Shorn you do!

Gods/Allah/Isis and/or Voodoo Man.. is there any better feeling than a new spiffy haircut? Ok maybe driving down a fall road with an awesome mix CD, gorgeous weather outside (Elvis Costello! David Bowie! Guns & Roses! Nick Lowe!) AND a new haircut*! Perfect fall day.


*and maybe new jeans and a sweater in the back seat. Gilding the lily indeed.

Things I forgot

To brag/blog about.

Socks. Yup lots o socks.


Man Socks! KFB Fat n SASSY Yarn. Yum.

Boring but serviceable.

HHHH socks. I know I showed these but ain't they nice?

Casbah Knee highs. They slouch, but so do I. Nice scarred up knees huh? Thanks skateboarding!*

Self patterning yarn! My first!

And a couple of handspuns. Damned if I can remember where the roving came from, but they are sure warm!

* I got Chris to take this picture this am. In my gonch. I was yelling, LOWER LOWER! NO PANTY SHOTS ON THE BLOG. < loser

Technology sucks (me in)

Yargh. SOMEONE decided to muck about on my side of the laptop and now I am resetting everything AGAIN. SOMEONE* better check this shit out before he does it again.

In other non tech news:

I have recently paid off a substantial library fine (thank you Pickles for tendering your literary criticism and eating that book) and have gotten some awesome reading on. Right now I am LOVING Watch You Bleed by Stephen Davis. The story of Guns and F'n Roses man! Bang on! I also have a weird fetish lately about old Robert E Howard Conan books and anything H P Lovecraft. I have been trolling used book stores for them . I have unleashed my inner 14 year old.

Yesterday was wash the dogs day. A job I truly don't mind as I use Kathy's soap. Well I guess its not her soap anymore. Yikes I just realised that. I had a decent little stash of it but I gave some up to my seeester in law for her birthday and am down to about a bar. See my old guy Max has really sensitive skin and this is the best soap I have ever used on him. Plus it makes him smell good for ages! Seriously! Pickles likes it too! Damn.. now I will eventually have to find a new soap purveyor. Preferably with hemp!

Ok now I have a problem to whinge about. I have 3 single socks I knit that have gone through on the ball of the foot. On ONE SOCK ONLY. I think its my new sneakers that is eating them (but its different feet so....?) alive. I suppose I should darn them but UGH. Darn it all** I don't wanna. Oh the conundrums of knitting.

Speaking of, body of new sweater? DONE.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT (with guitar!)

When the oven cleaner stuff says to wear rubber gloves. DO IT. Its tends to eat the skin right off your hands. Ask me how I know. I double dirty dog dare you.







*YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. Don't make me tell your Mom.

**So lame. Sorry

Aw shucks...

My sweet and lovely friend Kathy nominated me for this leetle award. Like her I don't see many accolades (and generally I'm ok with that as I am quite comfortable blowing my own horn thanks) but this is awfully sweet. I heart you missy and miss you! I know I'm supposed to pay it forward so I'll shout out to some blogs I blove.


Miss Morgan and her knitting affair
Lectio/Heather She always has the best pictures.
Some random dude. More people should read this blog. And not just because it's my husbands. Mostly.

So with the return of real life* comes all the mundane things I have been putting off for so long.. cleaning the oven (which you need to be a contortionist to do as my aching arse will attest to), laundry, blah blah blah. Ah yes, they joys of housewifery.

It also means I have a little more time to knit! I have a really groovy sweater on the needles right now. So groovy in fact I'm not even gonna tell ya'll about it until its done. You know writing this made me realise I have a sweater I knit way earlier this year that I never blogged/Ravelry'ed or anything. Or worn for that matter. Hmm... rectify? We'll see. It was out of that silk I was so unhappy with. Its funny I bet I put it out of my mind as I don't have much any positive feelings about it. I wonder if I should some how get rid of it. Seriously, its gorgeous. But I don't think I'll ever enjoy it. hmm....







