I get to take a small class from my "local" yarn store tomorrow up in Austin. I am going to learn how to dye wool yarn with kool-aid, which sounds hilarious, fun, and potentially quite messy.
I looked up several projects I could do with the custom dyed yarn and how many yards I would need. I am on a VERY limited budget so they are all small projects and I can only pick one. I've squirrelled away a few dollars at a time here and there to be able to take this class, mostly from using coupons. We have a deal that when I shop for groceries, the money I save from clipping and using coupons I can put into an envelope for myself. I usually spend it on things for the house, like that mid-week gallon of milk we always seem to need. Lately, I've also kept a few dollars aside to put towards this class.
I'm VERY excited. I'll try to take pictures of the process as well as the finished yarn and then the finished project.
Yay me time!
-k
Friday, November 20, 2009
Yarn dying class tomorrow
Pictures of the Wonder Children
Here is Miss Katie playing in the backyard.
The GooberFish in its natural habitat.
The juvenile GooberFish in its natural state of being covered with a chocolate blob the size of Cleveland.
My baby angel girl
The juvenile Gooberfish in a rare moment of just being adorable and non-destructive. Don't worry, I'm sure he ran over something shortly after this was taken.
-k
How to make me laugh
How to make me laugh: zombie christmas carols... "Good King Wenseslas was good... might as well eat Stephen..."
How to annoy me
How to annoy me: insist on climbing into my knitting bag. There's NOTHING in there for you, cat.
Friday Blahs
It's Friday, and I'm not feeling fabulous. I don't feel bad. I don't feel angsty, angry, crabby, and vicious. I just feel a little funky and mostly blah.
I want to write, although I've hit a strange patch in Book Two. It took a twist or two while I was writing and suddenly I don't know whether I want to continue down that path, or back up and remove that unexpected bump in the writing. Sometimes the unexpected makes for a better book because it keeps me from being too predictable. Sometimes it was just a strange passing thought that should have keep passing.
Worked on a project or two around the house that needed doing. I can either really dive in with both feet and spend most of the day truly working that out, or I can kick back and relax today. If you know me, you know I'm not very good at the kicking back and relaxing. I always seem to have projects going, whether home, garden, crafting, cooking, or just plain weird. The idea of just sort of chilling out today appeals to me, only I'm not sure how to go about it.
I'm simply not the kind of person who can watch tv all day, or endlessly surf the internet. I have a small demanding person named Katie who needs attention, so I can't just nap or watch movies unless they were Katie movies... which is less relaxing than you'd think. Those tend to involve lots of catchy-but-annoying songs, strange character voices, and/or dancing which don't really contribute to the kick back feeling I would have liked to indulge in.
So what's a girl to do?
I wish my hunnee could be home today, but he's out there bringing home the bacon. I respect and admire him so much for that. We talked about the fact that although he has to work for the man for a substantial portion of the day, at least he gets a break or two. I work for the Katie, and unless she condescends to a nap (which she doesn't always anymore), there aren't any breaks. Of course, I sometimes get kisses and giggles, and I certainly hope my hunnee isn't getting that at work, and most particularly not from his boss...
Hope you are enjoying your Friday.
-k
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Latest Aging Milestone
Latest Aging Milestone: Thinking I should wear something other than the exact same silver hoop earrings I've been wearing since high school.
How to make me laugh
How to make me laugh: ask to brush my hair, brush it once with the back side of the brush, and announce "There... all done!"
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Favorite song on the radio right now
Favorite song on the radio right now: "All the Right Moves" and apparently anything Ryan Tedder writes.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
How to annoy me
How to annoy me: huge shifts in the temperature. It was 40 this morning when we started errands and 79 when we got home from errands two hours later.
