I read a Book!

So one of the books I got at our library a bit ago was called A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg aka Orangette. Of course, when I got the book I didn't know that, I just knew the title resonated with what I've been trying to build for the past few years. (My mother would say for my whole life, I'm sure.) I even liked the look of the cover! So I took it home, expecting an instruction book, I suppose- it's tough to really give a book a once over when you're wrestling an infant.

I was totally surprised by what it really was- a memoir through food, punctuated by truly delicious sounding recipes. She takes you from her childhood in the midwest, through her life in a tiny Paris apartment, to her east coast/west coast romance and makes you taste the whole journey- I made her ratatouille and it was delicious! Definitely putting that into my standard rotation! Her writing pulled me into the stories she was telling, and I could almost taste the food she described. To me, food is such a complicated thing- it's holidays, it's family, it's friends, and romance and warm evenings at home in the winter, and I found all that in her book. Definitely something I'm putting on my want-to-own list.

I love the library, it's like a dressing room for books! :)

Holiday!

Happy Fourth of July!! Hope your day is full of barbecue and naps! :D

Sleep, perchance to dream...

I was starting to write a post about a book I got form the library a few weeks back, but I can't carry on with it under the current circumstances. You see, we're trying out Round, um... three? Four? of sleep training with our 9 month old son. It is not going super well. See, in order for this to really work, we have to be really committed to the whole process. It's pretty hard to be committed to anything that causes your infant child to start crying hysterically for a seemingly interminable length of time. This, by the way, is using the gentler option proposed to us by the sleep consultant.

I think we're going to end up doing cry it out whether we like it or not. (For the record, we tried it once a few months back and it was about the most horribly awful thing I've ever done. I've never actually punched someone in the face, but I'll bet I'd have felt less guilty after assaulting someone than after that experience.) I know that cry it out is what 'everyone does.' I know it's the prevailing method in Western countries, but that doesn't make it the best way, or the way my husband and I feel is an appropriate way to treat an infant.

You see, The Boy has never ever once in his life really fallen asleep on his own- in the beginning it was because of colic and parental exhaustion- we'd both pass out about the same time once I'd rocked and walked and tried to soothe the colicky crying. Then it was one thing after another until finally we ended up where we are today: nursing and walking till he falls asleep on our shoulder, then praying to all things holy that he'll let us put him down next to me on the sofa for a few hours of work on my laptop, then transfer us both to bed.

So, of course, now we've got a pretty real problem. The way I've gotten him to sleep for a few hours in his own room in his own bed (which I might add is nicer than any bed I'VE ever had!) is by getting him ALMOST to sleep, then *climbing into the crib with him* and nursing him to sleep. He'll stay there for a while, maybe 3 hours before pitching a major fit. Except naps. Those are between 28 and 31 minutes when in his crib alone. The Boy is very determined, and he really doesn't like big changes at all, so falling asleep not being rocked and nursed is a massively bad thing in his young mind- although the crib is no longer the Worst Place Ever (tm) which is an improvement.

So, I have a sinking feeling that no matter what we wish as parents (really just a pleasant bedtime for our son. Maybe 10 minutes together as Grown Ups.) is going to be slammed aside by our more important need to teach him to put himself to sleep. I just wish that was a lesson we could teach without also teaching him that Mom and Dad aren't going to help him when he's crying and alone.

I make things!

I could prove it, too, if I could find the camera cable OR the camera's battery charger. I'll have to ask my sweetie, he'll probably know. When we get all these things together in the same place, I could show you all sorts of things! Blueberry jam! And raspberry syrup-soon-to-be-shrub. (I'll explain later.) and blackberry soon-to-be-shrub! and rumtopf. delicious boozy fruity goodness...

Yeah, I'm also on a diet.

BUT! I also dabble in carpentry! I spent some 10 or so years as a theatre tech, you see. Mainly in lighting, but I've done my fair share of set building and welding and so on, so I can do a few small projects here and there. So I've been building a hutch for the kitchen.

