Anybody Want Some Yarn?

I have some yarn to Sell or Trade! :)

It is super bulky cotton chenille tape yarn. I am guessing it might get 4 wpi, but haven't examined it.

The yarn is great for blankets!

I don't have access to my home picture repository, so here is a link to a picture of the blanket that the yarn came from:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dhs_hippie/1797409994/in/set-72157602776500316/

Here is a photo of the yarn after I re-skeined it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dhs_hippie/1797410846/in/set-72157602776500316/
I also posted the yarn for Trade or Sale in my Ravelry stash here.

I am in the process of counting yardage right now, and tagging each skein.

I would sell the yarn for $40. I originally seem to remember paying around $140 for it, and I bought it from Rumpelstiltskin's LYS in Sacramento, CA.

OR...you could trade me! :)

Here were the items I listed for trade on Ravelry:

- luxury spinning fiber (silk, alpaca, merino, kid mohair curls, etc.)
- some nicely dyed fingering or worsted weight yarn (e.g. Blue Moon, Sheepaints, Dream in Color, etc.)
- a skein of Handmaiden something-or-other
- Malabrigo yarn (lace, worsted, the new Sock yarn...)
- some interesting handspun art yarn

Anyway, leave a comment if you are interested... I would love to give this yarn to a new home! :) I might post it on Etsy... we'll see. :)

My Kind of Jewelry

I am one weird woman.

I have such eclectic tastes, that I love both tension-set, modernist jewelry, and vintage curliques in bronze... (I bought this book recently...)

I love things like aircraft-grade titanium rings.

Stainless steel watches.

Niessing steel rings.

But I also love opulent things like this Tiffany $350,000 necklace. (OK, so it's a necklace that would cost almost as much as a house in Seattle. Leave me alone. I'm dreaming!) :)

Or fun vintage jewelry.

On the other end of the spectrum, there is this place called You & I in Manhattan (I think this website is the same company) where I stocked up on colorful, cheap (cheap!!) costume jewelry.

That leads me to a whole discussion of wanting to live in Manhattan, but the problem there is I'd be broke because I'd constantly be needing new walking shoes since I would be shopping all day long...

Orders...to boldly go...

Daniel got his orders on Friday to report to Japan in February.

I definitely have mixed emotions about this, but the predominant ones are:

- I am proud of him for getting this post

- I am happy for him that he got the posting he wanted, because I love him and I want him to be happy

- I am so sad that we'll be apart for a while, and I know it's OK to be sad. A friend of ours is getting deployed to Iraq in August, and his wife told me we'd have to hang out when both boys were gone. Done! :)

- A saying my mom likes to recite is: "If you want to keep the bird, you have to hold it gently", or "you can't squash the bird", or something like that. Something about not preventing a bird from flying away and leaving yourself open for it's return. I'm sure it's more poetic spoken in whatever language the saying originated.

On the positive side... I've always wanted to visit Japan! :) And this is a perfect time for me to concentrate my efforts on my masters degree, when I get in. (Positive thoughts, people!) And I can reconnect with many people who I may have inadvertently neglected over the past two years... *wow*.

My friend Olivia called me today, and I told her about Daniel moving and asked her for advice. Some of you may know Olivia - her and John spent a couple of years separated by oceans as well... and now they are married and oh-so-happy because they are finally together in one apartment! Her big advice is to basically chill and trust that if you have a strong relationship with the other person, then you will come through this with flying colors and you will both come out on the other end as better people. And to write or call on the phone a lot whenever you can't physically be there. :)

So, even if I cry a little bit over the next few months and think about how much I'll miss him, I know in my heart and my mind that the incredible life experiences ahead are worth a little bit of sadness.

G-Rad Skool Update

I just finished my first draft of my personal statement, and sent it to several people for reviews.

It's really interesting what different people pick up on...

The first person to get it back to me was my current lead, Bob. (Hehe, when I typed that, I imagined Bob the dinosaur from the Dilbert comics). OK, so Bob basically rearranged my essay so it went in the order the instructions gave: Background, Technical Areas of Interest, Future Career Goals.

Dawn was the second person to come back with critiques. She is valuable to me because she is currently in grad school and writes a lot. :) She helped break up some of my longer sentences, and took out a lot of gushy bits.

It will be interesting to see who else a) responds, and b) has critiques that are different.

Ah, grad school by consensus.

Another Fine Blog...

...that I am occasionally contributing to.

It was started by my ex-coworker-now-at-Stanford-for-grad-school, Elizabeth.

Food For Foodies (formerly known as Northwest Foodie).

When I contribute, I am trying to include photos, as well as concise recipe instructions... If you ever have any questions, please leave comments! :)

DIY Flowers

I was walking around the farmer's market on Sunday, waiting for Daniel to finish getting his hair cut, and I came across the cutest autumn flower arrangements: Flowers in little pumpkins!

I did not have cash on me (probably a good thing), so I didn't have the $10 or so that these arrangements were commanding. However, later in the day, I went to Trader Joe's to stock up on normal groceries, and decided that I could make one with Trader Joe's supplies.

I found a bunch of sunflowers for $6, and a sugar pumpkin for $2. So altogether, I spent a little over $8 on this... and had to do the labor of prepping the pumpkin and flowers...which is entirely fine with me!


Step 1: Cut the top off your pumpkin, and scrape it out really well.

I saved my seeds and intend to roast them tomorrow when I get home from Crossfit. (Notice the orange plastic bowl: that is my food waste, going to the food waste bin! :) )




Step 2: Cut your flowers down to size.

You want the stems to be short enough so that the flowers don't stick really far out of the pumpkin.

Step 3: Add some water to pumpkin (about halfway up).

I added a few drops of bleach to help keep the water from stankin' up the joint in two days. Then add your flowers! If you added bleach to the water, either be sure you aren't going to drip water somewhere, or arrange your stuff in the sink...be safe and don't bleach your clothes / kitchen towels!

Step 4: Admire your ingenuity at blatantly copying something from a local business!

Cookin' With Coolio

Sweet Gentle Jesus!


Cookin' With Coolio

Episode 1: Coolio Caprese Salad

Episode 2: Fork Steak & Heavenly Ghettalian Garlic Bread

Episode 3: Spinach Even Your Kids Will Eat

Episode 4: Game Day Turkey

Episode 5: Cool-A-Cado


OK, there are more... I just am tired and don't have time to link to them all... :-) Coolio is freakin' hysterical, though.