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March 22, 2005
Sweet!
Look, I know you're probably thinking "She's gotta be done with those socks by now..." Well, uh... um... hey! Look over there! Aren't those kids adorable?
My kids had an open house at their school on Thursday. Here's my boy pointing out his fabulous reading book (he's in Kindergarten). He's not wearing his school uniform because the kindergarteners got free (green) dress for St. Patrick's day (bonus!) Ninja turtles have green on them. So ninja turtles it was.
And my second grade daughter striking her most adorable pose at her desk. The second graders did not get free dress, but she decided to wear her green shirt to help fend off any potential pinchers.
Have you forgotten about the socks yet? No? Hmm... the school also had a science fair at the open house...
Here's Devon (and his green ninja turtles) showing us what the kindergarteners learned about floating and sinking:
And Victoria describing the second grade project on penicillin growth:
Ok, ok, I did make some progress on the socks. I've just been super duper busy and haven't gotten them done yet.
I did get a super sweet package from my SP4 Pal!
On the left you see lots of wonderfully sweet Easter treats, and on the top, a super sweet koolaid dying kit (yarn, many different kinds of koolaid, and instructions from KR and Knitty). I can't wait to try it out! Also included is a cool needle sizer which looks a lot like those old ring sizers I used to play with when I was a kid. So, to sum up, a SWEET package!
Thanks so much, SP! I can't wait to play with the yarn! Next week when we get back from Disneyland I think my daughter and I will try out the koolaid project. And then I can figure out something cool to do with the yarn :-)
In the meantime, I shall soldier on with these socks. Only a couple more inches before the toe shaping. On with the knitting!
Posted by synedra at 9:36 PM | Comments (3)
March 16, 2005
One more interview!
Yes, that's right, ladies and gentlemen, one more post on the fascinating topic of *ME* :-)
Suzie snuck in with one more set of questions for me to answer...
1. What type of buddhist training would you like to do? (Zen? Vipassana? Other?)
Living as I do in the Santa Cruz mountains, very near to The Land of Medicine Buddha, I'd mostly likely go the Tibetan Buddhist route. My kids even went to summer school there one year, which was pretty cool. It's very peaceful and calm up there.
2. What is your favorite thing about living on the coast?
I love being able to go down to the beach, just watch the waves, smell the sea air, and feel the breeze off the water. I've pretty much always lived on the coast (although I'm a SoCal girl by nature). I wish the water up here was warmer, but even so I love just watching the water. I feel very lucky that I can go running along the bike path on West Cliff Drive.
3. Favorite Show on NPR?
Marketplace! I love that show. Also like Morning Edition and All Things Considered. I would love CarTalk if only I were able to listen to it at a time that's convenient to me. Maybe now that I have a Serius satellite radio I can find a time that I can listen to it. If only there were a Tivo for my radio :-)
4. I love baking too! What's your favorite kind of pie?
The pie I want to get really good at is the Graham Cracker Cream Pie my aunt used to make, but the pie I'm best at now is my kabocha pumpkin pie. I keep meaning to post the recipe, but I haven't yet. Heck, I promised to post the recipe for Molasses cookies but I haven't done that yet either. But I will!
5. What did you think of Martha's Poncho?
Well, it was ugly. But I think that it was a very sweet gesture for someone to make her a poncho, and extremely sweet for her to acknowledge it like she did. I think that Manolo was a little overly mean about it. On the other hand, it *was* ugly.
Posted by synedra at 3:17 PM | Comments (4)
March 15, 2005
Socks and Answers
Well I've been an absent blogger because every free minute has been consumed by trying to finish the socks on time. Unfortunately, today is the 15th and the socks didn't go out. Yet. They're well underway, though:
I hope to finish in a couple of days and then send them off. Yes, I know that I have to finish the toe on the first one, but I figured I'd do them at the same time.
My pal sent me my socks, though, and they're wonderful!
They fit *perfectly*, as you can see, and they are comfortable and beautiful. I love them lots.
I got another couple of reciprocal interview questions, and since I know you're all dying to know more about me I'll answer them now:
La of JenLa asked these most excellent questions:
1. What advice would you give a new telecommuter to keep him from going entirely stir-crazy the way of The Shining and taking his whole family with him?
It's hard to say. Certain people are just ok with telecommuting and other people need to interact with people. But I do interact with people. My day usually looks like this: Get up, get ready, kick the kids outta bed, go downstairs and start breakfast/lunches, check email and cases, finish getting the kids ready, take kids to school and chat a bit with the other moms, go to Starbucks for iced tea, come home, work for a couple of hours, go eat lunch with someone... you get the idea. I probably work 45-50 hours most weeks, but not all in a *row* so I have time to go see people. Sometimes I work from Starbucks or Borders just to scratch the 'be around other people' itch. I'm super productive because I don't go to meetings, and my boss thinks I'm great. If my kids weren't in school and my husband didn't have his own office I'd probably become an axe murderer.
