Christmas Knitting

Now that everyone has received their Christmas presents, I can show you all what I've been making for the last few months.

First, my dad's scarf (with Jason as model)
This is garter stitch, so it was simple, but I used small needles so it was fairly time intensive.
I think it turned out really nice, and he loves it.

My mom's roll-brim hat
and handwarmers (both made from organic cotton)
I crocheted my mom's handwarmers first, and was actually pleased with my shaping skills, but, like a lot of crochet, it was really stiff. I knew her arthritic hands would not like that. So I tore them out and knit them instead. They wound up being very soft and stretchy - perfect for her.

I also made handwarmers for my sister-in-law Sarah. My brother-in-law confirmed for me that she is, in fact, one of those girls whose hands are always cold.
I also made a scarf for my mother-in-law, but finished it on the plane so I don't have a picture yet.

Hats for my father-in-law

Brandon (BIL)

Taylor (BIL)

and Marissa (SIL)
Now I'm finally making my handwarmers that I've been planning to make since June or so, being a girl of the cold-handed variety myself.

Cold

Anyone want to take a guess what this is?




Answer coming...





So, all of our windows except one are new and double-paned. The giant window in our dining room, alas, is single-paned. I love that window because it lets in so much light and allows me to grow herbs and (sometimes) tomatoes in the dining room.

However, some wintry mornings, it looks like this:
That's a thin layer of ice coating the INSIDE of the window. I could scrape ice shavings off with my fingernails.

When we open the windows in the Spring and the Summer, they lose their seals with the window panes. Every Winter, Jason pushes all the windows closed on the top and bottom and locks them to keep the majority of the cold air out. Well, the past couple of days have been pretty cold, and we haven't sealed up all the windows yet. According to our thermometer, this morning it was 15 degrees outside...

...and 49 degrees in the living room.*

Yeah, I think it's time to seal those windows.

The good news is, by the time I left for work, the sun beating on the window had melted the ice. Tiny was having a good time chasing the rivulets of water.

*We don't really use the furnace unless we happen to be home for the majority of a very cold weekend. There are multiple reasons. 1) The furnace is extremely inefficient and expensive. 2) If we turn on the furnace when we get home from work, the apartment will JUST be starting to kind of get warmish right as we're going to bed. 3) Even when the furnace is on the heat feels really nice when you stand right in front of the vent, but when you move more than 3 or 4 feet away from a vent, the cold takes over. Space heaters are our friends.

Head

I've discovered that I like knitting hats. Over on Ravelry, I noticed that a bunch of the other hat knitters had these styrofoam heads to model their hats. I thought that was a quite an investment into the hat-making endeavor, and also had no idea where one would get a head. So I've been using roughly head-size balloons to block my hats.

Saturday I discovered that if you need a styrofoam head, you go to Savers, where they have a huge display of heads. For $4 each.

Everyone, meet Bronwyn:
Here she is modeling one of my recent creations:

Providence

Look who I just saw when I went out to grab a sandwich



Ah, Providence.

Shameless

This is a blog post to get an extra entry into this knitting needle giveaway from favecrafts.com. Because, frankly, I need another set of knitting needles, but have a feeling Jason will flip out if I buy more. See, I'm knitting a bag and it's too small for the 32" circulars and too big for the 16" circulars. Right now it's on the 16" ones and it's cramped and tight and no fun to work on at all. Ideally, I need a set of 24" needles (and I can get 15 sets of needles for $20 from my favorite ebay seller, but, as mentioned above, Jason may have a heart attack if I buy more), but I think 29" might work. Also, they come in a travel case. Ooooooo.

Anywho, I'm entering the needle giveaway. Please don't enter so I can win. K thx.

Beware the Nigerian Landlord Scam

Jason emailed me this great apartment posting on Craig's List right in our neighborhood. When I inquired, I received this bizarre email asking a ton of personal questions from someone claiming to be doing humanitarian work in Africa and stating that we could not see the inside of the apartment. But once he received our deposit we would get the keys and lease Fed Exed to us. To which I said, I don't think so.

Then today I read this article.

Just wanted to make everyone aware since they're apparently all over Craig's List.

Amigurumi

My cousin had surgery this past Tuesday and my mom will be having surgery on Wednesday (hopefully. She's been waiting for almost 2 years for this surgery). I crocheted each of them a little amigurumi animal, which I wasn't able to post on here until they both got them because they read the blog.

So here's my cousin Amy's bunny, which she tells me she named "B":
And here's my mom's, well, mouse or Hello Kitty:
The pattern was actually for a Hello Kitty, but the ears turned out more rounded than planned and I thought she looked like a mouse, which was still adorable. But my mom recognized her as Hello Kitty, so I guess she's whatever she looks like to whoever has her.

I made these last weekend and then they sat on our dining table for a couple of days before I mailed them out. Once they were all packaged to go out, Jason said in a sad voice, "Oh, no more bunny and mouse..." I asked him if he wanted me to make us a bunny and mouse and he said maybe. After Christmas presents are done.

