Announcing Blog Week!

This is just a quick and dirty post today, as I've got tons to do.



I really enjoyed participating in Blog Week last year, even though I didn't finish. I can't wait to see what the prompts are for this year! Even more than that, I can't wait to read all of the responses. I think that may be my new form of procrastination- going through the answers from last year... Uh oh! So much for getting things done!

Sad, Sad Trombone

As I mentioned in the last post of this theme, a big mood booster for me has been writing lists of things that make me happy. Along the same line, Gala Darling wrote a list of things to do when you're unhappy, aka the Sad Trombone List. I don't remember when exactly I stumbled across this list, or who exactly turned me onto it (I believe it may have been San Smith), but I'm infinitely glad they did.

Lately, I've been having a tough time focusing on the good things in my life. A lot of it is because I'm completely burned out of school- I want to be done and I want to be done now. The thought of going through another year is absolutely unbearable at this point- especially because I need to fill out applications to even go through that last year. Even trying to enjoy my favorite things has become really difficult. All I've been doing lately has been stressing myself out and being an emotional wreck (poor Monkey, he's had absolutely no fun with that). After a tearful night of declaring that "I give up, I'm going to be a cashier at Kroger for the rest of my life", I realized that I (and Monkey) had had enough and that I need to finally start tackling this anxiety I've been feeling. I finally remembered this list, and even just reading it made me feel better.

If that doesn't cheer you up, I'm sure Monkey pretending to be Wolverine with DPNS will!

Healthy Eating

I had plans- grand plans- for this blog post. Instead, I wound up not having enough time to get anything done, so the photos are pretty horrendous.

I really need to buy grown up dishes.

The first time I tried home-made macaroni and cheese, it was straight from Pioneer Woman's cookbook.

I nearly retched after one bite.

The mustard was disgustingly overpowering, and it was generally an incredibly unapetizing experience. It scared me off macaroni and cheese for quite some time, until I stumbled across this thoughtful little recipe from, oh, year 1870.

With a past like that, how could it be bad?



It wasn't. It was a-maz-ing. Seriously. I nearly gobbled the entire batch up. It had just the perfect amount of mustard powder, and while it was quite saucy, it was absolutely delicious. I've since adapted the recipe to use almost double the cheese (I have a bit of a problem with self restraint), and one and a half time the amount of noodles. It makes delicious leftovers, and I have to fight Monkey over who gets to eat the rest. Since I usually buy my pasta by the bulk, I usually cook it with penne, but tonight I stumbled across a box of good old fashion elbows buried in my cupboard.

Yum, yum! This is totally my new go-to meal when I'm just too tired to cook real food. Seriously. Two bowls of this was my dinner (along with a cupcake and a metric ton of jellybeans). I'm nothing if not the model of healthy living.

Gimpy

This is kind of a cop out, as I started this a while ago and have been frantically working on it since then. One of my co-workers is going in for surgery soon, and I thought I'd make her a cuddly monster to make her feel better while she's recuperating. This is Hugo, otherwise known as Gimpy (because I am a horrible person). He'll have a duplicate stitched red cross on his chest, and a sling for his arm when this is all said in done.

You know, if I can ever manage to finish him. I'm hoping that the practice with duplicate stitches will help me when it ocmes time to make my special hexipuffs. Practice makes perfect you know!

Dr Pepper... Or not

I made this cupcake for Monkey for Valentine's day. Since he wouldn't specify what kind of cupcake he wanted, I decided to make him something I would like. I've been intrigued by the idea of a Dr Pepper cupcake for ages now, but I greatly dislike chocolate. I searched for a recipe for a while before finally settling on one that required a cake mix.



These were delicious and buttery and yummy- but tasted nothing like Dr Pepper. I was incredibly disappointed. They tasted like a plain yellow cake. Nothing really outstanding about them. I know that most of the time, when a dark soda is added to a cake, it's more for moisture than taste, but this recipe purported to give me that Dr Pepper taste as well!

