Mix It Up!

1. Monday Kwiddens came over and we baked. We made mini chocolate chip cookies for Scott and Jorg, and coffee cream puffs for ourselves. The cream puffs were a smashing success. We ended up with about twice as much coffee-flavored whipped cream as we needed, and now it's sitting in my fridge and I don't have any idea what to do with it.

2. I'm amazed that the baking worked out well because I had some trouble with the damn oven last week. I had bought some cookie dough and was making mini chocolate chip cookies for Scott (I know, twice in one week, so sue me). The instructions said to bake them for nine or ten minutes, so I put them in for eight and checked on them, and they were BURNT. So, I put some more in, this time for six minutes, and then I went to check on them and they were BURNT. So, I put the rest in, for five minutes, and when I checked on them, they weren't cooked AT ALL. Oven gremlins?

3. I've been having so much fun with my knitting group. The original plan was to meet twice a month, but we're all loving it so much that we've been meeting every week. It's motivating me to actually work on projects, too! I had gone through a two or three month knitting dry spell, but now I'm back into it and loving it. It's fun and satisfying to see what everyone else is making and squish their yarn.

4. Work has been crazy. Yesterday I walked in and there were seven samples, so I thought "AWESOME, short day, and then I can go home and take a nap!" Um, no. Coworker called me a few minutes later and asked if I could run 150 samples for another company. Ha! I rushed as much as I could to get regular stuff done so that when those samples arrived I would be ready to go. They never came, but ironically people kept bringing me more and more work and I ended up staying for more than eight hours anyway. We'll see how things go today...

5. Scott mentioned french fries last night while we were talking and that's all I've been able to think about all day.

It's The End Of The World As We Know It

...or the end of Harry Potter.

And I feel fine.

I read the very first Harry Potter book shortly after it came out. My friend Samantha had read it and lent it to me, and I read it, and I wasn't that interested. I passed on the series for quite a while.

Then, my family had to take a trip to Pennsylvania, and I was a moody teenager, I think in my senior year of high school, and all I wanted to do was hang out in our hotel room and sleep. There came a point where I was sick of sleeping, though, and I was bored out of my skull, so I grabbed the only reading material in sight: my sister's copy of The Goblet Of Fire. And I was hooked. "Wait a minute", I thought, "Why didn't I like the first one all those years ago?"

Now that I've read them all (cough*multiple times*), I can easily see that as the story moves forward it becomes more detailed and interesting, and so in hindsight I like the first book just fine, although it's not my favorite.

Anyway, the last three books all came out while I was in college, and for the first two I waited (impatiently) for a roommate or close friend to finish reading the copy she had bought so I could borrow (and devour) it. The last book was pre-ordered on Amazon by our dear Scott as a reward for finishing my very last paper in my very last class so I could actually get a diploma.

Books have always been in my life, and they've always been my escape. Stressed about school? Grab a book. Down about yourself? Grab a book. Life turning into a living hell? Grab two books. ESCAPE.

And this sound incredibly nerdy, but I feel like the characters in my very favorite books are my friends, and I take it very personally when I reach the end of a series and they're gone from my life. The characters in Harry Potter have been close friends for nine years now.

It was sad enough for the last book to come out, and knowing that there weren't going to be any more. I'd laughed and cried and loved and hated along with all these characters, and that was it. I was sad about this, but all good things come to an end (except ice cream; that must NEVER come to an end). But at least they were still making movies, and even though they aren't nearly as good as the books (duh), I still love All Things Potter, so I was still happy.

But when the credits rolled on the very last movie the day before yesterday, I know it was really finished this time. Oh, sadness. And by finished, I mean until Pottermore is open to the public (Google it, if you want to). And maybe someday when I have a zillion extra dollars I'll go to that amusement park that's all HP and stuff.

And I can always read the books again.

Kwiddens's Toasty Feet

Too bad nobody wants warm feet in heat like this...

