Fall Crafts

Where have all the Fall Crafts gone. I understand that x-mas is just around the corner, but really?!?! I have a huge confession to make. Ready for it, Christmas and I are not friends. I'd skip it and go straight into New Years if I could. I love Halloween, and rather enjoy the relaxed (and food filled) atmosphere of Thanksgiving. No gifts no expectations. The thing about Fall crafts is that are good for Halloween and Thanksgiving so why don't we have more of them. Grrrrrrr. So I'm call all Fall crafts!!! Lets compile a great big list of great, fun, cute, good through fall crafts. Send me your links, ideas and what not. I'll get them all together and in September of 2011 I'll post a month of crafts!!!

Chicken Salad on the Freeway

I know, I keep dropping off the planet, sorry. Still on the Whole 30, I still want pancakes (not that I ever eat them) and a glass of cold cold milk. I haven't lost any weight, but do feel great. The thing about the whole 30 is going out to eat is nearly imposable because you have no clue what they stick in their food, and since we in America must put sugar in everything its hard to avoid. Its even harder to avoid things like potato, wheat and dairy when all you want is that steaming bowl of Ivars clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. Yes you heard that right. On a super chilly, slightly windy night I found myself in the stands of Husky Stadium (we have season tickets to see college football at a school I did not attend and work for their rival). All I wanted was a hot chocolate and a chowder but not I got a cup of black bad coffee and a fleece blanket instead. The game dragged on and on, tied at 21-21 and then OVER TIME. Feeling in my fingers has long since gone away and the use of my legs questionable. BUT FINALLY, the Huskies blocked the drive and we could go home. As fate normally has it, break lights appear on the horizon as we traveled back to Tacoma. A huge frickin' wreak. *sigh* just stop the car and wait. Always prepared, and since dinner was a Larabar, I extract two forks and a tub of chicken salad from under the seat. So we moved at .000002 miles an hour at 12 am, eating chicken salad on I-5. Next game is the 18th of November, by then I'll be done with this diet experiment. I won't bring huge amounts of wheat or potatoes into my diet but for one chilly night I'll indulge by taste buds and tummy in one of the greatest NorthWestern traditions of Ivars Clam Chowder (served from a small air stream trailer called the "chowder wagon").

A Year ago

This was taken a year ago. Before I began Crossfit, and before I moved back. That shrug is no more. I've frogged it and its going to become a more wearable item. I hope to share some photos with you and then take some after shots. Pictures like this and others. We'll see, I'm not so good with the timer on the camera.
Our lab was audited yesterday, which was a little stressful. But its over now and we can stop looking over our shoulder all the time. When the auditors arrived, they wanted to know who had been at the lab in Kentucky, which was me. The fact that checked up on me and the old life was a little strange.
Day two has been going smoothly. Hub is having some trouble with snacks. He loves crispy salty things, but no CHIPS. I think so far I've felt less change then him. Normally snacks are small and healthy so it seems that I've gotta leg up on him. Friday we have to attend an event so lets see what going out to dinner is like.

Whole 30

Day One, today Hub and I started the Whole 30. Which is like food boot camp. And for two crazed foodies, its not going to be an easy month. The idea behind the Whole 30 is that by not eating certain foods (grains, dairy and sugar) you can help reset the way your body handles food and you learn to use it more effectively. Hub is looking for more power at Crossfit. However I'm looking for my relationship with food to change and hopefully be able to excert more self control when it come to weaknesses. Like BREAD!! I also have a serious sweet tooth that I hope to bring under control. I do also hope the my flagging engery levels will stablize and that my strange allergies might clear. The nagging stuffy nose and dry skin.

So for 30 days I will put aside the yummy homemade loaves of bread and greek yogurt with honey and give this thing a try. I'll take my vitamins don't worry.

Breakfast: eggs
Lunch: Sloppy Joe insides with spinach leaves
Dinner: Skirt Steak with veggies

Its like crack for plants

They don't say that on the bag but it should. Tagro might be poo dirt but its the best dang poo dirt ever. The tomatoes I planted went crazy, and so too have the winter veg garden.

From Drop Box

I also saw this little guy while going to target. I was not driving.

From Drop Box

Mmmmmm

I made these a while ago.......




