Purling Oaks

Thanks, Mom.

The day started with a search for coffee beans, which we were plum out of, and continued on with thanks to my mother (and Santa) for packets of ground coffee that were in the cupboard.  (Big sigh of relief.)  So, I'm working on ridding myself of the initial irritation* of "NO COFFEE?????!!!!!" and realizing the high humidity (despite being in an air conditioned house) is contributing to my general feeling of being a major crabbypants this morning.  I am SO ready for nice lower temperatures and lower humidity.

Next on the list (after I finish my coffee) is heading into Madison for cat litter that isn't perfumed to the nth degree and some cat food that Blue will only eat (roasted chicken flavor Max Cat) with a stop at the Woodman's for laundry detergent for high efficiency washers.  My Pig carries a lot of excellent stock for a small town store (including Eight o'Clock coffee beans) but not the larger containers of detergent, so into Madison I go.  Perhaps I'll find some happy pants when I get there.  

*Yes, I was the one to empty the coffee bean bag yesterday.....

Dear readers, I realize this is far from an interesting post but I have to (re-)start somewhere.  

And a cat-related photo.....seen at the Northside Starbucks in Oshkosh a while ago....

 

Recap

 

The bread is delicious.  Great crust.  Really great crust.  Okay, here is what I did a bit different/unique/this time from the White Bread with a Sponge Starter recipe in the Joy of Cooking, 1997 edition 

• raised the starter in the cold oven with a light bulb on.  (It is January in Wisconsin, folks!)  
• dumped the whole raised starter, about two cups, into the bread recipe rather than just one cup.  
• mixed the dough in the Kitchen-Aid with bread hook,
• probably added another cup of flour (because of the additional starter) to get dough with the right texture but not too dry.  Actually, it was wetter than a dough I would have kneaded on the counter.
• raised the bread dough in the refrigerator overnight.  I set it on the kitchen counter for an hour then into the cold oven with the light bulb on to bring the dough to room temperature.
• Baked the loaves at 450F for 38 minutes and added about a cup of water to another pan under the bread stone at the beginning of the bake time.

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I had several questions in the comments a while ago about why I walked out of the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas concert at the Verizon Center in DC.  I sat through the first half.  There was some music and a bit of a light show but most of it was what I consider preaching.  Preaching about being good to your fellow man and what ever else.  The vocals/preaching were not attractive and they droned on and I didn't get any thrill from any of the music.  In fact, I believe I dozed a bit.  It was blah.  I decided to cut my losses and leave at intermission.  I just expected to hear more music....well-performed music and vocals, considering the price of the ticket.  I don't mind if people preach but if they want me to pay them to do it, they darn well better disclose that before I buy the ticket.  I will not attend any more concerts by this group nor will I purchase any more of their music.  Yup, I am annoyed.
 

 

Random Thursday

I have nothing organized for a post so today is random.

• I have a FO!  The Simple Yet Effective Shawl is finished and blocked.  Here it is unblocked.  There are a few errors that I didn't see when it was on the needles.  No, I'm not going back to re-knit although the make-it-right/overly uptight/do-it-right-or-don't-do-it part of me wants to do some ripping.  This project was started in a northern winter compounded by unhappiness and depression.  I'm not going to revisit that.  If I do, I may just stop knitting all together and thus perhaps blogging and I really don't want that.   But aren't the colors pretty?  
• Yes, a vacation may be is a good thing.  Perhaps some good food and mood-altering substances, too.  
• There may be some sighting of it modeled, if Carrie will help me out this weekend.
• Yes! Carrie and, hopefully, other friends will be at the Taos Festival this weekend and so will I!  Wilson and I are making a long vacation of it and will be adventuring in a place we haven't visited before.  Outside of the Festival, we have no firm plans except to enjoy ourselves.  
• The weather has turned quite chilly here in Wisconsin and there was a frost warning last night.  The boiler is on and my hands are freezing.  The basil near the house survived so I hope there is some fresh pesto in my future. 
• I haven't packed yet.  
• I need to find my fingerless mitts.
• For travel knitting, I have a sock to knit that I was knitting back at the beginning of July for Wilson.  I'm still deciding on the other projects to come along.  I may try to revive my Forest Canopy before I go back to Icarus.  
• I may be able to find other materials to work on at the Festival if I run out.  :D
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

General Friday update

My Trust Your Journey coffee mug from our Stacey.  I am better at trusting my journey in the morning when I have a cup full of coffee and a good eight hours or so of sleep behind me.  Just saying.   I was pretty tuckered out at the end of yesterday after getting home at 7:30 pm.  I did meet another knitter Monday on my way to DC, which was very cool, especially since she works at a LYS twice a month.   She showed me a new Jenny Watson pattern book and I should have written the title down.  Now I have an excuse (ha!) to go to the Knitting Tree in Madison.