2. How far have you gotten on your novel? Can you give us a teaser?
I threw the first chapter of my book in this entry. Sadly, I haven't had the time (or made the time) to get more done. Yet.
3. What is a lap band? Were you satisfied with your results?
The lap band is a minimally invasive weight loss surgery. There's lots of info about it on my lap band site, but basically it's like a little adjustable watch band around the top of your stomach making a little pouch so you get full faster. I lost over 100 pounds - I gained some of it back after I got an infection from my tummy tuck, so I'm at about 80 pounds now, but I am very satisfied with my results even so. I'm even happy with the tummy tuck but I won't show you those before/after pictures unless you really wanna see them.
4. What has been your favorite project thus far?
I loved making Sherbet, that was very fun. And it looks so great on Kaily, so it was very gratifying :-)
5. If you could have any super-power you wanted what would it be and why?
Well, flying of course. Does anyone ever pick anything different? I would love to be able to see the world from above.
And Terby asked me these questions:
1) What made you decide to do your first triathlon?
My friend talked me into it. I had only had my lap band for a year and was trying to really commit to consistent training. I do much better when I'm training for a goal so it worked out well. It was super fun, too :-)
2) If you could take lessons from any chef, alive or dead, whom would you choose?
I'd love to learn from Alton Brown. He's such a food geek and understands the *why* of everything, which is fascinating to me.
3) Where would you go on your dream vacation?
I would go back to Cozumel or Hawaii. I love diving and both places were amazingly relaxing and nice to see. I'd also love to go to New Zealand or Fiji someday.
4) What question do you wish I had asked?
What are we doing for the kids' spring break? We're going to Disneyland! We went when the Girl turned 2, 4, and 6... now she's turning 8. So we have no choice, you see!
5) Egyptian theme Fry's or Western theme? Discuss.
I like the Egyptian theme... I'm more fond of the look, personally (love the Rosicrucian museum!) plus the layout of the other Fry's annoys me.
Posted by synedra at 9:24 PM | Comments (7)
March 11, 2005
Interview 3, Natalie's Revenge!
Actually her questions are very nice, I just had to come up with a relatively witty title and I'm kinda sleepy this morning.
Here's my answers to Natalie's reciprocal questions.
Kirsten:
1. So update us on your New Year’s resolutions that you posted in January. How are you doing with them so far?
What? I posted resolutions? Yow! I did! I had completely forgotten about them! OK, here they are, with my current progress (or the adaptation) included.
I will do my very best this year to:
- Run in a race before June
I did the Santa Cruz Super Bowl 3k on Super Bowl Sunday. Then came back to watch the game. Granted, 3k is pretty unimpressive but I was happy with my time. This month on the 20th I'm doing the Emerald Nuts Across the Bay 12K where I will get to run across the Golden Gate bridge.
- Knit a sweater for me (maybe Blaze (but not in orange)
Sheesh. It's 80 degrees here right now, a sweater sounds kind of dumb. I will adjust this resolution a bit to say 'knit some kinda shirty thing for me' since I have a zillion skeins of Noro Lily in this fabulous green color which is going to become a tank top sometime soon.
- Turn all these balls of cotton yarn in to dishcloths from the Dishcloth Boutique
Yeah, well, here's the thing. I keep *trying* to start dishcloths. They should be cool, right? You start, then a little while later, you're done. But I start one, do about 2 inches, and then grow unbelievably bored with the thing and frog it. I don't think I'm a dishcloth girl. I'll find something else to do with the cotton, I'm sure.
- Eat out for dinner no more than once a week
We're doing much better with this, although still too much eating out. The extra stuff I'm doing because of my friend's accident has made me quite stressed and I'm just getting back on my feet from that. But we're cooking more than eating out! And we implemented an allowance scheme that discourages the gratuitous eating out.
- Take the time to buy and prepare relatively healthful food for myself and my family
Doing this much more - now I go to the Starbucks at the other end of town (it's a little town) which shares the parking lot with a nice little market, so I can buy stuff in the morning to make for dinner. That works out very well. Tomorrow we (myself and the kids) will go to the farmer's market after our martial arts classes.
- Attend at least 3 martial arts classes a week
Check! So far I'm doing great with this. This week I've been every day (M-Th) and I plan to go tonight and tomorrow as well. My running suffers when I focus on Martial Arts but there's a tournament next weekend and I'm competing in the forms division and I don't want to suck!
