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Am I Ready For This?
sun 1 Feb 2009 | |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090201.html | |
oof, what a week! The day job this week was from Tuesday to Saturday. Which made last weekend nice and long, but this weekend is uncomfortably short. bah. I did have a great Saturday afternoon, getting random things done. But now it's suddenly February, and I have to get to typing here every day for NaBloPoMo. And, yeah, I might be freaking out a little. Mostly because I didn't even finish the projects I had planned for January, and now I'm adding extra projects for February! Ack!
Well. Today's photo is hot bread!
I make vegan bread in the bread machine every weekend. |
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Arg
mon 2 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090202.html |
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I never actually stopped walking, but for about five or six strides I didn't think I was going to make it home. Then I realized I could take shorter strides and the pain was more tolerable. I think I messed up a tendon. I can still stand, it's just moving my leg that is a problem. I got home and whined about it to my Significant Other, but it was a couple hours before I really got to freaking out about it... Sure, I can get around fine right now, but what if it stiffens up over night? I can drive to work, but what if starts hurting to stand. If I can't stand, I won't be able to work. What if it takes a while to heal? What if it never heals? What if I have to have surgery in order to reattach something? I don't even have health insurance!! I'm probably going to die! laughs! Well, I'm pretty sure some hip tendon thing isn't going to make me die. But I do like to worry about these things! |
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hmm.
tues 3 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090203.html |
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I guess I need to figure out a topic to type about today... Oh, here's a funny story... The groups over at NaBloPoMo are totally not active. Maybe a few posts in November, which is the official month, but nothing else. But I still like to join them, just to give people an idea of what I'm about. I am a member at "vegan bloggers", "Arts & Crafts", "Creative Bloggers", and "Green Bloggers". The other night, I noticed a group called "Blitzed Blogging"... Cause blogging is just funner when you're drunk. I agreed about the funner part, and I had had a couple drinks by that time, tho the blogging was running dry. So, I decided to join. Well. Evidently I was a little too "blitzed" to notice that I hit the wrong button or something. The next day, I realized I was Not a member, so I had to join "again". ha. |
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Too Grumpy
wed 4 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090204.html |
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Crocheting Chaos
thurs 5 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090205.html |
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Here is Crochet Fiasco: Project 1...
I really really liked the Afghan stitch, which is not a normal crochet stitch and it uses a special, long hook. I was going to make all my dish cloths out of this stitch, because it looked good and it made a very solid piece of fabric. Sadly, it curled something terrible. I tried to fix the curling by making my stitches really tight. That helped. But that also gave me some serious carpal tunnel pain! So, Project #1 has been abandoned! Here's Crochet Fiasco: Project 2...
Looks pretty good, huh. well, um. For this dish cloth, I am following the directions on the back of the label on the string I bought. To begin, I had to make three attempts to make it the right size... it's supposed to be 6 inches long, and my first attempt was about 5 inches long. My third attempt was 5½ inches and I decided to go with that. I stitch along, following the directions precisely, being very happy that this one is not curling at all! and I've gotten to the point in the photo. Problem is, at this point, the stupid thing is SUPPOSED to be approximately square. uh huh. Look at that picture, does that look like a square to you? no. not even approximately. Yeah. So, pretty much I suck at the crocheting thing! But I will persevere! |
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Ad Free Blog
fri 6 feb 2009 | |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090206.html | |
When advertisements started showing up on blogs, I was absolutely disgusted. On sites that offer free services, like hotmail or yahoo, advertising is expected. But on blogs, the ads are a major distraction. I actually quit reading several blogs because they had ads. And today, in general, I do not read blogs with ads. My brother, who owns several business websites, tried to convince me that the money is fantastic. Yes, my websites cost money, and sure, I've got enough readers to make the ads worthwhile... But... This is MY space on the Internet. My domain, my place, my website, mine, mine, mine. Other people get to look at it, but these are my ideas, my words, my pictures and drawings, my thoughts, my feelings, my creations. My online journal. I have paid for this space to be mine, and I OWN it. I take responsibility for it. I Make it mine. Why would I Sell off a section of this space on the Internet that is entirely mine?? It's like selling your soul! |
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Week 1
sat 7 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090207.html |
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Oh well. It'll go better for the rest of the month! I am so happy that it's finally the weekend. Can attempt to get caught up with some of my projects... I had to buy stamps today, and I'm really excited about this new Oregon stamp. Nice artwork! (Artist is Gregory Manchess and the stamp was issued 14 Jan 2009.)