It seems like I'm approaching the end of my Simple Yet Effective Shawl, but the yarn balls don't appear to get any smaller.  Watch, when I'm binding off, the available yarn will shrink at an alarming speed. 

Our washer has had a non-functioning computer chip-thingy for about two weeks now.  The repair man is here as I type and I'm hopeful I'll be able to tackle the laundry mountain today without moving the mountain to the laundromat.  Traveling gets really old when there is house-related stuff requiring attention and you aren't in the house.   The sounds coming from the laundry room are not too encouraging at this point. 

I started the online Weight Watchers last weekend.  I'm not attending meetings.....no way!  Just me, my computer or iPhone/Blackberry, and the scale.  Results are promising as of this morning.  Tomorrow is my official record-keeping day.  I'm giving it four months, which just happened to be the length of the deal I signed up for.  I like the structure it provides while allowing me a glass of wine or beer without shooting the whole day's worth of "dieting."  I even was able to go out to a nice restaurant (Tosca in DC) for our instructors' dinner and have tiramisu for dessert.  (Yes, I did blow a few points on that dinner but I had a salad for lunch which provided some balance.)  Probably TMI for you all, but this paragraph is "blog as journal."

Early this afternoon, Wilson and I have the pleasure of taking our feline family to the vet for their annual exams.  Joy. 

Happy Friday!

Does this look like a woman's undergarment to you?....

I was spreading out the Simple Yet Effective Shawl (in progress in Noro Sock yarn) in preparation for a photo and Wilson asked me what I was knitting.  When I replied that it was a shawl and would probably be a smaller rather than larger one, his comment was "Really?  It looks like a woman's undergarment to me."  O.o  After some study, I do see some resemblance and it just goes to show it is all in a person's perspective. 

Last week's hole was fixed using Cookie's advice and now I can't even tell where it was.  Thanks, Cookie! 

I just have a few random thoughts gripes to share, which is a hint of my state of mind, if I ever find it......

• I would like to meet and speak with the brilliant engineer that designed those toilets that flush while you're still sitting on them, with no action on your part, except perhaps leaning down or over to perform actions that women perform in a restroom.   There are a few things I would like to tell him.  Don't ask me why, but I really think it is likely that my use of "him" is correct.
• I just purchased some barrettes that immediately broke at the hinge.  Argh.  I'm using these hair devices as my humidity defense while growing out my bangs.  I want to go back in time to the 80's so I can purchase some decent barrettes and hair combs, again.
• Don't let me color my hair again.  Highlight, maybe.  Color, no.  Humidity + damaged hair = big mess.

Okay, now for the less than random stuff:

• I tried posting this week from my iPod Touch but something ate my post between my hotel room and the Innernets.
• I stopped by Best Buy to take a look at a couple of netbooks.  It's all Kathryn's doing!  Honest.  :D
• I didn't walk the Mall this week but I did walk to and from Trader Joe's on Monday and spent some time on the treadmill later in week due to all the rain and thunderstorms.  I need to get on the treadmill more often.
• Wilson and I are having pork carnitas or fajitas or whatever you call them this evening with freshly made pico de gallo.  Yum.

Happy Saturday!

Schedule keeping

Pictured here are some of the key elements of my yesterday:

• My new* mindless knitting project.  Noro striped scarf with colors 221 and 268 on US 10 Addis (larger than usual needle size for this pattern).  Using picking rather than throwing for the 1x1 ribbing and it is going well outside of a few hand cramps and trying to keep the yarn tensioned appropriately.  O.o
• My work Blackberry.  I only use it for work and don't keep my personal calendar on it outside of blocking out time.  I could use it for personal use but I just don't want to be available 24/7....nor should I be.  However, I keep it with me, usually in my purse, because if I lose it, I have to give up my first-born, err, yarn stash fill out multiple forms.
• My personal phone/PDA Verizon Samsung Model something-something running Windows Mobile 6.  I have been keeping my personal calendar on this piece of equipment but it has betrayed me.  When I traveled between time zones, which was in late October, I had to manually change the time zone.  I use it for an alarm clock and it is too taxing to mentally adjust the time.  However, when I changed the time zone back, all my appointments did not move back, unknown to me.  (Really, why should they move in the first place?)  So, I arrived for my haircut yesterday a full hour early.  See first bullet point and how useful it was to have knitting with me. 
• The nice new 2009 paper calendar given to me by my hair stylist, Vicki.  With the nice paper appointment card for my next haircut time.

I suppose I should go to the Verizon store to see if there is anything like, oh, an update I can get for the Windows OS.  But since the Samsung won't sync on my Mac without a $40 application, I may be SOL.  I should have made a better-informed choice last year but this was (and is, for the most part) a pretty cool mobile phone.....just not for appointment keeping.  I keep hoping Apple and Verizon will have an agreement for a nice iPhone in the next year.  I *could* get an iTouch right now, but that would mean carrying another little electronic box with me.  /sigh

Tell me, how do you keep your schedule or calendar?   Electronic or paper?  Any suggestions for me on maintaining my appointments?  Frankly, this isn't the first appointment I have had, err, difficulty with in the past several months. Normally, I am never late nor would I forget an appointment and I always used to try to arrive a little early. It may be the user and not the equipment..........