Update to Providence's Idiotic Recycling Plan

Yesterday was trash day. A girl in Jason's lab diligently put out her trash with 2 recycling bins per trash can.

Her recycling bins were promptly stolen.

Shocker.

Basket Story

Last night I went to Michael's to try to find some doll eyes for an amigurumi creation. FYI, googly eyes are the extent of Michael's doll eye department. However, they do have a giant bead inventory and I found these flat, round, black beads that work perfectly for eyes.

I've observed that Michael's strategy during the economic downturn has been to put everything in the store on massive sale all the time. Judging by the amount of super cheap yarn that now resides in our guest room, their strategy is working. While I was gazing down the aisles, looking for doll parts, I noticed all the baskets were 40% off, so I thought I would give them a perusal. Then I saw a basket that I have been eying since it first appeared in July or August. It's a large light-colored basket with faux leather handles, 2 stripes of chocolate brown, tan and sage green, and a fabric lining.

Only, it was $27.99. I'm not prepared to pay that for a basket that I don't really need. I was kind of tempted when it was 40% off a couple of months ago, but it still seemed like too much. Last night, it had a clearance price on it of $12.99. I did some quick math and decided that if it was 40% off that $12.99 I would be dumb not to get it.

Well, it wasn't 40% off the clearance price. Instead it was 90% off the original price. I got it for $2.79. Ta-dah!
While I was standing in the aisle, wondering how to justify bringing home a large basket when we are supposed to be in the process of decluttering, I saw this cute little one.
I had noticed this basket in the past too. However, there was no clearance tag and at 40% off $12.99, I could maybe justify it. Maybe. But if the first basket, which I loved, needed a purpose, then this one REALLY needed a purpose.

Then it hit me. I always have yarn projects cluttering up my side of the couch. Maybe I could keep my works in progress in this little basket, like so:
Fabulous!

Also, the little basket was 90% off as well. That's right, $1.29.

As for the big basket, it will now be the new home of my overflowing yarn stash. Justification is a beautiful thing.

Don't Get Cocky

I was all cocky after making a few hats that, hey, this knitting thing isn't really so tough. That'll teach me. I have started and ripped out (or frogged as the knitters say) this one project no less than 5 times. I was working on it on my lunch hour and realized that I'm going to have to rip it out again. For one, even though I made a swatch for the gauge and had it all correct, I tried it on and realized it is way too small for the recipient.

For two, I can't seem to increase via the "M1R" or "M1L" stitches without leaving gaping holes underneath the stitch. According to the folks on Ravelry, the stitch is supposed to twist somehow so that there is no hole. Well, I've watched 4 videos and read explicit directions and I am convinced I'm doing exactly what they say to do and it's still not working. I think I'll have to get one of my knitting gurus to explain it to me at our craft night this week. Good thing that's tomorrow night.

I guess this is what they call the learning process. These are Christmas presents though so I need to have learned this by, say, next week at the latest.

Asininity

[Local rant to follow]

Recently, our fair city of Providence has implemented probably the stupidest trash pick-up policy ever conceived. Their new plan is to only empty your trash if you put out your recycling bins.

OK so far, right?

But here is how they have morphed that simple plan into something that's going to make our city smell pretty bad sometime in the near future.

1) They will only empty your trash if you have two recycling bins (one for paper, one for everything else) per trash can. So that means at houses like ours, where we have two trash cans and two recycling bins, only one trash can has been emptied for the last 2 weeks. Last week they slapped a bumper sticker with "Green-Up Providence" on the trash can they didn't empty. Oookaay... That doesn't really tell us anything. Jason thought maybe they didn't empty it because the lid wasn't on tight enough...? Then I saw a news report about the new policy and everything became clear (one week after the policy was implemented).

2) The city didn't really do anything to tell us about the policy, and the things they did do didn't include all the relevant information. In this article, city employees say they sent mailers and blanketed the community with information. Um, no. We didn't get anything in the mail and as I already mentioned, I only found out about it by watching the news a week after the fact. Plus, none of the materials said two bins per trash can. Yesterday after not taking our trash, they taped a piece of paper to the trash can explaining that in order to get our trash picked up, we needed to put out our recycling bins. Nowhere on the piece of paper did it say two recycling bins per trash can. Mind you, the trash man was standing RIGHT NEXT TO OUR RECYCLING BINS as he taped that piece of paper to our trash can telling us we needed to put out our recycling bins.

3) Recycling bins get stolen ALL THE TIME. We used to have 4. Now we have 2. I'm worried that when we put our 2 out next week someone who doesn't have any will drive by and snag them because you see...

4) The recycling bins cost $5 each. Now the new policy is starting to make sense in our cash-strapped city. According to this article (which seriously missed the overall point), "The Department of Public Works sold 2,000 of the $5 bins on Monday alone and another 1,000 on Friday. By way of comparison, the city sold 5,600 recycling bins in all of October." Hmmmm...