Of course, having to spend 50$ on stamps makes me pause. 42¢ for US letters, and 27¢ for US postcards... it's the International first class mail at 94¢ that really adds up. My fascination with PostCrossing will probably not save the Postal Service tho: Mail days may need to be cut. It was a slow week for my PostCrossing... I didn't get any postcards (update! Two arrived this afternoon!), and only two of mine were registered. Which is actually a good thing, since this week was so annoying. And I only had the two stamps left anyway. And I need to get back to the evil crochet. I haven't worked on it since I discovered the directions weren't really working out for me (Thursday blog entry). I think I've decided to add a few rows to make it a square and to hell with the stupid directions. It's just a dish cloth, after all. I can't wait to start screwing up my crocheted scarfs and hats! :P My daily photographing has been on the lame side. This is because I only remember to get my camera out at the very end of the day! And then "what shall I take a picture of today?" Mostly: Guinea Pigs. Too bad they are completely non-photogenic when I have to use the flash! |
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Crochet Yay!
sun 8 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090208.html |
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I had a terrible time with the finishing directions. But that's okay: now I know how to do it. I was so excited to see my finished project, I wanted to immediately start on my next dish cloth! Unfortunately, having crocheted for two hours straight, my fingers and wrists were killing me. And still are today. It'll probably be a few days before I can go back to it! Arg, frustration! Then again, you guys are probably tired of reading about dumb crochet! I'll have to think up some more interesting topics for next week. ;) |
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Making Vegan Lunch
mon 9 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090209.html |
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Yep, that's the food I put together to eat tomorrow at lunch. The sandwich is my homemade bread (that I make every weekend in the bread machine) and it's got homemade black olive hummus on it. Yum. I am usually pretty lazy about sandwich fixin's and I mostly eat peanut butter sandwiches... I don't really like peanut butter anymore, but making anything else is so tedious! But last week I got sick enough of peanut butter that I whipped up my hummus. I just dump a can of olives and a can of chick peas into the blender and add some of the olive juice and some lemon juice. Also, there's a ziplock of corn chips, and some walnuts. And over the weekend I made some cookie bars! I love cookie bars, but then, again, I hate working in the kitchen so they don't get made as often as I want to eat them! ha. The Clif Bar is the chocolate mint flavor, my current favorite. All that goes into my green lunch bag-thing. I've got an emergency coke in there as well, in case I need a caffeine boost during work. And there's water in the purple bottle. I joke that I put vodka in it instead, since I carry it around all the time. ;) |
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um, a leaf
tues 10 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090210.html |
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Doom!
wed 11 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090211.html |
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I'm a doomer. You can go look it up on Wikipedia, Doomer, but it basically just means that I think that Civilization is going to crash. Probably peak oil will have something to do with it, leading to bird flu, and general death and destruction for humans. And I think this will happen within my lifetime. And, actually, I've bumped up the timing... It'll probably be all over within ten years. If that. Some people think that by helping the crash along with some destructive direct action, we can make things better for the survivors. Derrick Jensen likes to talk about taking out dams. You know what? I am all for destructive direct action. I am not a pacifist. I go out of my way to not hurt people... by being vegan and in my day-to-day dealings. And I would go out of my way, in a violent way if I had to, to help those same human and non-human people. I will not survive the crash of civilization. But I like to think that my willingness to fight for my beliefs will do some good at some point! In the meantime, I am enjoying the luxuries of civilization. At the same time, I am as radically environmental as I can! |
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Reading and eReading
thurs 12 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090212.html |
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Yeah, I am freaking out, regardless... I've finished 3 books so far this year. Three. and this is Week 7 of the year: over two weeks to finish a single book?!? GAH! Anyway.
I'm always amused when reading communities discuss eBooks... I am happy to see that more and more people are trying eBooks. The part that amuses me is that probably 99% of the readers still prefer reading the dead tree version. I read real books, I read eBooks on my Palm handheld, and I read PDFs on my computer. For text based books, I highly prefer to read it on my handheld. The most important reasons: #1 I live in a tiny townhouse and I ran out of bookshelves even before I got here! #2 My handheld is much easier to hold than a book! I have mild carpal tunnel pain, and sometimes it's tough holding a heavy book open. Even paperbacks get heavy when they are 600+ pages. :) #3 I can read my handheld in the dark! The Palm screen is backlit, so I don't have to deal with lamps or the light switch. #4 Free eBooks from Project Gutenberg! #5 I love to push buttons! ;) I totally love my Palm. But, yeah, there are some books that "must" be in full page book form... books with art work or craft instructions or any kind of photos. For those, I guess I prefer a dead tree book over a PDF... but it's just a mild preference. If I had a lap top, so that I could look at these types of books on my bed, where I do most of my reading and arting, I think I would lean more towards PDF. But, back to my Palm handheld, I also love it because it's not a dedicated reader. I can play games, take notes, draw, and keep databases of addresses and birthdays... and books! laughs: BookBag by Wakefield Soft (Book organizer software) |
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day job
fri 13 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090213.html |
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I am just thrilled to pieces because I totally love this company. I am looking at artist quality markers all day, even tho I'm just shipping them to other companies. Plus these are reusable markers. The environmental side really appeals to me! And the company recycles, and uses recyclable stuff. And they totally did not laugh at me when I brought up other ideas for recycling! Well, anyway. I was thinking this week. On paper, I am a part-timer at the day job. But at 7½ hours a day, for all intents and purposes, it's full time. Trouble is, I've been in the mind set of "part-time day job" and wondering why all my projects aren't getting done in the evening! Somebody tell me to "relax" already! laughs. |
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quiet weekend
sat 14 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090214.html |
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And then I finished up my second crochet dish cloth. I think I love making dish cloths! I can finish one in a week: working just half an hour a day doesn't bother my hands or wrists too much. Only trouble is, I get bored of the colours of the string by the second day! ;) And now I'm downloading the first MP3 I ever paid for. At 7megs, it's going to take about half an hour to get it on my poor dialup! I wish I could have bought the whole album because it's only 2$... But it would probably take days to download. Anyway. This song. I was alone at work on Friday, everyone else having ditched. The Boss had some good 80's music playing on the Internet radio that they've got there. But when I sat down to the computers in the afternoon, I went looking for something else to listen to. Under the "alternative" section I found this Women's Alternative station! Oh my Gosh! It was great, exactly the kind of stuff I like to hear! (And I hope I can find it again, someday, because I didn't really pay attention to the name of the station!) But then I heard a woman singing an old Talk Talk song. Nobody has every heard of Talk Talk, but they had a couple good songs, "It's My Life" was the best. And here's No Doubt playing it! So here I am downloading it. |
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"Want"
sun 15 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090215.html |
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My wonderful Significant Other got this computer for me. I picked it out because it was such a good deal... a pre-owned computer that had some RAM problems. Unfortunately, the problem with the RAM was actually a motherboard problem. Unfixable. For day to day surfing, the computer is fine. But once I open up Paint Shop Pro to do some graphic work, I start adding on the layers and the computer is slow and then the virtual memory throws a fit at which point I have to shut down and reboot, which is a 30 minute process because of the memory thing. ack! So, I want a new computer. And I want to upgrade some of my software. And I'll have to get a new operating system. Looks pretty pricey, doesn't it. Yeah, I'll have to see how the part-time-ness at the day job goes... it may take a good long while to save up the money! |
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mmm, cookie bars
mon 16 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090216.html |
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Baking is very tedious, but I need to add some extra calories to my lunch. These chocolate chip cookie bars are vegan, of course. I prefer recipes that are excessively simple, if it gets more complicated than "stir" I won't do it! I also like recipes that don't call for butter. Vegan butter tastes fine and everything, it's just annoying to buy all the time. Also, it's made out of palm oil, and they are tearing out the rain forests to plant palm tree plantations. Palm tree plantations suck! Where are the orangutans and everybody supposed to live??! Anyway. Vegan Cookie Bar Recipe
1 3/4 cups flour |
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um, some leaves
tues 17 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090217.html |
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I took that photo in Oct 2008. It's a sweet gum tree. And, yeah, I abandoned my daily photograph thing a couple weeks ago. I know, I suck! I just got tired of taking indoor photos that required a flash. I think it would go better in the summer time, where there is sunlight 'til 9pm and flowers and happy outdoors things to take photos of! |
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Darwin
wed 18 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090218.html |
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I really admire Darwin. Not just for the Theory of Evolution! I love reading his books and the fact that he was Such a prolific writer is the reason I hold him in high regard! Darwin wrote so many major works... and did many re-writes (On The Origin had 6 editions). He also wrote letters. All the work he did in his lifetime just amazes me! Granted, he did not have a job and he was born into and married into money (Emma Wedgewood, yes That Wedgewood of the blue plates). But still. He travelled the world, wrote letters, wrote huge, fat books about all kinds of different subjects, and then re-wrote the books! That is some kind of crazy productive!
