Tetanus Booster

Today is sort of a dud. It has been pouring. Buckets. I was supposed to take a new postdoc to lunch today, as part of the welcoming committee, in the rain... to the not so tasty cafeteria. Well, since we had no internet at work all day, I didn't get the memo that the guy was not going to make it. Oh well, at least they had mac and cheese on special today- yum! I finally got internet in just enough time to head on over to the medical department to get my tetanus booster. Did you know you were supposed to get one every 10 years? I didn't. I only thought of it since I was poking around the net to see what sort of things I should do before getting a tattoo and the up to date tetanus booster was one of them. Luckily they give them out free at work. I actually have to say that was a highlight of my day. Super long needle, but skinny so you barely felt it. That or the lady giving it was super good.

So I am going to head home soon. Maybe tomorrow will be less random- though the random days tend to be the most memorable.

My Sister

My sister is the best woman in the world. She is strong, independent, smart, caring, supportive, and an all around good soul. I tried to convey how much I love her in my maid of honor speech and I think she got it. She got married on Saturday to a great guy. I think she will do well by him. So I have a bunch of officially new family members. (I thought of them as family before, but I guess now we are legally family).
I had so much fun at the wedding. I have known all of her bridesmaids for years and years. They are all warm and friendly people. It was really sad to leave my hometown, because the wedding reminded me how much I miss everybody. I am happy with where I live and my new life, but I miss the family and the girls. I guess that is what growing up is all about though. At least I know that these people will always be in my heart. So, a toast to the bride, a toast to the groom, some cake for the family, and a dance floor for friends. I am blessed to count all of y'all as my own.

The Tattoo

I had a few questions from real life and in the comments about the tattoo. I still plan on getting it. I went to Tomato Tattoo in Lisle, IL to set up an appointment. The guy suggested that I wait until after my sister's wedding to get it (6 more days!). He didn't want it still to be itchy during the ceremony. Well, I got caught up in all of the move and The Captain being out of the country, soI haven't scheduled the appointment for September yet. I should get to doing that!

Home Alone

The Captain has been in Prague for almost a week now, but never fear dear reader, I am managing to get the house unpacked. I present to you a sneak preview of our new apartment. It is a 4th floor walk-up super close to the L line (like 4 blocks). I really like all of the hardwood floors. This shot is the back half of the living room. My knitting corner is there as well as our plants. I think the cucumbers will have to be uprooted shortly to make room for some pinto beans. The tomato plant has 4 green tomatoes about the size of golf balls. I hope they turn out well. The lettuce has seen better days and the peppers, well, they are kindof duds at the moment. In between unpacking and going to work, I have had a break to paint ladybug toenails and participate in the Ravelympics. I have entered the sweater sprint competition. I am attempting to make a short sleeved sweater for my lovely sister in the time between the opening and closing ceremonies. I have so far managed to knit from the neck to the underarms. I obviously have a ways to go.

Zombie Apocalypse Preparedness Plan

Photo courtesy of Tölkin Palautus

Do you have a Zombie Apocalypse Preparedness Plan? Did you know that you needed one? Ok, so maybe the likely hood of a zombie apocalypse is only high if you live in a sci-fi fantasy land, but the likely hood of our economy going fire sale is a bit higher. Thankfully I have thought this through.

What you will need: a Plan, a buddy, and some imagination. Hopefully you will never need this, but it could come in handy, even if it is just for a natural disaster. The key to the plan is sustainability- for the long term. We plan on loading up the car with camel backs full of water, an extra jug or two. Some canned food (don't forget the can opener), one pot, 2 plates, 2 cups, a spoon and a knife. Most important though is the seeds. You aren't going to live for long on a bunch of canned goods, so we need to think ahead. Next we have a flashlight and a lantern with gyros- i.e., they don't need batteries. Batteries will probably be scarce, so plan accordingly. We pack the fencing foils/sabers (they could be used to catch game). We get Tony sequestered somewhere. We also need to get all the bikes hooked up to the car, winter clothes, summer clothes (only one set of each), some soap, a toothbrush, baking soda and vinegar.