5) The new policy doesn't take into account the numerous leaf bags that people also have sitting on their curbs. I don't know if the mayor noticed, but it's the end of Fall here in New England, and people are raking the leaves out of their yards in preparation for Winter. Last night on my drive home from a meeting, I counted about 30 leaf bags still sitting on the curbs. I know other cities have mulching pick-up for the leaves, and I would solidly support that sort of initiative in Providence, but so far leaves get picked up by the garbage man. Though not anymore, apparently.

6) The new policy also doesn't seem to consider that most houses in Providence have 2-3 families living in them. As the only people currently living in our 3-family home, the two of us never come close to filling up our recycling bins, but I'm sure a full 3-family home could fill them both. That same house would probably generate 5-6 cans of trash, considering some weeks Jason and I can generate enough trash to fill 2 ourselves. So that one house is now supposed to have 10-12 recycling bins in front of it as well?

I am all for recycling. I'm recycling's biggest fan. Jason teases me sometimes because of how diligent I am with rinsing out our plastic and glass containers and making sure the maximum amount of stuff gets recycled. Every week we put out our trash cans and our recycling bins. We're doing it right. Yet, for the past two weeks, one of our trash cans has not been emptied because we don't have 4 recycling bins.

The lack of clear thinking and planning that went into this policy just boggles my mind. Anyone with half a brain could see the flaws, though I suppose they're hoping a few thousand dollars in recycling bin revenue will solve all of their fiscal woes. Maybe there's a reason Rhode Island in general is rapidly declining if these are the sorts of great minds we have working in our government.

As other people have suggested in the comments to articles about this, maybe the best place for our non-emptied trash is on the steps of City Hall.

Ward Party

Saturday night we went to a ward party and I made a trifle for the dessert contest. Want to know how it all went down?

Creme Brulee

For Jason's birthday I used one of my birthday presents to make him his favorite dessert. My parents got me a creme brulee set (complete with blowtorch) for my birthday and I was excited to try it out.

I made Vanila Bean Creme Brulee from Cooking Light. It made a lot, and was a little liquidy and took a long time to set. I think next time, I'll use less milk.

Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 crème brûlée)

* 2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
* 3/4 cup nonfat dry milk
* 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
* 1/2 cup sugar, divided
* 4 large egg yolks
* Dash of salt

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan. Heat mixture over medium heat to 180° or until tiny bubbles form around edge (do not boil), stirring occasionally. Remove milk mixture from heat. Cover and steep 30 minutes. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into milk mixture; reserve bean for another use.
Preheat oven to 300°.

Combine 1/4 cup sugar, egg yolks, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk.
(Reserve egg whites for breakfast in nearby bowl)

Gradually add milk mixture to egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Strain mixture through a sieve into a bowl; discard solids.

Divide the mixture evenly among 4 (4-ounce) ramekins, custard cups, or shallow baking dishes. Place ramekins in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan; add hot water to pan to a depth of 1 inch.
Bake at 300° for 25 minutes or until center barely moves when ramekin is touched (NOTE:This took about 45 minutes actually). Remove ramekins from the pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight.

Sift 1 tablespoon sugar evenly over each custard. Holding a kitchen blow torch about 2 inches from the top of each custard, heat the sugar, moving the torch back and forth, until sugar is completely melted and caramelized (about 1 minute). Serve crème brûlée immediately or within 1 hour.
With this recipe, I filled up all 4 of the little white ramekins that came in the set, plus 2 more. Yeah, I think there was too much milk.

Happy Birthday, Jason!

Happy birthday to my husband!
um...and the cat...

PS For those of you who have met Jason in the last 2 years, this is what he really looks like, sans beard.

Quiet Time

Unless I'm meeting someone for lunch, I usually eat sitting at my desk. I catch up on blogs and email and just peruse the internets while I eat.

Last week, I discovered a better way to use my time that I've determined is good for me. I listened to a podcast and knitted on my lunch hour. The first day I did this, I had planned to go outside and sit by the river (my building is just across the street from the Providence River, which, according to wikipedia, is the confluence of the Woonasquatucket and Moshassuck rivers in downtown Providence). Only, as I started to cross the street, the sky started spitting little raindrops on me.

So instead I went into the large lunchroom on the first floor of my office building, sat on a comfy leather bench, and knitted. Then yesterday it was warm and sunny and I actually got to go sit by the river. Today it was cloudy, but warm, so I did it again.

I think this has been very good for my mental health the last couple of days. I get away from my desk and the office and the glaring light of my computer. Plus, I get a little bit accomplished toward my knitted Christmas presents. Mostly, I think it's just good for me to get away and have a little quiet time not in my desk chair.

Heavy Duty Cleaning Time

A couple of friends are coming to stay for an evening next weekend and Jason and I have faced the fact that the guest room is a disaster. It's been a disaster basically since I moved in, or rather since Jason moved in a whole year and a half before any of my stuff joined in the mess. We've managed to get it straightened up enough to allow people to stay in the room periodically, but it's never really been what you would call tidy.

