Now that yet another year has been heaped upon us, I suppose I should resolve to do something, right? And since I’m in Blogland, one would imagine it should be something blog-related. I guess I could post more, and I really should make some buttons for this blog. But who would even notice if I did this stuff?

Apparently those knotty gals at JenLa would. Imagine that. Jen and La put together a Best of ’04 list and I’m amazed to be mentioned in two categories. They are “Blog We’d Like to Pressure for More Posting” and “Blog We’d Most Like to Get a Button”. So it seems that I may not be one of the “Best” of ’04, but perhaps the “Laziest”. Ok, ok, I can take a hint. Luckily, I was able to fulfill at least one of their wishes, and I didn’t even have to get off my lazy ass to do it! So there! I will make with the monkey-dancing for their amusement when I’m good an ready. And when I get a proper fez.

Here are some goofy buttons I made to use to link to my site. I’m assuming everyone knows the drill, but I’ll say it anyway. If you want to use one (thank you in advance), please, please, PLEASE save it to your own computer and upload it from there rather than hotlinking to it directly from here. (do the old Right Click, Save Picture As thing).

Man, I am totally susceptible to peer pressure. It’s amazing I haven’t joined a gang by now. Wait, are we knitters considered a gang?

(Please let me know if these are ok or if they’re too big or anything. I really didn’t know what I was doing when making them and for all I know they’re too wide to fit into a sidebar.)

Now that yet another year has been heaped upon us, I suppose I should resolve to do something, right? And since I’m in Blogland, one would imagine it should be something blog-related. I guess I could post more, and I really should make some buttons for this blog. But who would even notice if I did this stuff?

Apparently those knotty gals at JenLa would. Imagine that. Jen and La put together a Best of ’04 list and I’m amazed to be mentioned in two categories. They are “Blog We’d Like to Pressure for More Posting” and “Blog We’d Most Like to Get a Button”. So it seems that I may not be one of the “Best” of ’04, but perhaps the “Laziest”. Ok, ok, I can take a hint. Luckily, I was able to fulfill at least one of their wishes, and I didn’t even have to get off my lazy ass to do it! So there! I will make with the monkey-dancing for their amusement when I’m good an ready. And when I get a proper fez.

Here are some goofy buttons I made to use to link to my site. I’m assuming everyone knows the drill, but I’ll say it anyway. If you want to use one (thank you in advance), please, please, PLEASE save it to your own computer and upload it from there rather than hotlinking to it directly from here. (do the old Right Click, Save Picture As thing).

Man, I am totally susceptible to peer pressure. It’s amazing I haven’t joined a gang by now. Wait, are we knitters considered a gang?

(Please let me know if these are ok or if they’re too big or anything. I really didn’t know what I was doing when making them and for all I know they’re too wide to fit into a sidebar.)

Well, diets of all kinds have been broken during this holiday season. And you know what? I don’t regret any of it. The Lindt candy, the piles of sugary, buttery side dishes, the enormous slices chocolate cream pie, the wads of cash lost at Foxwoods in a Christmas gambling frenzy, and the yarn oh the sweet, sweet yarn. Who knew that lil’ Jesus being born would be a great excuse for going hog wild and splurging with reckless abandon? His folks really should have gotten into the spirit by springing for a nicer hotel and worried about the bills later. There’s always room at the inn if you’ve got a little something extra for the front desk, know what I mean?

I hope a good holiday was had by all. Ours was pretty darned fantastic. Friday night, I made a gorgeous drunken rib eye roast rare (I soaked it in red wine for a few hours and it was great). Sides included honeyed peas with walnuts, butternut squash sozzled in butter and brown sugar, mashed potatoes whipped with butter and cream, green bean casseroled with fried onions, Pillsbury out-of-the-tube biscuits and crescent rolls, and fresh cranberry-orange relish with enough sugar in it to qualify as cranberry-orange candy. I think there was a salad, too. Poor, neglected salad.

Saturday, we headed to Foxwoods and hit the slot machines pretty hard. Unfortunately, they hit back. Jon was doing fairly well (meaning the hole he was digging was a bit more shallow than mine), but then I took some of his money and gave it back to the nice machine. When we got there, my parents went their way, and we kids went ours. When it was time for dinner, we met them by the giant fake ice sculpture of the Native American guy squatting precariously in a loin cloth. The buffet was too crowded, so we opted for a meal in one of the many restaurants. It was good, I had fresh linguine with clams in a white wine sauce.

