the sam, she sent me some tulips today. they were waiting for me in a box when i came in to work this morning, and they are BEAUTIFUL. there's no reason for it other than my somewhat crappy week, which makes it the best kind of gift there is. i love the sam. the sam loves me. life, it ain't so bad, when it comes right down to it. even if i AM still sad for my house and all the people i know who have gotten Bad News this week. i am thinking good thoughts for you guys. and apparently, you are thinking good thoughts for me too, so thanks people. and thanks, samanta!!! you brightened my whole day.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
adventures in cooking
i love to cook. i know i have probably said that before, but every once in a while, i just have a positive cooking moment that reinforces it. last night, i did NOT feel like cooking, but i had bought stuff to make for dinner, and i didn't want to just end up throwing it away. so i manned up, washed all the dishes, aand got dinner ready. i was going to make some chicken in this bottled ginger peanut sauce i got from a southern season. so i got it all in the pan, opened the bottle, and the sauce tasted like absolute crap! after a debate with myself over what to do next, i decided to just make my own. with, you know--my zen. so i got out everything i could think of that would go, and i whipped together a FABULOUS sauce. it had peanut butter, honey, ginger oil, tamari, sambal oelek, chili oil, garlic, and a little white pepper. don't even ask me how much of what i put in it--i have no idea. i just started mixing stuff and tasting. and then i put it on some boneless chicken breasts, cauliflower, and baby carrots, covered the pan, and baked it for like 40 minutes. then i added some chopped scallions at the end. delish. made me feel like a chef for a few minutes. :)
and in another small victory, i just turned down a wonderful-looking fresh doughnut that one of my evil co-workers just offered to me. go me.
and in another small victory, i just turned down a wonderful-looking fresh doughnut that one of my evil co-workers just offered to me. go me.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
retreat
this is a pipe dream, of course. so, back here in reality, i am resolving to do something small for myself every day. for example, yesterday i took about an hour and a half and went to the mall all by myself. i strolled. i didn't hurry. i wasn't really after anything specific. i bought a new rug for my kitchen. i bought some hand lotion for my office. i bought a philisophy skin care starter kit to try to get my skin to stop being so tired and splotchy looking. and i even used it. baby steps to a happier jackie. if you guys have any tips on having getting my attitude readjusted, i would love to hear them.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
or maybe not...
on the way out the door to sign papers committing us to buying the house on friday night, the hippie received some rather unfortunate news regarding his company. let's just say that some new shit has come to light. some Bad Shit. some shit that makes buying a house right now a not-so-intelligent gamble. so. in the single most disappointing experience of my adult life, we let the house go. blah.
and i know rationally that this decision is the only one we can really make. and i am grateful as hell that we found out the Bad Shit now, when there was still a way to unbind ourselves from buying rather than in a month, when we would have been closing. and i know that in two months, we will likely start over and end up buying something. and who knows--maybe we will find something we love even more. but dude! it just sucks when you have expended such a tremendous amount of emotional energy making the decision to buy, to move, to make your life work in a new place. and then, when everything seemed to be ok, let yourself get excited about it. i guess i feel like the proverbial rug has been pulled from beneath my feet.
so thanks for the congratulations you folks sent my way. and wish me happy thoughts as i adjust to this new decision to stay put for a few more months. i think i am going to go buy a new couch to console myself.
and i know rationally that this decision is the only one we can really make. and i am grateful as hell that we found out the Bad Shit now, when there was still a way to unbind ourselves from buying rather than in a month, when we would have been closing. and i know that in two months, we will likely start over and end up buying something. and who knows--maybe we will find something we love even more. but dude! it just sucks when you have expended such a tremendous amount of emotional energy making the decision to buy, to move, to make your life work in a new place. and then, when everything seemed to be ok, let yourself get excited about it. i guess i feel like the proverbial rug has been pulled from beneath my feet.
so thanks for the congratulations you folks sent my way. and wish me happy thoughts as i adjust to this new decision to stay put for a few more months. i think i am going to go buy a new couch to console myself.