Once we have all of that packed we grab our emergency bag. This bag contains first aid materials, a parka, citronella candles, a lighter, and rope. We then grab our tent and sleeping bags and head out. Our plan is to drive south, most likely to the rio grande river valley. We plan to follow the Illinois River south west and then the Mississippi river south as long as possible. In the likely event that the car runs out of gas and there is no electricity to refuel it, we will then take to the bikes and continue south. It is important to follow the river as close as possible, so we don't run out of fresh water.

From there it is just a manner of meeting up with family and friends and establishing a commune in the south. The southern location is key because a)less need for heating b)longer growing season c)fishing on the beach.

So start planning.

Gerbera Daisy

I have an appointment for August 6th. That is the day that I go and get my tattoo which will represent my sister and myself. Daisies are my favorite flower and it just so happens that my sister chose those as her wedding flowers. I am pretty nervous about going, but I am so excited to get it done. It will not be too big, but it should be really pretty. Lets just hope I don't chicken out.

Tag- You're it!

I got tagged by the lovely and yarn dyeing talented Merry Gentlemen. I will try to play along. She broke the rules by only tagging moi, so I feel justified in only tagging a few people (not the 6 originally required). Answer the 4 questions, leave a comment to the person you tagged, and let the originator know that you have responded. Here goes

1) What was I doing 10 years ago? In May of 1998 I had just finished my first year as a physics undergrad at UT Austin. I had scored a paid internship at UTIG and that lead me on to my PhD in physics.

2) What are five things on my to-do list today- not in any particular order? 1. go to knitting- there is rhubarb with my name on it. 2. create restraint macro for a least squares refinement. 3. Kiss my honey. 4. plant strawberries. 5. try to stay awake.

3) Snacks I enjoy: Trader Joe's fruit bits, chips and salsa, cheese and crackers (especially chevre)

4) Places I have lived: In Texas: San Antonio, Lakehills, McDade, Austin, Georgetown. In New York: Bellport, Shoreham, E. Setauket, Huntington, and Port Jefferson Village. Illinois: Aurora and soon to be Oak Park (keep the fingers crossed)

5) Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Buy a house and a farm co-op. Work on some experiments in my spare time. Travel the world.


I shall tag: luscious luka and theoriesofstring

Book List

This book list is reposted from Miss Luscious Luka

These are the top 106 books most often marked as “unread” by Library Thing’s users. As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded. Bold the ones you’ve read and italicize the ones you own but have not read.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake
Collapse
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

Looks like I have some reading to catch up on.

Belated photo

It has been quite a while since I finished the tree jacket. I have worn it so many times it has even been washed already. (Don't mind the streaky mirror, it is clean mom- just streaky.) The pattern was from the Zephyr girls and I used 3.5 skeins of Dream in Color yarn and my Plymouth Bamboo sisters needles in size US 7. I really like this project and the yarn. I do however recommend that you take care with the garter stitch sleeves. I had put the yarn in the dryer for a bit while blocking the first time. I did not do this the second time and ended up with sleeves that were a bit too long (garter is stretchy). One pass through the drier fixes it, so no worries.





I also spent the day with my cousin Courtney's Flat Stanley. He came to the beamline with me and helped me load samples. Tomorrow we are going to go to our garden plot and till a bit. We also need to spread compost so that the ground is prepped for the planting season. Most of our seedlings are doing well at home and they can't wait to be in the ground. Well, at least that is what I think they are thinking- they won't talk to me.

New York, New York

We just got back from Easter weekend in New York City. It was great to see the family and just veg-out in general. I didn't get much sleep, but it was worth it. I am still recovering from my shoulder problems, so the father of the Captain did a bit of acupuncture on me. I have to say I feel a bit better. My first time with Eastern medicine was a success. Now I am back at work, sleep deprived, but hopefully productive. Oh and a shout out to my friend's new yarn store. Go check out rock creek yarn.