My dad drove his giant old man car because the five of us fit more comfortably in there. He and my mom were in front while Jon, Charlene and I sat in back. Somehow I got stuck on the hump in the middle both ways. It was very odd sitting back there. I rarely ever sit in a back seat of a car any more. Even though the three of us are home-owning, career-having, fully-grown adults in our mid-thirties, sitting back there on a long car trip with Christmas carols playing made me feel like a little kid. I actually felt like I was being cared for, had no responsibilities and no say in how the day went. I guess at that point it was true. It felt good and strange at the same time. The helplessness of childhood is both liberating and suffocating. Of course, we didn’t help our position on the way home by giggling furiously back there. We were all tired and getting punchy. My dad couldn’t find the highway and had just about had it with us. You would think that being home-owning, career-having, fully-grown adults in our mid-thirties, we would be sensitive to his dilemma, having been there ourselves many a time. But no, we kept giggling (I’m telling you, it’s a nervous reaction. When people are upset, it makes me nervous and I start laughing). My father was always very patient with us and rarely loses his temper, but he hates getting lost and it totally unnerves him.

I did make it up to him by sharing the lovely apples and pears that came in the Harry and David Tower of Treats my boss (er, my boss’s wife, actually) sent me. Yummmm! I have forbidden Jon to eat the chocolates or baklava when I’m not around. He has been warned.

And now, for the unveiling of my new diet-busting yarn purchase. It’s from Danette Taylor, who does exceptional things with color. As much as I complain about variegated (why can’t I spell that the first time around yet?) yarn, hers colorways make me forget all about it. The Tropical Shawl I’m making is from her yarn and I love the way it’s coming out.

Please note that I haven’t received this yarn yet, so I will be gushing about it further when it arrives. The photos are the ones Danette provided on eBay.

May I present, for your viewing pleasure:

Loopy Mohair in colorway “Wacky” (I just got one skein enough for a scarf to liven up the winter doldrums)

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Superwash Merino in colorway “Cirque” (this will become a baby something-or-other for a coworker with a bun in the oven. 700 yds should be good for a baby blanket, right?)

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Fingering Weight Alpaca in colorway “Azaleas” (could you just faint from how pretty this is?)

‚ 

~sigh~ It’s just so beautiful. *wipes single tear from eye*

‚ 

Well, diets of all kinds have been broken during this holiday season. And you know what? I don’t regret any of it. The Lindt candy, the piles of sugary, buttery side dishes, the enormous slices chocolate cream pie, the wads of cash lost at Foxwoods in a Christmas gambling frenzy, and the yarn oh the sweet, sweet yarn. Who knew that lil’ Jesus being born would be a great excuse for going hog wild and splurging with reckless abandon? His folks really should have gotten into the spirit by springing for a nicer hotel and worried about the bills later. There’s always room at the inn if you’ve got a little something extra for the front desk, know what I mean?

I hope a good holiday was had by all. Ours was pretty darned fantastic. Friday night, I made a gorgeous drunken rib eye roast rare (I soaked it in red wine for a few hours and it was great). Sides included honeyed peas with walnuts, butternut squash sozzled in butter and brown sugar, mashed potatoes whipped with butter and cream, green bean casseroled with fried onions, Pillsbury out-of-the-tube biscuits and crescent rolls, and fresh cranberry-orange relish with enough sugar in it to qualify as cranberry-orange candy. I think there was a salad, too. Poor, neglected salad.

Saturday, we headed to Foxwoods and hit the slot machines pretty hard. Unfortunately, they hit back. Jon was doing fairly well (meaning the hole he was digging was a bit more shallow than mine), but then I took some of his money and gave it back to the nice machine. When we got there, my parents went their way, and we kids went ours. When it was time for dinner, we met them by the giant fake ice sculpture of the Native American guy squatting precariously in a loin cloth. The buffet was too crowded, so we opted for a meal in one of the many restaurants. It was good, I had fresh linguine with clams in a white wine sauce.

