Is this where the 636.8s go?
27 September 2007
26 September 2007
I heart the Yarn Harlot
Yesterday, I left a comment on the Yarn Harlot's blog, and she actually answered me. Sent me an email and everything.
Her blog yesterday was about the fact that her "house is trashed", but no one else in the family appears to notice. She ranted about this quite effectively, and I was envious.
I've occasionally thought of blogging on that subject, when I'm feeling sorry for myself because I'm the only one that ever seems to notice that the kitchen trash can is full or that the dish rack is overflowing with clean dishes that are about to fall off and break into a million pieces.
But frankly, I think we all do as much as we can (although the "I did it yesterday" excuse is starting to wear a little thin), and right now I have more available time than anyone else in the family.
I just have figure out how not to be pissed off when people who aren't trained to see what needs to be done don't do it.
Nacht says he'd help if he had opposable thumbs.
.
Her blog yesterday was about the fact that her "house is trashed", but no one else in the family appears to notice. She ranted about this quite effectively, and I was envious.
I've occasionally thought of blogging on that subject, when I'm feeling sorry for myself because I'm the only one that ever seems to notice that the kitchen trash can is full or that the dish rack is overflowing with clean dishes that are about to fall off and break into a million pieces.
But frankly, I think we all do as much as we can (although the "I did it yesterday" excuse is starting to wear a little thin), and right now I have more available time than anyone else in the family.
I just have figure out how not to be pissed off when people who aren't trained to see what needs to be done don't do it.
Nacht says he'd help if he had opposable thumbs.
.
24 September 2007
Knitting and slumbering
On Saturday night I went to a slumber party at one of my favourite yarn stores, Yarn Lady in Anaheim Hills. The store supplied pizzas and beverages; the rest of us brought salads, appetizers and desserts. There was SOOOO MUUUUCH food!!
About 6 or 7 women from my knitting group were there. Basically, we ate and we knit (or crocheted or spun). Yes, someone even brought her spinning wheel along with her. Around 9ish, we played a game, where Jan-from-the-store asked us questions. The person with the right answer got a prize. As soon as one got a prize, she dropped out. This went on long enough for every guest to win something, which was pretty cool.
I also bought a cool plastic knitting bag, with a grommet-hole to feed the working yarn through, and some really cool purple yarn named after Betty Friedan.
Here's a pic of Susan, me, Sharlene and someone whose name I forget:
Photo by Angela Leese
About 6 or 7 women from my knitting group were there. Basically, we ate and we knit (or crocheted or spun). Yes, someone even brought her spinning wheel along with her. Around 9ish, we played a game, where Jan-from-the-store asked us questions. The person with the right answer got a prize. As soon as one got a prize, she dropped out. This went on long enough for every guest to win something, which was pretty cool.
I also bought a cool plastic knitting bag, with a grommet-hole to feed the working yarn through, and some really cool purple yarn named after Betty Friedan.
Here's a pic of Susan, me, Sharlene and someone whose name I forget:
Photo by Angela Leese
22 September 2007
Just finished reading...
Dead Ex by Harley Jane Kozak.
Wollie Shelley's greeting card business is in limbo. She is living with her boyfriend, Simon, who is an FBI agent. An old friend (and ex-boyfriend) of Wollie's is found dead in his house, and her best friend Joey is prime suspect for the murder. Wollie knows that Joey couldn' t have done such a thing, and sets out to prove her innocence.
Wollie is a smart, resourceful protagonist, and she's very likeable. I really, really enjoyed this book (third in the series) and look forward to more.
Next up: The Ever-running Man by Marcia Muller
Wollie Shelley's greeting card business is in limbo. She is living with her boyfriend, Simon, who is an FBI agent. An old friend (and ex-boyfriend) of Wollie's is found dead in his house, and her best friend Joey is prime suspect for the murder. Wollie knows that Joey couldn' t have done such a thing, and sets out to prove her innocence.
Wollie is a smart, resourceful protagonist, and she's very likeable. I really, really enjoyed this book (third in the series) and look forward to more.
Next up: The Ever-running Man by Marcia Muller
19 September 2007
Just finished reading....
California Demon by Julie Kenner.
I read so many series that I hardly have time to find new books. Really. So what am I doing starting a new one? But how could I resist that title?
Kate Connor could be Buffy Summers, grown up and married with kids. Altlhough, technically, Kate is a Demon Hunter, not a Vampire Slayer. Like Buffy, Kate started killing Bad Guys when she was just a kid. Then she married her Hunting partner, and they retired to start a family. But he's killed in what appears to be a random mugging, and though Kate eventually marries again and has another child, she discoveres that Demon Hunters can never really hang up their crossbows.
