a clear sign of a good night

Does not want to be photographed being spooned by thecat

Virtual Tour

So I was giving a virtual tour to a friend today and thought I would share. I think I've described my galley kitchen to most of you, but I never quite nail it, so I thought pictures would be better. Input welcome from my lady friends out there on placement of objects. Cabinet space is at a premium, so I choose the visual kitchen instead. It's a fine line between keeping things where you can see them, and looking like you live in a garage...I'm not sure how well I dance the line. Maybe some other shelving unit is in order, but I have yet to meet it.

Notes from the edge

So I'm in LA (the state, not the hellhole city) and I think I might have inadvertently checked myself into the Lizzie Borden suite at La Quinta.

Check mah bloody hand prints:
There's several sets in and around the bathroom. Had I noticed them before unpacking, I might be inclined to ask for a new room. However, I be lazy, and I be tired- having broken my own personal record for awesomeness last night- so for now I'll just hope they captured the criminal and that the joint isn't haunted.

Also, I tried to get a tour of an alligator meat farm and was denied. Apparently "No Tours" even means me. Who knew?

A purpose in life

Since the last project I finished up* (I don't remember what it was, because it was from way back before I moved) I've been looking for something else to start. I am currently in the middle of Girasole (and by in the middle, I mean I have so far knitted a 4 inch circle), but I'm struggling with motivation on that.

For 1, it's a lot of stuff I don't know how to do yet, which is something I always struggle with. I know once I dive in, it will work out (or it won't but I'll learn something either way) but I have a hard time really getting going. As my dad says, I have a hard time with the concept of practice. Rationally, I know it pays off but I have such a hard time spending hours on something knowing it's going to be sub par because I'm new at this.

Secondly, because it's stuff I don't know I get really frustrated, really easily. Frustrated like I swear alot. and if there happens to be a person in the room I swear at that person. HN gets scared when I knit, because his first time bearing witness to the process was the day I started Girasole, when I had FINALLY gotten it started right after like the 10th try, and then I just massively screwed up and right then he walked in and made the mistake of saying "Hello" I said "Don't talk to me right now" and he didn't understand what I meant and so he kept talking, perhaps inquiring to me what was wrong that I was being like that. I overreacted, taking out my frustration on him and foul language ensued. So now he has a mommy dearest like phobia of me when knitting, and I've relegated myself to only knitting Girasole when alone and calm.

So, anyreallylongramble, I've been on the hunt for a project I could work on in polite company, preferably something easy and involving knitting. Sewing is kind of out right now, my sewing room is not yet set up and I'm not a "work in the dining room and clean up every night" kind of girl, nor is HN a "go ahead and work and sprawl all over the dining room and don't worry about cleaning up every night" kind of guy. Howard Stern says if you live with someone you have to compromise, so for the sake of my relationship I will not even pretend to work in the dining room. So knitting it is. I looked through my stash at home (I'm back on my use everything up kick- food, yarn, fabric, nothing is safe!) , but most of it was bought when I was new to knitting, so I bought one and two balls of everything which you can only make scarves or hats with and I'm all set with scarves right now so I needed another idea.

Right now I'm up in beantown, spending some vague amount of time crashing at my original second home in Medfa and when I'm here I'm always inspired by Becky's patience and ability to conquer new painstaking things she's never done before. There was the xmas decoration, the cake, the quilts, the knitted cable bag, the taco rice incident, which was before the time of blogging so there's no picture but it was a marvel of patience and painstaking detail that is forever impressed in my mind- she totally made it look just like the one on the magazine! Dude!

So naturally I'm inspired right now because not only do I have someone who will agree with and encourage any odd idea I come up with, I'm sitting here surrounded by all of her cool stuff that she made, and I'm also sleeping in the craft room which means I can see all of her craft stuff, including her books. So this morning, while I was trying not to work I started poking through Mason Dixon knitting, and remembered that Becky was working on a log cabin blanket once. I googled around a bit, saw like a million different ways people have done it and so I think I've found my next calling. It's not stashbusting, but it's easy and I can keep it all over and just pick up and knit some rows whenever.

So basically all this blather boils down to: I'm going to knit a blanket. It is going to be awesome!