This past weekend was awesome. I had an old friend come in from the Left/West coast and we partied like it was 1989. Haha. For reals, I am not much of a drinker, but I did myself and pretty much everyone else proud. We even closed down a bar and when the ugly lights came on, we still weren't that ugly!

Then Saturday (after my usual stitch and bitch with the best girlfriends ever who would never make fun of a really hungover whiny gal right?) Dana and I drove out to Legacy Studio in Cochrane to get some goodies. I got a couple of pounds of Polwarth fibre (OMG SCRUMMY), some sparkly Angelina and a couple ounces of yak down. YAK! Its like a cloud! I am a little boggled on how to spin it, but its an adventure right?

Right?









*Chris is at his new job! They gave him a Blackberry, and an office with a window in teh Husky Tower! Move on over Mr & Mrs Jefferson.. we'se movin' on uuuup!

Hahahahahaha

Returning to fall down

Seriously, who stole summer? I'm not really complaining mind you, as my mind has turned to sweaters sweaters SWEATERS. Nice change from socks. But I have to say after being in 30+ c degrees for a week, it was a shock to get home to 9. Degrees. Gross. Socks I just finished with fiber I spun from my HHHH pal:













Oh Vegas... this was the view from our room. Well the second room.

This was in our first room. I had to move. It was unnerving. And the light in the case wouldn't shut off. AND DUDE KENNY ROGERS.

Two of my favourite things. Chris and Chihuly glass.

Chris had a real dilemma whether 5 or 6 hour energy was the way to go.*



New BFFS. Screw you humpty.





Fremont Freakshow. And this guy didn't want to miss anyone with his damnation.







Chris was successful in poker, I was successful in shopping and discovered the cleanest best smelling bathrooms on the strip (The Monte Carlo casino). Fremont St was a total let down light show wise (glorified music video to Bye Bye Miss American Pie.. snore) but totally made up for it in the freakshow factor. Found the outlet mall (which was outdoors. 35 c that day) but YAY! Took the bus a lot and walked less. Also found the best buffet was right downstairs at Planet Hollywood where we stayed. Desserts? Better than the Paris. But I am now officially Vegased out.



In culinary news:



The Franch soup is just as good with carrots. Slightly chunkier, but TASTY.



We also got some more nifty stuff for the walls:

And now I have to go turn the furnace on. HI FALL!

*We chose 5. 6 seemed excessive.

Hiatus

What an awesome kick off to my husbands unemployment... erm, I mean new job! We had lots of friends show up this weekend and had lots of stuff to do. Total change from the usual. We went to the tattoo show too.

I met a new friend:

Saw on old friend:

and set stuff on fire.

YAY!

So tomorrow we are off to VEGAS. Wish us luck.. and see you soon.

Cranky

Hahahaha. I am so 2 years ago.

Anyways I have gotten a really good response to my cupcakes, thanks for all the emails! But like I confessed to my Mummy In Law.. (cut and pasted from an email)

I feel like such a FRAUD. They are criminally easy to make, but they do take a little while. I used CANNED frosting (fluffy vanilla) and just melted chocolate chips for the choccy tops.

http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2008/05/cupcake-bites-made-easy.html

I used this recipe, but instead of all that fiddling around I got little cups from Walmart (weirdly by the cake pans!) and put a glop of melted chocolate (chips. bakers. DARK! melted in the microwave) into the little cup and then pushed the little cupcake ball into the melted choc. For frosting I just glopped some choc on the top of half and used a Ziploc to pipe it on and make the white look all spiffy. The little shiny balls were Chris' idea. :) Pop them into the fridge until its time to go.. and you too can be the superstar I was made out to be. FUN!! Since we have another party to go this Friday, I may make some more..

And actually.. I am making more. Spice cake ones in fact. Gods I am a sad bastard yes? Now if my uterus would just please stop trying to kill me, all would be well.

On one of my favourite boards on Ravelry there is a thread that keeps popping (at first I wrote pooping!) up called Unpopular Opinions. I have some of those!

Unpopular (therefore my) opinions!

