I'm dreaming of safe driving tomorrow

The first big snow of the season is in progress. It's been snowing since mid-day and there are probably about two inches on the ground so far. The dogs officially made known their dissatisfaction - it's just not as much fun to spend ten minutes sniffing out the exact right place to pee when there's cold white crap underpaw and falling all over your formerly comfortably dry fur.

dig it

How cute is this? Probably too cute to be something I'd wear, but I'd like it on someone else.

let's all go to the lobby

What a great weekend for movies!

On Thursday, K and I headed to the local multiplex to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at the midnight-oh-one opening showing. It was well worth the tiredness I experienced on Friday. We had advance tickets but got there plenty early in order to get good seats. I thought we'd spend at least an hour sitting in the hallway waiting for them to open the theatre doors, but amazingly enough they began seating before we even got there! That way we got to find seats and get settled with plenty of time for multiple trips for refills and whatnot. We were anticipating a long wait with nothing interesting to keep us going (those movie trivia ad thingies definitely don't qualify) so we both brought our DSs and K picked up Mario Kart DS that afternoon. It was great! A number of people commented that it was a good idea - I felt happy that for once we were the ones who thought ahead. Mario Kart is definitely a lot of fun. But back to Harry Potter! The movie went by extremely quickly and I can't wait to see it many more times. What we'd heard in advance reviews was true - this is one of the only movie series that continues to improve with each installment. Of course they had to leave out tons from the book, but I thought they did a good job choosing what to show. The casting was great - I loved David Tennant as Barty Jr. - can't wait to see him as The Doctor soon. The movie went by so quickly that I feel like I need to see it at least once more before I can speak intelligently about it. I'm not sure how much of the book was actually there and how much I'm adding in my own mind.

On Friday night, we met up with a couple of great friends and had dinner and saw Walk the Line. As a big fan of Johnny Cash, I was very much looking forward to this. I also really like Joaquin Phoenix (if you haven't seen Clay Pigeons, do it now), and though I was afraid Reese Witherspoon was going to kill it, I was pleasantly surprised (my theory now is that she's a good actress with bad taste in scripts [with a few exceptions - I like Cruel Intentions and, I admit, Legally Blonde]). She totally nailed it, as did Phoenix. Not only was this a great biopic, it was a genuinely compelling story in its own right. I was quite impressed with their singing, too. Watching them perform together intensified the itch I've been feeling to get back to playing and singing, too. I've got to start hounding Dan about that.

scarf

I have been working on a lot of scarves lately (it's holiday gift-giving season and my place of work is very big on it). I just made my first attempts at steam-blocking acrylic yarn last night and found that it works easily and so well! I can't believe I haven't tried it before.

Here is a neck warmer thing I made for myself. Basically it's just a very short scarf. It's made of Caron Simply Soft in Autumn Red.

The knit pattern doesn't show up very well in these photos, but here's a close-up.


Here's another using that ladder/lace stitch I've become quite fond of, also in the Caron Simply Soft.


And here's yet another in that same stitch, created using Lorna's Laces Bullfrogs & Butterflies (I think - I can't locate the labels at the moment).

I was trying to use Spider-man and the Hulk to get a truer color, but it still came out a bit brighter than reality.

The other morning it was our first real frost and it looked so pretty on all the leaves on the ground.

the glutton for punishment whisperer

I don't know why, but I keep watching the damn Ghost Whisperer. It's a terrible show and I ask myself why I'm watching it every single episode, yet I haven't removed it from the DVR and I watch every damn week. I know that I am not the target demographic for this show (if all other evidence wasn't enough, all the commercials I zip past are for post-menopausal medications, Hallmark TV movies, and goods and services related to enjoying one's retirement). I also know that the wholesome, life-affirming message is not something I care to hear. I certainly have figured out that whomever is in charge of wardrobe is a complete lunatic (I tried to locate some good screengrabs of the hideousness, but couldn't find any. Maybe that's for the best). I do like the opening credits sequence, though it is a total scam on that of Carnivale. Regardless, I really need to stop watching such a ridiculous waste of my time.

On an unrelated note, I would like to state for the record that immature, passive aggressive cowards will get kicked in the ass by karma sooner or later. If you're reading this, you can be sure I'm not referring to you. The cowards know who they are.

Don't forget!

I wanna piece o' bread

Susan reminded me that I've been thinking of getting a breadmaker. I really love fresh bread, and while I have been making great strides in the way of cooking dinner lately, I just do not have the attention span for baking. JCPenney has one for half-off right now, though I can't seem to find the brand name, which makes me suspicious. That also means that I can't look up ratings and reviews for it. I am loathe to spend money on something I can't find documentation for in advance.

Consumer Reports has buying advice but not model ratings, which is informational but not very helpful when actually picking one out. The Breadman TR900S has gotten the highest rating at Epinions and is at the higher end of what I think a reasonable price. Everyone who has reviewed it there and at Target gives it top ratings.