What? That's a small project! Let me explain. I took two Ikea bookcases (white Billy ones) that my friend gave me after a move, and I've chopped them up, rearranged them, and put them back together in a new, harmonious way. I have a couple of photos. You know. When I find my camera cable.

Not a cleaning blog!

I swear, I'm not a cleaning or housekeeping blogger. It's just that this is so on my mind lately. The Boy is darn near walking without assistance now and getting into E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G and frankly being cleaned up and tidy is a great step in keeping him safe and me sane. SO!

I'm going to take a few baby steps here, cause being organized is not my strong suit. I've decided to pick ONE THING that I think will help me the most, and try to make that a habit. I'm going to start tonight, and that thing is going to bed with the kitchen sink empty. I'm including the cutting board and the bit of counter on the other side, since those are also places that dishes pile up.

Now then, the dishes are supposed to be my husband's job, since I cook the meals. We figured that's a pretty fair way to divide up food based chores. Thing is (and I say this with love, Sweetie!) he doesn't do it. He'll load the dishwasher when he thinks of it, if he's not too tired, and then will wander off before doing any hand wash stuff like wooden spoons. So if I want to go to bed knowing that the kitchen is at least ready to make the coffee in the morning (a hazardous prospect in even the best of circumstances) then I can rest a bit easier.

Things that will help me with this adventure? The Boy sleeping in his crib, for one thing, which is another project for another post. Also you kind folks asking me if I've kept up with it. Next week, I'll try adding some bathroom cleaning tricks to my new Habit Forming Commission Checklist.

Hey, whatever gets you through it, right?

cleaning, part 2

In my last post I mentioned a post on Ready. Set. Simplify. that got my mind running more productively on the subject of cleaning. The part that really snagged my mind was this

" have something of a love-hate relationship with schedules. My personality is more

spontaneous and fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants, yet I find that schedules and

structure really help me. In fact, I think as I get older, I crave structure and planning more"

Man, does that sound familiar to me. I really love a schedule. I love being able to know when something is going to happen. I CRAVE it, just like she says there! But- and here's the big thing about it- I need to be held accountable to it because I've learned that on my own I just don't follow a schedule at all. I tend to get caught up in other things, or figure 'Well since I'm the one why MADE the schedule, who cares if I just do whatever instead?' and then I lie in bed that night and feel totally lame for not having gotten done then things I wanted to do. If I'm being held accountable by a higher authority like, a class schedule, or... my mother (hi Mom!) or appointments with other people.

I'm... not really sure how to get better about this. It doesn't work for someone to come check in on me (not even Mom!) because it's still my schedule. :-/ So... I guess I'm going to have to think harder about this. I really like R.S.S.'s schedule though. (The one on the post about cleaning that I linked to yesterday.) I'll probably adapt that somehow.

Summer cleaning

So I've been stressing out lately about how wretched a housekeeper I am. I mean, I know I'm no type A cleaner- if the choice comes between having friends over or vacuuming, friends win. But honestly. We've lived in this apartment since November, and we're not even CLOSE to being unpacked. I'm so frigging sick of looking at boxes. So I've decided that come hell or high water I am GOING TO UNPACK BY AUGUST!! That gives me a month. I'm also not going to worry if I don't get every single last thing out of boxes, so long as I'm so close I can taste it.

ON the other hand, I have The Boy. Who turned 9 whole months old last week, and has developed a terribly fussy, clingy attitude. Also, when he's content to not be carried, he's mobile. Crawling and damn close to walking. And very, very curious. If I try to pull a box out he's going to get into it, opened or not. Add to that my fairly limited storage options, and my really terrible organization skills, and this is kinda challenging.

The other half of this project was inspired by stumbling across this post about a cleaning schedule. I'm thinking I might be able to sort something like this out maybe. Do diaper laundry three or four times a week (really not as bad as it sounds, I swear!) Do grown up's laundry at least once a week. Sweep. Tidy something. We'll see what I come up with and how well it goes. I plan to post this schedule up here, and hopefully y'all can help keep me honest till it's really a habit.