- Go back to pre-planning at least 48 hours ahead anything that causes me stress (girl scouts, get-togethers, anything where my tummy wrenches when I think about it)
I'm a little better at this. And thank heavens, the other moms in the girl scout troop pretty much took it over when Susan got hurt so that I could focus on helping her and her family... I did get somewhat depressed but am back on wellbutrin and doing much better now! Talk about TMI, eh?
- Move myself closer to zen mastery
Uh, not yet. Maybe I can work on that during the summer :-)
Pretty good, actually! Not bad considering I completely forgot that I had these goals at all.
2. What’s your favorite board game?
Scrabble! I love Scrabble! I play once a week with a co-worker at lunchtime and he usually kicks my ass. But it's fun!
3. You’re a relatively new knitter, so what’s your favorite yarn so far?
Hmm... I really liked working with the tape yarn to make Sherbet, and this self-striping sock yarn is fab, but I'm most looking forward to working with the Fiesta La Luz silk yarn that I got at Stitches West.
4. Create a fabulous pretend meal for me (and feel free to provide recipes if you want!).
Since I don't know what you like, I'll just cook what *I* like, and I'm in the mood for comfort food right now :-)
Stir fried sugar snow peas (from How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittleman)
Caesar salad with candied pecans and bleu cheese
Chicken with pan gravy and cornmeal dumplings (one of my favorite main meals, I love this recipe)
Maple-ginger creme brulee
That should do it :-)
5. What’s the next project you will cast on?
It'll definitely be something for Susan. Either a scarf or wrist warmers with the Manos Cotton Stria I got, or possibly the Hallowig from Knitty in the Fiesta La Luz. I think that'll be just adorable!
Posted by synedra at 8:11 AM | Comments (6)
March 10, 2005
Exercising! Honest!
Well, I did take the weekend off, but I've been to martial arts every day this week. Haven't done much running... I did run a mile on Monday before class... but I feel like I'm doing a good job of working out. I wish the kids didn't have tomorrow off, I'd like to go down by the beach and run in the morning. But I'll probably have to settle for another martial arts class instead :-)
Upcoming race, still: Emerald Nuts Across the Bay 12K on the 20th... should be fun!
Posted by synedra at 5:10 PM | Comments (1)
March 9, 2005
Interview 2, the Spawning!
OK, here's the questions for the brave souls who volunteered to be interviewed. Remember, post the questions and answers on your own blog and then, you know, you'll get other people to interview. It's harder than it looks! I hope you all like your questions :-)
Terby
1. What kind of science do you do, exactly?
2. Do you get most of your knitting inspiration from books, magazines, or websites?
3. Which do you like better, cats or dogs?
4. What are your favorite knitting needles?
5. Why did you ditch your first blog, and what made you start it up again?
La
1. It seems like everyone else has knit a clapotis except you and me. What's up with that? Why no clapotis in La land?
2. If someone wanted to walk/run with you for the Revlon run but didn't raise any money, would they be allowed to come along if they ponied up the $25 reg fee?
3. When do you get a turn with the left hand column on your blog?
4. So, meme girl, what was your favorite quizilla quiz?
5. What *is* Fox Force Five? :-)
Suzie
1. I'm super jealous of all the chefs you've met through your cool job (at KQED?) Who was your favorite chef to meet and why?
2. What's your favorite Bay Area LYS?
3. What foreign language(s) do you speak?
4. How is your training going for the 1/2 marathons? (I ask because I'm thinking of doing the Nike women's 1/2 marathon in October)
5. What do you do to relax?
Stacey
1. Hot tea or iced? What flavor?
2. What's your favorite Christmas album?
3. Where did you live before you moved to California, and why did you move?
4. Tom Hanks or Russell Crowe? Discuss.
5. Where do you want to visit that you've never been?
Elizabeth
1. If you could design a reality show that you would actually watch, what would it be?
2. What is the strangest entry in the 'search referrals' section of your site statistics?
3. Stinky cheese or squishy cheese? Discuss.
4. What does your favorite bath/body/haircare product smell like?
5. What's your favorite season and why?
Natalie
1. How many balls of sock yarn do you have in your stash?
2. I think it's time for another round of 'how did searchers find your blog'!
3. Do you think that Locke (from Lost) is evil or just strange?
4. Describe your favorite pizza.
5. Cake or pie? Discuss.
OK, girls, I did my part! Answer on your blogs - I'll look forward to seeing the results. Maybe we should have a contest to see if anyone can answer in fewer words than I used. Wouldn't that be a challenge? :-)
Posted by synedra at 12:10 PM | Comments (1)
March 8, 2005
Interview
I found this over at Three Olive Martini and figured it was a good way to avoid talking about the Sockapalooza sock. Below is the description of what is going on along with the questions and answers.
First let's get the description out of the way.