I also worked on my studio. Too bad it gets really warm up here.

I'm a sucker for contests

I rarely win, but I love to enter and dream a little about the prizes and how super great it would be to have them. I think I purchased about a dozen chocolate bars in hopes of winning a dark brown Mini Cooper stuffed to the gills with treats. Thought I never won one of these rare chocolat-ly colored autos, I found myself many years latter on the good end of a used car deal for one that looked much like a red velvet cake. However it wasn't full of cake :( . One of my fav blogs and shops is Sew-Mama-Sew, I've given things away for their big give-away day. I've commented on most of their give-aways and purchased some great, I mean great fabrics. Today they asked us to answer one easy question in hopes of winning a serger. The question "how would your life be better with a serger" And here it is the long awaited answer.
I don't have time to sew like I want to any more.
When I lived in OK and was unemployed I had nothing to inspire me, nothing to drive me to create. I tried. I wanted to. I did, a little. It was like my need to was there but the crafty pants were just not there. Fastforward to now. Moving back to a place I love, full of beauty and living in a great area FULL of art, I want to craft again. I finger fabrics and yarn, look longingly at patterns and then poooooof! No time. Now I have a job, a job I love, doing the other thing I LOVE. Microbiology. But between my Crossfit addiction, and keeping my house at a level of clean that only kinda makes me happy, my craft time as almost dried up. Now if I had a serger, and after I had learned how to use said serger, with all its bells and what nots, I could spend less time getting grumpy with my sewing and more time actually making stuff. Plus being on the short, stocky and busty side being able to make or at least fix my clothes would make me feel a lot better.
So there is my answer!
Thank you for your time.

Things I've learned

Since I started Crossfit about 6 months ago I've learned some rather important things about health and fitness. Most importantly, when you are running from zombies NO ONE, I mean no one cares what you look like in a bikini. What I mean by this is, that just because your skinny ass can wear a flap of fabric and get away with it, does not mean in any way shape or form are you actually "in shape". Your brain is going to be dinner sweet cheeks. However my thighs and I are getting away.
While I have spent the last six months trying to reverse 28 years of near and complete inactivity, it still needs some work. After a handful of real pushup I kinda hit the floor. A real pullup still eludes me. I run about as fast as a old dog and half way through my workouts I gotta stop and push my glasses back up my nose or just take them off all together. Though I have lost an 1.5 from my waist, and deadlift and back squat my body weight. 12 inch box jumps still make my shins fear for their lives and anything requiring me to go upside down, is NOT fun. My progress is slow, very slow, but I'm there. I will never get a green box around my name for anything, but just the fact that my name is on the white board every morning at 5:30 is enough for me.
Though just for once I'd like to get my freakin' picture on the blog. Come on!

Up To No Good

Okay so a little good. However just three days after I took these pictures we had a 39 degree night and they died! Every last tomato turned brown and crispy and died by the end of the week. Not to be stopped I bought new tomatoes, and stuck garbage bags over them up the weather improved. It hasn't. It might have been about 56 here today. If anyone likes fried green tomatoes let me know and I'll send you some, since I seriously doubt they'll ever turn green.
Work has been a blast! Actually its been nice since we're all there and I've been able to actually catch up on things from my closet/office.
Projects, projects, project. I have a super secret one I've been working on, then the same old same old, the chevron scarf, the red scarf, and a pair of socks. So to combat these knitting ughs I've worked some actually time in to my schedule for projects. For an hour each day after I jog, after I come home I have to work on something. Since mondays are my sundays I would normally stay in and project it up. Now ever I been messing around with things like car repair and visiting the big city of seattle for fresh crab. Thats a long store and a whole other post. After spending all morning trying to decide if I should trade the beloved DB cooper in for a non-broken mini cooper I learned that the thought of leaving my DB behind on the lot was tooooooo heart breaking and am taking him for a second opinion next week. They say my transmission is shot! I don't believe them. Any whoooo, the napkins that have been in progress for what seems an month are all but washed. A touch dull but very nice and useful. Next project to get started on is a Folklore Bag from 101 one yard wonders. Plus I can't wait to start ordering fabric from Spoonflower!
Other than that we're still alive and kicking here in North End.