So today we started. Well, I had to go to work for several hours, but as soon as I got home and ate dinner, we started. I've switched out my Spring/Summer wardrobe for my Autumn/Winter wardrobe finally and have made inroads to organizing my stuff in the room. I'm impressed with how much Jason has gotten done. He's cleaned up the area around his desk and now just has to clean the desk itself. I'm trying to impart to him the idea that if we do a little bit every day, it's not insurmountable.

He's just had me come look at what he's done tonight so I can oo and ah and be encouraging. Now we're going to have ice cream. Hurrah!

Friends

I'm going to look to NaBloPoMo as a guideline rather than a hard and fast rule. Even after Sara reminded me to post last night, Jason and I got to watching TV and then we got sleepy and I was also trying to knit a hat pattern that is giving me issues and so ultimately I forgot to post.

Last night we had craft night at my house and had a really bustling group for the first time in a long time. The stars aligned, I guess, and there wound up being 7 of us total. I really enjoy that weekly time to get together with other ladies and talk, even when it's just me and one other person. I'm a big believer in couples not being joined at the hip and hanging out with their own friends sometimes.

The only problem is, Jason's friends have all moved away. So Jason, the extrovert of the couple, is left to hang out with me and to go to parties with me. Not that he doesn't like me, but everyone needs a break now and again. I know it makes him sad sometimes. When we first met, Jason had a giant group of friends and siblings to hang out with in Cambridge. Even after moving to Providence, we had several parties at his (now our) place that were a rousing success. He added buddies from his lab and had some lab parties at his place. There was always someone to call up and do something with on the spur of the moment.

Now, most of the friends in Boston have moved away, as have his brother and sister. Plus, his two closest friends in the lab quit their post-docs and moved. One is in Connecticut, so we get to see him occasionally, but it's not the same as just hanging out and going to the Palace after work.

I know he has lunch sometimes with some guys from church who are also on the Brown campus, but it gets more difficult to hang out with them as the day wears on because they all have kids. We don't have a problem hanging out with kids or people with kids, it's just life is more complicated when there are bedtime rituals and schedules to work around.

Anyway, I feel bad for him, especially when he comes home from work and sees me surrounded by a gaggle of ladies, having a grand old time. Maybe we should try to set up craft night play dates for the husbands...

When Did I Get So Old, Exactly?

I don't think I've mentioned on here that Jason is teaching Institute for the Brown/RISD/URI students. The exciting news is, there are actually enough kids interested in attending Institute to have a pretty lively group. Usually the college kids around here just kind of fade away. The ward gets their records, but never sees their faces. So not only are there probably 7 or 8 regulars, but the fact that they all need rides has gotten a semi-active Junior coming to church every week. I don't know if he's enjoying it, but he's nice enough to give rides and not complain about it.

They're all really smart and fun to hang out with. We had them over to our house last week to carve pumpkins and I made mulled cider and caramel apples. And it occurred to me that I'm the Institute teacher's wife. Granted, all my Institute teachers' wives had piles of kids, but the other thing I remember about them is that they were motherly and matronly and - older.

I was talking to one of them last week about our hideous former neighbors and I referred to them as "kids." She asked, "There were kids living upstairs?!" I said, "No, I mean college kids..." then trailed off because I realized that those neighbors were about 4 years older than the person I was talking to. Because, see, she was born in 1991.

I kind of laughed it off because the kids in our dining room that night seem about forty-seven thousand times more mature than our former neighbors, but it made me feel very old all of a sudden.

Turning 32 didn't do this to me. Now that I'm 33 and hanging out with undergrads, oh my gosh do I feel old. Matronly. Past my prime.

Someone lie to me and tell me that at least I don't LOOK 33.

Knitting Nerd

So I meant to blog last night, but didn't because I got new knitting needles and was all excited about starting a new Christmas project. So I'm just going to call November 1 a wash and blog until December 1. Sound good? Okay then.

(WARNING: Knitting nerdiness to follow. I am a new knitter, and am having fun trying all the new exciting things. Jason just rolls his eyes.)

About those new knitting needles. Maybe I should be more snotty about it, but after spending $10 on a pair of circular needles and $15 on 5 double pointed needles (!!!!*) I decided to look into my options for cheaper needles.

*I was making a hat and needed the dpns, but couldn't find the right size at Michael's. So I wound up buying them at this cutesy yarn store near my house, which, you know, I love supporting local merchants, but those were pretty pricey.

I thought about getting one of those sets with the interchangeable needles and cables, and found a big set on major sale, but then read all these reviews about the cables untwisting and ruining projects and decided it wasn't worth the risk.

Then I went to ebay. As someone who bought my wedding dress on ebay, I fully acknowledge that you can find some fantastic things on ebay. There are a ton of actual businesses that sell their wares on ebay for a lot cheaper than you can find in a store.