So didn't happen. I mean, it wasn't a bad cake, it just wasn't what I was looking for. The icing tasted like a normal buttercream. Overall, it was just very meh. I've eaten better vanilla cupcakes- heck I've made better vanilla cupcakes!



I did try a new technique for the frosting! I pinned this video on pinterest not long before it was cupcake making time, and foolishly ran out to buy the frosting tip, not realize that I already owned that size.

Not only did I own that size, I own four sets of that size.

What can I say, I like big tips and I cannot lie. (Or something).

Source: youtube.com via Lizz on Pinterest

Frosting was super easy, though I was less impressed with my own technique, I definitely need practice on that one. What I really want is a huuuuge round tip to make some fat swirls, but I have yet to come across a wide enough tip, and I don't like how it turns out without one.

I know, this is a lot of rambling for a rather unsatisfactory cupcake. The next one, I'm sure will be better.

A brief trip to Scotland...

This is my long awaited monster! I tried dyeing him with lime, but he would up quite obnoxious. Then I over-dyed him (again) with with teeniest bit of black cherry and he wound up a much more manageable color.



His name is Glasgow. He's a gentle and quiet monster, but can be very territorial. Don't mess with his area! He loves to cuddle and watch the rain from under a fortress of blankets. I knit him up out of the Baldwin pattern from Rebecca Danger, and after a bit of initial trouble, whipped him up in no time. He's just the perfect size for a little kiddo to cuddle with.

What Happened To Goodbye

I still rememeber my first introduction to Sarah Dessen. I was in seventh grade, and saw the Quinticential Cool Artsy Girl (TM) reading her book in our art class. This was pre-emo and hipster days, so the fact that she was actually reading a book was pretty significant. The book she was reading happened to be Dreamland. As I happened to be a preteen nerd desperate to be liked, I immediately rushed out and bought the book- and promptly fell in love. I don't remember what that girl's name happened to be, but I'm infinately thankful she introduced to Dessen. Back when I used to journal on Livejournal, I followed Dessen's blog religiously. I was estatic whenever a new book would come out, and reread my favorites over and over again.

I hadn't read any of the Dessen books in quite some time when I happened to see her new book on the front page of my library's overdrive site. It happened to be availablem so I immediately swished my way to checkout and on my way I went.

Around 5AM that morning, I finally finished the book. What Happened to Goodbye encompassed some of the really great things about Sarah Dessen's work. The main character was relatable (man, can I remember going through changing myself and trying new "personalities" during my teen years), the characters were unique, and the overwhelming crisis was cathartic. It was a super quick read, and great for when you just want to cry for a while.

What I didn't like was that it felt a bit forced. While McLean's character was fleshed out and realistic, her romance wasn't. I just didn't feel as though we got to encounter Dave enough to really invest in him. While he was intriguing, he just didn't get enough face time. The secondary characters were similarly interesting, but not played with enough. I was really interested in seeing how Riley would play into their developing relationship, but she vanished off the face of the earth after a few pages.

While this was a really good YA book, it didn't measure up to the best of Dessen's work. Definitely something I'd recommend to any teenage girl, but with the qualifier to read more of Dessen before making any judgements.
(4/5 stars)

Coffee Shops and Poetry Readings

I'm rather ashamed that this is still a WIP! I fell in love with the beatnik sweater the first tiem i saw it. I was super excited to knit it, as not only would it be my first pullover, but it would also be my first seamed item. I also wanted to try my hand at dying the wool. I started out with a pretty off-white, and tried to get a nice dark orange. I wound up with a retina searing coral. I'm not totally sold on the color, as much as I enjoy the brightness. I do have some fabulous lipstick that matches, but I'm afraid it might make me resemble a tomato. If all else fails, I'm sure I can overdye it (since I'm such an expert now). I'll decide if I want to keep it that color after I wear it a few times.

