Sep. 21st, 2008

mousme: A view of a woman's legs from behind, wearing knee-high rainbow socks. The rest of the picture is black and white. (Default)
I forgot to thaw my frozen bananas overnight, so now I have the post in hot water. When they're ready, I'll be making banana bread for the picnic at Murray Hill park this afternoon.

Gretzky is sitting in a sunbeam in a spot of the garden that my mother cleared yesterday. She looks very contented. George is tearing around the garden like a mad thing. The garden is officially the Bestest Thing Evar.

I let Pan-Pan and Smugde outside yesterday too, but predictably that didn't go very well. Pan-Pan went right out, escorted by Gretzky, then realized that there was no ceiling, freaked out and hid under a big ivy plant until I came to rescue him. He came back in with me, and in a fit of anxiety at the contents of his entire bowl of kibble. No more excursions for him. Smudge looked dubiously at the open door, then cautiously edged out until he was *justpast* the threshold, and stopped. Then he freaked out and streaked back inside when I tried to close the door. We repeated this three times until I got fed up. He and Pan-Pan will just have to stay indoors.

My parents came by yesterday. My mother's jihad against the weeds in the garden was quite the success: she got fully 1/3 of the weeds beaten back. I am flummoxed, but pleased. I never expected her to do so well: on the whole my mother works at everything slowly. I guess she really missed gardening. One thing I need to make clear is that garden waste needs to be composted and not tossed into garbage bags, but one thing at a time, I guess.

My father was an ace. He helped me put the lock on the back shed (I was getting to it eventually, but it turned out to be a wee bit more complicated than I thought it would be, so having him there to consult with me worked out well), then drove me places so I could buy cat litter and exchange my too-large towel rack for a more appropriately-sized towel ring.

He also took me to Home Depot, where I finally got this annoying floor problem settled. Within the next two weeks I will no longer have to worry about it. Hah!

The only downside to having my parents here helping out is that they stress me out like woah! They both want my full attention at the same time and in completely separate places.

Paternal Unit: *holding something large and heavy* "Can you come open the front door for me?"

Maternal Unit: "Come look at the garden and tell me what you want done with $thing."

Me: "Okay, I have to open the door first."

Maternal Unit: "Hmph. Fine."

Paternal Unit: "Are you going to get the door or what?"

Me: "Gah! Coming! You two should have had twins!"


After they were gone (mercifully they had a commitment at 16:00, so after much stress and leaving-late, they were gone by 14:00), I barely had time to check LJ before BorderCrossing called, and we spent a very enjoyable evening together. I joined her downtown, we hit Chapters and a couple of used bookstores, where I picked up two more Elizabeth Peters novels in my quest to get the whole series on my greedy shelves.

Upon hearing that she had never heard of Slings & Arrows, I took this as a flimsy excuse to procure all three seasons and inflict it on her. We stopped for souvlaki and bought dessert at Dad's Bagels before heading to her place. We watched the premiere of Season 1, and I think she liked it, although she clearly had her mind on other things. Anyway, I have no complaints. We are going to watch more next Saturday, before Tarasmas.

*looks at clock*

Wow. I started this post well over two hours ago. The banana bread is in the oven, and I must go shower.

It occurs to me on a fairly regular basis these days that, busy as I am, I have very little to complain about in my life these days: I love my job, I love my apartment, I have a great girlfriend and fantastic friends. I have a very fulfilling life. Things that frustrate me are really minor in the grand scheme of things. I could very easily continue along these lines for a very long time and never be unhappy.

:)
mousme: A view of a woman's legs from behind, wearing knee-high rainbow socks. The rest of the picture is black and white. (Tut-Kat-Amen)
Okay, here's where my brain broke: why is it more expensive to buy yarn in order to make a sweater, for instance, than it is to buy a sweater off the rack? The most expensive woolen sweater in the shops will never be more than, say, $200 (cashmere), but it's really really easy to spend that much on a yarn of lesser quality, before even putting in the work to make the sweater. This goes double for scarves: show me a $20 scarf in the store, and I can make the same one for $60 by buying yarn at my FLKS.

So if you're trying to be a thrifty crafts-person, how do you do it? Are there places to get really inexpensive yarn that I'm just not aware of? Part of me really wants to get into the whole fabric/yarn sewing/knitting thing on a more consistent basis, but with the kind of prices I'm looking at, it seems pretty ridiculous, money-wise.

Anyone out there who knits/sews their own clothes and manages to save money at the same time? I would really like to know how you do it.
mousme: A view of a woman's legs from behind, wearing knee-high rainbow socks. The rest of the picture is black and white. (Heal Emru)
Okay, everyone!

I am currently arguing with the PayPal site about donations, and here's my first try at setting up a donation button.

Remember: I must raise $2,000 by October 31st in order to qualify, and it's all for a good cause: the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.







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