randomness

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10 Random Things

October 5, 2011 in October 2011 | 2 comments

This little game is going around Ravelry and since its a busy week and I have no time to write and its an easy post, I’d thought I’d share.  10 truly random things about me:

  1. I am cat person, who once was a dog person. Now reformed. (adding here – someday I may have both.  I have dreams of a border collie [and the space/lifestyle needed to have one] and a yorkie or westie).
  2. I don’t have a favorite color – I can’t pick just one.
  3. I love to read but never have enough time for it. Case in point – it just took me 3 months to read The Help.
  4. I am a morning person and have been since I was a kid. I usually get up by 6 AM, even on weekends and fall asleep by 9:30 PM.
  5. I love to bake but don’t do it much, unless I have a reason to bake for others.
  6. One of the few true regrets I have in life is that I didn’t spend more time with either of my grandmothers, to learn some of our family traditions directly from them.
  7. I grew up in a one stop-light town (Marlborough, CT). Hated it growing up, appreciate its charms more now that I’m an adult but will still never live there again.
  8. I am extremely anal retentive about having a balanced checkbook. Its always balanced, to the penny. I don’t wait until my statement comes – I put everything in Quicken and balance it against what’s cleared every few days from my online banking.
  9. I have way too many knitting and spinning projects going at once. And in 2 weeks, I’m adding to the madness and learning to weave.
  10. I was married for 9 years, the last few of which were really difficult, the divorce even more so. It taught me to choose to happiness, make a life for myself that reflects that choice and appreciate it deeply.

Anyone care to play along?

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Catching Up – Random Style

June 12, 2011 in June 2011 | No comments

I’ve been busy, busy, busy.  Work, fun stuff, family, more work, throw a little more fun stuff in.  Life is good :-)

Since I last posted much of anything:

  • The farmer’s market started.    Its even better this year.  Along with the usual produce, home made foods, baked goods and crafts, there’s a fish monger, the Agave Grill Taqueria and an even wider selection of vendors.  And its just so much fun!  I love that my Sunday mornings now revolve around getting to the market.
  • Paula and I headed up to Massachusetts Sheep and Wool festival during Memorial Day weekend.  We had a blast.  I was sort of well behaved, purchasing only a bit of fiber from Spunky Eclectic and another skein of Cormo Flock Sock Yarn from Foxfire Fiber/Springdelle Farm.  This time, I remembered to take a couple of pictures:
  • The following weekend, I went to Foxfire’s farm event – I have tons of pictures, so I’ll save that for another post.
  • During the week in between, I managed to both crack the windshield on the non-mom-mobile (Tuesday) and get rear ended (Thursday).  My insurance company loves me.  I’m fine – still irritated about the accident, as the jerk that hit me took off and it was the 4th time I’ve been rear ended.  Enough, OK?  I get the non-mom-mobile back tomorrow, which means that I have to give back the new Explorer that I got to drive in the mean time.  I’m in denial about that part.  I <3 Progressive.
  • The training I went to last week was fabulous – Motivational Interviewing.  I hadn’t been to a counseling focused training in a while and I really enjoyed it.  It was in beautiful, scenic Newark, NJ (next to the airport to boot).  Go ahead, be jealous.
  • I get to go to Boston for 3 days of training next month – that should more than make up for the fact that I didn’t want to leave my hotel for this one.
  • I got the Hipstamatic app for my iPhone.  One rainy afternoon, 3 cats and you get this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They may not be quite as in love with it as I am…

  • I’ll leave you with one more thing from the Farmer’s Market – Strawberry Shortcake to be:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yum!