Laughs. Anyway. So far I've read If you're interested in reading some of Darwin's works... ∞ The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online |
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um, a kitty
thurs 19 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090219.html |
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This is my parents' ward, Poudre. I took the photo this past xmas. Yes, he is a bit cross-eyed. No, he is not deaf. |
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slow week
fri 20 feb 2009 | |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090220.html | |
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The beginning of the week I was fighting off the germs that kept my coworker home last week. Mostly just a headache and exhaustion. I'd come home, eat dinner and spend some time with SO, read my email and type here, eat second supper and go to bed. No reading, no postcards, no crocheting. Heck, no journaling, (um, paper journaling) which makes me feel Really weird! On Wed night, I finally got a good nights sleep. But on Thursday evening, Significant Other forced me to go grocery shopping. A 150$ deal, which involved two grocery stores and several hours; you understand why I was reluctant! Then I had to come home and clean the guinea pig home. bah. So, I'm thrilled it's the weekend now!
This has been yet another slow week with PostCrossing. You know, I was so excited when I got to 40 postcards and I was able to have 7 postcards traveling... Those first couple weeks, in January, were fantastic. But now, it's just been 2 postcards a week for these three weeks of Feb. What fun is that? not much, I tell you! But I still have a couple postcards to make this weekend. Plus I'm quite eager to get back to my crocheting.
And my reading. And my real life. |
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um, a squirrel
sat 21 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090221.html |
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I took this photo in April 2008. I've named this squirrel Droopy Tail. She drags the last couple inches of her tail, I don't know what happened to her or if she was born that way. You can especially tell who she is when it's raining because the end of her tail is soaking wet. poor baby. But, she's still around. So I guess a droopy tail isn't a huge disability in the squirrel world! |
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cars & driving
sun 22 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090222.html |
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Laughs. In real life, I've gotten one speeding ticket. I was going 65 in a 45mph zone, coming home from work in my beautiful little CRX (a sub-compact Honda). The fine was just under 400$, and even that had been reduced since there weren't any other black marks on my driving record. And then my CRX got smushed. I got the red car that I still have. My CRX was like a living being, it was something real. The red car is an inadequate replacement... I'm grateful to have something dependable, but I'm also pretty resentful about what I've lost. Things have changed in other ways since then. My job then was 11 miles away, a 30 minute commute. My jobs here have been about 5 miles away, a 15 or 20 minute drive. And of course, I'm walking to my day job now. Unfortunately, I still need the red car. I would love to get rid of it. eh.
