She Also Makes Me Happy

(You can find out more at her homepage.)

Yikes!

I've neglected this poor blog for quite a while this time. My apologies, Dear Readers.  I wish I had some exciting excuse.

Like I won the lottery and have moved to Hawaii.

Or I got kidnapped by a tall, brown-eyed alien in pinstripes and a blue box.

Or I started a rock band and we've been on our first world-tour.

Or I've written a best selling novel and I've been busy with book signings.

Unfortunately, I've just been busy at work and distracted by the upcoming holidays.  

Sorry to disappoint.

This Thing I'm Doing

B introduced me to pinterest about a week ago.

It's kind of like tumblr, I guess. Only different.

I'm excited by it.

You should join up and follow me (and let me follow you.)

Quote of the Day

Evil presupposes a moral decision, intention and some forethought. A moron or a lout, however, doesn't stop to think or reason. He acts on instinct, like a stable animal, convinced that he's doing good, that he's always right, and sanctimoniously proud to go around fucking up, if you'll excuse the French, anyone he perceives to be different from himself, be it because of skin color, creed, language, nationality, or, as in the case of Don Federico, his leisure habits. What the world needs is more thoroughly evil people and fewer borderline pigheads.

~ from The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Nativity Set

A few years ago, I came across this nativity set:

(via oliverfabel.de)

I loved it, but wasn't willing to spend the money on something so simple.

So I made a set of my own out of wood scraps from my mother-in-law, some stain and letter stamps.  Arranged artfully on the hutch in my dining room, this is what it looks like:

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Arlo Guthrie Alice's Restaurant
Uploaded by shawshawshaw. - Explore more music videos.

Knitting Doozers

This makes me happy in all kinds of ways:

Doozers Knit

Happiness Shared by The Boy

I love, love, LOVE this song.

And the video makes me happy too.



(Doesn't that little boy just crack you up?)

QuickBooks

I have a question for you, Dear Readers. 

Do any of you have any experience with Quickbooks?

This program has become the bane of my existance. It is an accounting program that we use for work. Well, that I use for work, now that I am the one in the office, doing the majority of the accounting.

I seem to be having problems with the thing. Particuarly with reconciling.

If you or anyone you know has any experience with it, and think you can help, please leave a message in the comments.

Otherwise, please send Understanding and Patience Vibes my way.

I am very grateful.  

Via Amy

This is the Mom I hope to be someday.

November

November looks like it's going to be a good month.

First (in order of importance) My Birthday!

Thanksgiving.

Birthdays of two siblings and one best friend.

Theatre!

Peter Pan with Anne:



Straight No Chaser with The Boy and the SLPs:

(The song begins at :29)

I'm looking forward to going home for Thanksgiving for a nice, relaxing weekend. Possibly including the baking of Christmas cookies? We shall see.

Have a nice November, Dear Readers.

This Made Me Think

A Bike That Made Me Happy

Where can I get one of these??

(Via typographyserved)

Wedding

My big brother went and got himself hitched yesterday.  

It was wonderful; a very low-key ceremony at the house, followed by a big party with all the families. It was just perfect for the two of them.

The Groom and the Best Man wait for the bride.

The Bride and Groom

Rockstar!

 

 

 

Cutting the cake.

The beautiful bride.

San Antonio Zoo

Anteater

 

 

Heron

Nephew doesn't quite get it.

Komodo Dragon

Flamingos

Rino

Fish and Turtles

San Antonio

One truck, two planes and an SUV later, we have safely arrived in San Antonio, Texas!

For those of you who are unaware, we're here for the week because my brother is getting married! The big day is Saturday, so we're taking time to be tourists today.

Some pictures so far:

You know you're in Texas when they decorate with cowboy boot planters!

Nephew looking handsome.

Brother and SIL at the Zoo.

More Zoo pictures to come in a later post ...

This Made Me Happy (About Knitting)

(via The New Yorker)

My Buddy

I'm sure you know my friend John.

He greets me at about the halfway point on my running trail.

It's the little things that keep you going.

Ink

Thinking ....

This Made Me Happy on a Sunday

This Made Me Happy This Afternoon

Spamalot

Did I mention I got to go see Spamalot last week?

I did.

It was just as wonderful as I'd hoped it would be (aside from the horrible sound mixing that Eisenhower Auditorium insists upon.)

My thoughts from the show: there are two kinds of people who go to see Spamalot - theatre geeks and Python geeks.

Rarely are the two the same person.

The theatre geeks laugh at all the theatre jokes (and there are many.)

The Python geeks laugh one line before  the Python jokes (because they know they're coming.)

I would have loved to see the original Broadway with Tim Curry as King Arthur.

I'll leave you with everyone's favorite earworm.

I Think I'll Go For a Walk Outside

The (Indian) summer sun's calling my name!

(via last.fm)

It cooled down last week, but this week it has warmed up a bit. We're forecasted to be in the 80s this week. I am not complaining!

(via flickr)

Things are settling down a little at work. I'm finally able to catch up on some of the projects I've been putting off. 

Today was nicely productive. I'm sitting on the deck right now, with Jersey-cat, enjoying the weather and the sun. 

(via yetanotherphotoblog)

These pictures are not mine (though I wish they were; they're gorgeous!)  I am meaning to go out and take some pictures of the fall colors around here. We don't have much color yet, and they're not sure we're going to get a lot. It's been such a dry summer down here.  But I will do my best and update with them later.