There’s more but its another post for another day…

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Random Monday

February 14, 2011 in February 2011 | 1 comment

Thoughts and doings from the weekend…

  • We have meltage!  Its the January thaw a few weeks late.  40s today and 50s later this week.  I’m hoping it melts all of the remaining snow, though there’s still a good couple of feet on the ground, so we’ll see.
  • This morning, the weather guy was hinting at snow after this warm up ends.  This makes me incredibly happy.  I’d like some fresh stuff, please.
  • If I run into anyone who reads this blog today, I’m running the other way.  That last comment is likely to get me hurt.
  • Spontaneous naps are the best.  Sunday afternoon, knitting on the couch, sleepy comes over me, knitting gets tossed aside.  Two hours later, I woke up rested and refreshed.
  • Split chicken breasts are my new favorite thing.  I picked some up on sale recently, thinking I’d toss them on the grill pan.  Instead, I roasted them the same way I’d roast a whole chicken – a little salt and pepper, rubbed sage and some butter to keep things moist, high heat at the beginning, then low and slow for a while.  Just like roasting a whole chicken, but without all the fuss and mess.  Served with mashed potatoes, a simple pan gravy and a nice green veggie – comfort food heaven.  All that was missing was a good bottle of wine.
  • Grant season is in full swing.  I brought home 5 to work on, in various stages, this weekend.  Bleh.  No end in sight either – it’ll be May or June before its over.
  • I haven’t been to the Y in nearly 2 weeks.  Work and weather are to blame.  Weather the week before last, work last week.  I can’t wait to get there after work today.
  • I start yoga in 2 weeks.  So excited!!!
  • I’m thinking about trying Zumba too.  Have I mentioned that I have no rhythm?  And minimal coordination?  Should be interesting.
  • The joy of unlimited classes at the Y – I can try anything once.
  • I got 2 repeats done on Oh! Canada this weekend.  I have 2 left.
  • I really wish work would stop interfering with my knitting time.  This “responsible adult” thing is not all its cracked up to be.

Happy Monday!  Happy Valentine’s Day!

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A side note

November 6, 2010 in November 2010 | 1 comment

Quite literally!  For those of you who haven’t noticed, I recently installed a live traffic feed on my side bar.  If you’re reading from a feed reader, you’ll of course have to click through.  Its a ways down.  It shows the locations of the 10 most recent people who have visited the blog.  If you click on the “Watch Live” button, you’ll be taken to a longer running list of the live traffic feed.  I added it to get a sense of where my readers come from, after having seen it on some other blogs.

At this point, its only been installed for a few days.  Its pretty amazing to see where you’ve all come from – a lot of hits from CT and throughout New England but also all over the country and quite far away.  In the last few days, I’ve had hits from Germany, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and even Singapore.

I admit a little bit “Big Brother” feeling to me – now that I know where you all are from.  Still, its giving me an interesting look into the traffic here.

 

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Three Things on Thursday

September 30, 2010 in September 2010 | No comments

Blatantly stealing this one from Carole – I needed a little blog fodder and am in the mood for something random.  This is so much better than bullets ;-)

Three Things I’m Happy About:

  1. The apple pie pictured above – I tried an all butter crust (this one) and my usual recipe for the spices and apples.  Best pie I’ve ever made.  I’m a convert.  Just don’t tell my mother I’m no longer using her shortening crust recipe.  Between that and the nutmeg I put in my pie, I may be written out of the will.
  2. Great news at work – my street outreach program got another 3 years of federal funding.  I’m thrilled, relieved, proud, excited – I spent months researching and planning changes to the program for the grant we wrote in July and now its all coming to fruition.
  3. Saturday is the first Nutmeg Spinners Guild meeting of the year.  I’ve taken on the role of Program Chair this year.  We have an exciting year of programs planned.  It’ll be great to see people I’ve missed all summer too.

Three Things I’m Concerned About:

  1. My to do list for all of the changes to my street outreach program occupies 2 pages (so far) of an 8 1/2 x 14 legal pad.  Its categorized to keep me organized.  New program year starts today.  Off and running, yes but I worry about how I’m going to get it all done.
  2. That I set myself up for chaos on Monday with a planned move of program office spaces, including shifting around furniture I use for storage in my own office all in the midst of writing a quarterly report, submitting monthly statistics to a funder and working on that to do list.
  3. Picking up stitches purlwise for the sleeves on Cecchetti.  My first attempt took me an hour last night.  Need to do a little research on the best way to do this and try again.

Three Things I Love About the Fall:

  1. The colors!  Love, love, love the foliage.  The leaves make me happy.
  2. Fall fiber festivals!  Guild this weekend kicks off 5 fiber festivals/events in 6 weeks – Guild, Wool Arts Tour in NH, Rhinebeck, then a weekend off, Stitches and the new Fiber Festival of New England.
  3. Pulling out the handknits – this weekend is going to bring cool temps that are perfect for a handknit shawl around the shoulders.

Happy Friday eve!