What Passes For Spring

Around these parts things move at their own speed. In some respects we're busy-busy, sometimes we're down right explosive (its been 30 years since the Mt. St. Helens explosion) but then on the other hand summer doesn't get around to showing up until July 5th.
Other than a week or two of 70-ish degree weather that seemed to pop up out of now where in Feb and a couple of days in March, Spring works in mysterious ways here. Our local garden center (Garden Sphere, which also carries worms and chickens) recommends that tomatoes go in the ground this week, and sooooooo tomatoes went in the ground. Except that the ground is still full of weeds and some plants that need to be moved. To get around this problem and to remember the water the little guys I went for container gardening.

Tacoma also has a special recycling program for its waste water, its called TAGRO. Its just what you think it is. Yes, waste water turned into dirt. Its clean! It also causes plants to go CRAZY! I got 4 bags. Since our house is pushing 90 years old, so is the dirt, and it shows. Over the next year I plan to begin our compost bin and get the flower beds back into shape.

(by the way these are plastic and are super easy to move around, you can find them at Home Depot)

With two red cherry's, an orange and a yellow, plus a purple I hope to have a great turn out. Granted I don't like raw tomatoes I do like them grilled, cooked, squished and any other way but right off the vine. But I do like lots of herbs! So they went into the ground last week, in their own special bed by the kitchen.


ps. On my way to Crossfit this morning, as I turned from McCarver on to Tacoma I saw a deer. A deer, just walking down the side walk as if on her way to get a cup of coffee at Tulley's. However she freaked a ran back up into the neighborhood. Even though Tacoma is a major city, its hills and cliffs where not all graded like our big sis Seattle and we have quite a few large undeveloped green areas which have become home to near by wildlife. This makes me glad I have a fence.

Projects

While unpacking all of my worldly goods for the umteenth time I was reminded of how much yarn I had, how much yarn I had and didn't use, and how much yarn I had and really wasn't thrilled with. The excitement of belonging to those sock clubs, the mystery of what's next normally gives way to like three balls of yarn that you're never going to touch. Combined those odd balls of wacky sock yarn with a half dozen of washcloth cotton, mix liberally with leftover project bits and you'll have my stash. The time has come to part with my one offs and what nots. I'm not a stasher by nature I'm just too bloody cheap to buy whole sweaters worth of yarn without a pattern, but sock yarn doesn't count. Until you stop knitting socks and your socks that rocks mates with some selfstripping wool and you get waaaaay more yarn than you could every know. After this weeks knit night, I'll post whats left of the sale yarn.
Another thing I should cover is the project list on the left. Its outdated and needs to be addressed. Since I've been at a total lost as to what to blog we'll get to those. As for right now, on the needles, I have Laura Cho's Shoulder warmer that is almost complete. I also a rust colored cabled scarf which is just over half way done, the chevron scarf from last minute knitted gifts, and a pair of socks. Wednesday knit group has got we knitting socks again.

Egg-citing

I went back to work. Yes after 8 months of being a kept women I returned to the working world. The transition has been, um, good. I wanted to work, and yes I volunteered in OK but here I have a paying 8-5ish job. That also means that I go to Crossfit at like 5:15 in the morning, and wakeup at like 4:45. MMMmmmmmmmmmm bed is so warm at 4:45, I just wish I could sleep a little longer. I am surprise how many people are out and about at 5 in the morning, which includes people riding their bikes to work at 5 am!
This round of employment is about close to the world I lived in TN. My last job was an almost full time microbiology gig with a touch of molecular diagnostic (you can glaze over here if you want to) my new job contains a lot, I mean a LOT of chickens. I mean Avian is in the name of the lab. So is Food Science. I play with chicken products all day! Between checking on the chickens we keep for their perfect germ free eggs to the crazy powdered egg product we get from a producer in the area.
So far the I'm loving the job. Enjoying the full days, that mean I don't sit on my ass too long. One of the best perks in that I'll get an "office", which isn't a real office with my name on it, but at least a computer that is mainly mine. Biggest down side, saturdays. I'll be working a lot of saturdays, but they'll be those fantastic hours when you have the whole place to yourself and can crank the music while dancing poorly with a 5mL pipette in your hand. Now if you're at all curious about what I do or some of the other cool stuff they do at the WSU extension in Puyallup you can check them out here http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/ and here http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/depts_waddl/avian.aspx

Okay......