:) I saw Droopy Tail this morning! I opened the front door to bring in the newspaper, and she popped around the corner to look at me! Ha, she made me happy. |
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sick
mon 23 Feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090223.html |
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I tried to do a bit of crocheting. ha, what a joke; I keep snagging threads, my turns are even more pathetic than they usually are, and my left hand keeps tangling the string! oh well. Maybe something more interesting tomorrow... |
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um
tues 24 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090224.html |
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I got a postcard today from Finland, and the stamp had Braille on it! And I could actually read the Braille. "#1 LK KL" It's the stamp denomination, tho I don't know exactly what LK or KL mean. Anyway. I was amused. It's been ages since I've looked at anything Braille, but a few years ago when I was making signs it was my job to proof-read the text and the Braille. Mostly room numbers and "Restroom", but I know all the letters and many of the code thingees. It's fun learning random things like Braille. But sad knowing that since I'm not looking at it every day, I'm probably losing it. |
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a box
wed 25 feb 2009 | |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090225.html | |
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Usually I have a huge buying spree right after xmas. But this year I was pretty concerned about my finances. I didn't think my temp job was going to last and I had no idea how I was going to pay off my credit card for xmas! But now I've got some employment. And longer hours means a bit more cash flow. I finally did my Amazon run, even tho it's on the pathetic side of tiny. ha. I got a new toy for my computer. A kit to connect a bare hard drive to a USB port. I can't wait to play with this thing, because I have like a million hard drives just lying around doing nothing. And I got some Miso, because I love Miso. And the latest Eric Maisel book. And...
"Seriously Cute Crochet"? OMGosh, Seriously! Look! There's a turtle! A Hedgehog! A cute lil owl and bunny and yellow duck. AND There's a octopus (on the back cover). *rift falls over with the cute-ness* And if I knew how to crochet, I could actually make my OWN octopus! I could make lots! a herd! I need to hurry up and learn how to crochet already! |
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odds and ends
thurs 26 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090226.html |
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So I made it a peanut butter and chocolate chip sandwich!!
I am brilliant! It was Yummy! haha. maybe I won't do that again.
These are all the dish cloths I've finished! Never mind that curly thing on the left, there. That was my sad, sad attempt at the a-curséd Afghan stitch, which will never happen again ever. The one with the white border is kinda cool, huh. I ran out of string on that one and had to go to the store to get a ball of something else to finish it. This store carried different brands of string and I discovered this "eco2cotton" blend, which is a pre-consumer recycled cotton. Unfortunately the blend part is polyester, which annoys me. eh. and the dish cloth on the right is the one I did while I was sick. It's still attached to it's string because I couldn't find my scissors. ;) And having made two dish cloths out of that ball, there's a good bit left, but not enough to do another dish cloth. Not sure what I'll do with the rest of it. |
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yay the weekend
fri 27 feb 2009 | |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090227.html | |
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I think, in my silly Scanner way, I am ready for a new project. You remember how I was going to blog every day for Feb, and also take a photo every day as well? I have been blogging but... here is the culmination of the photo project...
What's that, you ask. It's a photo of the ceiling. That's how annoyed I got at the stupid daily photo. ;) heh. I do think photos will be better in the spring time, and that's just around the corner... I saw some robins and Oregon Junecos out the other day. Plus we got a bit of rain, so the plant life is starting to get green as well. So anyway. I'm thinking I want to do a daily drawing again for March. Altho, maybe taking a month off from the whole daily thing, might be good. But No! I must have a project or ten! ha. Well. I'll see how the weekend goes before deciding. I've got a few postcards to get out the door, plus at least one letter. A few chores, bah. Need to get some reading done. Some magazines, too. Figure out what the next crocheting thing is going to be. Play with my new computer toy. Do some back-end junk with the blog. ... oof, somehow I think the weekend isn't going to be long enough, again! |
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obsessions
sat 28 feb 2009 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/archive2009/090228.html |
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The scarf in my book was a bit too boring: a square of single crochet stitches, a square of double crochet stitches, repeat until your scarf is long enough. Easy but not very interesting. And the scarves in my scarf book are a little too complicated. Very interesting, but the directions are way too long! Thus the search. I found a good one and printed up the directions. But then I started crocheting something else I had thought up. Eh. I guess it'll be like my reading, I can't die until I've read all my books... and I can't die until I've finished all my crochet projects.
Ah, the end of Feb, and the end of my daily blogging project. I'm glad I can live up to these little challenges I set for myself. :) I believe that creativity breeds more creativity... In other words, by taking the time (taking, forcefully or violently if need be!) to do something creative, the muse will pop up in other areas of your life to enrich you and by extension the world. It's like magic dust bunnies, pretty soon they're everywhere. |
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