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Cute Overload

March 31, 2010 in March 2010 | 2 comments

A little something fun to brighten up a dreary Wednesday morning…

Go peek at The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee.  I found this one recently through another blog and have to share!  The author, Laurie, fosters kittens and then helps to find them new homes.  And she photographs them – so many pictures that she must have a camera on them at all times.  So much cute – guaranteed to make you smile.

No knitting this morning – I finished a sock but need to unearth my light box, which is in my still untouched porch, before I can take a proper picture.  That is a project for my day off on Friday.

Happy Wednesday!

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Random Monday…

June 16, 2008 in June 2008 | 3 comments

I just realized that I haven’t posted in almost a week. The chaos continues, with long work hours last week and a jam-packed weekend. Its all good, just incredibly hectic.  Here’s a list of random updates from the last few days:

  • I’ve got patterns! My order from Knitspot arrived on Saturday. I ordered a wide variety – 17 different designs. There’s socks, hats, mitts, scarves and Anne’s amazing lace shawls. Something to go with each of my yarns. They’d also be perfect for working with handspun yarn. Unfortunately, they’re sitting on the table in my dye studio at the moment. I’m hoping to get them listed on Etsy during the week, even if I have to do a few at a time. Worst case, I’ll list them on Saturday. Some will be as individual patterns, others will be paired with yarn in kit form. I’ll post on the blog when once I’ve listed them.
  • I’ve been spinning! I joined the 10 Minutes a Day group on Ravelry. Organized by Carole, the idea is to spin for 10 minutes a day. Apparently, I’m not the only person who struggles to fit in spinning time. For the last several months, my wheel goes untouched between spinning guild meetings and I even more rarely pull out a spindle. I love the 10 Minutes a Day idea – I really can find 10 minutes to spin, before or after work, while I watch the news or before bed. My wheel has now taken up residence in the living room again. I’ve just started to play along, working on my BFL rovings for the Justify wrap. Right away I noticed something – focusing on just spinning a tiny amount of roving at a time is allowing me to focus on spinning it well. To explain, I often find myself spinning just to spin – while I have a general thickness in mind, I don’t focus a lot on making perfectly even yarn and feel that I just want to accomplish something. The idea that I am only going to spin a small amount of roving for a few minutes is allowing me to focus more on spinning a consistent single at just the right thickness. More spinning time and better yarn! Love this group.
  • I’ve been knitting! On Saturday, we spent the day with my parents, little brother and niece on my parent’s boat. I brought along my Pave socks and knitted most of the foot. I was a bit sad to miss out on the World Wide Knit in Public Day events in the area – knitting aboard the boat while we headed over to Watch Hill, RI more than made up for it! It was perfect. My niece, at two, was quite interested in my yarn – she made sure the tail from cast on was under control while I knitted. I so hope she has it. My own aunt, on my father’s side (so her great aunt) is a fiber artist – I’m more than a bit convinced its genetic. Let’s hope she inherited the obsession with all things fibery.
  • I signed the book! I did say random, didn’t I? Yesterday, Everett and I took the step of formally joining the Unitarian Universalist Society that we have been attending for the last few months. We “signed the book” – meaning that we are now members. Oddly, this was a big step for us (I having been raised with no religious background, Ev having been raised in the UCC church but gave it up as a teenager) but felt so natural and completely right that our discussions around the decision to join never went beyond “yes, let’s do it”. It is the spiritual community that we both have been quietly seeking out for a long time, where we can explore our beliefs, figure out what we each believe or at the very least, sit comfortably with not knowing what we believe. It is an interesting, thought provoking and wonderful place that we feel at home in. Its a perfect fit for our liberal, socially conscious and very likely godless world view. ;)
  • Still random, I finally saw Sex In the City yesterday (alone – I was not about to drag Ev along, nor did I want to admit to anyone just how much I would cry over Big and Carrie. Pathetic. I know). It was also the first time that I had been in a movie theatre in years. Why did I pay more than my monthly Netflix subscription cost for a movie, small soda and small popcorn? Big and Carrie, and Samantha and Charlotte and Miranda. Even more pathetic. I loved every minute of it.

That pretty well fills you in what’s happening in my life. I’m preparing (mentally and physically) for another crazy work week. Training continues – between training and a board meeting, I have three late work nights this week. Saturday looks to be free (possibly even husband free – please, please let those camping plans come together). I plan on using the time wisely – knitting, spinning and catching up on some Painted Sheep stuff. I’ll post as I’m able this week.

Have a great Monday!

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