Friday, March 24, 2006
taking the plunge
if you are wondering where i have been and why i haven't been blogging--well--this is why. i have been looking at houses and reserching houses pretty much nonstop for the past two weeks. and now, it looks like we are buying this house, which i LOVE! it's a bittersweet decision to tell you the truth--we are leaving downtown raleigh and heading into the sprawl. when we moved into our current 'hood, we thought we would buy something there in a couple of years. but alas, the face of the market changed too drastically. so--the sprawl it is. resistance is futile.
all that said, however, i ADORE this house. i love the neighborhood it's in. there are many builders in this place, and the restrictions are not so tight that people can't individualize their homes. there's a purple house, a turquiose house, and just about every color of the rainbow. some look victorian, some craftsman style (like ours), and many other styles as well. the people are out walking. there are dogs and kids and a pool. and we are only a mile from jenn and harry, who we drive out to see at least a few times a week already. plus, we know a lot of other people in this area, too. so there you go--this is the best thing for us right now. and who knows--maybe someday we will come back downtown. but for right now--these closets are just too big to say no to!
other things i love? the wide front porch with its blue beadboard ceiling and ceiling fan, the screened in back porch, the fabulous merbau floors, the plantation shutters on all the first floor windows, the maple cabinets in the kitchen, the garden bathtub, the view of the lane out the kitchen window, the laundry room (i swear, it's my favorite room in the house), the little japanese plum tree that's blooming in the front yard, and the fact that the house looks tiny from the street, but really isn't.
keep your fingers crossed for us that everything goes smoothly and we get to close on time! if all goes well--we will be in this house by may.
click here for pictures (which i stole from the realtor's and builder's sites).
all that said, however, i ADORE this house. i love the neighborhood it's in. there are many builders in this place, and the restrictions are not so tight that people can't individualize their homes. there's a purple house, a turquiose house, and just about every color of the rainbow. some look victorian, some craftsman style (like ours), and many other styles as well. the people are out walking. there are dogs and kids and a pool. and we are only a mile from jenn and harry, who we drive out to see at least a few times a week already. plus, we know a lot of other people in this area, too. so there you go--this is the best thing for us right now. and who knows--maybe someday we will come back downtown. but for right now--these closets are just too big to say no to!
other things i love? the wide front porch with its blue beadboard ceiling and ceiling fan, the screened in back porch, the fabulous merbau floors, the plantation shutters on all the first floor windows, the maple cabinets in the kitchen, the garden bathtub, the view of the lane out the kitchen window, the laundry room (i swear, it's my favorite room in the house), the little japanese plum tree that's blooming in the front yard, and the fact that the house looks tiny from the street, but really isn't.
keep your fingers crossed for us that everything goes smoothly and we get to close on time! if all goes well--we will be in this house by may.
click here for pictures (which i stole from the realtor's and builder's sites).
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
various annoyances
today is pi day, and i forgot to wear my pi shirt. how annoying is that?! in fact, today has been pretty annoying all around. it's no fun to make a bunch of doctor's appointments, not get called back by our realtor, and to take my car in for a simple oil change and tire rotation, only to be told that really--i should go ahead and do $600 worth of work to it. blah. the good news is that my tax refund will cover the whole cost of our plane tickets to europe. the bad news is that this car is going to eat all my new-clothes-for-europe money. blah again.
oh, today is also the official date for steak and blowjob day, but that's not when we celebrate it. we celebrated it on march 26th the first year we were together, and we refuse to change. i don't have a special shirt for that, but if i did--i would probably forget to wear it. information i should perhaps not be sharing with the internet, but it's too late now. heh.
oh, today is also the official date for steak and blowjob day, but that's not when we celebrate it. we celebrated it on march 26th the first year we were together, and we refuse to change. i don't have a special shirt for that, but if i did--i would probably forget to wear it. information i should perhaps not be sharing with the internet, but it's too late now. heh.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
once a week blogger
this is what i have suddenly become. life has been insanely busy, and i am behind on both the reading and the writing of blogs. in the past week i have bought some plane tickets to europe, bought some ferry tickets to get to an island off the coast of sweden, bought some more pane tickets to fly around within europe, talked to the hippie's sister about hotels and trains and stuff, looked at some houses that we thought about buying, been to the gym once, bled like a stuck pig, had dinner with my friend tom (twice!), cooked out with harry and jenn, gone home to rutherfordton to see my mama and daddy, poked through a boatload of art galleries, gone to dinner with my friends eric and kylie, shopeed for, found, and wrapped a present for g's 3rd birthday (and no, i CAN'T believe she's already three!!!), bought tax software, procrastinated doing taxes, knitted a tiny bit, gone to the grocery store, cooked and cleaned the kitchen a few times, developed a hive, talked on the phone, and done a boatload of real estate research. and yet i sit here, quiet for a moment, with a kitty sleeping on my lap, wondering why i am tired. i feel like i am not being productive. wonder why i have a hive? lol. my W-2 is sitting here in front of me, just waiting, and i know i will look at it before i give it up and go read. damn that whole type-A thing to hell anyway.
jenn and i have a spa day scheduled for this weekend, and i CANNOT WAIT! i need a break, people. this weekend is all about DOWN TIME. once i get the bathroom clean...
jenn and i have a spa day scheduled for this weekend, and i CANNOT WAIT! i need a break, people. this weekend is all about DOWN TIME. once i get the bathroom clean...
