Knitting 40 shades of green

Random Thursday

I haven't posted in forever and have lots of things to share.  I started several posts today and while I was taking pictures and before I down loaded others, my camera battery decided to die on me.  So while I wait for it to recharge and am in a posting mood, I will entertain you with a list of random things

1. I don't think about my age much and willingly tell it to all that ask, including small children and attractive men, but today I had an experience that made me feel old.  I stopped by Trader Joe's to pick up some grape tomatoes to use on my Mediterranean Salmon with Garlic Spinach when I noticed the young woman serving the wine samples.  It was one of the girls I had coached in rowing when I first moved back to Virginia and was working at an entry level wage and needed to pick up a little extra cash.  After doing a little quick math in my head I realized she is not only old enough to serve wine samples but likely has been drinking them legally for a year or so.  Where have the years gone.
2. This made me laugh out loud maybe even more than Norma's W.T. Fuck (which I can't find for the life of me).
3. I lost my wallet last week at the Capital's final regular game of the season.  After the game we had gone to a few pubs and partaken of a few pints and I didn't make it home with my wallet something that I didn't notice until the next morning.  A friend had been picking up the tabs since I had taken them to the game and so I hadn't looked for it since buying that first beer at the Verizon Center and then throwing it back in my purse when I got back to my seat.  I called the restaurants who didn't have it and canceled several of the most important cards (my credit and library cards).  I had even ordered a new driver's license after tracking down my license number (if you ever need this try calling your insurance company).  Well, this morning as I was going out to get my paper, I noticed a package between the storm door and my front door that I must have stepped over last night in the dark when I got home.  A package from Verizon Center Lost and Found.  Inside was my wallet, still soaking wet, with everything that had been in there when I had last seen it -- cash and all.  There are still good and decent people in the world. 
4. I can't decide if this composter is ingenious for those who are compost challenged and lack outdoor space or absolutely excessive and crazy. Electricity as an ingredient of compost? It is an expensive way to make dirt.  I should add here that I desperately need to turn my compost pile which will be quite a task but should turn up some great soil.  Maybe I will finally get motivated for that this weekend...I doubt it though.

I hope to have a few more posts for you over the next few days -- some travel adventures, some knitting, and some recipes.  Stay tuned.  Same bat time, same bat station.

Trip to the Dentist

I hate going to the dentist. Now, I know that no one really wakes up and says "yea, I have a dentist appointment today" but my dislike of going to the dentist is deeper than that. As a young child I had a dental hygienist who was from Germany. I remember her [now I am pretty sure that my memory is faulty as we magnify our fears] as a very large and imposing woman. She would yell at you with her German accent and I am sure on more than one occasion she brought me to tears. You would often hear the formidable "you're not flossing" as you passed the exam room where she was working on some unsuspecting victim patient.   As an adult, I had a conversation with my father about her, thinking that my childhood fears might be unjust.  My normally stoic father commented, she was pretty harsh when cleaning your teeth.**  I was terrified of her and whether due to poor childhood dental hygiene, too much sugar, or bad genes, I cannot say, but I often had cavities and had to return for subsequent visits after my cleanings.  It seems I had fillings in most of my baby molars and quite a few of the permanent ones as well.  So, my trips to the dentist have been many.  I have always been afraid of needles and often have to be given extra shots of Novocain as I can still feel the drilling.   

When I was in college I tried to remain faithful to my twice a year cleanings because I have always hoped that prevention would avoid more trips with Novocain and drilling (the truly traumatic part of dentistry).  Before heading out to Costa Rica for 5 or more months I stopped by my mother's dentist to have a check up.  He decided that my wisdom teeth (or at least one of them) was impacted and should come out before the trip.  He referred me to an oral surgeon. Because of the short window in which the surgery needed to be completed, there was no time to meet his or have a consult before he was to do the procedure.  The office where this oral surgeon worked was undergoing massive renovations and as I waited in the outer chambers of the office, loud clanging and banging could be heard from other parts of the building.  Next thing I know, the surgeon comes out with a monkey wrench in hand and introduces himself.  To hear him tell it, my eyes became as big as saucers and I never actually looked at him, only at the wrench until he had sense to explain that this was not part of his surgical kit.