Also, coming soon, how I turned a couple of bookshelves into a hutch. Woo! Storage!

Feast or Famine?

So, I'm on a diet. It's an effort to finally get rid of the last few pounds of baby weight and get into some healthier habits. What can I say, I just have to come to terms with the fact that chocolate chip cookie dough is not what you'd call a nutritious and wholesome breakfast. Also, I have a little boy now, and he's watching me eat, and frankly the idea that I could be a role model for anyone is terrifying. SO! Diet!

Now, the diet plan I've chosen (and am doing with my wonderful husband) is Weight Watchers, and we chose it because A: we can do it online, which works best around our crazy schedules, and B: it's really very flexible about what we eat. Basically we can eat anything, so long as we hold ourselves accountable and record it properly. There's also a large number of recipes and articles and tools that can help us keep ourselves on track.

The other thing I've been doing is reading. I've already talked about the toddler book (though I suspect I'm not done with it,) but one of the other books I checked out is called A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table. So... I'm on a diet and I'm reading what is essentially a travelogue about food instead of places. And last night, somewhere between a first date and French-style lemon yogurt cake I realized something. It's the thing that makes dieting so hard for me. It's not the healthy food- actually I rather love most foods that are considered healthy. It's not the portion sizes since I've never really eaten a ton of food in a sitting. It's the attitude that food is only for stopping the feeling of being hungry. Sure, there are a lot of recipes for those who are slimming that are advertised as 'good tasting' or 'to satisfy your craving' for a particular foodstuff, but none of them say 'take your chocolate cheesecake and make it last for 40 minutes while you chat with a friend (or a romantic interest! Date night!) Or go ahead, have that plate of pasta with cream sauce, but have a rationally adult sized portion of it, and make your meal last for an hour! Longer!

See, there's the thing. In the U.S. food is not viewed as something to savor, an event to be enjoyed. It's viewed as something to do to accomplish a goal, to be plowed through as quickly as possible while doing something else. I need to do more work on finding healthy snacks to graze on during the day, sure. I also need to work on portion size (it's different for me now than it was 10 years ago! Heck, ONE year ago!) But I think more than anything, I need to remember how to savor a meal instead of trying to scarf it down while doing laundry, wrestling my son, and watching Mythbusters.

P.S. I'll review that book I mentioned later. It's pretty delicious.

Baby, oh Baby.

My Darling Son is many things. Clever for sure. Handsome like his daddy. Curious and interested and as fond of exploring as any infant or toddler (he's right on that edge there. Walking can't be very far off- he's already positive he can do it, if only the floor would help him out.) Unfortunately he's also strong willed, determined, and vocal about things he dislikes. Like sleeping alone.

To solve this dilemma, we're working with a sleep consultant to help get The Boy sleeping on his own, in his crib (as opposed to in my bed, attached to me at all times.) Also, I checked out of the library a copy of The Happiest Toddler on the Block by Dr Harvey Karp.

Now, his main thesis seems to be pretty reasonable to me- that a toddler is still developing the physical and cognitive ability to behave in a way that we as a society deem appropriate. Ok, I can totally get behind that- I mean if they were born fully functional then they wouldn't NEED parents, right? So with that in mind Karp divides up the toddler years into stages from very early development to early childhood and labels them as if they were stages of the development of mankind from "Charming Chimp" to Versatile Villagers" and gives his tips for how to communicate with each stage.

Mainly he suggests using what he refers to as 'toddler-ese' which is a language made up of short Tarzan like statements bereft of articles, particles, or words with more than 3 syllables. The other half of his technique is something that is pretty familiar to people who try to 'argue effectively': repeating statements back- what Karp refers to as 'Fast-Food Rule.' HE suggests that when your kid starts to flip his lid, you mirror his level of emotion with your whole body, stamping your feet, gesticulating wildly, and shouting (what you think is) your child's thoughts back to him using the 'toddler-ese.' An example he gives is when he was examining the ears of a child who is protesting

I emphatically proclaim what I think she would say if she were older: "Sophie says 'No ears!! No, no...NO EARS!!! No, NO... NO EARS!!! You stop! You STOP!!!! I don't like it!' "

Now I agree that when a toddler or small child is in the throes of a Chernobyl level meltdown they are not exactly the rational beings we would love to raise. Telling a furious toddler that we have to go now because Dad is waiting isn't going to convince them if they don't want to leave. HOWEVER, I don't think that the extreme that Karp suggests going to linguistically is really quite the way to go. I honestly don't think that the difference between "Daddy wait!" and "Daddy's waiting" is so great, is such an astonishing leap of mental function that your toddler is going to respond to one and not the other. It really, really bothers me when people confuse 'young' with 'stupid.' In the example I quoted, I'd maybe have jumped right to what she was thinking ('You stop') and then maybe later gone to 'stop touching my ears!' Why 'No ears' is in any way useful I don't know. I also probably wouldn't stomp my feet and flail my arms (things Karp suggests doing often) at the same time.

Now then, there are a few things I DO agree with- the fundamental idea he promotes: the short sentences, repetition, and repeating the unspoken whatever behind the tantrum back to the kid so they know I understand what they want. I find a lot of what he writes to be interesting, and we'll see pretty soon how helpful it is. The Boy is very close to toddling off like a big boy way too soon for me. My little baby is so big!

Library madness!

Chris and I went to the library the other day and I got to check out a few books. Now this statement is a pretty reasonable one, and really that's where it would end if I wasn't so super excited about this place. I mean wow!

So I had to get a card first, since this is my first visit to a San Jose library. A few moments on one of the computers and I headed to the info desk to show them my ID and proof of address (apparently in CA when you update your drivers license online they don't send you... well... anything. At all.) I took in a Netflix movie we'd just gotten. The librarian who got me all set up was super nice, and talked about all the kids stuff they have there, and made sure I had a flyer of their upcoming storytimes. I really want to take Chris to the Mother Goose storytime, but this week we have to go to his 9 month checkup instead. (I'll bet the storytime would be more fun, but a healthy baby is more important, right?) There's also tai chi, basic computer skills, Chinese/English storytime, ESL groups, and all sorts of lectures and classes.

The kid's book section is HUGE! There's a stage, too, and a couple of computers labeled '0 - 5 years' with spelling games and such on them. Granted I somehow doubt that some of that demographic is into computers yet for anything other than pounding or chewing on, but hey. HUGE windows totally light the place up, and they look out onto the playground and field outside. The library has a PLAYGROUND! (Also, the children's section is where the parenting and childcare books are. Silly me, I was trying to find it where the catalog number should be over in the Grown Up's Books section.) There's also a giant fountain (pond?!) on the other side, with benches to sit on and read if you have that luxury- with a near-toddler I don't.

There's also a couple of large (distinct) sections for several Asian languages, a pretty decent looking DVD section, and a cozy living room like reading area- with a fireplace! And the website is pretty danged handy and full of great info! Score!

The one thing I do miss, though, is having the due date stamped on the back of the books. The bank of self check out machines gave me the option of getting a receipt that has the due date printed on it, but it's just not the same. Handy bookmark though! Also, the library has pretty short hours thanks to budget cuts and oh yeah, more budget cuts. I think that once Chris is a bit older I'll try to volunteer there if I can. Heck, maybe I can get HIM to volunteer in a few years, too! AND I know where I'm taking my books now. Goodwill is out of luck, the library get them! I am definitely looking forward to going back a lot, and I hope that Chris learns to enjoy library books as much as I do. Once he stops trying to eat them, anyway.

I ain't dead.

Just been busy. Our baby was born a bit early, so from September on I've been trying to keep up with our tiny dynamo. We also moved to northern California- more shade and fewer 100+ degree days to destroy my plants! Still been preserving stuff (blueberries! Oh guys, the blueberries!)

On the other hand I've been running on about 1/4 the sleep I really need to be healthy. Also, I've needed a place to, well, vent a bit. It's a frustrating life, trying to do everything I want to do during 2 hours of naptime a day. SO! I hope to be on hereabouts a bit more. It'll be so thrilling for you all to read about diapers and sleep training and kitchen adventures, I'm sure!

The Bug

So as mentioned in my last post, we hit the farmer's market last weekend. The Santa Monica Farmer's Market, to be specific. What a wonderful place- and there are 4 markets a week to choose from! Mostly organic foods everywhere you look, and all pretty dang local! Granted it's a bit pricier than at Ye Olde Big Box Generic Grocery Mart, but man oh man is it ever tastier! The extra couple of bucks spent on fresh plums and peaches are TOTALLY worth it, not to mention the varieties of tomatoes I've never even heard of. (The ones I the photo below are called 'Momotaro' and are super easy to eat just by themselves. And we got to discuss Kamen Rider with the guy who sold them to us. Best produce sale ever.) We also got some honey from hives kept in the Los Angeles National Forest, and some butter and cheese from a cheesemaker in Petaluma. And local eggs, too!

At any rate, I'd been struck by a NEED for fresh, local, seasonal fruit for one simple reason. I wanted to take a lot of this:

And turn it into this:

Because I have been, once again bitten by the preserving bug. We have here peach jam (tasted only in the making thus far. But I have Plans. Tasty, delicious plans.) plum jam, which might be my latest addiction, and peach/plum butter. Oh! And I forgot the classic old dill pickles, which really won't be ready till October sometime. (Kindly forgive the mess on my cutting board! I've been making bread today to eat all this lovely stuff on...)

There are also some nectarines that I chucked in the freezer that I can't decide what to do with. I'm ALSO looking forward to the future- I've heard wonderful things about blueberry butter, and I have designs on things like apple butter, several varieties of marmalade, and if I am REALLY lucky I'll start a rumtopf pot or a vin de pamplemousse pot. The benefits of the latter, being of course that the fruit leftover once you've decanted the booze would make for some fine, fine marmalade. Can you just imagine? Oh, my mind reels! Also tomato sauce. Sadly not from my OWN tomatoes this year, since the heat and dryness here in the Valley has left my poor plants looking like this:

Yes, that IS an automatic watering device there in the pot. No, it hasn't helped a bit. It only took one day of 100+ temps and getting dried out to destroy the plant's heat tolerance, and even with some shade on it, that's pretty much what it looks like now. I hope that it'll last long enough for the three or four tomatoes to ripen before it dies completely. Ah well.

But next year! Such plans! Self watering CONTAINER, and some better prep, and I hope to be preserving my OWN tomatoes! Till then, I'll hit up the farmers market for a few pounds of heirloom fruit, and pin my hopes on the eggplants.

Busy busy!

Boy, what a crazy couple of weeks! It all started a few weeks ago when a good friend flew in from all the way across the country to stay with us for a few days of relaxation and calm before the insanity of Comic Con. It was really great to see him, and we got to show off one of our very favorite restaurants, which was very cool. (Also, while there, hey look. It's Fabio! It's funny how living in LA kind of makes you feel less excited about that sort of sighting.)

Comic Con was, as usual, completely insane. This is actually a bit away from the convention center itself, and the crowd has barely thinned at all.

SUPER crowded as always, it took my poor husband almost 2 hours to find parking when we got down there on Thursday.

He'd dropped our friend and me off in front of the Tin Fish in San Diego to minimize my walking (such a good dad-to-be!) so we had some fish and chips while we waited.

And waited.

And started to get a bit worried.

And waited some more. And finally got his food packed into boxes to take with us. Naturally, as soon as we crossed the street towards the convention center, he called to tell us that he would be at the Tin Fish in mere moments to join us. Ah well, it all worked out-he got his tasty fried seafood, we got him back, and in the end I even got a badge! (“Hi, so, my pregnant wife wasn't going to come originally, so she doesn't have a badge. Is there any way I can avoid leaving my pregnant wife all alone while I get my business done in the convention?” It was ballsy, but it worked!)

We got to see a bunch of friends that we somehow only see at cons anymore, bought a couple of books, fought the crowds, and I decided that I was pretty much fried by the end of Friday.

The rest of the weekend was spent away from the convention, seeing friends and finally having lunch with some family at Anthony's, right next to the Star of India.

It's a great place to eat, and a really cool place to wander around and look at the boats. If tall ships aren't your thing, then there are also two submarines! And you can go aboard and check them out, too!

his past week we said goodbye to our friend, and greeted some family who was in town for business.

(If you're looking for a really awesome bag, check out Peasants & Travelers!! We have the diaper bag half packed in anticipation, and we are loving it totally!) She didn't stay long, but

We loved having her here! Hopefully next time she can stay long enough to help me with my current obsession... turning fruits and veggies into tasty, tasty preserves. But I think that might be for another post- this one's getting a bit long...

Some local wildlife!

Boy, it's amazing what you can find on a third floor balcony! For example, we have some regular visitors here- two hooded orioles (a male and a female...)

A whole flock of finches...














a hawk that hangs out in the palm tree right outside our window (although I only got a picture of it perched on the next building over...)















And this morning we saw a tiny little lizard! How he got up here, I have NO idea, but I hope he finds a few nice bugs to eat! Better food for the lizard than a pest on my radishes!















We also have three Anna's hummingbirds that chase each other off the feeder when the orioles aren't hogging it, but man those guys are speedy! I don't have any really good photos of them right now. So many exciting dramas get played out right outside- even my husband who'd live in a cinder block box if it had broadband has gotten excited about it all!

Check one... TWO...

I'm not dead. I promise! It's just been completely insane since last year (got married, got pregnant... you know. life stuff.)

Superquick update, though- more peppers on the balcony this year, and also tomoatos, eggplants, roses, radishes... good stuff! The starter is wonderfully sour and produces some seriously tasty bread things.

That's about all I have for this very moment. I'm sure I'll have more interesting things to say in the near future, though! TTFN!

Can't talk now. Busy!

Tomorrow I get on an airplane to fly back to the East Coast. I have WAY the heck too much to do before then including laundry, kitchen cleaning, and grocery shopping. And oh yeah, packing. whee! Now then... what knitting do I want to take? hmmm.....

What I have been Up To

Pictures!

Here's one of the fruits of my balcony (pardon the crummy cutting board)




















And this is the font of many many yummy things!! Sourdough starter.





So handy for things like, say, english muffins!!


I have also been doing some knitting (which I can't show you- it's for presents) and some spinning which came out rather badly in the photos. Maybe when it's done I'll try again on the balcony with better lighting.

Otherwise I've mostly just been unpacking and cleaning and looking for a new job, and playing a lot of World of Warcraft. My Sweetheart seems to be very happy (and very very busy) at his new job, and I am oddly happier here than I was in Tustin. I am not sure why that is, but I think it has something to do with the natural light here, and the happy homemaking I've been up to. I don't know. Also might be the fact that I haven't had to think about the wedding for about a week, really. Just sort of momentarily here and there. I really must be the anti-bride, because I can't wait for all that nonsense to be over. I want a husband and a vacuum cleaner out of the whole thing.

Then I can really get down to making the most of this starter! Sourdough bread for everyone!! WHEE!!

wow, really?

So right after that last post my betrothed got a job offer with a company that was about 45 minutes north, as the crow flies. However, this being southern California, and LA being between us and the company, that meant the commute would have been about an hour and a half to two hours. One way. So upon accepting the job (and turning in his two weeks notice an hour later,) we had to start packing, and quick.

I'm still digging out of the boxes, although there is light at the end of the tunnel! Hopefully we'll be out of moving-mode in the next few days, and hopefully by then I will have found my camera cable... and the rest of our clothes!