In this book, Kate has to deal with demon(s?) who are targeting the high school that her daughter Allie attends. It starts a little slowly, but the excitment soon picks up.
This is a fast, fun read. My only regret is that I've been unable to find the prequel, Carpe Demon.
I read so many series that I hardly have time to find new books. Really. So what am I doing starting a new one? But how could I resist that title?
Kate Connor could be Buffy Summers, grown up and married with kids. Altlhough, technically, Kate is a Demon Hunter, not a Vampire Slayer. Like Buffy, Kate started killing Bad Guys when she was just a kid. Then she married her Hunting partner, and they retired to start a family. But he's killed in what appears to be a random mugging, and though Kate eventually marries again and has another child, she discoveres that Demon Hunters can never really hang up their crossbows.
In this book, Kate has to deal with demon(s?) who are targeting the high school that her daughter Allie attends. It starts a little slowly, but the excitment soon picks up.
This is a fast, fun read. My only regret is that I've been unable to find the prequel, Carpe Demon.
17 September 2007
Just finished reading...
A Real Basket Case by Beth Groundwater.
Groundwater's first mystery novel stars Claire Hanover, 40-something with too much time on her hands, despite her burgeoning gift-basket business. Claire's husband, Roger is obsessed with progressing in his business, and spends little time with her.
She decides to take a fitness class, thinking that she (and Roger) might feel better about herself if she's in better shape. Enrique, the handsome instructor flirts with her, and offers to give her private training. Hesitant at first, her friends convince her to do it.
The next thing Claire knows, Enrique is dead in her bedroom, and she's being interviewed by the police.
Claire is a strong character (other reviews have called her "gutsy" and "plucky"). To me, she's just a woman who sees what needs to be done and does it. A hard book to put down, I stayed up waaaay too late so I could finish it.
Groundwater's first mystery novel stars Claire Hanover, 40-something with too much time on her hands, despite her burgeoning gift-basket business. Claire's husband, Roger is obsessed with progressing in his business, and spends little time with her.
She decides to take a fitness class, thinking that she (and Roger) might feel better about herself if she's in better shape. Enrique, the handsome instructor flirts with her, and offers to give her private training. Hesitant at first, her friends convince her to do it.
The next thing Claire knows, Enrique is dead in her bedroom, and she's being interviewed by the police.
Claire is a strong character (other reviews have called her "gutsy" and "plucky"). To me, she's just a woman who sees what needs to be done and does it. A hard book to put down, I stayed up waaaay too late so I could finish it.
14 September 2007
I frog, therefore I am....
Yesterday was a dark day. I had to frog two WIPs.
First I had to kill the sari silk shawl I was almost finished. I'd started binding off at knitting group on Wednesday night, and dropped a stitch. I put it away, thinking I'd fix it the next day. But when I took it out of my bag, all the stitches that weren't bound off had come off the needles. I should have taken a WIP picture, but I didn't. This is the yarn, though:
I was making a triangle shawl, but I think when I restart it it'll just be a rectangular stole-ish sort of thing.
After I put that away, I pulled out the bamboo shawl, which I'd already restarted once. The first time I scrapped it was because of this:
When I picked it up last night, I'd only done 3 rows, and I thought I'd be fine. But my eyes were bothering me, and when I dropped a stitch, I decided that since I wasn't very far along, I'd just start it over ..... some other time.
I think I'm going to work on something really simple for a while.
First I had to kill the sari silk shawl I was almost finished. I'd started binding off at knitting group on Wednesday night, and dropped a stitch. I put it away, thinking I'd fix it the next day. But when I took it out of my bag, all the stitches that weren't bound off had come off the needles. I should have taken a WIP picture, but I didn't. This is the yarn, though:
I was making a triangle shawl, but I think when I restart it it'll just be a rectangular stole-ish sort of thing.
After I put that away, I pulled out the bamboo shawl, which I'd already restarted once. The first time I scrapped it was because of this:
When I picked it up last night, I'd only done 3 rows, and I thought I'd be fine. But my eyes were bothering me, and when I dropped a stitch, I decided that since I wasn't very far along, I'd just start it over ..... some other time.
I think I'm going to work on something really simple for a while.
13 September 2007
Just finished reading...
Primitive Secrets by Deborah Turrell Atkinson.
