Ten On Tuesday

10 Things on Your "To-Do" List

1. Felt my sushi wallet.
2. Organize my "cables and wire" cabinet.
3. Get rid of all the clothes we don't wear.
4. Water the plants.
5. Clean the sugar glider's wheel.
6. Organize the closet.
7. Shampoo the carpet.
8. Give the ferrets a bath.
9. Trim their claws.
10. Let the sugar gliders roam "free" in their balls.

If you wish to play along, please feel free to check out Ten on Tuesday

Zen, the confederate?

I just want to take a moment to say what a wonderful boyfriend I have. I mean really, how many men out there pay so much attention to a their woman's interests and put thought and effort into surprising their girl with a gift that pertains to her hobbies. Since the week before last he has been having me playing the guessing game about a gift that he had ordered me but of course he was lying about all the hints to throw me off. It was not until Wednesday when I went to go check the mail when I found out what I had gotten. A Kitchen Aid mixer! Yep, I was so stunned when the post office lady handed it over to me she kept telling me I didn't need to sign but I just stood there grinning at the box. I love it, I love it, I love it! This weekend I used it to make some parmesan mashed potatoes with it and some cookies. I made the chocolate crackle cookies from the Martha Stewart cookies book with a few variations. I used egg replacer for the eggs, Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder instead of Dutch processed unsweetened cocoa powder (What's the difference anyway?), and unsweetened chocolate instead of bittersweet chocolate which a lady at the supermarket said I could use instead. I don't know what they were supposed to taste like but I thought mine were pretty darn good. Paul said he wanted to pick the next cookie for me to bake. I can't wait to see what he picks. I hope it's a good recipe.

This past Friday I got home early at about 1:30 with my Sobe and I was ready to go. I finally got out my spinning kit, good out my how to book and turned on my favorite youtube instructional video on how to spin. I think I'm doing pretty good. I know it's rough but I have tons of roving left and a good bit of patience. I know this thick-thin yarn is what some people like but I can't wait until I get my drafting straight and start putting out that nice even thin yarn. This past week I also made a pencil cup made from a recycled phone book. You can see it in the picture of the Kitchen Aid mixer on the coffee table above as well as my sushi wallet pre-felting. I really need to toss it in the washer. I just need to do it quickly like pulling off a band aid. Soon.

i

This past weekend was Civil War weekend at the park by my home. They have it every year and I've wanted to go but never got off my butt to check it out. This year I finally got myself together and walked out there in the cold, windy rain. It was well worth it though. It was quite entertaining though. Not the most accurate with the confederate soldiers outnumbering the union soldiers and the majority of both walking away unharmed but the uniforms and artillery was impressive. The booths were quite interesting with all the demonstrations of candle making, black smiths and knives. I got Paul a confederate hat which was unfortunately made in china but I still wanted to support the cause as well. What I did find quite creepy was one of the collections of dolls at one of the booths which I took a close up of. I know a lot of people like collecting these things but I just find them creepy.

I "felt" great!

I finally got to my wool pets kit of the owls. Felting is so much fun. I can't wait to get more kits or roving to perhaps make my own animals. I've already got so many ideas running through my mind. I can't wait to pick up the spindle and learn how to spin. Squee!!

I'm actually done knitting the sushi wallet (I'll post pictures later on.) I just need to felt it next. Which is very scary! Not being in control kind of worries me. Maybe this weekend I'll grow some cojones and toss it in the washer. Wish me luck!

I went to the mall yesterday to pick up some new new black slacks for work. For me this means checking out Borders and getting some Starbucks. Yay!! I wish I worked at a book store. It's probably a good thing I don't. If I did, you probably wouldn't be able to step foot into the apartment. Anyway! I picked up my first moleskine sketchbook. I can't wait to begin pencil sketching again. I'm not very good but drawing is a skill that I've always wanted to improve. I love the craftmanship of this notebook which is handmade. I want to pick up the graph paper notebook and the watercolor notebook.

Ten On Tuesday

10 Things You Like Doing on Vacation

1. Knit Knit Knit.
2. Catch up with reading.
3. Let the ferrets and sugar gliders run amok.
4. Finally get to play video games. Can you say "Rock band"?
5. Go to the movies.
6. Go out shopping.
7. Road trip!
8. Sleep until I can't take it anymore.
9. Try new food.
10. Catch a concert.

