squashblossom
-Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream Cake, coconut foam, dark chocolate sorbet, passion fruit
d had:
-Corn Soup, cornbread crouton, black pepper sweet cream
-Chickpea Pancake, fried chickpeas, basil, piperade
-Roasted Halibut, baby fennel, romanesco broccoli, new potatoes
-Toasted Corn Cakes, plum compote, sweet corn ice cream
i really loved the bitter brusselsprouts on the sweet zuchini cake, but my favourite of all may have been d's corn soup. we didn't know what piperade was, and so d was quite disturbed to find it's a pepper relish, so that wasn't her favourite course. i was getting full and couldn't decide if we should get two deserts or one, but i'm really glad we got both, because mine was lovely and amazing, and the corn ice cream i LOVED, so much better than the discription. yum!
after that, we headed back to schuba's for concert #3, girlyman! they were excellent as always, despite playing so many songs we don't know yet from their new album. they played lots of old favorites, too though. and i certainly love girlyman when i don't know any of their songs, so it was as always delightful.
but now it's monday. and i have to clean my house. cause that's what i do on monday. sigh.
13.9.07
bubble
so ch went to see this israeli movie called bubble which he says is super good. so now he wants to buy the sound track, but it's hard to do, find the website that will take american dollars for some indie israeli film. and he finally found one, and he was buying cds and talking on the phone to stacy (a hot mamma) and saying that having an package from israel shipped to thte sears tower was probably going to get him into trouble, next thing he knows he's going to be taken to guantanimo bay. now stacy and i both have comebacks to this, and he's just laughing, but then he has to repeat them both, so we can hear what the other says. i said, if i were you, i'd shave your goatee. she said, i'd come and rescue you- i'd get fuckin michael moore and we'd come save your ass!
11.9.07
fiber
well, it all started with finishing my sweater. pictures to follow, really. and i finished gabrielle's scarf, too. so now all i have unfinished are random socks- the socks of doom, the current socks i hate, and various baby booties i didn't QUITE have enough yarn for. so i need another project i love. and i have new yarn from krista and sarah's destashing:photo
so i need a pattern! i went to loopy yarn's birthday celebration to find something... but was so overwhelmed by the prices and the colors and the HORDES of wet knitters trying to take off their shirts for franklin that i didn't know what to buy. i almost bought the cat toy kit, but they are felted and felting and me do not mix in general, and esp. not when one must go to the laundrymat. so i bought... roving. lovely blue and green handpainted roving, and i got out my spindle and spun for the first time since moving to chicago. it is soothing but takes ALOT of concentration! and it's a joy to spin, i'm shocked how rarely my thread breaks and the spindle clatters to the ground and rolls under the bed for the cat to chase. i'm also putting more twist in it than... a chitown squares member dancing girl. that helps. so now i have a REALLY LONG TIME to decide what i will knit out of it. cause i only have 50g. which got me thinking and i dug in the back of my stash and found the gorgeous denim mohair my mom bought for me christmas of, oh, 1998. i spun it into a thickish oneply and planned on knitting it into a tam which is so 1987. so now i have more yarn i desperately want to knit but only have 50g of. i think i need to knit a swatch to just know what it will look like.
but i'm still obsessed with the pink stuff. cause when i see cotton, i think string bag, but this is much too soft for that. or socks, but it's too thick. or cute sweater, but there's not enough. or washcloths, but it's way too nice. so i searched by gauge instead of catagory and found this:
which is PERFECT. if only i had two more balls. i could stripe it with the green leftover from my hoodie, but it's too zany a combo. i'm going to see if i can find something more subtle, and do every other row or some such nonsense.
what do y'all think? i think i'll just spin for a bit.
so i need a pattern! i went to loopy yarn's birthday celebration to find something... but was so overwhelmed by the prices and the colors and the HORDES of wet knitters trying to take off their shirts for franklin that i didn't know what to buy. i almost bought the cat toy kit, but they are felted and felting and me do not mix in general, and esp. not when one must go to the laundrymat. so i bought... roving. lovely blue and green handpainted roving, and i got out my spindle and spun for the first time since moving to chicago. it is soothing but takes ALOT of concentration! and it's a joy to spin, i'm shocked how rarely my thread breaks and the spindle clatters to the ground and rolls under the bed for the cat to chase. i'm also putting more twist in it than... a chitown squares member dancing girl. that helps. so now i have a REALLY LONG TIME to decide what i will knit out of it. cause i only have 50g. which got me thinking and i dug in the back of my stash and found the gorgeous denim mohair my mom bought for me christmas of, oh, 1998. i spun it into a thickish oneply and planned on knitting it into a tam which is so 1987. so now i have more yarn i desperately want to knit but only have 50g of. i think i need to knit a swatch to just know what it will look like.
but i'm still obsessed with the pink stuff. cause when i see cotton, i think string bag, but this is much too soft for that. or socks, but it's too thick. or cute sweater, but there's not enough. or washcloths, but it's way too nice. so i searched by gauge instead of catagory and found this:
which is PERFECT. if only i had two more balls. i could stripe it with the green leftover from my hoodie, but it's too zany a combo. i'm going to see if i can find something more subtle, and do every other row or some such nonsense.
what do y'all think? i think i'll just spin for a bit.