1. The third act of Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog SUCKED. Sucked enough in fact that it ruined the stellar parts one and two in my opinion. There. I said it. Throw the first stone.

2. There are people out there who shouldn't have pets. Or kids. Ick. Why do you have to get a license to fish but any idiot can have a baby? WHY?

3. The movie The Mist by Frank Darabont (based on the Stephen King novella) was maybe one of the scariest movies ever*. BUT THE ENDING RUINS IT. WHY Mr Darabont? WHY?

4. People who claim they are on a diet then blog about eating mass amounts of crap are idiots. Why would say anything in the first place? Of course there are people that blog about the minutiae of their lives so I guess why not? WHY MR DARABONT WHY?

5. I love Starbucks.

This weekend holds promise of being most awesome. Old friends coming into town.. cool weather and oh yeah.. 4 MORE SLEEPS.

Happy 12th Birthday Maximilian J Scrufflesworth the 3rd ESQ.com. We LOVE YOU.

*Chris hated this movie because SCIENCE got blamed. Ok and the crazy religous lady bugged the shit outta him too.

jealous?

Any reason to make 70+ cuppa cakes? Do you need one?

HOW CUTE ARE THESE?*

But I won't get to eat them all.. we took them to a party where they were loved by all.

*I look unreasonably pleased with how these turned out don't I? Well... I SHOULD BE. THEY WERE FANTASGREAT.

The cow, she laughs.

So before I forget, Chris INSISTS I write this out. I was watching the food channel and saw a show called French Cooking at Home. Mmm.. crepes! Anyhoo the adorable hostess talked about making a simple soup. How they do this with children in kindergarten to show them how easy and delicious cooking is (in France) and it really kickstarts their tiny palates. All I really go from this is how much more awesome the French were about pretty much everything in the kitchen (and I agree) and make your own food dammit. So I did. You are prolly gonna wanna read through the whole recipe as I am gonna be listing stuff you need as you need it. Nothing worse than running out of the house with boiling soup to find say, an immersion blender or cheese yes?

Franch Soup (said like a Westerner eh?) from French Cooking at Home with the cute blonde lady who I can't remembers name. My version.

3 big ol zucchini. She said she has used broccoli and I really think any veggie would work. In fact I'm dying to try CARROTS. mm. I dunno, use whatcha got I reckon. Roughly chopped. Leave the skins on, they add a lovely colour. Just wash it good ok?

I big ol onion, roughly chopped too.

1-2 l of stock. I used chicken cause I like meat. I bet veggie would be just as good. And then your soup would be vegetarian. NOT VEGAN MIND YOU. There is cheese involved. Just wait.


Now you are gonna take your roughly chopped veggies and toss 'em in a big ol pot with your stock. Season it. For the love if all things delicious, use SALT. Stop worrying about the SILENT KILLER. You know if you didn't eat Doritos, your arguments might hold water. Oh.. I digress. Ok salt and pepper for sure. Add any herbs/seasonings you want.

Boil the hell out of everything in a covered pot. At least a good 15-20 min rolling boil til everything is soft. SOFT I SAID. See.. we are gonnna puree this bad boy. Got an immersion blender? Get it now. I love my crappy old Braun one. Man that thing has been around forever! Ok got it? Now you need to get the secret ingredient. See the cow at the top of the page? Yeah, she is laughing. At you or with you, whatever, she laughs. Get some of that yummy triangulated cheesy goodness. 3 triangles/l of stock you used seems to work for me.


Take it off the heat, add the cheese and BLEND. BLEND BLEND BLEND. Seriously, this cheese adds the most incredible velvety texture to the soup. In fact I who normally shies away from cream soups (calorie heavy) am crazy mad mental insane for this soup. Use the light version (OH YEAH!) and you're golden calorie watchers!


>My husband who usually turns up his nose at anything that has a whiff of good for you about it, pigged down 3 huge bowls of this the first time I made it and whined for more. Its a wonderful colour, has awesome flavour and is seriously calorie light. Go forth. Make soup.


Even better the next day! If it lasts that long. :)


*I add cayenne hot sauce. Gives a kick.