And did I ever find a deal. 6" dpns, sizes 0-15, 5 of each size in bamboo (my preferred needle medium) for $20. That's 75 needles for $20. Then I found 16" circular needles, sizes 0-15 in bamboo for $20. That's 15 circular needles. Considering I bought ONE 16" circular needle for $10 a few weeks ago, I thought these prices were pretty amazing.

The needles arrived yesterday and I immediately started making a hat that I had been planning for a Christmas present. So far I am very pleased with the needles and definitely think this was a worthwhile purchase. Also, the seller has circular and single pointed needles in all different sizes so if I ever need other sizes, I'll just go buy a set from her. If I only ever in my lifetime use 2 of the needles from the set, it will be worth it.

NaBloPoMo

I'm just going to throw it out there that I'm cheating right off the bat. I did not, in fact, write on November 1, although I'm going to date this as November 1 because I am a big cheater. I promise all other entries will be for reals.

I was thinking about participating in NaBloPoMo this year since I've been so hit or miss with the blog writing lately. Then I promptly forgot about it. THEN, I read my friend Sara's blog this morning and it reminded me again.

So here we are.

November 1.

First off, I am a little freaked out that it's November 1. Seriously, where did this year go? The leaves got blown off most of the trees on Saturday when the wind barreled through Providence. October, my favorite month, is now over, and it's time to start hunkering down and getting ready for winter in New England.

Sunday, I was reflecting that it's pretty cool to live in New England. It's the archetypal place for seasons. There are times when it looks like a Norman Rockwell painting around here.

I love the history. Lately when I walk to and from work, I walk down Benefit Street. Benefit Street is a lovely tree-lined street with old-fashioned street lamps. Walking along it, I feel taken out of the modern world. Every house has an historic placard on the front, with some as old as the 1600's. It boggles my mind to think how long some of those houses have been sitting on that hill, looking out over Providence.

It's funny how moving away to DC in 2005, and then coming back and absorbing the area anew from a totally different angle results in me being so happy to be here.

As we were driving to a friend's house for dinner, I said aloud to Jason how nice it is to be here. He agrees.

New Hat!

Here's my new winter hat. I've had a black roll brim hat for the past few years, but the black has faded so much that last year everyone thought it was navy blue. So I decided instead of looking for that perfect hat, I would just make it myself. And wow, was it easy. I whipped it up in no time.

From this pattern (which is so helpful and gives me a model upon which I can make roll brim hats with all different yarns and needles forever).
My friend Cambria tells me I can block out the little ridges in the top, but I sort of like them. Am debating.

PS I've become a little addicted to Ravelry and have a ton of projects in my queue waiting for me to do. At least I won't be bored this winter.

PPS If you're on Ravelry, look me up. I'm Kellyim.

Crafty Times

Lately I have really been in a crafty mood. I knit periodically, and want to improve my knitting skillz, but crochet is my default since I taught myself how to crochet 15 years ago and am much more comfortable with crocheting and with modifying crochet patterns if I need to. Case in point: I'm making something right now (it's a present so I can't tell you what it is until the recipient gets it) that required a lot of modification to make it fit correctly. If I was knitting it, I would have had no idea how to do any of that.

So what have I been doing? Well, hats for little kids, for one.



I made the above hats for our friends' little girls, Naomi and Annika. I also made a teal one for my friend Jenn's little girl Devan, who I finally met (she's almost 3) when we went to California week before last. I finished it on the plane, though, so no picture.

Also, I made a blanket for my forthcoming niece:

Also, I'm working on several other things that I can share after I actually finish them and gift them. I think it's the season. Once it starts getting cooler out, I feel like surrounding myself with yarn and getting creative. I also feel more like cooking, especially homey comfort foods. There's a roast in the crock pot even as I write this.

Two Years!

The first anniversary I could believe, but this year has just flown by.

I Scream

Brandon and Sarah took me out for early birthday ice cream at the famous Fenton's in Oakland, California last night.
Since I love apples and pretty much anything you can do with an apple, I think it's appropriate that their sundae of the month is apple pie and cinnamon ice creams with caramel sauce and graham crackers. I'm not a big caramel person, but I'm putting in a plug right here for Fenton's awesome caramel.

Also, just so you know, I brought half the sundae home in a cup. It was HUGE. And fabulous.

Someday I Will Make This...

This is my new favorite future project and it's already on my Ravelry list:

It's crochet, but it's Tunisian crochet, which I had never heard of before. It's kind of a hybrid between crocheting and knitting, with a little cross stitch thrown in for good measure. Am very excited to learn. After the Christmas presents are made.

Weekend - Nice

We had what I would categorize as a nice weekend. Saturday morning we slept in until about 9:30. Well, Tiny woke me up at 6:30 to feed him, but I was actually able to fall back asleep. I had every intention of going to the gym, but Jason asked me if I wanted to go down to REI in Warwick with him to pick up our new bags (prices slashed on Timbuk2!). Then I remembered I wanted to make sure to go to the farmers' market this week.