Here are the rules for this Blog-a-thon. I'll offer to interview the next how many ever people to respond to this post that will follow these rules:
1. Leave me a comment saying "interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions here. They will be different questions than the ones below.
3. You will update YOUR blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
Ok...here are the questions that Three Olive Martini asked of me:
1. Why are you dragging ass on that sock? (lol)
Oh, cr*p! I was hoping to avoid talking about the sock! Actually the sock is done, except for the toe. I transferred it to 2 of my backup needles and cast on for the other sock, figuring I would have a Kitchener stitch party once they're both ready. I'm mostly dragging ass because I've been busy doing the updates for my friend and I was working on Sherbet, and my kids keep taking up my time, and, and... ok, no good reason, really :-)
I will have pictures up of the socks when they're done, I'll have my dainty-footed daughter try them on (her feet are not really dainty - they're basically women's size 7 feet on a 7 year old!)
2. I have seen your mom’s chair…its fabulous! Did you get any of that kind of talent for painting or do you have other talents you inherited from her or any one else?
Sadly, no, I did not get the talent for art from my mother. It skipped my generation (I got my father's artistic talent, which lags significantly behind that of my mother). My daughter, who is 7, has lots and lots of talent. I'm more of a left-brainer, myself. I write software. Although recently I have given some thought to writing (scroll down to the bottom for the first chapter in my romance novel) and I'm enjoying my newfound fun knitting talent. Actually the one talent I really seem to have is that I'm good at learning anything quickly - tap dancing, martial arts, knitting... And clearly I am very talented at answering questions concisely. Or not.
3. Do you think Martha Stewart was unjustly sentenced to prison? Explain.
No. I don't think she meant to be evil, she was trying to cover up which is a very human thing to do, but alas, if you lie to people under oath it's perjury. If anyone else had done the same thing, they'd have been sent prison, so it's only fair.
4.What is your favourite thing to cook ?
Oh, that's a hard question. I love to cook and bake all sorts of things. Hmm... let's see. My current favorite thing to *bake* is my ginger-molasses cookies, because everyone makes yummy sounds when they eat them. My favorite food to *cook* is meatloaf, LOL. Everyone in the family likes it and it's got kind of a mud-pie sensibility in the making of it. I also love making chicken-and-dumplings for comfort reasons.
5. If you had to choose one item to have with you the rest of your life what would it be?
What a hard question! I tried and tried to come up with a real answer but I just couldn't. So I'm going to go with a cop-out answer... inner peace. Seriously, I spend my whole life striving for zen mastery but I have made so little progress that I don't think I'll make it there until I'm about 942 years old.
Posted by synedra at 10:42 AM | Comments (6)
March 4, 2005
Sitting Pretty
And now for something completely different... I know you're all waiting on pins and needles to see the finished sockapalooza sock but it's not done yet, so I thought I'd do a commercial break for my mom. She's a fabulous artist who has a piece in the Healdsburg "Sitting Pretty" fundraiser/auction tomorrow night, so if you're in the North Bay you might run by the Plaza Arts Center and take a look at her cool chair. The fundraiser provides money for the center, which provides classes and local school art programs.
Her description: The design is inspired by Gustav Klimt, specifically his painting, Three Phases (Faces?) of Woman. I only included two of the faces - the other was an old crone. He does a lot of decorative gold leaf, which I tried on the hair, quilt and the patterns on the back.
Here's some photos...
Posted by synedra at 9:58 AM | Comments (5)
March 2, 2005
Blogs are so demanding!
My darned blog template only looks lovely when I actually, you know, *post* every now and then. How rude!
Well, that's ok. I have stuff to show. I wanted to finish my first sockapalooza sock before I posted and I'm getting close. Look! It looked even better on my daughter's foot, her foot is much closer to that of my pal, but I had to have something to show so here is the size 8 sock on my size 11 behemoth foot.
I have learned many valuable lessons about making socks:
- Stockinette stitch is pretty dull
- It's even dull when you switch off continental/american
- ... but stripy yarn does help.
- Bamboo needles are kinda fragile, especially when you try to tug a small sock onto a big foot. Sometimes they break. Which sucks. And snags your yarn. Plus it's kind of embarrassing.
- Turning a heel isn't very hard, as long as you just turn off your brain and follow the directions.
- I like gussets. Who woulda thunk?
I can't wait until these are done (and something for Susan) so I can start on a pair of socks for MEEEEE! I have some koigu just waiting to be made into some lovely socks.
I also have a lovely photo of Sherbet's new owner:
What? Why are you still pointing that camera at me? I did cute for the *last* picture!
As you can see, fortune smiled on this new knitter and the sweater fits perfectly. I only hope she doesn't eat any of the buttons!
Posted by synedra at 1:44 PM | Comments (4)