Good mail days, dog days of summer, are they the same?

Look at these silly dogs. Max never used to sit outside and soak up the sun, but Pickles showed him the way.




They are not enamoured of the kids next door (KND) as they take every opportunity to shout HI!!! at them. They'll get used to it. I hope.

So my good mail days include amazing soft yumminess from the ranches angoras. I ordered these last week and they were here in a flash. I am gobsmacked at the soft. Super wash merino with a hint of sparkle in the pink ones. And spinning? OMG LIKE CLOUDS. Nice!

These I dyed back in July. Rambouillet from Crystal Creek Fibres. The red went to my HHHHHHHHH* swap pal and the others stayed with me. Having never spun rambouillet, it was an absolute treat! I see more of this fibre in my future.

Since the cat is finally out of the bag, Chris can finally relax about his new job. He starts Sept 15th which gives him a nice 2 week break between jobs. One of which is in VEGAS. HELLO PLANET HOLLYWOOD. Mm.. ya know, I NEVER thought I'd be the Vegas type, but it really is the perfect place for the non travelling traveller. And these lucky pups even have their own travelling entourage coming to stay with them.


Max is alarmed

But ready for his profile

Pickles? Sleepy.

*Can never remember how many damn h's there are.

Seriously

There are some things you need to be able to leave behind. Like your love for the vomitron* mixed with McDonalds. Niiiiiiice huh? Note Jake's (lack of) concern.

In other news: Guess who is going back to Vegas Sept 1? YEAH. OH YEAH. Its just that easy.

PS Welcome back LAPTOP. OMG I MISSED YOU.

*any ride that spins you around in a circle. endlessly. while people laugh at you.

Time she flies

Oh my stars and garters all.. this summer (ha! summer my arse) is flying by yes? We had our trip up to see Jake boy and amongst the rides, dogs, puking (video to follow as soon as the laptop is back. That is another story for another day) and family we had an awesome time. Why do I find it so hard to type on my lap? Thankfully the PS3 is running linux like a pro so at least I can have some internets.

I knit some socks for the boy which I shipped off yesterday without nary a picture to be taken. I am starting another pair for myself out of some supersocke 100 fun colour. Hee hee fun colour. Really though. this is the first time I have knit with self patterning sock yarn (!) and it is a kick. I have been spinning lots and lots though. In fact I sent of my HHHHHHHHH swap last week and am eagerly tracking its progress via Canada Post to see it get to its destination. EXCITING. I had a beef going with an online vendor but hurray for paypal and their quick resolutions! Now I need to order some more fibre (but not until I finish the BFL I started a few months ago I've promised myself) to replace the stuff that never did show up. I'm thinking cormo or finn maybe. I really think a trip to Cochrane's Legacy gallery is in order. Don't you?

Sheriff Pickles and Deputy Max were superstars on the trip up North I have to say. Friendly, quiet and cute all around. Such good dogs yes?

Dear Internets

I have been missing you like crazy the last couple of weeks. I'm sorry both the laptop (57 days left on the warranty! woOt!) and the desktop died at the same time. Trust me, now that the PS3 is running linux, we'll never be apart again. At least not if I have my way. So seriously, what'd I miss?

Off up North to see the wee baby Jake. Have a safe long weekend all...

Jammy Bastard

For serious:

Strawberry Freezer Jam. Me. I made Jam. Admittedly not hard jam, but jam dammit. There were 5 jars. Now there are 4. Did I mention this is sugar free jam? Well it is so there. Low cal, farmers market fresh strawberry freezer jam.

OMG dead from good.

In other news, the kids next door seem to have decided they want to be our friends. Calls of HI NEIGHBOUR ring out if I as much as peep for the mail. You know, all 4 of them. All the time. And the door bell ringing? Yeah.. its begun. This may kibosh the deck idea. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

We also got the downstairs somewhat sorted, a bedroom fashed out, a niddy noddy built and some good Hellboy 2 watching in. Good movie. Go see it. Better than the first one for sure. Full weekend indeed.

Jammy goodness.