Photo roundup. January 25, 2008 ~ 11:15 am
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedAs promised, there were many pictures taken on my vacation. A lot of them were of my knitting. I will get to those on Monday, along with the pictures of my sister-in-law’s birthday necklace. Most of the Florida pictures are nature-oriented, because I have a ton of pictures from the last time I went to Disney I took a million pictures and what have I ever done with them? Nothing. Not making that mistake again. You can tell that I am the main photographer in my relationship with Rick, because there is exactly one picture of me from Florida, and it’s not a good one (Rick’s glasses and the viewfinder on my camera do not a happy combination make). That’s okay by me, I know I was there.
So, behind the cut, photos. (more…)
It wasn’t a total loss… December 27, 2007 ~ 1:30 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedThe holidays weren’t all bad. We did get to spend time with the girls, I spent a fair amount of time with Rick, and I got to see Samang’s first brush with Christmas (how to tire a 6 month old baby out: give her five million Christmas presents and a bunch of wrapping paper. She went strong for about 40 minutes and then crashed and burned.).
I got some really great gifts, too. A WooLee Winder and a gift card to my favorite knitting store in the city from my mom. Gift certificates to the Brooklyn Academy of Music so that I can see Patrick Stewart doing the Scottish play from Jordana. Rick is buying my plane tickets to and from Florida. And I bought myself some stylish Merrell boots last night because I needed some waterproof and insulated boots. That reminded me of being a pirate. Arrr.
I’ve taken tomorrow off and I have no idea where that’s going to lead me. Rick might come down, or I might go up to Massachusetts. If I don’t do that tomorrow, I have big plans for yarn shopping and catching a movie. I’ve already seen Sweeney Todd, but I might go again just for the “By The Sea” sequence, which is brilliant. Or I might see National Treasure 2. I think a day to catch my breath is just what I need. Hope you all get one as well.
I heart the holidays December 26, 2007 ~ 11:57 am
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind, Fambly, Random Insanity , comments closedMy past three days have involved a 911 call, a trip to the ER with Rick’s mom, a fair amount of time spent at the hospital, a bomb scare at work this morning, and eight calls (and counting) to my office from someone screaming “She’s going to throw a bomb! Die! Die! Explosions!”.
How was your Christmas?
Christmas miracles. December 17, 2007 ~ 11:29 am
Posted by Julie in : Craftiness Is Next To Godliness, Daily Grind , comments closedSome missions were accomplished this weekend. For instance, I got everything wrapped, packed, and shipped that needed to be. And for a pleasant surprise, even though I had six packages to ship (well, four boxes and two padded envelopes), I was in and out of the Kensington Post Office in fifteen minutes which is a land speed record. The Post Office manager has obviously learned his/her lesson at this time of year and had three windows open instead of the usual one, and one window was devoted to stamp sales and money orders, the other two free for package mailings. If only they were this efficient the rest of the year…
Rick’s ma’s socks weren’t finished, since I spent Saturday afternoon/evening with Lori, watching the play she’s in, and then going to the movies to see Atonement. (Which was wonderful and now I want to read the book - the Oldest has been telling me what a brilliant book it is for a while now, so I guess I have to give in and buy it.) Yesterday I spent a very windy day inside cleaning house. Not fun, but it needed to be done. In the evening I picked up the knitting and made it through the heel of the socks, which means I’ll finish them today. Then the mittens, then Rick’s other present, then Lori’s present (Lori has been warned that she will not get hers until after Christmas, and she’s cool with that, especially after I told her I would make her earrings as well and let her pick out the stones.)
And so here we are, a week out from Christmas Eve, and I might well still be fucked. But at least I’m resigned to it.
Christmas knitting hits everyone. December 14, 2007 ~ 2:46 pm
Posted by Julie in : Craftiness Is Next To Godliness, Daily Grind, Urban Family , comments closedHow I know it’s crunch time for all knitters - I get a call from Aimee:
Aimee: Hey, did you knit the (some pattern) with (some number of stitches)? Because I’m doing it, and it doesn’t look right. Too small.
Julie: Yeah, I did that. I added 10 stitches to make it bigger. And you have to knit it longer than the pattern says or it won’t fit.
Aimee: Cool.