Latest Aging Milestone
Latest Aging Milestone: Ian (the kindergartener) spent more money on the cafeteria in this nine week period eating lunches than Cory did TOTAL, and Cory spent a lot of his budget on coffee in the morning because his friends like coffee... and he doesn't even DRINK it.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Ryan Tedder
I'm apparently an ENORMOUS Ryan Tedder fan. Apart from liking his work with OneRepublic a lot, I also LOVE many of the songs he's written for other artists. He's extremely prolific. The wikipedia page that lists his discography is ridiculously long and shows his range and talent.
Wow.
-k
Thirteenth Warrior
I think I may have already written this movie review, but I just re-watched this movie last night, so I'm reviewing it again.
This is one of those movies that falls into our tried-and-true well beloved movies that we watch over and over. It stars Antonio Banderas as an Arabian man who has been made into an ambassador in order to basically banish him from his home country since he was attracted to a beautiful, married woman. He goes travelling and chance brings him into contact with Norsemen, and sends him on an adventure with them back to their homeland to face a terrible enemy in what they call "the Eaters of the Dead". The book, of the same name, was written by Michael Crichton. The movie bears little resemblance to the book, but I agreed with the parts they kept and expanded for purposes of the movie, and what they left out for the same reasons.
It's very enjoyable. It has one of the very best transition scene in all of movie history for showing time pass and a character learn a foreign language. I like the many of the characters and there are classic scenes.
There are a few small inconsistencies that I go back and forth about how much they bother me or not, but since I watch this movie over and over, clearly they don't bother me too much.
It has one of our favorite movie quotes of all time in it as well. "The Great Father wove the skein of your life a long time ago. Go hide in a hole if you like, but you won't live one instant longer. Fear profits a man nothing." Love it so much that I'm thinking of lettering it out very beautifully on a poster board, knitting a celtic knot border, and framing it for a gift for Michael.
Great movie. Will always have in our movie library.
-k
Latest Aging Milestone
Latest Aging Milestone: Realized that the actor who played James T. Kirk in this movie was considerably younger than I am, and didn't find him hot at all.
How to make me laugh
How to make me laugh: Ian pokes his tummy and says, "Mom, I have room for one more thing in here, and I think maybe I should have it."
Sunday, November 15, 2009
300
Of course in a movie event like this, you know how it's going to end. That does take the mystery out of it.
So, there couldn't be any big surprises.
Directed by the intensely messed up Frank Miller of such whacked out but brilliant movies like Sin City, I expected visually stunning images that I would never forget. I wasn't disappointed. It was peopled with horrible deformities, fantastic creatures, and a very memorable concept of Xerces in particular.
Mostly interesting as a piece of pop culture, I think I'm more pleased to be able to say that I saw it than I was to actually watch it. So if that's your thing, go for it. There were some decent performances. There were some great lines. There was a tremendous amount of gore and stylized bloodiness.
Gotta say not really my thing, though.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
How to make me laugh AND How to annoy me
How to make me laugh: "mooooommmmmm... I'm still awake, Moooommmm" in that adorable little voice into the monitor after I've finished singing your bedtime lullabyes.
How to annoy me: still be saying about the same thing AN HOUR LATER.
Must Love Dogs
Michael has a man crush on John Cusack. Has for years. It isn't that he has the slightest sexual attraction to him at all. More that he relates to him. That he deeply connects with the sort of rambling poet who keeps getting his heart broken deeply intellectual socially troubled sort of character that John seems to like to play.
We got this movie for him. I watched it because he's at the airport picking Mom up (because the crazy mess they've made of the airport meant I might never arrive or if I managed to find her, we might never make it back out of the airport). It also happens to star Diane Lane which is a nice tangential thing, because I just watched Under the Tuscan Sun a few days ago as well.
This also co-stars Christopher Plummer as her dad, Dermot Mulroney as an incorrigible dad of one of her kindergarten students, and the lovely and talented Stockard Channing as one of her father's new girlfriends and the surprising scene stealing wonder of the movie.
Also, as everyone knows, if anything ever happened to Michael, I would never remarry but I would go out and get a rather large sweet sad-eyed wonderful dog like Mother Theresa from this movie.
It's a lovely little chick flick of a movie and I highly recommend it.