TJ update

The tree jacket is being worn as we speak. Blocking it did help greatly. It passed muster with the Captain, lets see how it goes with the girls at stitch tonight. As soon as I get a hold of my camera I will send pics.

Tree Jacket Complete

The tree jacket is busy blocking itself on the table. I am either going to like this sweater or throw it heavily and with a vengeance into the frog pond. It was all going so well: the fit was nice, the yarn was nice, the color was nice. All until those pesky sleeves. For future knitters of top down raglans I have a warning for you: it is not a good idea to knit the sleeves and graft them onto the sweater. Do not attempt this. I feel that I am a decently capable knitter. I have gotten myself out of snags before. This one was heinous. One side I finally beat into submission. The Captain made me take a break before I frogged the entire thing. The other side was grafted a wee bit too tightly, and I am afraid that this side will be the sweater's downfall. I am afraid that it will bug me to no end and a large ripping party will come to pass. I will attempt to wear the offending garment tomorrow. If it makes it through the day unscathed, I will keep it. If not... rip it... rip it...

It does look nice sitting on the table though.

We just don't belong here

Moving to the Midwest has been an interesting experience. I have never been so cold in my life (well except for that -20 day skiing in Vermont). It is so windy sometimes I have trouble walking. On the flip side, the summers are hot hot hot. The city is bustling and vibrant. There are museums, planetariums, and did I mention a gigantic lake? I think things will be much better when we move to Chicago proper, because there will be more diversity and therefore we won't feel like we stick out like a sore thumb. Food is my main issue. Unless I go to Whole Foods (which I only do on Mondays, since it is near my knitting place) we are in a pickle. I can't bring myself to buy meat at any of the stores nearby (no organic). I tried to ask the dude at Jewel Osco for rhubarb the other day and he looked at me like I had three heads! Dude it's not that hard!! It is a vegetable. Last night we made the mistake of trying to find falafel mix at Target. That was a no go. We hoofed it over to Jewel Osco and found one teeny box in the kosher food section, which itself was only a foot wide. Ground up chickpeas people- its not like I was looking for morels or quinoa or something. Seems that a lot of the food that I think is normal is not consumed by the good people of the midwest. If it is not a tomato, iceberg lettuce, or a chicken nugget, well... they just might not have it.

I really hope there is a Whole Foods near our next apartment :-)

Melting Pot

I was about to update my blog (apparently I have a loyal reader in San Antonio that I have been neglecting) when the Captain said- put on your new shoes and your coat. I looked at him quizzically and said- "why?"- to which he replied: "because we have reservations at the melting pot". Yeah!!! I have never been there, but my sister claims that it is awesome. Whoo-hoo.

Valentines day was fun- I got two valentines from my cute cousins and one from my best friend. I also surprised the Captain with a box of chocolates at 7am. (what? he stirred in his sleep and I decided that he was awake enough- I couldn't hide them any longer, I was too excited.)

Tony has been growing and having a blast. If this video works, then you can see him in action! I think he is trying to wrestle his skein of yarn into submission. Too cute. (Ok the video is too big- we will try again later).


And finally, the knitting. This new project is not knitting, but crochet. It is the babette blanket and I love it. I have quite a bit more to go, and I may have to order more yarn, but it is really colorful.

The holidays are upon us

Wow that went by quickly! I know I haven't posted in a while and I have tons of things to report, but that will still have to wait. The Captain and Tony Danza are doing well. I have to figure out a way to post the video of Tony playing in the yarn- too cute. I finished up the infamous Christmas Stocking for mother, which is good considering Christmas is next week. I will post a pic later in the FO parade I have scheduled for the new year, but suffice to say it is nice and I lined it with cashmere from an old sweater- tres chic. I also finished the Equestrian Blazer (well mostly). I have 1.5 sleeves left to sew to the body. I am trying to decide wether I want to do the cuffs on the sleeves and body or not. They already have a bit of reverse stockinette there, so I don't know if the extra 3 rows of cuff are really going to gain me anything. Hopefully I can finish the seaming tonight so I can wear it over the holidays.

