New blog

I've encountered some problems with blogger, so I am moving over to a new blog.


Here's the link. Hope to see you there!

http://laughladyxd.wordpress.com/

Things that make me happy

I've had such a rotten week I want to think about things that make me happy.

1. Knitting, duh.

2. Funny jokes that make me laugh. Not the ones where Hubs has to explain them to me. Those are not funny because when Hubs has to explain them, they are not funny anymore because I'm tired of listening by the time he has finished explaining and I have no more energy to laugh. There, see? No laughing. A good joke would be like this: What's a muffin that doesn't exist? A nuffin." --Hubs

3. A clean house. There is nothing better than not having a house to clean because I can do so many other things, like, sit down, not clean, eat something, not eat something, knit, read a book, read the internet, do a puzzle with Pint-size, etc.

4. Not doing laundry. I like it when I don't have laundry to do. It follows principle outlined above.

5. Reading good books. I don't like reading bad books. It's rare for me to not finish a book but when I do neglect to finish it, you know it's bad. I usually am obsessed with finishing things, like good books.

6. Rhyming. I don't rhyme well, but I love things that do. It feels comforting and complete. Like everything is square and stacks well. Take this for example. It was in a book of nursery rhymes/stories.




7. Cute things. Chibis, pictures of kittens (not in person), puppies (in person and pictures of), babies, bunnies.

8. Lists. (like this list for example)

9. These words: Fahrvergnuegen, paraphernalia. Look at all those letters! And they're so fun to say!!

10. A day full of possibilities. :)

11. My current desktop background. I like to imagine that if someone walked around my desk they'd say, "AGH! A Tiger!" And then they'd calm down a little and realize that it's not a real tiger.

Year in Review

This has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad morning. I’m usually pretty chipper, alert and excited about life. Not today. I want to tell you what happened but two things would result: 1) I would reveal information to which even my husband says “TMI, honey!” 2) I will realize how not bad it was. The End. We won't even talk about it anymore. No more! ;)

Some of my knitting buddies came over last night to chat and knit and as I was giving a run-down on some knitting techniques and different kinds of yarn to a newbie knitter, it rekindled my hope in knitting (not like it burned out or anything). Besides overwhelming the poor girl, I realized how much I’ve learned this past year! I’ve learned/mastered stockinette stitch, garter stitch, knitting in the round, knitting on double pointed needles, increasing, decreasing, two ways to cast on, casting off, making socks, making hats, modifying patterns, intarsia, weaving in ends as I knit, and a rudimentary knowledge of spinning. I need to take a step back and admire how far I’ve come. That’s pretty awesome. I’ve been knitting for 11 months and I've learned all of that! I’ve come pretty far and I’m still going strong. I’m ready to learn more! Now that brings us to my inability to keep up with my brain. I am excitable to say the least.

I get so excited about everything I could be doing that I forget to concentrate what I’m working on now. Time for a refresher:

1. Finish infinity scarf
2. Knit Harry Potter scarf
3. Knit baby gifts for all the preggo friends at church
4. Knit Christmas presents (including socks for my dad)
5. Knit a pair of socks in Knitpicks Felici yarn for myself. I won’t tell you which yarn because I don’t want you buying it all. >:)
6. Knit Caleb’s Mario Mushroom blanket (which I’m beginning to think I want to quilt it instead. I can learn quilting before the winter is out, right? LAWL.)
7. Knit a pair of wool sleeves for a cyclist friend (and charge him, of course, what do you think I am? CRAZY!?)
8. Teach my art and art history class (I hope to have pictures of my poster board advert in progress soon)

Too much?

If I were at home full-time I would probably have much more ticked off this list. As it stands now, I’m swamped. I get home at 5:00 p.m. every night, spend time with my son, cook dinner, most nights I embark on some activity (yoga, knitting group, church) by 6:30 p.m. and then come home around 9:00 or 10:00 and crash. And school hasn’t even started. Hasn’t. Even. Started. Help me, dahlin'!

XOXO

Tomato Basil Pizza

So, when I was 14 I wanted to be a chef. But here's the problem: I watched Emeril and thought that only self-respecting cooks would cook just like him. For a girl who lives in the West/South/whatever we're considered to be here in Oklahoma, I did not have access to saffron, octopus, chives, leeks, fresh scallops or shark. This did not deter me, however, from thinking that to be a good chef one must always 1) cook everything from scratch, or you weren't a chef 2) cook everything EXACTLY like it is in the recipe and 3) Be really, really picky.

I remember one of my first from-scratch meals I made for my family. I wanted to make pizza. The only part of the recipe I did not do was toss the crust in the air but I was tempted. I assumed that tossing it gave it, I don't know, an airy quality or something. I made the dough and sauce from scratch. The recipe seemed simple enough. It wasn't. Especially since the power went out and we had an electric stove. Not good. I also made Caesar salad from scratch that night (it tasted fishy and I never did use up that can of anchovies) with homemade croutons and dressing. Luckily my grandmother who lived next door had power. We used her oven and I found out the hard way that if the pan is very, very hot, rain splatters and gets very steamy. Ouch. (Note: I also have the knack of turning a 30-minute recipe into a 3-hour recipe.)

So! Here I am foraying into the world of making pizza again. This time I come to the kitchen with a little more experience, a little better judgment and the courage to try something new without panicking about the details. (If your husband is like mine, he loves the adventure, even if it doesn't turn out quite right - to him it's all research)

Here's my tomato basil pizza recipe:

1 can of refrigerate pizza dough. (yes, it's worth it)
3 roma tomatoes (delicious, firm and meaty - perfect for cooking)
4 oz. of fresh mozzarella
a bit of fresh basil (one of the two plants that didn't die a slow, agonizing death in my garden :)
a bit of marinara sauce (I just used pasta sauce I had on hand)
butter (real butter, people, none of that margarine crap)
garlic salt

Chop and whatnot. (that's the dough on the left. Scared the dickens out of me when it popped out of the can. I'm such a wuss)
Spread the dough (I had to spray my hand with a little cooking spray to avoid sticking to the dough.
Put on some sauce (to taste).
Top with mozzarella slices, then tomatoes.
Put in the oven.
Cook to dough specifications (on the can of dough)
Isn't she a beaut?

Isn't it delicious looking? Now here is the best part.
After it's done baking, take a stick of butter and shmear (come on spell check, stick with me here) it on the crust, then sprinkle garlic salt, not too lightly, not too heavily. So delicious.
Then take your chopped basil and put on top. (It's a light and subtle flavor and I loved it!)
Try it! Super easy and only cost around $5.00 to make. Amazing. Seriously fancy, but easy, pizza.

Harry Potter

I can't believe it never occurred to me before now, but I decided to finally knit a Harry Potter scarf. They are so iconic! This pattern calls for the scarf to be knitted in the round, so it's a tube, so that when it's blocked, it's stockinette stitch all the way around. (And of course there are tassels at the ends.) The hardest part so far was finding the right colors. (I find it hard picking colors on the internet.) But I found a pretty good representation of scarlet and gold. (Knitpicks Swish Worsted in Fired Brick and Gold).

I hope to have it finished by November when Deathly Hallows part 1 comes out. A friend of mine said I should be careful letting people know I can knit Harry Potter scarves, because everyone will want one. :) Hey, if they pay, I'd be happy to! :) I can't promise I'd have it done before DH 1, though. Hah!