My dad drove his giant old man car because the five of us fit more comfortably in there. He and my mom were in front while Jon, Charlene and I sat in back. Somehow I got stuck on the hump in the middle both ways. It was very odd sitting back there. I rarely ever sit in a back seat of a car any more. Even though the three of us are home-owning, career-having, fully-grown adults in our mid-thirties, sitting back there on a long car trip with Christmas carols playing made me feel like a little kid. I actually felt like I was being cared for, had no responsibilities and no say in how the day went. I guess at that point it was true. It felt good and strange at the same time. The helplessness of childhood is both liberating and suffocating. Of course, we didn’t help our position on the way home by giggling furiously back there. We were all tired and getting punchy. My dad couldn’t find the highway and had just about had it with us. You would think that being home-owning, career-having, fully-grown adults in our mid-thirties, we would be sensitive to his dilemma, having been there ourselves many a time. But no, we kept giggling (I’m telling you, it’s a nervous reaction. When people are upset, it makes me nervous and I start laughing). My father was always very patient with us and rarely loses his temper, but he hates getting lost and it totally unnerves him.

I did make it up to him by sharing the lovely apples and pears that came in the Harry and David Tower of Treats my boss (er, my boss’s wife, actually) sent me. Yummmm! I have forbidden Jon to eat the chocolates or baklava when I’m not around. He has been warned.

And now, for the unveiling of my new diet-busting yarn purchase. It’s from Danette Taylor, who does exceptional things with color. As much as I complain about variegated (why can’t I spell that the first time around yet?) yarn, hers colorways make me forget all about it. The Tropical Shawl I’m making is from her yarn and I love the way it’s coming out.

Please note that I haven’t received this yarn yet, so I will be gushing about it further when it arrives. The photos are the ones Danette provided on eBay.

May I present, for your viewing pleasure:

Loopy Mohair in colorway “Wacky” (I just got one skein enough for a scarf to liven up the winter doldrums)

‚ 

Superwash Merino in colorway “Cirque” (this will become a baby something-or-other for a coworker with a bun in the oven. 700 yds should be good for a baby blanket, right?)

‚ 

Fingering Weight Alpaca in colorway “Azaleas” (could you just faint from how pretty this is?)

‚ 

~sigh~ It’s just so beautiful. *wipes single tear from eye*

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This was a post I started yesterday, but never actually finished. The death toll was at 44,000.

The recent earthquake and resulting chaos is mind-boggling. I mean, a tsunami? That’s the stuff that ancient myths are made of. I’m having a hard time imagining how large of a crowd 44,000 people is, and that’s the death toll so far. I did some googling to get an idea of how many people 44,000 is. It’s a hell of a lot. (search for 44,000 on these pages if you don’t see it right away)

It’s how many people showed up at a George W. Bush rally in Arizona
It’s how many people voted early in Georgia
It’s how many seats planned for the new Fenway Park stadium in Boston
It’s how many seats are in the new Comisky Park stadium in Chicago
It’s how many people went to see Bruce Springsteen in Finland
It’s how many NSync tickets went on sale in El Paso
It’s how many people die in highway accidents in a year
It’s how many people were expected to pass through Syndey’s airport on their way home from the Olympics
It’s how many people live in the city of San Luis Obispo, California
It’s how many people live in the city of Auburn, Alabama
It’s how many students there are in the Calgary Catholic School district
It’s how many students enrolled in Michigan State University
It’s how many students enrolled in Texas A&M
The death toll as of this morning is at 76,700 and I haven’t the heart to even try to fathom it. I want to say “How awful” or “It’s so tragic”, but words like awful and tragic don’t begin to describe the jaw-dropping magnitude. I think this is one of those times when only a visceral reaction accompanied by some indescribable noise from the back of your throat will suffice. It makes one acutely aware that in the end, despite borders and nations and ideologies, we’re all earthlings and live on this rock together. We see the same stars, the same moon, we breathe the same air, and are all subject to our planet’s shifting, shaping, rumbling, moving and changing. It’s downright humbling to know that we live on the Earth’s back on its terms.

Here is a list of organizations accepting monetary donations that I found on CNN’s website. Please do what you can to help your fellow earthlings.