So I know that I've dropped off the radar a little but I've been busy. With the move, the mass of unpacking and well the general ****GASP**** of finally moving back to the great northwest.

We move ALOT! I mean like more than any normal person should who isn't trying to escape some kind of law enforcement. Yet each time I get out the plastic tubs to create my signature "kitchen in a box" I totally freakout! Its not that kind of run-around with your head cut off like a dead chicken freakout, its a teeth grinding "OHHOLYCRAPDIDIFORGETTODOTHAT" kinda freakout. The thing about this kinda spaz is its hard to relax from but it does feel so good when things finally get into shape. And into shape they have, just a few neighborhood highlights include a farmers market just about 6 blocks from my door. Two, count 'em two grocery stores all of nine blocks. Granted one of these stores is the super fancy pants grocery which I only shop at when I need something that just CANNOT be found in one of the "normal" grocery stores. However when you have sooooo many places to shop in the city, including the various ethnic markets which come with a major city, its almost unheard of for me to shop the FP store. Not going to name store names but this is the type of store which sells like 10 different kinds of jam and 30 jellys all of which are "organic, and grown on patches of reclaimed landfill with natural water recycled from middle schools" or something to that effect. They all cost upward of 5 bucks a little jar too. Granted you can get like two flavors of good ol'smuckers there so they can call themselves a real grocery store. The kind of folks you find filling their funny little half grocery buggies with level 5 vegan walnut bread and heirloom beer, aren't so interested in the providence of their food or even how freakin yummy the Milk that comes in the glass bottle is (which it is) but that they can afford to purchase insanely expensive pre-cooked "rainbow" carrots. Which when I gleefully wandered around the produce to pick out my own "rainbow" carrots to make them at home, they didn't carry them. However they have a fantastic beer selection!
After supporting my local and well stocked farmers market, it was time to start enjoying the few things which are in season in the Great NW.

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Rhubarb and Strawberry Crumble, super tasty and a great way to enjoy season noms. The rhubarb came from a small farm in the valley and the strawberries from one of Tacoma's coolest grocery spots, Tacoma Boys. I also made a Rhubarb Strawberry compote with the rest of the fruits.

Its wonderful just eaten with a spoon or over ice cream or greek yogurt. I'll make more this season, in fact I might even get into some canning and "put some up" for fall when you need a little bite of spring time.

Finally I've been busy with some yarn related projects too namely Lil's birthday Blanket.

Delay

Just a few pictures until I get things in order in our new house.

OK GO!

Yes I like some OK GO, in fact the new album is seriously tempting me but this is not what this post is about. Its about the MOVE!!! The long awaited 4 day drive-fest which is our relocation to the great state of Washington and the City of Destiny, Tacoma. Its sounds darn impressive but it was just a marketing ploy by railroad, but I'm not saying that Tacoma doesn't live up to its name and in the last few years it has seriously improved. As I type the carpets are being cleaned and then I go to post for Hub's Graduation (this is like him getting his army masters) pick up so goodies at the WAL*MART (hopefully that is the last time I shop there for a few years) and return to the house to have the exterminator come and then turn in the key. Since you can't stay in the house after "inspection" we decided to drive to the nearest major city for the night, which is Amarillo. This gives us a very nice 8 hour drive tomorrow to Denver where we stay at the wonderful Hotel Talbert. I'm seriously excited about seeing my aunt and uncle in Denver since I haven't since, well its been about two years. Now that we are moving its about a 2.5 hour flight to see them and I feel that there might be some weekend trips to Denver.
I'll post from the Road promise.

Falling into Place

So things have been rather up in the air these days. Things that needed to fall into place could not. Finally the pieces began to slip in.
I fell in love with a house in the Proctor area of Tacoma and so did Hub, I flew up to Seattle this week to see the house and just enough the great northwest. The house did not disappoint and as we prepare for move number 6, in the 6 years since I graduated college, I've finally begun to feel okay. (if you want to know we moved from Moscow to Seattle, Seattle to Lawton, Lawton to Clarksville, Apartment to house in clarksville, Clarksville to Lawton) We have moved dates now, all I need to do is get the nitty gritty handled, such as gas and cable and our alarm system moved. Its a long list but not too bad.
I also have a unexpected job interview while I'm here, which if offered I will take since it is my favorite line of work, veterinary microbiology. However the job is working for my rival and sister college, WSU! How do I explain that I need a few days off to go to Moscow and watch the Vandals play football. I guess its a good thing I didn't go to the UW. Funny thing is I had to buy a whole outfit, complete with shoes since I didn't bring anything with me.