(via ilgaleja)

In the meantime, I'm going to catch up on my knitting as well. How about something with these lovely colors?

This Made Me Happy at 5:00 AM

Labor Day

I could waste your time and talk about all the fun and exciting things I did over Labor Day weekend last weekend. But I know the only part you're really interested in is pictures of Nephew. So, here you go:

On the deck, checking out Grandpa's plants.

Trying to lift the Big Orange Ball.

Trying to decide which to play with: the ball or Moose.

Colin B's close-up (and my favorite of the day.)

This Also Made Me Happy This Morning

Favor For a Friend

A friend of mine requests:

 I need your help with my dissertation research. If you are in the military and have contact with active duty personnel with high school age kids, and are willing to be a point of contact, please send me a message ASAP.

 

If you can help, please leave a note in the comments and I will pass it on.

Thanks!

This Made Me Happy

So I'm sharing it with you.

Got it!

After much searching on Ravelry I found a shawl pattern to use for that yarn.

It's super easy and knitting up really fast.

The yarn is nice and soft.

I might have to curl up in it and take a nap!

Seriously, I'm going to take it on the plane when we go to Texas in October to keep me warm. Airplanes are so cold!

Stumped

Last May, at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival, I bought this yarn.

To be exact, I bought this yarn. 

I had a project all planned out for it.

In the past two days, I've cast on and frogged that project about four times. So I'm giving up on it and looking for something new to knit.

My problem is, I only bought two skeins (which was enough for the original project.) I'm having a hard time finding a substitute project.

The yarn is so soft and warm, I'd like to make something I can wrap around me: a wrap or a shrug or something like that. I'd love to do a sweater, but two skeins isn't nearly enough.

All else fails, I suppose I can do some mittens with it.

So I'm staying up way too late tonight (having gotten very little sleep last night) to find a pattern to knit.

My life is exciting, isn't it.

Finding a Routine

Now that the show has closed, I'm trying to figure out some sort of routine with my days.

The semester has started for The Boy™, so he's trying to find some sort of routine as well.

My day (should) consist of either going into the office or the box (or both,) some sort of workout (which I have been neglecting since Dolly rehearsals started,) quick cleaning around the apartment, dinner and relaxing time with The Boy™.

Not necessarily in that order.

I was going to try to start that today. But my truck is in the shop until sometime this afternoon. So that's throwing a kink in things.

I know some people like the idea of just showing up to work when they feel like it and doing whatever they need to do around that.

I can't do that, though. I thrive on routine. If I don't have my routine, I get stressed and nothing gets done.

Which is, I think, worse than doing the same thing every day.

What sort of routine do you have set up for yourself?

Want! (To Make)

The Boy™ and I started reading the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels a few months ago. 

The movie has recently come out.

I want to see it.

And to make the hoodie that Ramona Flowers wears.

Off to find the pattern!

Days Off!

While Dolly performances are going spectacularly (three sold out shows last week!), it's good to have a few days off.  

I spent all of yesterday lounging in my favorite chair with Knitting and Netflix. I'm almost done with Season One of The Riches.  It took me a couple of episodes to get into this show (the pilot was a little more violent than I was expecting,) but I'm really beginning to enjoy it now. It wasn't a very long run series, so there isn't much to watch.

Since yesterday was SO unproductive, I decided to be moderately productive today and do some things around the house that I won't have the time or energy to do once I'm back to the grind tomorrow. I've gone for a run, cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom and now going to go fold some laundry.  

Then I'll probably be done for the day and relax some more. Hurray for days off!

Hello, Dolly!

We open tonight!

Check out the trailer. This cast isn't half bad.

Click here to watch trailer.

The New Apartment (Finally!)

At long last, here are the shots of my favorite places in our new apartment.  

There are a lot of empty spaces still. Things not unpacked. Furniture not yet bought.  I'm not complaining about the open spaces, though. It is very relaxing.

I don't know why this shot came out so green. This is (as you can see) the bedroom. The light used to hang above my desk in the old apartment, but I really like it above the bed here. Gives the bedroom a little bit of flair.

This is where I spend my small amount of free time. I am sitting in that chair right now as I type this.  The art on the wall is some of the art we bought in Hawaii when we were there for our wedding and my brother's wedding. There are seven pieces total.

This is where I spend the rest of my free time (and some work time as well.) My desk is in the far corner of the bedroom.  Betty and Wilma are up on the shelf with the plant. The window overlooks our tiny bit of front lawn and the parking lot. The tree out front keeps the room in shadow all day, so we haven't felt a rush to put up curtains. That will happen eventually.

Again, not a great picture, but I wanted to show off the eating area. Erinn and Dave have lent us that small table for the year (since it doesn't fit in their new townhouse and would only sit in storage.) It is perfect for our little dining area.  Not much room for company, but we rarely have people over to eat anyway.  I can't even remember when I got that tablecloth (I know I got in when we lived in NH) and I'm happy to have a table that it fits.

So that's it. That's the new place.  It's nice. I'll keep it for the year. 

Don't expect to hear much from me for the rest of the week. Dolly opens on Tuesday, and I have a big project at work to finish by midweek.  Busy, busy.