So we drove down to the end of Blackstone Blvd and rambled through the farmers' market. There was a young Irish/folk band playing, who were really impressed that Jason I knew when to clap and sing along during "The Wild Rover". I got a butternut squash and a couple of leeks to pair with the Macintosh apples I already have to make my favorite side dish. I also got 3 huge zucchini for $1 and then a couple of ginger cookies from Seven Stars (I was going to buy one for us to share, but the top one was broken so the lady gave me the broken one for free. Nice!)

Then it was off to REI where we got new trendy bags (even though we're about 4 years behind this trend). Jason's computer bag was so worn it was getting transparent so now he has a nice shiny new one. I also got a pink fleece on sale that I love. My wardrobe used to be chock full of pink, but these days pink has given way to greens and purples. It's nice to get back to my roots.

Saturday night was a fancy schmancy work function. I went last year and hardly knew anyone. After working with this client for a year it was really gratifying to go this year and realize that I know a bunch of people there now. A random, slightly tipsy man started a conversation with Jason with the line, "And how was your day?" and we wound up talking with him for a good 20 minutes. We found out later that he is actually a pretty important guy, so go us!

Sunday we went to church for the first hour and then headed up to Worcester to spend some time with a few of Jason's friends from his old lab. We ate fabulous Indian food and played croquet in the rain and didn't get home until 10 or so. Then Jason got out his guitar and played through bits and pieces of songs as I puttered around, getting things ready for the coming week. I finally sat down on the loveseat across from him and he played me some Christmas tunes while I sang. You know, I think "Silent Night" sounds just right with the guitar, since that's what it was originally written for.

Sometimes it's nice to reflect and think, "...Nice."

First Day

Sunday was my first day with the Young Women at church. I thought it was fun, but I think I might be a bad influence on the girls.

See, the lesson was on dating and doing group dates until the girls are 16 and not getting too serious with a boy until they're older. The teacher read some quotes from leaders of the church. Before reading one she prefaced it with, "OK, so here is a quote for you to think about that kind of gives you an idea of what's on the boys' minds."

...

...

I mean, we ALL know what's on the boys' minds. Am I right?

Both Annie (the YW President) and I kind of looked at each other, trying not to laugh. Then the teacher started reading the quote, which actually talked about how the boys are preparing to go on their missions and their thoughts about the future should be about that. Annie and I both started cracking up at that because WE knew what we had been thinking.

The teacher looked at us quizzically and we apologized. I explained, "That is totally NOT where I thought you were going with that AT ALL."

Then the girls all started laughing because they knew what I meant.

So, yeah, bad influence.

Ghost Stories

I've been looking for ghost story podcasts on itunes. As the weather gets chillier, and Halloween gets closer, I like to indulge in that spine-tingling feeling of a good ghost story.

I've told a couple of ghost stories on here before, but not many. Mostly because I can pass a lot of the stories off to overly vivid dreaming on my part. A lot of my stories happen just as I "wake up" in the middle of the night. But maybe I just think I'm awake and even though my eyes are open and I think I see something, it's really just some sort of dream residue. I used to walk in my sleep, I still occasionally talk in my sleep and I always have extremely vivid dreams.

However, there are still a few of my stories that can't be accounted for by dreams. I had an interesting discussing with a woman at a recent work function Jason and I attended. Someone started talking about ghostly experiences and Jason piped in that I've seen ghosts. I know I turned bright red as I stammered that, "Weeeell, I can't be sure. I might have been asleep. I don't know..."

It's not something I generally share with just anyone, but Jason thinks I have some cool stories, even though he's a skeptic about their actual cause as well. A woman at our table told us she never believed in an afterlife until she had kids and her son started telling her about people he's seen - like her father - and details he has told her that he couldn't possibly know. So she was very encouraging and interested in hearing my stories.

I don't know if this really counts, but I had a powerful experience when we were at Gettysburg this summer. Our first stop was at the top of a hill where there is a large observation tower. Jason headed straight for the tower and I told him to go ahead because I wanted to read the national parks display over to the side, near a hiking trail.

As I walked toward the display, I felt overcome by a feeling of intense sadness. My eyes started filling with tears and it was very hard for me to feel like I was in control. I finally stopped the tears and, breathing deeply, managed to push the feeling away for the moment. It took a few minutes, and when I turned back around to head to the tower, Jason had already come back down.

We drove around a bit more and wound up near a huge memorial for the soldiers of Pennsylvania that looked out over several open fields, where a few cannons were set up. We walked around the monument and I felt the sadness again, but this time, I kept it at bay. Eventually we decided to leave, and Jason made a stop at the restroom. I ambled away from the restrooms, looking out over the darkened field. Suddenly I was flooded with this feeling of intense sadness. I started crying and had to bite my lip to keep from sobbing out loud. When Jason came out, there were still tears on my face. It was dark so I don't think he could tell how upset I was.