Text Time 14

Me: The thing about going to the gym is, it makes me hungry, so I feel like if I eat it's defeating the purpose of going in the first place.
Mim: Not if you eat high fiber or lean protein. Nutrient rich foods. No empty calories.
Me: But I want cake, dammit!
Mim: Have a broccoli cake. With skinless chicken breast frosting!

Kwiddens: I need to start taking some kind of drug that makes me just take everything in stride
Me: Like pot?
Kwiddens: Valium :)

Kwiddens: Right now I could go for hot cocoa and popcorn and blankets and a movie
Me: I have all that, except switch yarn for popcorn!

Kwiddens: I wanted to get pie but Isaac wasn't supportive.
Me: You should have married someone more supportive!
Kwiddens: Or I should just stop wanting pie

Scott: Dr. Cox is right
Me: About?
Scott: If you can't decide what you want in the 10 minutes it takes to get to the front of the line I should be allowed to kill you

Oh, And I Really Want A Quesadilla

I haven't posted a lot lately, mainly because I felt like I didn't have much to post about. I kinda like each of my posts to focus on one event or theme or something I've recently made. But I want to write, so I might have more than a few "Random Thoughts" sorts of posts for a while. Deal with it.

1. Mim and I went to Lava Hot Springs again this past weekend. We lounged and soaked and even though it was really ridiculously hot outside, we still caught the breeze on our wet skin and that made it all totally worth it. We talked and talked and talked, and had our traditional dinner at a diner, and we went earlier this time so I didn't get home at midnight!

2. After a long week of the ICP-MS working, then not working, then being repaired, then not being repaired, then working kinda and getting partially caught up to not working again and getting behind again, and then being repaired (and that taking about 7 hours), then getting caught up again, then normal operation for two days...deep breath...it crapped out again last night after I left. I simply cannot win this one. The Agilent dude is trying to rearrange his schedule so he can get here ASAP.

3. I finished one of Kwiddens's socks last night! It turns out you can get a lot of knitting done when your equipment doesn't work.

4. Just kidding, I think the ICP-MS is working now. I'll keep you posted.

5. I still haven't seen the latest Harry Potter movie. I'm waiting until the crowds die down and until I can get together with Kwiddens (and maybe Jorg) to go see it.

A Month Of Blankets

Remember the Babette Blanket?

Well, I've got the itch to make it again, for me, in 17 shades of pink. In fact, I've already ordered the yarn for it. I'm very excited about it!

I don't feel like I can start another project that's so big without finishing up some projects first, so I've been on a major finishing spree this past month, and I'm not finished yet. So here are all the baby blankets I've been making:

This is actually one I made quite a long time ago, with no particular baby in mind, just so I could have an extra on hand for when someone has a baby and I'm too busy to make another one:

This one was the same story, but in pink:

So, now I have a spare for a boy and one for a girl.

This next one is for the baby our friend Ben just had (well, technically his wife):

And here's yet another spare, in pink:

This last one has a story behind it.

A few years ago my dear friend Andrea had her first baby, and I made her a blanket for him and sent it to her. He loved it and dragged it around everywhere he went. I was incredibly touched and proud that someone loved something I had made so much!

Well, a few weeks ago, The Blankie was lost! They retraced their steps and tried to find it, but had no luck. She posted on Facebook about it, and I had an idea.

I decided to try and replicate the blanket and surprise her with it! I remembered what kind of yarn I used and thought I had remembered the pattern, which I had made up, but I remembered it totally wrong and looked through old pictures and found a picture I had taken when I made the first one!

So I made it:

And I think it turned out about exactly like the old one:

Anyway, I shipped it off and when she got it she called me and it was just so much fun to make it and surprise her! I know that even though it's the same yarn and the same pattern and I even used the same crochet hook, it's still not the original, but she can pretend, right? And in the meantime, I hope her son can't tell the difference!

Now, before I can start a Babette for myself, I need to finish some socks I started for Kwiddens and a sweater I had started for either me or Mim (I can't decide!).

The Yarn Did The Trick!

So when I left you yesterday I was in The World's Worst Mood. Murderous.

I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER TODAY.