Yeah, then later, I realize that the number of stitches Aimee had mentioned (protected here because the recipient of (some pattern) reads the blog occasionally) didn’t sound right. So I texted her and told her maybe I fucked up and cast on too many stitches, so don’t listen to me and just cast on however many the pattern calls for plus an increment of stitches. And then I got back from lunch and looked at my project page on Ravelry and realized that I had not in fact knit (some pattern). I had knit (some other pattern). So I just texted her that.
Since when does staying up until 12:30 and wrapping and packing Christmas gifts like a mad dervish screw with my mind like this and make me into a space cadet? I must be getting old…
Lights on. November 26, 2007 ~ 10:55 am
Posted by Julie in : Da Cats, Daily Grind, In Da Hood , comments closedEveryone in my neighborhood had the same reaction to the day after Thanksgiving as I did: days too short, nights too long and dark, must decorate. Even if houses were only half decorated on Friday, some lights or decorations were put up. Neighbor Forrest outdid himself and managed to put three giant inflatable light-up things on his porch roof, besting his record of two from last year. When he is completely done, I’ll take a picture and post it, although anyone who happens to check out pictures taken from the space station can probably see it. It’s that bright.
My apartment is lit up pretty well itself, and I’ve discovered that LED lights are like laser beams. I have them on my tree for the first time this year (trying to save the planet through my Christmas decorations, Al Gore would be proud), and holy shit, they are little multicolored spotlights. I was so blown away by them the first night I had them up that I totally forgot to put the ornaments on the tree and just sat there mesmerized by the glow. Freddie was also transfixed, at least enough so that he forgot to try to chew the cord for a bit. That’s good, because I’m really tired of saying “No! Zap! Zap!” to him. I don’t think he’s going to understand electrocution except by experiencing it - telling him “Zap!” ain’t cutting it. And no, “Bzzzt!” doesn’t seem to make much of an impression, either.
The short days depress me, and the lights only help so much. The past few days have seemed endless, and I always think it’s much later than it actually is. Today might not be as bad since I’m back at work and that eats up a lot of hours, but then again, I’m back at work and that sucks. When we compare that to endless days spent watching my TiVo backlog…well, work does not offer me the entertainment of Tim Gunn or Ugly Betty, ya know?
Grab bag November 14, 2007 ~ 2:49 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closed- I biked to work this morning. It was gorgeous, the sun was shining, and it was warm. Now it’s still warm, but overcast. The meteorologists are saying we won’t get rain until late tonight, but after Friday’s botched prediction which left me riding home in the rain, I’m really wondering. If I end up doing it again, I’m gonna be super-pissed.
- I spent yesterday at a software implementation meeting. It was boring. I spent last night volunteering at a theatre gala at Tavern on the Green. It wasn’t boring. I will forever treasure the fact that I walked around barefoot in the Rafter Room while I was waiting for Lori to bring me a pair of shoes from her girlfriend’s car. I will not treasure the blisters that I have because of the shoes that I had been wearing up to that point.
- There are 41 knitting days until Christmas. I know this because the Yarn Harlot pointed out yesterday that there were 42 days left and well, I can do some math. This means that I still have a shitload of knitting to get done before Thanksgiving. Have to finish up the Oldest’s present (I’m over halfway done with it), and make presents for Rick, his mom, his step-dad, the Youngest, Lori, and my sister-in-law. The sister-in-law’s birthday is in mid-January, though, so depending on how the rest of the knitting goes, I might make her jewelry for Christmas and give myself a few extra days to knit and call it her birthday present.
- I did get Rick’s sister’s Christmas present done. It is beautiful. I am happy with it. Maybe someday I’ll actually post the pictures I took of it. Maybe.
- Thanksgiving is next week. I realize it’s an early Thanksgiving this year, but still, it’s killing me. Thankgiving means Christmas is right around the corner, and I am not ready. I am also not ready for the Christmas decorations that are up all over town. Apparently putting decorations up the day after Thanksgiving is out. We must now put them up the day after Halloween. Maybe next year we should just put them up the day after Labor Day.
- We were informed today that we’re getting new phones at work. This is good, because the ones we have are from the days right after rotary phones went out. I will now be able to have a headset to help with the carpal tunnel (couldn’t before because they weren’t compatible with my dinosaur of a phone). However, Big Brother will now be taping all our conversations. Can’t freakin’ wait.