In any case, Beatnik was at the top of my list for my 12 in 2012 projects. I was going to start and finish the whole thing in February. It was going to be fabulous and cable-y and beautiful. I was going to practice my seaming techniques by finishing a laptop cover I started over the summer. It was going to be marvelous.

What actually happened was quite a bit less exciting. After frogging my Bella Mittens, I decided to cheer myself up with casting on the project early. I zipped through the ribbing only to get stuck at the cables. I don't know why I never learn that I greatly dislike looking at charts. It's not that I find them particularly hard to read or follow, and it's not tha t I prefer lengthy descriptions instead. It's that I like autopilot knitting. When I get a chart, it's a signal that "oh hey, you can't bring this everywhere and pick it up on a drop of a hat". It winds up being my "at home knitting". That basically means I barely ever work on it. Which means I wind up at the same stupid point for months on end.



I mean, the sweater is absolutely gorgeous. I love the cables and the subtle variations between the two balls of yarn. I love the texture and the brightness. I just don't love working on it. It doesn't help that I keep catching a mistake quite a few rows down and having to frog and inch or two. (Like, forgetting the decreases. And then miss-turning and entire row of cables a repeat down. And then losing my place- a few times).

Nevertheless, in the spirit of WIP Wednesday, I'm devoting my entire morning to this project. I fully intend to settle down, listen to some podcasts (the Knitmores are back!), maybe start an audiobook, and chug along. Lets just hope this time I won't have to frog all of my progress.

Who knows, maybe if I park myself in a coffee shop and listen to some poetry readings, it'll get done faster. I could even plays some Bob Dylan to prompt my knitting.

Validation

I'm introducing a new segment to my blog! Whoo hoo! Rather than 'limit' it to a single day of the week, I've left that blank (I put limit in quotes, as I think it's fairly obvious that I write a lot of posts- particularly the book reviews- in advance, without regard to the actual day of the week). I figure that the more time I can think about my favorite things, the better. I'm assuming for the majority, these are going to be rather short posts, but still a good collection of fee-good links and topics.

When I started college, one of the ways I tried to combat my loneliness and homesickness was to come up with a list of 1000 things that made me happy. I'd doodle and sketch and make the list as pretty as I wanted, and it was a great way to keep my mind happy. I'm hoping to do much of the same here- only even better. For one thing, I don't intend to limit myself to 1000 topics. I want as many as possible. For another, with blogs I can actually link (and embed) to the things! Hopefully these posts will not perk me up when I'm feeling down, but also give an opportunity to anyone who reads this to see something that makes them smile.

So, without further ado!



First up on my list is a short video from a few years back. I'm not entirely certain how I stumbled across it, but after seeing TJ Thyne, I was instantly intrigued. I used to be a huge fan of Bones, and Hodgins was my favorite character. Every time I stumble across one his works, I always check it out to see if it's equally good.



This video? This video is so much better. Talk about your quintessential feel-good mood lifter! I absolutely adore it. It reminds you of just how great and good and kind people can be. I loved the music, I loved the black and white film, I loved everything about it. Whenever I'm feeling down, I like to listen to it. It hearkens back to when I was in grade-school and Random Acts of Kindness (AKA RAOK) were encouraged. This wasn't just a random act of kindness, it was kindness to anyone and everyone.

It's just a great, great video.

Too Kool

After entirely too long of a struggle with my Hideous Yarn of Doom (tm), I finally decided to knit up some Rebecca Danger monsters. I figured that at least they were supposed to be scary.

Then I actually saw the result. I still couldn't take it. I promptly consulted Ravelry and rushed out to buy some Kool Aid. The result was a colorful jacuzzi for my little knitted friends.



I dyed one monster in Black Cherry, one in Grape, and one in Lime. I used the microwave this time, and it was a great deal more frustrating than the stove top. I'm not sure if it was because I was over-dyeing something, or if it was the microwave, but it took quite a bit of zapping to get the dye to absorb. Even then, there was still color remaining the bowl when I had finished.

You'll have to tune in Friday to see how my lime monster turned out!