At any rate, I can totally recommend the new game they're working on- it went onto open Beta testing on Tuesday, so go and check it out! I will sit here and shamelessly plug it from here! :)

Brain Dump

I'm feeling really rather positive about things this morning. I'm still trying to shake off the dregs of this cold-turned-con-plague that I mutated at Anime Expo, but otherwise I'm feeling prety dang good! I also feel like I got more accomplished this morning before I left the apartment for work than I have for the past week, all put together! Things are looking pretty darned good for the future, too, with one, single exception: Ugly Shoe Blight.

I'm trying to find a decent pair of pumps, you see, that I can wear under my wedding dress without wanting to gnaw off my own feet by the end of the day. The real sticking point, however, is that I want them to be shoes I can wear more than just the once- so perfectly appropriate work shoes. Unfortunately nobody seems to be selling shoes this summer that aren't really truly ugly. I just plain don't understand it at all. Really, is anybody buying these awful things? Ah well.

In other news, I finished the market bag project I started knitting when I heard about my aunt passing away. I had been working on the baby sweater for my friend's soon-to-be new baby, but somehow the idea of knitting grief into a baby sweater felt wrong on any number of levels, so I needed something else to get me through that raw freshness of it all. So I started this, and this past weekend I finished it! I have to say that I really loved this pattern. It took me a little while to get my head around the instructions once or twice, but it wasn't actually hard. I was pretty distracted, to be totally fair. And the cotton yarn they sent in the kit is actually really fun to work with, so it was a win all around, and I've already started a second bag! I'll post a pic as soon as I remember to get the bag out of my trunk where all my grocery bags live. :P

Also I've been thinking a lot about getting unstuck and out of my Rut. I've been hitting up the Happiness Blog a lot, and actually got going with the Toolbox a bit. I have a few quibbles with the actual website layout (I think it’s a little busy, and my iPhone REALLY doesn't like to load it at all, though to be fair, that's not entirely the site designer's fault.) but the tools themselves are pretty neat. AND they are why I felt so accomplished this morning! I knocked out three out of my four resolutions, which makes me feel rather like I'm keeping my promises, even though they're just promises to myself. I am trying to really zone in on two habits that I really really want to improve- my Japanese and keeping my space tidy- and trying to make them more of a regular part of my day. I'm getting better about some of it, and that feeling of improvement really does make a huge difference in my general happiness level.

So there's today's Random Brain Dump for your reading pleasure!

[edit: I found some shoes, finally! They should arrive Tuesday and if they fit I'll post some photos. Yay!!]

Wow, has it really been over a month? Well it's been busy. Wedding invitations needed planning out and cakes needed to be discussed and bills needed paying and anime conventions needed bracing for. I can't believe how soon SDCC is! I can't wait to see everyone- if I can find them!

Also, baby sweaters needed to be knit!! My friend at work is expecting his second any old time now, and being a knitter, naturally the first thing I did was to rush out to pick the perfect shade of yarn. Once you really think about Elizabeth Zimmerman's directions for a bit, it really does make a lot of sense, pithy or not. Here's my version of her February Baby Sweater:

I hope it tastes just great! (hey, I know perfectly well how babies assess things.) The only change I made was that instead of buttons I picked up stitches along the neck and did i-cord across to make the ties. (also, I really can't figure out why this photo won't stay re-oriented correctly. I'm really sorry it's on it's side, I will try to fix it later.) Anyway, it's a really fun thing to knit, I rather enjoyed it!

Let's see… what else have I been up to? I finally repotted the Japanese maple, I think it's rather happier now that it has some root space. The tomato plants have not only flowers, but some wee tomatoes on them! The snails have, unfortunately been at the peppers, but I'm hoping they're making a comeback. The peppers, I mean, not the snails.

Well, I can't think of anything else necessary to bringing y'all up to date with me. I will try to be better at this whole keeping-up-with-my-writing thing, which is of course half the point of this here blog!