I tried to explain to Jason, but he just said, "It makes sense. It's a sad place. It makes me sad to think about all the people who died too." The thing is, this didn't feel like my sadness alone. He only saw a few tears because I was pushing back the sobs that wanted to come out.

I've done a little Googling and it seems like I'm not the only one who has experienced intense feelings of sadness at Gettysburg.

So what do you think?

Always Remember

I wrote this on September 11, 2006.

Five Years Ago...

I lived and worked in Chicago. Right before I left to catch the express El to the Loop at 7:50, the news report I had on said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Reports were sketchy, and the speculation was that it was a small propeller plane that had veered off course somehow.

45 minutes later, after a train ride closed off from the news, I walked into my office and was inundated by people running back and forth, catching snippets of frantic conversation. "...Another plane..." "...Large passenger planes..." "...Pentagon..." "...Pennsylvania..." "...Terrorists..."

I turned on the radio at my desk and turned up the volume so everyone around me could hear all of the incoming reports. I called my mom, who I knew would still be asleep, and told her to turn on the TV. A few minutes later, the first tower fell. She started screaming, "Oh my God! It fell! All those people are dead!" She cried and I just sat frozen.

The second tower fell.

Speculations started coming in as to who was next. My dad worked in the Sears Tower, and the rumors made it a target too. He went home.

They evacuated the Loop. The firemen said we couldn't use the elevators and so we all walked down the stairs. As I hurried down 33 flights, surrounded by co-workers and all the other people in the building, all I could think about were the people on the stairs in the World Trade Center, those who made it, and those who didn't.

Out on the street, thousands of people hurrying toward the trains to get home. They ran the express trains longer, to get us out of the Loop more quickly.

I got home and turned on the news. I called friends and family and sometimes we talked and sometimes we just sat together in stunned silence.

A week later I went to the rally and wore my American flag pen made by a friend, who sold them and donated the money. I put money in the firemen's boots in Evanston and Chicago. Gradually, life restarted and the news wasn't on 24 hours a day. But I still cried a little every time a report came on about 9/11. It became easier over time to get on with things as before.

I was not in New York or in Washington, DC, but the events of that day affected me as an American and as a human being.

I know I am not the only person who will be writing about this today. It is cathartic to think about it, remember, and then hope for the future. I watched a news report the other day about the babies born after 9/11 whose dads died that day. It was so beautiful to see all those little 4 year-olds, a lot of whom look like their dads, and know that even for those people who suffered the most personal losses, life does go on.

Canned Tomatoes

So what do you do with a bunch of tomatoes that have been marked by the blight that is sweeping the Northeast? Why, you can them, of course, so that you can have nice homemade diced tomatoes to use this winter.

Tuesday night I finally got around to canning the tomatoes that have been slowly rotting and taking up a LOT of space in the refrigerator. I didn't get to it last week and then we were gone for the holiday weekend, so Tuesday, as soon as I got home from work, I started the process.

You may remember from my canning of apple butter and applesauce last year that I don't have all the fancy-schmancy canning equipment. Thankfully, neither does the person who wrote this tutorial at Southern Plate.

First, you have to sterilize the jars. I washed them and then boiled them for about 10 minutes. The dishtowels are to keep the jars from clinking against the side of the pot. I just used a basic giant stock pot and was able to fit 2 pint and 5 half pint jars in one bath.
In a separate bowl, I poured boiling water (from the tea kettle) over the jar lids to sterilize them.
Now to the tomatoes. I got my instructions for canning tomatoes in particular at Mark's Daily Apple. Oh internets, how I love you!

First, you wash your tomatoes and then dunk them in a pot of boiling water until the skin starts splitting. I had a couple stubborn tomatoes that took over 5 minutes to split, but generally it takes about 2 minutes.
(Note the blighty goodness. Don't worry, all that nastiness was peeled and chopped away from the final product.)

Then you dunk the tomatoes in a cold water bath for a couple of minutes. Now the skins should be easy to peel off.
Peeled tomatoes:
Then you dice the tomatoes. I don't have a picture of this because it was a bit of a disaster. I took a large cutting board and the tomatoes into the living room so I could chop while Jason and I watched a TV show. Um, semi-peeled tomatoes that have been put in a water bath retain a LOT of water.

There was a lot of liquid and some shrieking as said liquid ran off the cutting board and onto my pajama bottoms and maybe a bit on the rug.

So, anyway, I finished the chopping in the kitchen and sprinkled a bit of kosher salt on the diced tomatoes.

Then I used a big-mouth funnel and large serving spoon to scoop diced tomatoes into the waiting sterilized jars, interspersed with a bit of purple, Italian and cinnamon basil from our plants. I made sure to wipe all tomato juice remnants off the edges of the jars then capped them with the sterilized tops and screwed on the lids - but not too tightly.

Finally, I put the jars back in the towel-lined pot and boiled them for about 45 minutes. I set the jars on the counter and this morning they were all sitting there perfect, with concave lids, as is appropriate for properly sealed canned goods.