I know that one of my good friends has one and he is quite the baking aficionado and I am waiting for a call back from him with his recommendation. Anyone else have two cents to throw in?

leaf

There was a big thunder-and-lightning storm this weekend, with lots of wind. Apparently plenty of folks in the area lost power, but we did not. What we did lose was almost every single leaf from our trees.



We have a lot of raking to do.


Once again tonight I made myself a delicious dinner. I have to keep congratulating myself so that I'll continue to make the effort to actually cook. It really is worthwhile, which I tend to forget. Here we have mixed veggies, Morningstar fake steak (still not on their website), and rice noodles. Mmmm.

argyle

I can't decide if I like these or hate them:

blockhead

The two Dolcetto scarves are done blocking and I'm really pleased with the results. The lime color is really subtle and doesn't come through very well in this photo:




And a close-up of the stitch pattern of the lime version:


Obviously, the lime scarf is thinner and longer, and the cream scarf is wider and shorter.

Now I'd like to try some more of the natural fiber options Joann has, Tesoro in particular.

dsw

While in Lansing yesterday, I stopped at beloved DSW. I found not only a new pair of ultra-comfy new work shoes but also a new purse. I can't seem to find out what brand the purse is - no helpful tags - but here's a pic I took of it:

I've been finding that the longer I use a purse (I only started carrying one six(?) months ago), the more crap I feel compelled to carry around in it. I just cannot walk around without having my wallet, digital camera, Pocket PC, small notebook, pens, checkbook, sunglasses, cell phone, and business cards on hand. Can. Not. Do it.

The shoes are these:

I was so geeked that they had them in a narrow width. They actually fit, unlike most shoes. And they combine a comfortably high (but wide) heel with my favorite classic penny loafer style. Yay.

pocket what

Just me, or is this kinda creepy?

Donny, you're out of your element

Oh, the funny.

Friday

I realized that I haven't posted pics of knitting in awhile. I just finished two scarves, both of Joann Sensations Dolcetto. One is lime and the other is cream. For both I used a fairly basic lace or ladder stitch (names vary, it seems). I'm so excited that Joann is finally carrying some natural fiber yarns in our local store, and even has some in their Sensations line. The Dolcetto is very soft and seems comfy enough even for my picky self to wear as a scarf against bare skin.

I haven't blocked these yet, so they're a little curly-edged still. Here they are all folded up:

I wish that there were more colorways of Dolcetto available. I'm not so hot on the heathery ones.

In other exciting news, I was able to pick up a copy of Knitscene while in Lansing today for meetings. I skimmed it earlier and I think there are a few patterns I might like to make. We'll see if I actually get the urge to make something from a pattern anytime soon.

My Name is Awesome

I am so enamored with My Name is Earl. Not only does it star Brodie's namesake Jason Lee, it's got Ethan Suplee and every so often that rubberband ball guy. More than any of those, though, it's downright hilarious. It's been quite some time since I've laughed out loud at a sitcom on network television. This show cuts the mustard. My favorite part of last night's episode was crazy Stephanie Weir and her daughter dancing to Salt N Pepa's "Push It" while preparing to throw knives at a fat Elvis jumpsuited Earl. Good times.

the Report report

Being a fan of The Daily Show and of Stephen Colbert in particular, I had and still have high hopes for The Colbert Report. However, I do think that it is currently suffering from, in the word of awesome K, SaturdayNightLiveitis. Meaning that the bits often go on too long. I'm giving it a chance, though, with the hope that it'll find its legs. I particularly enjoyed his interview with Jeff Daniels earlier this week, and not just because they were mentioning all kinds of stuff about Michigan. He really did nail him on the local angle. Last night's episode wasn't nearly as funny. The best part for me was spending the first minute of Colbert's interview with Ken Burns trying to determine if it was actually Ken Burns or Dave Foley in a black wig. Decide for yourself!

the dl on the dlh

Word on the street is that the Dead Lady House people have run out of money, but they've gotten quite a lot done lately. They don't have power or water yet, but they do have siding, and they finally got the fence put back together. The view from our front porch is improving all the time.


It's beginning to look like a real house!

In shoe news, I attempted these Target mules:


but found that I just cannot handle the flap-flap-falling-off-any-moment-ness of them.

I'm now on a quest for a new wallet. I realized that I need something that accomodates way more cards than my current one will. All the images I can find online of wallets are just front views and look like black rectangles, so I'm not going to bother posting any. I think there are some good Isaac Mizrahi ones at Target, though.

pay it with style

I need to reorder checks soon, and I want something cool. I used to have these sweet skeleton checks - there were four designs, one of which was rows of skulls, another was Scream, and the others were other skeleton-related themes. I can't remember where online I found them. Anyway, I want to get checks that are more interesting than the crappy plain blue squiggle ones I have now. Anyone seen any cool ones? Should I go with the skeleton/skull/deathy ones I had before (if I can find them again)? Perhaps knitting checks? Boston Terrier checks? Nintendo checks? I'm a super-huge-mega-nerd librarian checks?