Happy Holidays. Stay warm, be safe, and hugs and kisses for a happy new year.

It's A Girl!

At 1pm today my aunt had a little baby girl. Weighing in at 8lbs- no idea how tall though. So hello new baby!

Happy Belated Turkey Day!

This year was the second annual family thanksgiving at the Captain and I's house. We had lots of food and I even managed to make my first from scratch pie crust. Delicious! It was loads of fun and I can't wait till Christmas/New Years to see everybody again. As promised, here is a photo of Tony Danza. Isn't he a cutie? He had a ton of fun playing with everyone this weekend.

The good and the bad...

I will start off with the bad news, just to get it over with. My Angel fish Isis is no longer with us. I had her for 2 years. She got a little ill. It is almost impossible to cure and ill fish and I think the trauma of moving to a new tank was too much for her. But, the good news is that we picked up the Captain's Christmas gift early. I got him a ferret. He named him Tony Danza. Who's the boss? Tony Danza! I swear that will never get old. The Captain built him the first story of his ferret condo last night and is supposedly working on the mezzanine and second story today. I will try to get pics out soon. He is such a cutie. I didn't know if I was going to be able to get used to having a wiggly little thief living in the house, but he is so adorable that you just have to laugh. We had him in a large cardboard box while the finishing touches were being put on his cage. We gave him a smaller cardboard box to play with. Well little Tony figured out that if he stood on the small box he could jump out of the big box. Ferret on the loose!

Fishies!!

I got my new fish tank on Tuesday night! I was upgrading from my 5 gal Hex to a 10 gal tank. I got some new decorations and two new fish. The angel fish is Isis, which I have had for 2 years. There are two serpae tetras named Wallace & Grommit. You can see one of them on the left in front of the coral rock feature. I don't know where the other one is in the photo though. They seem to be really happy and I am sure Isis enjoys having more space. I think I am going to put my 5gal Hex up for sale since it is such a nice tank, but if anyone wants it- let me know :-)

There is not a ton going on in the knitting front. I am in the middle of too many large projects. I am focusing on the Equestrian Blazer, since that is the closest to completion. I messed up on one of the waist increases and made a decrease instead, so I am two stitches off. To ladder or to frog? Hmmm... The pattern is a bit confusing for the two front panels. I know that the designer/editor could not write out all the directions for all the sizes because the pattern would end up being 20 pages long- I concede that. But, with 4 paragraphs worth of 'do this at the same time' I am getting lost. Maybe I should just write it out for my size and go from there. I was doing so well up to that one mistake though!! Grrr!

A very belated haloween

I do realize that Halloween is long past, but since I did not have time to post with the wedding in Ny, you are getting it late. We decided to go as Jack Skellington and Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas. The Captain's suit was a Goodwill find and I pounced on the remnants bin at JoAnn's to get the fabric for my dress. I opted to not get a pattern, since I was making a dress for a rag doll. I drew out a sketch, as you can see, and then laid on top of the fabric trying to trace what I wanted the patches to look like. My strumpet dressform helped out while I was in design mode. Luckily the fabric was stretchy enough that I did not have to put a zipper in. The party was fun, though it would have been better if the Captain was not ill. He is doing better and hopefully will be back to health in time for the holidays.

This past weekend was really fun. We got to attend the wedding of two good friends :-) To top it all off I caught the bouquet! It came to rest right at my feet. The look on the Captain's face was priceless! Great food, great people. Actually we got to see a few people we haven't seen in over a year. The favors they gave out were really cute too. They were small terra cotta pots with dirt and basil/chive/parsely seeds. I can't wait to get mine started growing. All in all it was a great time and I managed to finish one of the plain jane socks while I was there. Oh, and I can't forget the fun we had with the Captain's parents!