Ten On Tuesday

10 Underrated Movies

1. Rocky Horror Picture Show
2. Shock Treatment
3. Lady Killers
4. Walk The Line
5. Superbad
6. The Cable Guy
7. Clerks II
8. Wedding Singer
9. A Christmas Story
10. 30 Days of Night

Bonus: Across The Universe

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Ten On Tuesday

10 Signs that You're Getting Older (from a 24 year old's perspective)

1. You ache when you wake up in the morning.
2. You realize you need a retirement plan.
3. You have to pay your own bills for the rest of your life.
4. Your friends are all starting to have a kid... or two.
5. Even worse, people younger than you have kids.
6. You remind yourself how you need to start taking vitamins again.
7. You find young kids nowadays are obnoxious.
8. You really notice that your parents are getting older and you need to appreciate them more (note to self: call mom and dad).
9. You start wondering if you should have kids because you are getting older even though you're against having kids.
10. The weekends are for resting and when you do go out to enjoy the nightlife it's strenuous work.

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What I did on my vacation

I actually began my vacation with a road trip but I have yet to get all my pictures and thoughts organized so I'm going to make that a separate post. As to the rest of my vacation after the road trip with Paul and his dad which was filled with breath taking scenery, I got the bird feeder filled up along with the suet cakes out. The birds were flocking to them to get food all week long and the Cherry tree was blooming right outside my apartment spreading it's fragrant smell all around. The whole week was so relaxing. We just sat back and enjoyed each other's company. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

I finally finished my pencil holder! I'm so happy with it. I found the instructions for it on this blog. I accidentally made it an inch taller than specified so some sections I stuffed with paper in order for the pencils and pens to sit up higher on. Paul asked me if I was going to paint it which reminded me that I had some paint sitting around somewhere around here and in the process I found my gold glitter from glittering pumpkins around Halloween. The light bulb turned on. I glittered the whole thing and gave it a coat of glossy Mod Podge to stop the glitter from leaving a little trail everywhere the holder is set. I think it turned out pretty neat looking.

In one of my recent trips to Michael's, I found a bunch of Craft magazine which I snatched up quickly. One of them was focused on weaving and had a small paper loom. I wish I had one of those huge looms to make beautiful blankets with, but I figured I had to start somewhere and what better to start with than a free paper loom. So here is my poor attempt. It's a bit more difficult to hold and weave as the article describes but I'll continue to give it a honest try.

Knit Picks Big Snugs in the sea foam color. This is my next knitting project.

Here's some of what I cooked and baked during my vacation:

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies

I also made Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies but I only had a 9" pan when it called for a 8" so they didn't come out looking too good even though they tasted just fine. I didn't take pictures since they weren't up to par.

Ten On Tuesday

10 Least Liked Foods

1. Meat
2. Eggs *
3. Those little potato - onion looking veggies in Chinese food.
4. Milk that came from an animal *
5. Peas
6. Fish
7. Pickles (Especially the smell)
8. Horseradish (Especially the smell)
9. Figs (Did you know that these have crushed bugs in them?)
10. Sauerkraut

*The thing with these foods is that I will purchase foods already made that include them but I myself don't purchase eggs and I only bake with milk if it's a critical part of the recipe and cannot be substituted.

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.

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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.

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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.