So, I went for my 6 month cleaning last month and saw a new dentist (while I have fired my share of dentists over the years, this new dentist comes to me by way of retirement -- luckily, I get to keep the wonderful hygienist associated with the practice.  One of the pluses of the dentist who  had retired was that he felt that whatever made the visit easier for me made it easier for him and was quite free with the Nitrous Oxide, the new guy a little less so but he is coming around.)  The new dentist felt that several of my teeth that had been "watches" needed to be taken care of.  He had a few silver amalgam fillings he wanted to replace and a crown he thought I needed as one of my molars had cracked.  That is three additional appointments that I have had over the past month.  I won't go into any of the details (like when the dentist walked out in disgust because my gag reflex is so keen that I had ruined the first mold for the crown) since they are all still a little too fresh.  However, I did a bit of self medicating.  I bought some sock yarn (kind of a lot considering how little yarn I have purchased lately).  There is some Socks that Rock, a sock of the month club (or two), a Celtic sock kit, Regia silk and some trekking.  I will take pictures and post them tomorrow to share my new acquisitions.  I will spare you the picture of my new crown. 

**As an aside, I was telling my current hygienist about my "apprehensive" nature as a dental patient and mentioned this chapter of my childhood dentistry at a practice (although my dentist has long since retired) that still exists in town.  She said that she works at that practice once a week and the German hygienist is still there.  One of her favorite stories is when she was passing an exam room and over heard the following exchange.

Hygienist hands patient a tissue.

Male Patient:  What is this for?

Hygienist:  Spit or tears, vhatever!

Apparently after more than 30 some odd years (and I don't remember her as a young woman) she has yet to develop a softer "bed side" manner. 

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!

   

I think I will cast on some socks...

Some stripy green yarn that Wendy gave me for Christmas.  If I had been smart (and actually knitting) I would have started them right away and could be wearing them today.

Re-entry Dark Days Challenge

Once again February has come to an end and I have barely posted at all. I haven't checked the archives but imagine that this would hold true in the past as well. I am not sure what it is but I guess after the whirlwind of the holidays and then the parade planning, the intense hockey schedule, the winter months and my generally busy work schedule for the beginning of the year, not much gets completed. Yes, I have cooked (using lots of local ingredients) but the meals are often simple and I don't think to document them. There has been little knitting although I am 5/8 through a pair of socks. I kind of lost my mojo for a while (and my hands were often cold and glove clad). However, I have recently caught the bug again and want to spend lots and lots of time knitting. I keep finding new projects that I want to cast on.

I have started quite a few blog entries but very few seemed to get finished. And many will never get posted because they are no longer relavent, for instance the blog entry containing this "gem":

Leap Day should be a holiday. If you work today and you get a certain amount of vacation days and holidays it means that every four years you have to work an extra day. Doesn't seem fair. It should definitely be a holiday.

Maybe I will check what is on my camera and see what is worth sharing...

The perfect answer to not enough time and too many root vegetables...

beef stew with root vegetables in the crock pot

I based this loosely on the recipe from locavore on core

I used potatoes, turnips, rutabegas, carrots, onions and garlic from my various CSAs. Yes, I have now joined more than one. I also used 1 lb of stew meat from Smith Meadows that I bought on a whim at the Farmer's Market (cooking with beef is still a rarity for this former vegetarian). You will notice that I halved the amount. The celeric and mushrooms were picked up on a rare outing to Whole Foods.

Random Thought Wednesday

1. I got an i-Pod for Christmas. Until this time I have been sticking to my Luddite ways and using CDs (at least I got past cassette tapes and I finally got rid of my record player). My CD came from the factory programed to display Mandarin Chinese as its language. When the directions tell you to click on "settings" to change the language you have to be able to read it in the language already on the player. Took me quite some time and a friend's iPod to figure it out. When I finally got to the list of languages they are all in alphabetic order from Chinese on down. There is no English in the list though because they put that at the top. I may have been heard to query the gifter: "Where did you buy this thing? It has every language except English." I did finally figure it out. Now that I have an iPod if anyone has great PODCASTs to recommend (the only word that shows up in recognizable type when your iPod is set for Mandarin), I would be interested to hear other's opinions.

2. I always, always, always cut up too many vegetables when making a veggie tray for a party. (Maybe it has to do with the fact that I make way too much food -- which would you eat -- cheese potato skins or raw veggies?) I have bags and bags of the things in my fridge. I see a stir fry or veggie soup in my future.

3. Last Saturday marked ten years since I started my current job. It surprises me that I have been here so long. I don't think I will get my ten year plaque (what do people do with those?) until June since they don't count partial years. I will always be a half year ahead.

4. Have you seen Rachel's finished Henley Perfected? If not it is here. This is the first time I have seen it on a blog (I know I am way behind in blog-lines so it could be out there lots) and now I really want to make one. I may have to go searching through the stash.

5.  I have eaten so many raw veggies today that I am craving fatty foods -- do you think Chubble bread and Cherry Garcia Ice Cream count as dinner?

Happy New year!!