Friday, March 03, 2006
le clapotis, n. m., lapping: the act of winding around or swathing
pattern: clapotis, from knitty.com
variations: added one increase set and thus, one decrease set (and if i had it to do over, i would add at least one more straight set as well--i had about 60 yards of yarn left over)
yarn: ~2.6 skeins of a.l. de sauveterre's estelle (100% cashmere, sportweight)
color: orion
needles: US size 6 lantern moon 14-inch rosewood needles
timeline:
- august 25, 2005: order yarn
- august 31: yarn arrives
- february 02, 2006: join knitting olympics
- february 03: form team clapotis
- february 04: wind yarn
- february 09: knit swatch for gauge/size; frog swatch
- february 10: clapotis started during televising of opening ceremonies
- february 11: some progress in increase rows, photos taken
- february 13: knit and frog 2.6 sets of increase rows because of stupid mistake
- february 16: meet knitting group, finish increase rows, drop one stitch!
- february 17-18 moderate progress
- february 19-20: stalled--too much going on, friends visiting, etc.
- february 21: knitted for 3 hours with jenn, made mistake, pulled out all progress. blah.
- february 22: dance class--behind on knitting
- february 23: hippie's game night--watched all of the extended verion of the two towers and most of the return of the king while knitting. at end of day, through 7.6 sets of straight rows.
- february 24: no knitting, went dancing instead
- february 25:
8:39am: made tea, put in the rest of the return of the king, ate half a bowl of cereal, started knitting
10:07am: made oatmeal and more tea, put in lost dvd, kept knitting
1:38pm: made hippie go for pizza, stopped knitting long enough to eat some, still knitting
2:30-ish pm: hippie goes to back room to work on computer, so i break from lost and put in some other dvd--i have no idea what
3:40pm: take short break for girlscout cookies and milk
8:50-ish pm: hippie runs out for chinese food, more lost
somewhere around midnight: hippie goes to bed, put in end of pride and prejudice (the A&E one) - february 26:
12:40-ish am: make tea, put in sense and sensibility dvd
2:32am: finish straight rows, take photos, move from couch to chair in effort to minimize back pain
3-something am: movie ends, get up and walk around a minute, make more tea, eat some girl scout cookies, and put in ever after dvd
5:something am: take involuntary nap in middle of purl row, sleep for about an hour and 40 minutes holding knitting in hands
7-ish am: wake with violent start
7:13am: make tea, start knitting on the couch again, back up ever after dvd to where it was when i passed out
8:24am: make tea, eat some cereal, keep knitting
10:10am: wake up hippie, make coffee for him and tea for me, tell him he's on his own for breakfast since i have to knit
noon-ish: eat some leftovers for lunch. things at this point are kind of a blur. i just keep knitting and knitting, knowing in my heart i am not going to make the 2pm deadline for gold. blah.
2pm: write blog post about failure
2:07pm: keep knitting--i am determined to finish today
3-ish pm: take shower, let hot water run on hands for about 20 minutes
3:30-ish pm: put in pirates of the carribean dvd, beg hippie to go get milk so i can eat the rest of the girlscout cookies
3:57 pm: last of the girlscout cookies, milk, more tea, become bored with dvd, move to comfy velvet bedroom chair and opt to talk on the phone with meredith instead--thank god for headsets
7-something pm: nearly give up, decide to go out to dinner with the hippie instead of knitting any more, even though i am almost through decrease rows
8:00pm: closing ceremonies come on tv in the restaurant, filling me with new determination--pay for dinner and run home to finish up
8:39pm: decrease rows complete
just after 9pm: finished! hands go completely numb while inraveling last dropped stitch - february 27th: take photos, blog about completion, but failure to achieve gold
- february 28th: receive comments on blog post saying gold is deserved since casted on in televising of opening and bound off in televising of closing--email yarn harlot to ask her for a judge's ruling--yarn harlot grants gold medal! yay!!!!!
- february 29th: gold medal received
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)