9.9.07
on sexyness
ever since i came back from philly i've been wanting to write this little blurb of a blog - thinking about it after something i said to sarah. so z doesn't think d's cute, but i totally do. and hotness is important to me- my friend tammy, upon enterign a party, works her way around to speak to everyone. i beeline towards the people who look like they would be interesting. if you're ugly at a party, i won't chat at you. but it's my own standard of hot vs. not... and that's not the opposite of what culture says is hot. there's some differences, some similarities. i think since we're told skinny is good but anorexic is better, and since i don't believe that, it's automatically assumed that i am on the hunt for fat girls and i find them all sexy. and it's just not true. i just don't automatically exclude fat girls from my hotness scale- my scale is full of girls of all different shapes and sizes. certainly skinny ones too. maybe the fat girls i think are the sexiest because i tend to be in the minority. but it doesn't neccesarily make it a given. i have an online admirer who i don't really have any interest in being friends with. usually i try hard to return comments on flickr read the blogs of the people who read mine, and send care packages to anyone who leaves a comment. but i just can't be inspired to do so with her, cause, well, she's just not hot. does that make me a bad person?
a little addendum to this post that came up a little later this week, is this phenomenon i can think of in at least three couples i know- there's half of the couple, and they are usually the one i'm better friends with, and they and i really click. they're smart or funny or clever or hippie or whatever in ways i can totally identify with and hang out with. and then they're dating these really hot people. but i know the hot people (because i'm friends with their partners) and i'm not jelous of their partners, because each hot one has a personality quirk or two that while charming (or annoying) in a friend is not anything i could handle as well as the partner they've got does. and while i love the smart or funny or clever or hippie or whatever one, i'm usually not attracted to them- beyond the mere friend stage, obviously, because i only make friends with people who are good looking. sorry. so, if you're reading this and you've got a boyfriend/girlfriend/lover/partner whom i know, you can play the "which one am i?" game. and if this insults or offends you, well, know that i love all of these friends, and it's just an odd frequent phenomenon but doesn't translate to all of the couples i know everyhere, so you're probably not who i'm thinking of when i wrote it, in fact, you're probably someone who i've secretly lusted over for years and will never get the guts up to do anything about, because you're just beyond what i could ever attain.
a little addendum to this post that came up a little later this week, is this phenomenon i can think of in at least three couples i know- there's half of the couple, and they are usually the one i'm better friends with, and they and i really click. they're smart or funny or clever or hippie or whatever in ways i can totally identify with and hang out with. and then they're dating these really hot people. but i know the hot people (because i'm friends with their partners) and i'm not jelous of their partners, because each hot one has a personality quirk or two that while charming (or annoying) in a friend is not anything i could handle as well as the partner they've got does. and while i love the smart or funny or clever or hippie or whatever one, i'm usually not attracted to them- beyond the mere friend stage, obviously, because i only make friends with people who are good looking. sorry. so, if you're reading this and you've got a boyfriend/girlfriend/lover/partner whom i know, you can play the "which one am i?" game. and if this insults or offends you, well, know that i love all of these friends, and it's just an odd frequent phenomenon but doesn't translate to all of the couples i know everyhere, so you're probably not who i'm thinking of when i wrote it, in fact, you're probably someone who i've secretly lusted over for years and will never get the guts up to do anything about, because you're just beyond what i could ever attain.
slips o paper part two
i know y'all would head over to found if you really wanted these, yet i am so facinated by the notes i find when cleaning my desk.
-sewing rebelion sun 1-5. 6932 n glenwood
-lego store northbrook
- www.artofplaychicago.com
-soymilk
-tofu
-dandruff shampoo
-fair trade chocolate
google maps 233 e wacker
nearly new bike shop
3826 n broadway 113.525.0692
i think just from cleaning my desk i sound like a really interesting person
-sewing rebelion sun 1-5. 6932 n glenwood
-lego store northbrook
- www.artofplaychicago.com
-soymilk
-tofu
-dandruff shampoo
-fair trade chocolate
google maps 233 e wacker
nearly new bike shop
3826 n broadway 113.525.0692
i think just from cleaning my desk i sound like a really interesting person
5.9.07
penna recap
i'm back- did i mention that? it's been a busy week. the wedding was lovely, mom and i went to the maiden creek sacred harp sing and the elverson contra dance, so i ended up havinga a folk filled weekend. dad dropped me off at the septa station, and my world became full of joy. no more worrying about making plans with z or being the right place at the right time looking the right way. i was free and independent! i had a lovely, glorious time with krista and sarah. we knit. we played games. we went to the art museum, a diner in south philly, and jfk plaza with the love statue. we played simpsons uno, sorry, and clue. krista made oregano cheddar scones and lentil soup for dinner. i had amazing gelato. we talked. we talked about the american medical system, warping boards, and the problem with harnesses. sarah, over the course of the weekend, used the words web 2.0, ennui, and heteronormative. i kept laughing, saying, "no, no, it's just that it's so nice to be with someone who understands..." with the ... being urban life or gauge or gender or radiators or public transportation or whatever. they heaped gifts upon me- purple cotton, self-patterning sock yarn, the
erotica book sarah's story's in, a free ride to the trainstation, lots of photo opertunities. i was sad to come back to chicago, actually, i'd had such a lovely time when i was expecting, at least some turmoil. thanks, you guys! photos on flickr, as per usual.
erotica book sarah's story's in, a free ride to the trainstation, lots of photo opertunities. i was sad to come back to chicago, actually, i'd had such a lovely time when i was expecting, at least some turmoil. thanks, you guys! photos on flickr, as per usual.
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