Well, the new year is well under way and I had to go back to work today after a lovely break which included lots of socializing, family get togethers, and restful times but a bit less knitting than I would have liked.

I hope that everyone has recuperated from the holidays and are enjoying 2008! I have gotten a little knitting in and should have a finsihed item or two to show in the next couple of days (if I could get a decent photo -- maybe I will even do a FO post for Jade.)

Life after NABLOPOMO: Random Wednesday posted on Thursday

So I am still looking at every thing as possible blog fodder and felt a bit odd after not posting for two days. I have been taking pictures of my cooking and thinking of links that I can offer for those days when I have nothing of particular interest to share. For goodness sakes, I posted about cooking experiments yesterday...

I was hoping to get a Finished Object photo shoot of the NAKNISWEMO sweater but I didn't get it to soaking until Monday night and it is still drying (it is cotton). I left it in a sink of water overnight and while the water wasn't entirely clear there wasn't much dye in the water either. I think that I will just have to come to live with the color vagarities or overdye the thing (not something I know anything about since the only dying I have ever done has been wool and cotton is completely different).

Laura, over at Urban Hennery, has found herself with the responsibility of helping to thin her grandmother's sheep herd, so if anyone is in need of a ewe (especially if you find yourself in Minnisota) let her know.

I finally got my library hold of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and as I was reading, I was shocked by the fact that if ever US citizen ate one local meal a week (any meal breakfast, lunch or dinner) that we would save 1.1 billion barrels of oil a week. So if you are interested in supporting local farmers or trying to help conserve oil start researching a CSA now before they sell out. If you aren't sure where to start check out Local Harvest or Biodynamics or here. If you start looking now you won't have to fret about fresh veggies this summer.

Random Monday

This wasn't what I had planned to post for today but since the hour is getting late and I feel uninspired after watching my team lose this evening.  Here it is a couple of random things.

1. In case you were wondering if it was possible... someone has tried nailing jello to the wall.
2. My cousin, Nancy, (actually a a cousin once removed) and I have always had a special connection because we share a birthday.  When my grandmother died several years ago I claimed the painting that she had gifted to my grandmother.  Just today I got a postcard for her gallery show and opening.  I am tempted to head out to CA to check it out (although I doubt I will). If the gallery has a link, I will be sure to post it.
3. I think this is amazing and she sources her fiber locally -- how cool is that?  Knitting local.

Well, that is all this tired brain can manage.  But I hope for a couple of good posts before the end of the week -- my mother's sweater, my NABLOPOMO sweater, a local meal from all the yummy things I picked up on Sunday, and who knows what else...

Happy Buy Nothing Day (Black Friday!)

For Thanksgiving my older two nieces decorated the table cloth for the children's table.

This first picture represents Grandma, Aunt Jas and baby Rosemary (as represented by the letters G, J and R).  The second picture is of Squanto the Indian.  I spent the day with the four girls and my sister, brother in law and my mother.  After a lovely meal I spent the night in Fluvana and then drove home in the morning.  For National But Nothing Day

I did OK until I went out to the local VFW for a few beers with some friends.  But at least the only things that I bought were consumable.  If you missed the celebration of this day today go ahead and choose another day which you would usually go shopping.  Think about your purchases before laying down that credit card.  Do you need it?  Do you really want it?  Will you use it?  So many times we are drawn into the excitement of consumerism, the deal, the new thing, and really we don't need or want the item we are getting.  Get rid of the clutter and the unthinking buying of stuff and simplify just a little.  Buy quality products that will last and can be fixed.  In this season of consumerism try to support hand made, locally produced, locally owned businesses.  Try to make your dollars matter, not just add to the clutter.  Our purchases should be conscious decisions, not just mindless buying.

Lets take the holidays back from the stores and make them meaningful again. 

Buy nothing day warm-up

To be honest with you, I have nothing.  Here we are on day 19 of the NA-poblano-MO challenge and I don't have anything to say.  I have some things for later in the week and maybe I can eek out a knitting update this week since I am almost to the lacy parts.  But for tonight, I have nothing.  So I am going to post some ideas and a reminder that Buy Nothing Day is quickly approaching on this Friday.  I wanted to give a heads up before you forgot and bought something.

Some other ways to curb the consumerist callings of the month of December

Catalog Choice is a free service that lets you control the catalogs that come into your house.  Save some trees -- especially if you aren't even looking at them.

Buy Nothing Christmas suggests some alternative ideas for gifts here. 

You can support artisans by taking Esty's handmade Holiday pledge -- the pledge is here.

Buy things from local shop owners and producers or offer gifts of your time and skills.

Whatever you choose to do -- make sure you take a moment to think before making those holiday purchases.