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!

You know what I love?

1. You know what I love? Wood floors. I swore them off after our last dusty house with wood floors two years ago, but after thinking about all the crap that gets caught in the carpet that you can never vacuum or clean out I changed my mind. Sure you have to sweep more, but you don't have a crap-ton of allergens hanging out, either. And with Hubs's and my allergies, wood floors are fine by me.

Aren't these pretty?

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2. You know what I love? Big kitchens. It's been real great pirouetting and dancing around in the kitchen every night to cook dinner, but I think it'd be nice not to have to scootch closer to the counter every time Hubs wants to open the fridge. It's silly, don't you think? Galley kitchens are for the birds.

*drool* I want a big modern kitchen.

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3. You know what I love? Babies. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE at church is preggers right now. I am very bummed I can't be preggers, too. *sad face* My heart aches to have another bean to love on. Hubs and I will have another after we get through our credit card debt. Stupid debt. I hate you sooooo much.

Here's some babies. Adorbz!

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Have a great weekend! We're celebrating Pint-size's birthday tomorrow. Hope to have some great pictures.

Boston Goggies

So, when I first met my in-laws' Boston Terrier Macy, I was skeptical. I'd never owned a dog. I was fascinated by the idea of having a dog, but I hated the jumping, barking, licking, pooping and general mayhem and messiness that came with a dog. When I had my son, I spent many months yelling at Macy to not come near the baby, would never leave her alone with the baby, etc. Several years passed and Macy knew never to mess with me. I had conditioned her to not even look at Caleb. She acted as though we didn't exist at that point, which was fine with me. Then my sister-in-law got another Boston. Ellie is not a typical Boston. She is the most hyperactive and disobedient Boston I've ever met. At that point I realized how bad a dog could be. I began to appreciate Macy. When I was mean to her before, it was when she heard the baby cry and she'd come to check on him which was kind of sweet in retrospect. She always obeyed me even if I was hurtful in the way I spoke to her (I never hit her or anything, I just would be mean in voice only, which dogs read really well). I saw the older, more mature Macy in a different light. I elected to give her pets when she would let me come near, but she was, like I said, standoffish. She was keeping with the training I had given her, which was, "Morgan BAD!" :) Well, after months of kind words and pets and cuddles, she elected to lick/kiss me on my face. My sister-in-law was shocked. (Licks/kisses are a sign of submission and love). :D It took around three years for me to get past my prejudice with dogs. I still don't like dogs jumping on me and I don't like them barking, and if it came between my brood and a dog, it would be my kiddo every time. But I've grown in my appreciation of dogs. In fact, I want a Boston. As long as you get a good one, they're playful, love to fetch, obedient, eager to please and fantastic with kids.

Who couldn't love this face!?





Baroo?

Resolutions

I want to change some things around here.

I am obsessive about keeping the house nice, yet don't do it often enough not to go into a rampage and hurt my family while I'm doing it. I don't like being interrupted when I clean, I don't like being told, "Don't do that now" when I'm cleaning. But my son won't remember how clean the house was. He'll remember me. I don't want to be a mean mom. I want to be able to pause whatever I'm doing and pay attention to him. I have no idea how to balance all of those things, but I have to try.

Hubs and I have a lot of debt. I'm tired of it weighing me down. I get a sinking feeling every time I hear about someone paying off their debt. We've barely made it month to month on my full-time salary, but now we're able to pay all our bills on time. Now that Hubs has some part-time work, we need to start paying off that debt. Because if we can some of it now, imagine how easy it'll be when Hubs has a full-time job! I did a debt calculator online and I set the goal to be 2 years and 6 months. The monthly debt payments are totally doable! If everything stays steady, we'll be debt free by New Year's 2013. :D

I have gained 30 pounds since high school. :( I was always skinny and able to eat whatever I wanted. I used to be a little smug about it, but it's come back to bite me in the butt. The big fat butt. So, my goal is to lose about 20 pounds.

I'm embarking on a journey to teach art/art history to a home-school co-op and some public school kids. :) I have one student already and I'll have a booth for the local home school fair coming up in a couple of weeks. It'll be pretty straight forward this semester because I don't know what I'm doing. :) The money I make from that will roll into the debt, as well! Hooray!

A friend is giving me an old sewing machine so I can learn how to sew. I'm so excited to get into it!! There are so many times that I think, wow, I could sew something like that! And then I realize, I don't have a sewing machine. Nor do I know how to sew. I picked up knitting last September. So, why not learn sewing this year!?

I usually don't make resolutions. But here we go anyway.