If you wish to play along, feel free to check out Ten On Tuesday.

Movies

This past weekend we watched a few mediocre movies and a few good ones. It's been a few weeks since I've updated what movies we have watched. I'm not sure how to go about this. I don't want to review every single one because there are so many movies where it would be very long and drawn out and would probably bore you to death. I try to keep it short and simple.

Here are the movies I genuinely enjoyed:

Here are the ones I don't think are worth a penny:

I'm not even going to bother putting up the "eh" ones.

Ten On Tuesday

10 Songs You Hate

For as much as I try to enjoy all different types of music, there are still some that just make me grind my teeth when I hear them. I don't know if I'm going to be able to come up with 10 but I'll give it a go.

• Kissed by a Rose by Seal
• Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper
• Anything Nickelback *cringes*
• Crush by David Archuletta
• Little Susie by Micheal Jackson. I know it's one of the songs on his HIStory album that's creepy.
• Cowboy by Kid Rock
• Most Hank Jr. songs
• Anything by Shooter Jennings
• Anything by Rod Stewart

Done! Done! Done!

Alright... *catches her breath*... I'm so happy. I finally got the shawl done. I started it in October just to tear it out a month later and I completed it just a few days before my mother's birthday. I quickly got a purple Hallmark box that closes with a ribbon and lined the shawl with silver tissue paper when folding it and stuffed the box with some more silver tissue paper. Made my own tag for the garment and shipped it off. I should have taken a picture of the packaging but maybe next time. I am so proud of this lace knit. It was my first serious lace project with lace weight yarn. It came out beautiful.

Another knitting update is that I got my tax return. I'm trying to be very smart with the money so I balanced the ol' check book, bought a few items and am saving the rest. I was VERY tempted to buy an iphone but I didn't do it. I dunno... I think that Paul would give me a guilt trip if I had a fancy phone and he didn't. I know he would buy me a phone if he bought himself one. Maybe some other time with some other money. I'll stick to my razr for now. I got Paul Red Hulk the graphic novel, Cool Hand Luke blu-ray, an ICP album (Independent's Day) and a Jamie Maddrox album (Phatso) which I know I am going to be tortured with *sigh*. lol. As to myself, I got myself the Louet drop spindle beginner's kit. I am so charged to learn how to spin. I also got a Wool Pets needle felting kit for two small owls. My last item to spoil myself with is 10 skeins of Rowan Yarns Felted Tweed #152. Enough for a sweater. I'll update when I've put these items to use.

Before I forget, I also knit the Odessa hat. It started as a hat for my brother but it was a girls pattern with beads so I omitted the beads thinking that maybe it would look more masculine but it was still girly looking so I sent it off to my best friend Heidi. I'm not much of a hat person and she had been nagging me for one.

Ten On Tuesday

10 Ways You Can Make Your Life Better

1. Exercising more.
2. Paying careful attention to food labels.
3. Buying a treadmill.
4. Quitting my current job.
5. Starting my own business.
6. Being kinder to people around me.
7. A new couch.
8. Eating more organic.
9. A kitchen aid mixer.
10. Making more meals from scratch.

Good music and PBR

Last night, I caught an awesome show. Wayne Hancock, Bob Wayne, 357 String Band and Joe Buck came into town. I had known about this for quite some time and made sure to let Paul know that this was a "must attend" show. It is so hard to get Paul to go out with me and up until the last minute he was complaining about having to go. I told him that I wish he would just try to enjoy himself for me. Once he got there, he really had a good time. He said the V Club was his new favorite bar and he was happy that they had some Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. We tried to count how many we had at the end of the night, we figured about 30 between the two of us. I was pretty gone to say the least. I was beyond the point of seeing double, I was seeing triple. I definitely became a fan of The 357 String Band. Their fast tempo bluegrass really had me bouncing. Joe Buck was amazing as usual. I got to talk to him and probably made a fool out of myself because I remember him looking at me like I was a drunk idiot but it's all good. Bob Wayne waved at us and spoke to Paul in the bathroom. Wayne Hancock was awesome. I FINALLY got to see him live which I had been wanting to do for a very long time. Just simply amazing. I even got them to play "North To Alaska" for Paul which is what he was wanting to hear. It was a great show. The lead guitarist kept smiling at me so I grabbed the chance to snag a cool picture of him posing with his guitar. (Thanks Izzy!)