I started out with about 30 tomatoes of all different sizes. After cutting off the bad bits, I wound up with 2 pints and 6 half-pints of diced tomatoes.

It may look like you use an awful lot of bowls and pots and pans for this project, but, as someone without a dishwasher, I can honestly say it's really not that big a deal. You're basically using the dishes to boil water or to create a water bath or similar. The dishes don't really get dirty, per se, and I find a good rinse with hot water at the end of it all is sufficient for getting the dishes clean. It's not like I lick the cold water bath bowl when it's all done. I mean, it's not brownie batter.

I highly recommend picking up something like this prior to attempting your own canning:
Last year I didn't have any dedicated canning tools and Tuesday night I discovered that it's much easier with the tools. The 2 most valuable are the big-mouthed funnel and the jar-picking-up tongs. The set cost me $10 at Benny's, and I'm sure when your local store starts putting out the canning equipment you can find something similar for not too much money.

More Vermont

A few more pictures from our trip:

Our tent
It's a 4-person tent, but Jason, Rachel and I slept in there with me and Rachel on a queen-size air mattress. To add to the posh camping experience with the zen garden-fountained bathroom.

Jason is not so much about the mornings
The dew on the picnic bench showed us we had a little animal friend visit during the night.
Autumn is just starting to appear in Vermont.

Vermont

My first year of college I went to Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. I wish I had liked the school more because I loved Vermont. Maybe sophomore year would have been better, but for better or worse, I wound up finishing at the University of Arizona. This past weekend was a giant Vermont flashback for me, starting with getting out of the car right after crossing the border from New Hampshire and commenting, "It SMELLS like Vermont." (Most people who have spent a lot of time in Vermont would ask, "It smelled like cow poo...?" No, it smelled like pine and woodsiness. Cow poo is also a very Vermonty smell, though.)

We went up to Smuggler's Notch State Park to camp and hike. If you're looking to ease your way into the whole camping experience, I highly recommend Smuggler's Notch. There are real bathrooms, one of which has a shower, an electrical outlet, potted plants AND a zen rock fountain. Poshest camping ever. I mean, we still slept in our sleeping bags in a tent, but having real bathrooms makes a lot of difference when you're talking about "roughing it".

We arrived Friday night and Jason grilled us up some steak tips on his camp stove. I must say, the camp stove is a brilliant invention. You just hook up a little propane canister and you're good to go. Over the course of the weekend we made steak, pancakes (Jason is in awe of Bisquick mix and pour), tacos and pasta on the stove.

Saturday we planned to climbed Camel's Hump. Which we did, though it was kind of a painful experience for me. You can read all about it at my other blog, but suffice it to say, my lung capacity was not up to snuff after getting bronchitis a few weeks ago. I felt extremely frustrated, but what could I do?

Jason got some nice pictures.

Our goal, the Camel's Hump
Me and Rachel heading up
Scrambling over rocks to get to the summit
The summit

As Jason noted, it was windy and cold at the top
Looking toward the White Mountains in New Hampshire
After the hike we headed back to the campsite and stopped to get gas. As we pulled into the gas station, I noticed a sign for "Creamees" and completely freaked out. When I was at Middlebury, there was a little market at the bottom of the hill below campus that sold Creamees seasonally. Basically they are giant soft serve ice cream cones, with optional sprinkles. I was not disappointed by the gas station Creamees! I got vanilla with rainbow sprinkles in homage to my standard Middlebury fare. The small I got was so big that I can't even imagine how big the large is. Monday morning on the way out of town we stopped there again and this time I got maple soft serve. So. Good.

Sunday everyone else climbed Mount Mansfield and I drove up the toll road to meet them. There is still a mile to the summit past the parking lot and I planned to hike it with them, but my new boots had given me a blister and the other shoes I had with me offered limited traction and no ankle support. I scrambled over a few rocks and made it about halfway to the summit and then I called it a day. Since I hadn't climbed the rest of the mountain I wasn't too put out.

Mount Mansfield actually has some Arctic tundra
The guys on Mount Mansfield's Forehead
Before I pooped out walking to the summit at the Chin
The trail they took down. Jason said it was pretty brutal, but the views were great
Back at camp
Everyone else had an awesome time hiking and I'm glad they did. I had fun camping and enjoyed my little drive around the Vermont countryside by myself on Sunday morning. I stopped at a local farm to pick up some firewood that the farmer was selling more cheaply than the state park and we had a roaring fire.

Smuggler's Notch is near the town of Stowe, which is very cutesy. Someday I would like to go back with some people who maybe would like to take a day to roam through the town, rather than hike all day long. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the hiking. But I also enjoy exploring cute little towns.

All in all it was a fun weekend, and today my thighs still feel a little bit like they might fall off. If I feel this way after a 6 mile hike, it's no wonder Jason is hobbling around stooped over like he's 95 years old after hiking 14 miles.