*Oh! I remember it was my hat. I love this hat, but it's too big, because I did creative math and did not swatch it when I made it. F! I just don't think I have it in me to frog it and do again. Maybe if I line it with fleece it will fit, because this yarn doesn't shrink. I want to love it because I love it, but honestly it's huge. I look like the dude from Fat Albert. Gah.

Ooops, I did it again

Wow. That's really all I can say right now. Let me roll back to yesterday morning.

I had some leftover quinoa kicking around in the fridge, and because I'm really exploring the studio space these days, I decided to see if I could make it into breakfast. Which you can, if you add bananas, almonds and some milk and then microwave it all. Breakfast porridge, and damn good at that.

For lunch I defrosted some Moroccan chickpeas with prunes and olives I had frozen before leaving for Chile (note: don't freeze chickpeas, they get mealy), because I'm still doing that "no waste food" thing (with a renewed dedication after coming back from Chile but I digress) and had that with some more quinoa (victory is mine, it's all gone!)

Then I had some carrots for a snack in the late afternoon, while I was waiting for my latest Cook's Illustrated (LOVE THIS MAGAZINE) treasure to cook, that being Cajun Red Beans and Rice with Andouille Sausage. It was fucking superb, though next time I might bother to hunt around for a high brow sausage instead of the one at Super Fresh. But again, I digress.

Anyone good at math? Because if you review my food choices for yesterday, you'll see that I ate rougly 10,657,357 grams of fiber. Surprise!

No seriously, surprise. This morning when I woke up, tummy was a little rumbly but I remembered the beans and that I had quick cooked them vs soaking, so a little gas is probably to be expected. Little did I know that there was a ticking time bomb within. Even less did I know that my morning coffee was just the match needed to light that fuse.

So here come I, tooting my way down the stairs this morning giggling because I'm 12 and farting cracks me up and I shuffle into the kitchen and make my coffee as per normal, then settle down on the couch with cat and laptop to do my morning wake up surfing and see what everyone I know who blogs is up to. 3 sips into my coffee, something starts to happen "down below" I'm all "do I have to burp or something" and my stomach is all "no, you need to go upstairs. Like now. No, really NOW. I SAID NOW! RED ALERT!! RED ALERT!!"

Eventually my muddled brain catches on and I realize this is constitutes an emergency so I throw coffee, cat and computer aside and run for it. Made it in time, and I won't go into details but the next 20 minutes gave me time and cause for reflection; specifically on what the fuck I ate that could have caused this, and whether I might be possessed by something similar to but of a slightly different ilk than that girl who projectile vomited in the Exorcist. That's when I realized: in my quest to test gluten free living (it's a phase, I'm just about sure of it) I had inadvertently replaced carbs with fiber, pretty much totally. So I pretty evenly divided the time spent upstairs between exclamations of horror and raucous laughter at my own obliviousness- with a few "thank god HN has left for work"s thrown in for good measure. It was like that time I drank the magnesium citrate, only inadvertent and a complete surprise. And like the time of the Magnesium Citrate, once I regained consciousness I felt like a totally new woman. And also I realized that I still need to chew my food better, but I won't go into it.

So here am I, the new incarnation of Kerry once again settled into the couch with my morning coffee and hoping that this isn't *just* like the time with the MC, specifically that it's now over and isn't going to be an all day affair.

Happy Friday and you're welcome!

oh, and totally off topic: the other day I was testing out a new camera for work and they saw something in my eye! A resident came and looked at it, a ful dilated eye exam and multiple Dr consults followed and the end result is "it's not a tumor, it's a scar" but check the pics. The scar is 3Disk Diameters, aka, pretty fucking big! The blu blockers are for my comfort and your entertainment

"mother, is that you?"

how gross is that?
That black thing, all of it, is the scar. It should all look pink like below.

For reference. Yellow bit is the disc (optic nerve).
This is a 30 degree picture, see how normal everything looks? Sneak scar is on the roof of my eyeball!

Feliz Ano Nuevos! Bienvenidos Bicentaria!

Home sweet (COLD!) home!

I made it and will post pics soon but right now and busy dealing with the house. HN and I came back with fire under us to get unpacked. doh!