Here's another little annoyance: 

A Noro knot.  It wasn't a surprise since it is common knowledge Noro is not good about "no-knots" but how do I get from a nice olivey-green to a bright aquamarine blue in a gradual transition?  I don't.  I'm irritated at the need to cut out knot and yarn to get to a better color transition.  Normally, it would be no big deal but today it is.  (Wow, winter cuticles!)

It is snowing today and blowing.  We had planned a quick trip to see my mom today but roads are ice-covered and hazardous in the Fox Valley so that visit will be delayed until tomorrow. 

I think I'll take Stacey's suggestion and go down to my studio and inhale some fiber fumes in between laundry loads to calm down.  Then maybe a nice cup of hot cocoa and a fire in the wood stove will be relaxing and just the thing for a cold, windy, and snowy day. 

*Not really new.  I started it last year and it was, ahem, misplaced.  I found it last week.

Second verse.....

Surprise!  Here's a little knitting content.  The first footie is ready for grafting.  There is a heel there, just hidden on the back side of the sock. 

For the observant reader, yes, that is my kitchen table.  I drove home mid-day to help DH with any potential problems (with the blessing of my supervisor).  I just couldn't leave him to deal with it all.  I'm glad I did.  The dark green on the screen in the photo indicates areas of rainfall exceeding four inches yesterday.  Our house (and a good portion of Wisconsin) are in that area.  We were up until 3:30 AM or so with the rainwater in the basement. 

DH had to brave the storms with the lightning outside to deal with the septic system because the floats were not working properly to make the pump work.  We did not have any (icky) backup last night, for which I am very thankful.  I am a bit crabby, however, since the septic floats were just replaced two days ago.  I'm also thankful that the septic alarm continues to work properly and gave us a warning several warnings last night.  So, same song, second verse.  The forecast says no rain today.  I'll be using the wet vac later today to see if I can catch up with the seeping water.  And getting some work completed to pay for the plumbers..........

Happy Friday!

Squirrelly--or is it me?

Although my ancient Safari and TypePad are conspiring to eat my posts, I'm going to post, despite the crabbiness. Now, deep breath *in* and *out* and *in* and *out.* There.

This photo was taken only with my 3x zoom. We have our squirrel bird feeders located close to the house to minimize bird/window collisions. It gives us many opportunities to observe birds, squirrels and the occasional raccoon up-close and personal. Yes, Purling Oaks has a squirrel theme lately. Is there a problem?

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I'm still recovering from the cold virus. (You think?) Yesterday I burned a number of Iron Chef episodes to DVDs from our DVR where they've been residing for about 10 months for the oldest. FoodTV was airing the episodes for the past several years but have stopped showing the original Japanese series. DH and I really enjoy the original series and (are you listening episode-owners?) we would love to buy a commercial-free set of episodes. I also took the time to clean out my Williamsro knitting bag that also has served for a carry-all. Charging cords for the new and old mobile phoes, charging card for the Ninetendo DS Lite, sock needles, straight needles-sizes 10, 10.5, and 11; hygiene products, pattern, Koigu fingerless mitts, Handwoven magazine, Cash Iroha yarn (brown)-four cakes + two used (yarn worked double), two skeins of Blossom, and the Willliamsro sleeve in process. How did that all fit in there?

Monday masala of the chicken tikka variety

No knitting progress to report. However, the handles for the Fuschia Felted Bag arrived today via the Big Brown Truck! Hurray. Perhaps I'll be posting about a finished object this weekend.

The past few days I have been feeling twinges of the approach of the winter blues. I'm doing my best to ignore those twinges but I'll have to take care to keep those blues at bay. One of the successful techniques is to eat well. Tonight, I made Chicken Tikka Masala.

There are as many versions of this dish as there are cooks. This spice package and recipe are unique in my experience of the dish because of the inclusion of a half-cup of minced fresh ginger. I also like to add green vegetables, sometimes suger snap pea pods or, like tonight, broccoli.
DH made the fragrant rice by including a few whole cloves, a bay leaf, ground cardamom, a few saffron strands, and a cinnamon stick in the rice cooker. To serve, I start with rice on my plate, then the tikka masala, then some chopped cilantro leaves. The flavor in this meal just keeps improving as you eat it. If you enjoy curry, you know what I mean when I say the last bite is the best. My theory is that the spices are mildly addictive.

Tuesday we are expecting another few inches of fresh snow.....maybe four inches by Tuesday evening. I wonder if I might be able to use my snowshoes soon. Red aluminum tubing snowshoes. Very fun.

I'm reading everyone's comments, really. I'm just woefully behind in answering emails. Thanks for commenting!