1. Lose 20 pounds


2. Learn how to sew


3. Teach an art/art history class for a co-op of home school and public school kids.

4. Pay off debt


5. Read the Bible more


6. Be a better mom


OK. Now that I've gone public I have to stick to it. ;)

Pierce Nez

So after years of saying, "Ooooooh, I so wanna do that!" My hubby bought me this:

We went to 23rd Street in Oklahoma City. Fantastic shop. I cannot praise it enough. Extremely clean (probably cleaner than a doctor's office, seriously) and very cool atmosphere. It was right down the street from a restaurant called Cheezers. I am not kidding you, Cheezers is a fancy place! It was all waiters in black, serving wine, everyone was wearing cocktail dresses and slacks. Very classy. I think they just got stuck on the name. Probably the conversation went like this:

"Hey, what should we name this fancy pants restaurant?"

"Well, I don't know..."

"I don't know either!! Pick something!"

"OK, Cheezers, don't get your panties in a wad."

"Cheezers?"

"Yeah, I promised my grandma I wouldn't cuss anymore. Cheezers came to mind."

"Cheezers..."

"What?"

"Cheezers..."

"NO."

"....Yes."

There are people who swear off cussing because of their grandmas, right?

So, back to my piercing. When I went to knitting the other night someone looked at me said, "You look....different." Then someone else said, "Did you highlight your hair?"

HAHA. I think it looks pretty good. I'm really pleased with it and it doesn't hurt. Really! It hurt like the dickens when he was piercing, but right after and to this day it doesn't hurt.

Speaking of knitting: I should be receiving my alpaca fleece in time for "Zimmermania" (the Payne County Knitters celebration of Elizabeth Zimmerman's birthday) so I can wash and card it. I ordered 5 ounces of Bebo's fleece. I'm so excited to start working with paca. :D

I also have some Swish worsted coming in from Knitpicks to knit my Gryffindor scarf for the Deathly Hallows. I have about 4 months to get it knitted. If I haven't finished it, I'm sure I'll knit it while I'm in line at the theatre. :)

Hogwarts Note: after taking some (actually pretty good) personality tests my scoring for Hogwarts houses (Yes, I know I'm too old for that, but still) I found out I would be Hufflepuff. They are very loyal and hardworking. Next up was Ravenclaw :) and then Gryffindor and Slytherin was last. Just in case you were wondering. Ha!

Alpacas!

So my aunt is an animal lover. She rescues animals constantly. We would say it’s because she has a big heart. She would say it’s because she’s a sucker with a big heart. Amidst taking care of her parrots, chameleons, ferrets, horses, dogs and cats, she helped a local rancher with her fledgling herd of alpaca.




Sonny was born last spring and needed to be bottle-fed for a while. Because of my aunt’s relationship with the rancher, DeeAnna, we were able to go and frolic with them for a bit on Monday. This was the highlight of my Memorial Day weekend. They were sweet, soft and so much fun.


I got to take several samples of their fleece with me so that I could decide which animal’s fleece I wanted to buy. All proceeds are going to go back into raising the herd. I didn’t even know I wanted to spin until I met these guys. (And according to some of my spinning expert friends, washing and carding Alpaca is relatively easy)


Alpaca feels so amazing, both on the animal and after being sheared off. I got to pet Sonny quite a bit and his fleece felt soft and clean. I would pull my hand back after stroking his back and there wouldn’t be any hair on my hand and there wasn’t a greasy feeling. That’s apparently the difference between wool and alpaca. Wool contains lanolin which makes it itchy and oily and slightly dirtier.


When I got back home I met with my knitting buddies and shared the squooshiness (yes, squoosh is a regular verb around fiber fanatics) and someone said, “Oh, if you’re going to be spinning you need a drop spindle,” and gave me one! They are the best knitting buddies in the world! They gave me some cheap wool to practice on and then when I’m ready I’ll get some alpaca sent to me, I’ll have to figure out how to process it (clean it and card it) and then start spinning!




As always, my friend Paula has taken me under her wing and told me I needed to read these books on spinning, including Spinning in the Old Way.


Oh, and here are some other fun pictures from that little visit to the ranch.




Taking a Shower. Alpacas LOVE water. They saw DeeAnna's husband getting out the hose, and they very quickly made their way over to him.


They call Bebo the "alien," because if you come out at night, his face would be glowing, and that would be the only thing you could see. I really like how the fleece on his neck grows out "frosted." So neat!

Everybody has a garden right now. It’s like trés chic to grow your own veg. I’ll admit, I’m excited about it, too. I’ll be using my two hands to make food, coaxing nutrients out of the dirt. I’m trying to switch our family diet to more whole foods because I hate going to the megastore to get tomatoes and they’re bruised, flavorless and expensive. Why do we keep buying this crap!? Well, mostly because we want tomatoes when we want tomatoes, and screw growing seasons!



