I've missed you!

You guys! Happy Tuesday and Happy New Year and Happy...9:55 in the morning! How are you?! I've missed you, have you missed me? The weather is WEIRD here in Michigan! Rain, snow, thaws, floods, freezes, ice, weird! How's your weather? Is it bad that we've started talking about the weather already? Is this relationship doomed because we couldn't go five minutes without talking about something as mundane as the weather. Oh no! Don't give up on us yet! I think we have more to talk about: I'm hoping to revamp this blog a bit and use it as a way to keep up with my new years resolutions. Obviously, since it's taken me 29 days to make my first blog post of the year, my resolutions are going slowly. Whatever, at least they're still going.

Anyway, while I get my act together for more substantial posts, here are some things I like right now:

I may have watched this movie twice in a row on Sunday. It's just good fun and I love it. Plus, Chris O'Dowd. Cute cute cute.

My friends and I over at Locust Street Crafts had a meeting on Saturday and I got so carried away with loving my friends that I forgot to put a thumb gusset in this mitten. I ripped it out and started again and included a thumb this time. It has three separate cables because I just can't seem to get enough! Everything I'm knitting has cables right now! Cables, cables, cables! However, if i keep forgetting functional parts of things I'm going to have to change that to gussets, gussets, gussets which does not have the same ring to it.

I'm re-watching Parks and Rec from the beginning. What a great show! Every time I get overwhelmed or discouraged I think, "What would Leslie Knope do?" So I've been eating a lot of waffles. Also, how great is this picture?

Since I can't top Joe Biden and Amy Poehler being awesome together with anything this is where I'll leave you. Get ready for new years resolutions, you guys!

Epitaphs and Yoga cats

Happy Thursday one and all! Here's another yoga cat. This one seems to have more yoga skills than other cats I've seen videos of. Although, he or she must either not have have claws or be very, very zen because if my cats slid down my back like that during down dog it would turn yoga into a blood sport.

Now, I believe that every person has a few phrases they say frequently that define something about them. Like, the fact that I say, "Seriously, you can't talk to me about John and Kate Plus 8 or Toddlers in Tiaras because I will get so angry blood will shoot out of my eyes while I strangle you." or "I could be wrong...but I know I'm right." demonstrates my distaste for treating child abuse as television and my fairness of mind. Or something. Annnnyway, another phrase I use a lot is, "Correlation does not equal causation." That shows you that I have an undergraduate degree in social sciences that I am not currently using. But here's this!

I love a graph that proves my point and makes me laugh while insinuating that mountain ranges cause murders in New York. That is a good time for everyone.

Which is why I always make sure to blow out the candles

The other day, I bought a new knitting book that I am CRAZY for. I was telling my sister how bonkers bananas I was for this knitting book and I told her it was one of the items I would go out of my way to rescue in case of a house fire. Here is the rest of that list:

1) My favorite knitting book

 The book that started the whole conversation, The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns has absolutely changed the way I design and has me actually knitting gauge swatches just like a real knitter. Erica told me about it months ago, but I was resistant because I thought I had enough knitting books (I do have a fair few). But finally at her urging I checked it out from the library. The minute I opened it, I ordered my own copy from the local bookstore. It's a series of charts which allow you to either make basic hats, mittens, gloves, etc or a pattern upon which to base your design. It is the most useful book I own and I would encourage any knitter at all interested in designing their own work to take a look at this book.

2) My favorite cookbook

The Joy of Cooking is as valuable to me for cooking as the pattern book is for knitting. It has a great index in the back so that when I bring home a butternut squash from the farmer's market because it looked pretty, I can look it up and find a couple of options of what to do with it. Joy has more information than I may ever use about setting a table, nutrition, stocking a pantry and certainly more recipes than I'll ever try. But it is my go-to resource in the kitchen.

3) My favorite kitchen tool

For my birthday last year, my sisters bought me this immersion blender. Before I had my immersion blender, I got squash all over my ceiling. I made that same recipe this weekend and voila, no squash anywhere but in the soup pot! I love my immersion blender so, so much!

4) All three copies of Jane Eyre




I have been trying to get my book collecting under control. I work in a library for goodness sakes, and in the interlibrary loan department for that matter! I can get most any book I can think of! But there are some books that deserve collecting which is why I have three editions of Jane Eyre. There's the Signet Classic edition that was the first edition I owned and it is in tatters (I read Jane Eyre at least once a year). Then, I picked up a Norton Critical Edition at a used bookstore in town a few years ago. And then. The jewel of  my library, the best gift I have ever in my life received (yes, even a notch or two above the immersion blender). A copy of Jane Eyre in Thai. My ex-boyfriend Casey went to Thailand when his brother and sister-in-law got married and brought this back to me. His family thought he was nuts because I can't read Thai but I love it so much. It's not pictured above, I couldn't find it anywhere online, which actually just makes it cooler.

So while clearly I would be most concerned about my cats were a fire to break out, while I would of course want to rescue pictures and other sentimental objects, and while there's no way I would ever actually take the time to rescue any material thing from a house fire (my police officer father didn't raise any fools), these are my "Things I would save from a house fire" type of possessions, my favorite things.