These are a few of the pictures from the house...
Backyard


Bathroom


Kitchen

Seattle Trip

I'll be gone for a few days. Not like I've been good a posting but I will be better at it sometime. I'm going to Seattle for a few days to get some things in order for the "BIG MOVE". I've got a few houses to check out. Check out these pictures......

The Walk In

So around 5 on Thursday the power gave up the ghost. After flicking, and flashing the power lines down Lee Blvd. went down and went down hard. The neighbors with an electric stove, and 2 kids came for dinner which was cooked over a gas stove. All the flashlights were out, the last of the laptop batteries put into service for movies and an okay time was had by all. We were all fed and as warm as we could be. When the power turned on at 9pm hub and I jumped out of bed (we went to bed at like 8, figured it was better to read all snug in bed then on the sofas) and turned out lights and turn on dishwashers and house alarms. As we got all snug back under the hardly cooled blankets ready to drift off with sound of the fan running again (we're white noise addicts) the power goes out again. *SIGH*.
Needless to say NO one slept well. The non-coffee'd neighbors shuffled down the iced street to partake in the black gold that is french press coffee, and a warm breakie. By now however the poorly insulated house had dipped to a cool 59. I was wearing, in this order, underthings, leggings, long tank top, wool socks, jeans, long sleeve shirt, slippers, cashmere hoodie, cardigan, hat, scarf and topped with a blanket. With little to do, I tried to curl up on the sofa and knit. Hub got the stubborn gas fireplace lit, it had long ago been caulked shut, and the key lost but with some work we had fire. Needless to say the CO detector hung out with us in the living room. By now I'd packed up the contents of the fridge in the laundry basket and put in the garage, since it was a giant walk in refrigerator.
The freezer items went out on the porch, and the chest freezer stayed right were it was. In fact the ice cream and garden burgers are still out on the porch I don't feel like getting on the boots to get them yet. To keep the small amount of heat the fire place was making in the huge, dramatic, hard to heat family room/kitchen/breakfast nook we put a sheet. Just as we'd pulled the sofa's up to the fire and the chili was simmering on the stove it happened! The lights came back on!!!! Oh it was wonderful!! The heat, the light, the internets!!!! So we crossed our fingers and celebrated with chili and cookies.

Stock up on French Toast

There are few things that make me stay home. I grew up in the rainy state, learned to drive at night in the rain, went to college in place which had one snow every may and don't fear strange parts of town. Ice, that's a whole other thing. Car aren't made for ice, cars don't like it and I don't like it. Since about 8 am the rain has been freezing to anything which will hold still long enough.
The cars are covered too. The roads are still in good shape, but wait until the sun goes down. Every now and then the lights go off and the cable gets cranky. All cell phones are charged and flashlights are at the ready. I have milk, bread and eggs. I also have enough knitting to keep me busy for HOURS.

For sometime I've been using a small bubble gum pink Coach wallet, don't get me wrong I love Coach, but don't like all that pink. It wasn't so much a wallet as a little wristlet thingie. It has no pockets and is PINK! Two strikes. So I made a replacement that works a little better.
See just the right amount of pink, and little pockets to keep all the little bits apart. Its large enough for my cell phone too.

Sweet Time

The Great Sweater Remakes of 2010 are on their way. First step is total sweater destruction. I don't plan on frogging all the bad projects, a few are just going to get a partial rip, and other are getting the sewing machine. Really it wasn't painful at all, it really felt great!

The remains of a dead sweater.

Another thing that is taking its freakin' time, my orchid. All covered in HUGE fat buds just waiting to bloom. Good crap if this doesn't pop soon it might have to move with blooms. Wait, I see whats going on here. In the last move the two orchids (this one and the sickie one) the two African Violets and my peace lily got stuffed into a box and moved across country in a stupid hot truck. If the orchid blooms, I'll treat it all nice and stuff. Darn plant.