I have three heirloom tomato plants in the ground, as well as dill, basil, green onion, spinach, green beans, corn, oregano, pumpkin, hot banana peppers and jalapenos, and marigolds. I know I’m not putting them in the ground in the right order and I’m doing it really late, but I’m a recovering perfectionist, one of those people who used to be crippled by perfectionism. So, instead of being stopped by the fear of not doing it right, I just do it! So, I’m throwing some seeds in the ground and we’ll see what happens! If I fail, then I’ve lost a couple of dollars on seeds and a couple of plants. That’s part of the beauty of starting small.
Caleb is so proud of his corn. I had him plant it in the dirt outside the box because it should get pretty tall. We’ll see if it takes. He loves helping me water the garden, too.



I can’t wait to eat those tasty tomatoes, green beans and use those herbs. Here’s to fresh produce and trying something completely new!

Update: I have ONE tomato. That is all. :D

Knitting Adventures, OUTDOORS!

We went to Fiber Fest in Tulsa on Sunday and had a great, quiet day of knitting outside in the sun.

Chad's sock....that I made too long. Boo! But when you're hanging out and having fun and knitting, it has a tendency to do that. Oh, and every time I measured it, it was different. So there.

My friends are so pretty.

Look at how cute I am!


We moved into the shade eventually. Cuz I'm an easily burned potato chippy and I was sweating. They weren't, but I was.

Ooh, pretty. There was a swan, too. We talked about how it might be a mail order kind of thing. Then I mentioned that you can buy ladybugs online. And butterflies. Man has truly conquered everything. Except the giant squid. Man, a giant squid would make kalimari the size of hoola hoops.


I thought my bags wouldn't be in the picture. I was wrong.

Kids

My son is hilarious.

CJ: "Mommy, Daddy is out of square. He's fat."

Mommy: "No, CJ, Daddy is not fat. What is 'square'?"

CJ: " Daddy's fat, so he's 'out of square.' You're not out of square because you're not fat, are you?"

By this time we figured out that out of square meant out of shape.

And Chad is not fat.

The End

I...am a foodie

I’ve decided. I’m a foodie. Despite what the name might sound like, a foodie is not a hippie, exactly. A foodie is someone who is concerned with the whole food experience. (I don’t consider myself a gourmet, because I’m not into a food experience without consideration of the cost.) I’m interested in where my food comes from. I’m interested in the ecological and fiscal cost of my food. Several things have brought this topic to my attention.

First, my fledgling garden. What does it take to make it grow? What choices will I make in bringing it to life? Chemical fertilizers? Chemical pesticides? Store-bought organic solutions? I’m going to go the hardest, but least expensive route. I’m going “organic.” I want to use common household products to treat for insects and to promote growth. I’m going to use compost. (At this moment in time I will have to find or buy compost, since the fermentation process of compost might be too much, space and time-wise for my garden in our rental house’s backyard.) I’m going to attempt as much as possible from seed, so I’m involved as much as possible, and my son will join me.

Second, listening to The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Corn-fed cows sound like the most disgusting thing in the world. I’m horrified by the process. Next on my list by Michael Pollan is In Defense of Food. Check them out.

Third, some videos that I’ve been watching—seeing all of the attention this topic is getting, it makes me think that this is a big problem that needs attention now!

Click to hear about why Dan fell in love with a fish.

Click to hear about Jamie Oliver's wish, to teach every child about food

Who wouldn’t want to be on board for rewinding the last 50 years (culinarily speaking)? What was so wrong with expensive meat, if it was good meat that wasn't slowly killing us and rendering our antibiotics useless and pumping us full of estrogen! And don’t tell me that mass-commercialization is solving world hunger. It’s not true. Take a look at this.

Dumpster Diving (be sure to listen to what Allison Burtch is saying: Americans throw away 45-50% of what they harvest. And keep in mind that Dumpster Diving is illegal, which means that it's illegal to eat food that's been thrown out. It's illegal to save food from the landfill to feed the hungry. These stores don't donate the food, they throw it away!

Dive! the film

This is insane people. It's wasteful and terrible. I cannot fathom a country that has too much food...and then they throw it away.

This is not the world we want to pass down to our children. Think of The Jungle. The careless industrialization depicted in The Jungle reminds me of the heartless commercialization of our food. Food companies are pushing as much crap down our throats as possible, and are getting fat off it. Neither consumer nor producer is better off in this relationship. Unfortunately, I don’t have a fix-all solution. But I know this is not right. It is not right to be separating us from our senses. I feel like the world is trying to ignore our instincts, it's trying to push away the natural abilities that God gave us to save a buck, to manipulate people. The thing I can do right now is change my family tree. We are cooking more meals at home, carefully selecting what we put in our bodies. I am going to grow a garden, so I know exactly where my food comes from. I’m going to buy locally, beef and produce, from my farmers’ market. I’m going to have a relationship with my food. I’m going to know where it comes from before it comes in my house. I’m going to attempt to change my life and my family’s life one meal at a time. I…am a foodie.