Mail call. November 8, 2007 ~ 12:38 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedNo one hazarded a guess for the contest, so no one wins. For the record, however, my visit to Skippy cost $295 last night (freakin’ x-rays), and there were no cavities. I actually sent my mother a PIX message of my teeth with a note that said “Look Ma, no cavities!” on her phone, but typically mom, she did not look at the text and thus missed the genius of the message. She is doing better with the tech, but always forgets to look for the text on a picture message.
And while I curse at Knitpicks (dudes, why is my order still pending??? I ordered it on HALLOWEEN, for Chrissakes!) and chomp at the bit for my Blue Moon Fiber Arts order (they got swamped the night the Raven series came out, just as I predicted), I did get two cool things in the mail last night. My official Ravelry beta shirt (a ball of yarn with the words “Where my stitches at?” across the chest) came just in time to be worn to Stitch n Bitch, and my $35 Series Three of Doctor Who also broke land-speed records in getting to me, considering the damn thing only came out on Tuesday. Tomorrow, my one night of the week when I will be free to come home and veg, will be spent in a mad Doctor Who marathon, since I bought Series Two with birthday giftcards. I will sit, I will knit, I will spin, I will drink wine, and I will enjoy David Tennant. (While I still miss the Ninth Doctor, I will admit that Ten has grown on me. He had me at “Lots of things going on. Well, four things. Well, four things and a lizard.”)
And then Saturday I have a soccer game followed up by the Oldest’s high school production of Aspects of Lear. Yes, they are doing parts of King Lear. Yes, you and I are having similar thoughts about that. I definitely need an evening of Who to prepare for Saturday.
Quotable October 3, 2007 ~ 2:10 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind, Shorty , comments closedI think last weekend can be summed up by the following quotes:
“I’m going to the bathroom. If someone wants to use my wheel…let them.” ~me, at the Spin-Out
“You realize that this camera means that for the next four birthdays and Christmases, you will only receive handmade poppets.” ~Rick, Monday morning
Today can be summed up by this quote:
“I really don’t want to be back at work.” ~me
September 20, 2007 ~ 2:09 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedOur work servers hated me this morning. Weren’t letting emails from Aimee, ESC, and Sloth through (and I need those emails people. I need them to stay sane.), weren’t letting me access Gmail, weren’t letting me find out what song just played on the radio. I know other people were suffering as well, but really it was all about me. Everything is about me, because we are ten days from my thirtieth birthday. And just in time for that event, I’ve caught a hellacious case of apathy and ennui.
For starters, I can’t figure out what the hell I want to do for my birthday. At first, I was full of plans. I was going to go to New Orleans! I was going to go with Jordana and Lori! Then a bunch of things happened (including Lori being in a show in West Virginia for all of September and October, and MISSY, YOU ARE SO OUT OF MY WILL FOR MISSING MY BIRTHDAY. ) and suddenly we pushed off New Orleans till March. Which is cool, that means I have more time to scrape money together.
Then, we were like “Wait, didn’t we talk about going to a casino for your thirtieth? Didn’t we think of that last year? Let’s go to a casino! Let’s gamble!” Except Atlantic City is just sad and Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun (the casinos in Connecticut) just weren’t doing it for me. Plus, a casino birthday is not so baby-friendly, and I would like my monkey - I mean, goddaughter - to be a part of the festivities.
Then, we were going to go to the Spiegeltent and catch Absinthe, Absinthe of the magical snatches. But we looked yesterday and dude, that’s $69. $69 times four for me, Rick, J, and Thabs. That’s a lot. Also, while browsing the Spiegeltent website, I realized that I had missed Lady Sovereign, and that pissed me off. I like Sov, and I’m thinking she would have kicked ass live. *sigh*
The apathy and ennui settled in around my shoulders. Maybe I would just go to the Bronx Zoo for my birthday. I like the zoo. But Jordana, sensing how close I was to just staying in my house all day like a recluse, said that we would have a party, and drinks, and who knows what else, but goddammit, we are celebrating my birthday! So we’re working on…um, I think it’s Plan D.
And I will spend the evening doing laundry with my friends ennui and apathy. Because there’s nothing like laundry when you’re just feeling pleh about life. Also, there’s nothing like clean underwear, something which I am lacking as of tomorrow. Caught between the proverbial rock and the hard place, I am.
Here, here’s a baby to distract us all:
It’s blurry, but I love that smile.