The first in this series introduces us to Storm Kayama, a recent law school graduate who is clerking at her uncle's firm while waiting to see if she's passed the bar. "Uncle" Miles, her father's best friend, took her in when she was orphaned, and she's always felt that she was part of the family. That is, until Miles is found dead in his office, and she learns that there are a lot of secrets that she didn't know about.
She seeks refuge with her mother's sister and her husband at their farm on Oahu. On the way there an attempt is made on her life, and then Miles' secretary is killed. She decides that the only thing she can do is return to Honolulu, and figure out herself what's going on.
Storm is a smart, tough, likeable protagonist. I'm looking forward to the next couple of books in the series.
The first in this series introduces us to Storm Kayama, a recent law school graduate who is clerking at her uncle's firm while waiting to see if she's passed the bar. "Uncle" Miles, her father's best friend, took her in when she was orphaned, and she's always felt that she was part of the family. That is, until Miles is found dead in his office, and she learns that there are a lot of secrets that she didn't know about.
She seeks refuge with her mother's sister and her husband at their farm on Oahu. On the way there an attempt is made on her life, and then Miles' secretary is killed. She decides that the only thing she can do is return to Honolulu, and figure out herself what's going on.
Storm is a smart, tough, likeable protagonist. I'm looking forward to the next couple of books in the series.
10 September 2007
Just finished reading...
The Penguin Who Knew Too Much by Donna Andrews.
The eighth Meg Lanslow mystery has lost none of the goofiness that the series started with. In this episode, Meg and Michael are finally moving into the remodeled farmhouse. Unbeknownst to Meg, her father has been babysitting the penguins from the local zoo, which went bankrupt. Deciding they needed a cool place to stay, he starts digging a pond in her basement, when he discovers a body.
Mystery buff that he is, he is intrigued and wants to help the police with their investigation. But he is distracted by the remainder of the zoo animals which people keep delivering to Meg and Michael's farm. Frustrated, Meg decides that she has to figure out what's going on so that things will calm down at her new home.
Andrews does a great job of creating eccentric characters. One might even call them loony, in keeping witth bird theme of the title. Meg and Michael are perhaps the only two "normal" people in this world, and yet everyone seems quite realistic.
This is one series that just hasn't lost its freshness.... I look forward to more.
The eighth Meg Lanslow mystery has lost none of the goofiness that the series started with. In this episode, Meg and Michael are finally moving into the remodeled farmhouse. Unbeknownst to Meg, her father has been babysitting the penguins from the local zoo, which went bankrupt. Deciding they needed a cool place to stay, he starts digging a pond in her basement, when he discovers a body.
Mystery buff that he is, he is intrigued and wants to help the police with their investigation. But he is distracted by the remainder of the zoo animals which people keep delivering to Meg and Michael's farm. Frustrated, Meg decides that she has to figure out what's going on so that things will calm down at her new home.
Andrews does a great job of creating eccentric characters. One might even call them loony, in keeping witth bird theme of the title. Meg and Michael are perhaps the only two "normal" people in this world, and yet everyone seems quite realistic.
This is one series that just hasn't lost its freshness.... I look forward to more.
07 September 2007
Madeleine L'Engle 1918-2007
One of my favourite authors died yesterday. I discovered her through her children's books, starting with A Wrinkle in Time, first published in 1962. I was very pleased when she wrote A Severed Wasp, which continued the story of pianist Kathryn Forrester that began in The Small Rain nearly forty years earlier.
She was a brilliant woman, and a gifted writer.
I shall miss her.
She was a brilliant woman, and a gifted writer.
I shall miss her.
04 September 2007
Refurnishing the office continues...
It's been so hot that we haven't done much since we finished painting, but Tod did hang the pictures last night.
During this heat wave, we've kept a couple of cases of water under the stairs. Nacht thought it was a good idea.
During this heat wave, we've kept a couple of cases of water under the stairs. Nacht thought it was a good idea.
03 September 2007
My office is done!
And I've started to move back in.
This was taken this morning. Even though the sun is not actually shining through the windows, and the curtains are closed, there's a lot of glare.
These 2 were taken last night, with just the light from the flash. The colour here is fairly true.
It'll be a while before I get the bookshelves filled. More photos then.
This was taken this morning. Even though the sun is not actually shining through the windows, and the curtains are closed, there's a lot of glare.
These 2 were taken last night, with just the light from the flash. The colour here is fairly true.
It'll be a while before I get the bookshelves filled. More photos then.
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