Last night I met up with a new knitting friend at the coffee shop behind my house. I think the combination of yarn, a most delicious iced latte, and some good conversation with someone with whom I seem to have a lot in common (and who made me laugh quite a bit) did some sort of voodoo magic on me, and I woke up this morning NOT ANNOYED.

Then, today, the guy came to fix the ICP-MS! Granted, he said it would take him the entire day to fix it, but it'll be ready on Monday morning when I come in, and all my stuff's already prepped and ready to go, so I'll just throw it on and have a longer day on Monday, which is fine because I went home BEFORE NOON today. Then I took the most heavenly nap ever, and now I'm eating a frozen coffee milkshake from the milkshake robot at Maverik.

Life. Is. Good.

And that, my friends, is what life with Bipolar Disorder is like. You go from STRANGULATION to Mmmm, Delicious Coffee! in a matter of hours.

If People Would Just Stop Talking To Me I Think I'd Be Fine...

Oh, for crying out loud!

I've had a rough couple of weeks, emotionally. There hasn't been some tragedy, and I haven't missed any meds, but I am so freaking annoyed at everyone and everything (slight exaggeration) and I think it's going to cause my early death, or at least a break from sanity.

The pollen is ridiculous, and it's not helping me sleep any better, so I walk around a little fuzzy unless I amp up on caffeine, but if I've had any after about 4:00 p.m. I can't sleep, so if I'm awake-ish in the morning I'm half asleep by the afternoon.

I just tried to light the plasma on the ICP-MS, and it wouldn't go. I called tech support, and they're going to call me back to schedule a service visit. If The Universe doesn't hate me, someone will be able to come over soon. If not, chaos will ensue.

I really want a quesadilla.

And hang time with The Kwiddens.

And This One Has Air Conditioning!

 Last month we did something that was a little sad, but good for lots of different reasons.

We sold the Mustang.

Yeah, I know, it was very sad, since it was a MAN CAR and Scott is a MAN, and it was definitely eye candy, but we hadn't had time or money to work on it in a long, long time (we'd been focusing on the house)(still on hiatus...). It also didn't have air conditioning, and Scott was dreading riding around in it this summer.

So we went from beautiful, shiny Mustang to this:

And then we had to go car shopping...yuck. We wanted to either get me a newer car and give the Focus to Scott (since I'm the one that commutes) or else get a truck for Scott so we could haul things (mainly from Home Depot!). Scott had looked online at a few small dealers in our town, and we set out, hoping to get it over with as quickly and painlessly as possible.

We went to one dealer first and found a Focus we liked (yes, we kinda did want another Focus, since we love this one so much) and also a truck we liked, both in the price range we decided on beforehand. The Focus, on closer inspection, reeked of cigarette smoke, so that was immediately out of the question (Scott and I are both allergic to cigarette smoke, and Scott can get BAD asthma attacks from it), and we decided to keep the truck in mind while we kept looking. We went to a few more dealers, and we were kinda sick of it, but I wanted to just get it over with as soon as possible, so we grabbed some dinner and kept at it. We went to another small dealer and looked around for quite a bit with the help of a really nice and helpful salesman who wasn't pushy at all (SCORE) and was happy to stay inside our budget.

We were about to give up when we found it:

It's a 1999 Dodge Dakota. Yes, I know, it's twelve years old, BUT, it only has 40,000 miles on it, because it was owned by the Government and was barely used, and you look at the CarFax and you can see it was regularly maintained and the oil was changed on time and everything. The interior was in immaculate condition and didn't smell like smoke (YAY), and it was $1,500 less than we had originally planned on spending. It was like when we bought the Focus, which was 5 years old when we bought it but only had 17,000 miles on it because it was owned by an old lady who basically only drove to the grocery store once in a while. We got an amazing deal on that one, too. I guess we're just lucky.

The best part? It only took one afternoon to find the perfect car.

And we've already been able to haul stuff with it!

Nyah Pics Make For Great Blog Filler

Bebby's first time eating peanut butter:

Beautiful, sleeping bebby:

Bebby checking out some baby chicks:

Bebby chowing down on a banana: