Wyrd Happens...

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

4:31 pm - Compliments

I got the nicest compliment ever from the lovely head adult librarian today over lunch. She told me that I wrote really nice book reviews on Goodreads and that she could hear my voice when she read them. It kind of came out of nowhere, so I was very touched by the surprise boost to my ego.

I'm 6/8 of the way through my fingerless mitten commission. Woot! I gave Anna what I had finished so that she could start getting things wrapped and such (she was quite pleased) and naturally the subject of payment came up. She wants to pay me for the mittens and while I'm all for this I really have no idea at all what to charge. One of the other adult librarians (also an artist, so he's got some experience selling is stuff) broke down a formula that he uses when figuring how much to charge for his prints. The problem is, if I charge what he suggested for my effort by the hour + mats I'd be making $50 mittens, and somehow I just think that's a bit crazy. But at the same time, if I charge what I think sounds like a more reasonable price overall and then break it down, I'm making like nothing by the hour. Then again, I really enjoy what I'm doing so perhaps charging by the hour isn't the way to go. Maybe my price must fall arbitrarily somewhere between the two? Must ponder this.

current mood:

pleased

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

3:21 am - Do Nothing But Read Day

I almost forgot to mention that a friend of mine from library school is establishing the first ever official Do Nothing But Read Day. It started as a Facebook status update which got lots of positive response, which turned into a blog that somehow got seen by various people/librarians in places such as California, Rhode Island, Australia, and Poland. Apparently it's kind of a big-ish deal now. Awesome. Anyway, the big day is Sunday, December 20 and while I'm fairly sure I won't be able to fully participate myself due to prior commitments, I'm definitely participating in spirit on another day. I'd really like to encourage everyone to try to do the same if they can. It's a great opportunity to create some quality "me" time, or to get around to reading that book that you've been meaning to get to but keep putting off, or to try something completely new when you pick up a book. If you're interested in seeing the blog for the event, feel free to check it out here. She's got a few reading suggestions (mostly YA stuff) and has documented a lot of the publicity that DNBRD has gotten thus far. I think you can also register to participate if you like and there may or may not be prizes involved.

Meanwhile, my tree is finally fully decorated. The process came to a standstill when my air popper decided that it no longer wanted to get hot, so we couldn't finish making the popcorn that we wanted to string up. And we couldn't place ornaments on the tree until the strings of popcorn were done, so the tree sat with lights and half of the popcorn garland up for several days. But we finally got some popped on the stove and finished the job tonight. Huzzah! It is super pretty. I'm very excited by the number of fun ornaments we have now. Our first Christmas together we bought a ton of cheap glass balls since we didn't have anything else, and now it's much more festive. In a couple of years we might not have to use any glass balls at all. :)

I've decided people who choose not to be well-informed about things that concern them are really stupid. I specifically refer to a viral status update that I saw on Facebook today about the indexing on Google. Idiots. First of all, you should have been aware of the privacy issues when you signed up, and they actually do a good job of notifying us when things change. Second, the Google issue wasn't new - that had been a change made eons ago - maybe 2007? I remember when that change was made. This privacy option has been on the table since any of the people that I saw posting it has been on Facebook. Good grief. I don't have an ounce of pity for anyone who doesn't bother to read over the ToU or Privacy stuff when they sign up for something online. And I hate chain status updates in general, so one about such idiocy just makes me crabby.

END RANT

I've also decided that I really really really need to up my exercise routine. As in, such a routine needs to be in existence. After pondering what sorts of activities I could pick up that a) don't require a gym membership and b) are do-able during the 8 months out of the year when I don't want play outside, I'm thinking to trying an aerobics tape and jumping around my living room. Must see if I can get something at the library tomorrow.

I wonder if I could fall asleep if I tried again? Who knows. But I actually have something to be up for in the morning - huzzah! - as I've agreed to babysit for my director's son again, and I'd rather not be falling asleep while trying to entertain a 3-year-old.

current mood:

blah

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Monday, December 14th, 2009

4:24 pm - Cookie Party

Highly excellent weekend. Saturday night I headed to Kirsten's right after work and the two of us drove down to Apple Holler to use Kirsten's gift certificate for their dinner and a show. The food was really good and there was wine tasting involved. The show was cheesy, but lots of fun. It was Christmas themed and they parodied lots of Christmas songs. The parodies were hiarious and probably the best part of the show. Excellent good time. We're talking about going down again next Christmas so see the show's sequel. :)

Sunday was the Third Annual Christmas Cookie Party. Things were a bit different from past years as Danielle wasn't around (boooo!) and we had the party at Jenny's instead of my apartment. But it was excellent! I think we made more cookies than we had in past years, which is really saying something. The girl time was also excellent. I have also decided that drinking wine while baking is a wonderful idea.

Must find a home for all of my cookies. Must also get some more knitting done as I need to get more mittens done by this weekend so I can give them to Anna.

current mood:

happy

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

3:02 am - Smirk Not, But Obey Me

Greg and I got a Christmas tree this afternoon before the snow really started flying. It's up and has lights, and my apartment smells of pine. More decorations to follow tomorrow after we finish stringing up popcorn. As this is my Baby Kitten's second Christmas and he was incredibly tiny (relatively speaking) at this time last year, we're kind of wondering if his increased size and strength combined with tons of lingering kitten-like pluck will make him more likely to climb the tree this year. It's a definite possibility. At least Phred is mellow. She's more interested in the large box of decorations. Much less destructive.

I found a link on the lovely Elizabeth Bird's blog to another LJ blog which includes the most awesome thing ever. Please just take my word for it and click on the link and read. Warry and want to know more before clicking? Oh ye of little faith. Fine, here's a hint: It involves Little Bunny Foo-Foo, and is hilarious, especially if you're a current/former English major or otherwise appreciate clever writing in the spirit of (as EB described it) Beowulf.

Ooo, and while I'm surfing and linking to amazing things, check out this amazing playground - you can pretend to be a Liliputian! Actually, the whole blog is kind of cool and worth looking at if you like playgrounds. :)

Hmm, enough links. What about me?

I'm enjoying the blizzard. It's actually really pretty. I don't have to go to work tomorrow because of it, which is nice because I get the night off and still get paid. However, I find it incredibly stupid that so many libraries in the system decided that they were closing so early. Yes, I know it's supposed to be a huge amount of snow and it is likely to drift tomorrow. But it's also supposed to slow way down by morning. And we have plows - even if the morning sucks, things will definitely clear up quickly. At least we can reasonably believe so. So why do we have to decide at noon the day before - nearly 24 hours in advance - if we're going to make ourselves available to the public? Perhaps it's different for more rural communities which can expect to have more trouble with snow removal, but there's no reason why Middleton (the first in the system to decide to close), Madison, or my library had to decide to early. It's rather hasty if you ask me. But then again, nobody did.

The batch of cookies Danielle and I made on Saturday is leaving me with a desperate urge to do more baking. I tried to fix it with some yummy oatmeal/jelly bars last night (YUM, by the way) but I still want to mix more dough. Must resist the urge to make Christmas cookies until Sunday. Too bad a diet of nothing but baked goods isn't healthy, or I'd probably cook all the time.

current mood:

awake

Monday, December 7th, 2009

5:18 pm - Excellent Weekend

Excellent weekend. Huzzah!

Danielle was in town so we hung on Saturday night. It was really good to see her again. Very much miss having her around. We chatted and made cookies and played Smash Brothers. Excellent good time.

Sunday we helped Danielle and Derek load up a few things and then had lunch. Yummy. Then off to Milwaukee for our bi-weekly gaming. I did not game, but rather watched Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, both of which I was very impressed with. Also knitted another pair of fingerless mittens. Excellent progress has been made on that front.

I finally got the ball rolling on the Bridget Jones discussion this afternoon. Apologies for not getting it up sooner as I had promised. But I'm very excited as I love, love, LOVE Bridget Jones and want to talk about it with people.

Greg should hopefully be home any minute, and I'm hoping that we can get a Christmas tree yet tonight. Yes, it will be dark out, but oh well. That just means that when we get it home we can enjoy the lights sooner.

current mood:

pleased

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

2:09 am - Guess Who's Not Sleeping!

You'd think I'd do something productive with my insomnia. I could be cleaning my apartment, or at the very least filling out that stupid job application. But no. I'm surfing the Internet and knitting. OK, the knitting is kind of productive since I have a looming deadline. But really, I could be doing so much more.

Sadly, I've discovered tonight that Dr. Horrible is no longer available via Hulu! :'( I'm not happy about this at all, as I really love Dr. Horrible but don't want to pay for it. *sigh* Then again, maybe I can justify paying for it if I make it a Christmas present for Greg. He'd totally appreciate it. Must ponder that possibility.

The good news is that I totally qualify for a deferment on my student loans. Score. Just need to fill out some forms (again, not doing this right now) and mail them in and I should be set.

current mood:

awake

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Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

3:28 pm - Drama Concluded

Drama concluded, and all is well. I really understand where this poor boy's anger is coming from, he just didn't necessarily handle it in the best way. But we talked a few things out and I got an apology, so all is well. I feel really bad though because I think that Kirsten was more upset over his actions than I was. I don't want to her be upset.

In a moment of stupidity, I forgot that I was supposed to work last night. Oops! I'm not in trouble or anything which is good, but I'll have to go in a little early tonight to make up for the 1/2 hour I missed yesterday.

I really want to go Christmas shopping very badly. I have ideas for gifts and want to go and pick things up so I can start wrapping. :)

Still haven't finished that job application. Oops.

current mood:

hungry

Monday, November 30th, 2009

3:21 pm - Yay!

Allison finished her story, and I LOVED it. It's my style of sci-fi so in a way it's easier for me to fall into it, but since I read so much of it it can also make me more critical. But she did a great job. Loved the ending. Can't wait for the sequel. :)

Had fun with Greg's parents Saturday night. I like them.

Had fun yesterday with Kirsten and Chamness who, in other exciting news, are now officially together. Excited to see where that goes. But in other related drama, I now have the other boy who had been chasing Kirsten harassing me on Facebook since it's apparently my fault that they're not together. I sent him a reply in a non-public forum (because I have tact like that) and tried to explain a few things. Here's hoping that it goes over well and that I didn't get too riled up. But all things considering, I'd rather he be mad at me than at Chamness so that he gets left alone.

*sigh*

Must complete one job application today. Will get the other done by the end of the week. Have no motivation at all to work on it as I am feeling incredibly lathergic.

current mood:

lethargic

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

11:14 am - Still Sleepless and Jobless

I'm still an insomniac. It sucks. I slept for about two hours the night before Thanksgiving (actually, from about 8:30 AM - 11 AM), than crashed for 12 hours the next night, and then only got two hours again last night. This is definitely getting old.

I applied for a job at Sears, and they don't want me. I fear that I should have been looking two or three weeks ago for retail - they're already stocked up on extra help for the Christmas season. *sigh* Maybe I can waitress? I worry that I wouldn't be able to carry the large, heavy trays though - I'm a wimp like that. I also have a lousy memory and would probably mix people's food up a lot. But other than that I'd be great at it.

Thanksgiving was lovely though. The cucumber sandwiches were a big hit, as was the dip. And my family is cool.

Got together for a session of Werewolf for the first time in nearly a year. Excellent good time. Took good care of the LMB. It was somewhat anticlimatic how quickly he died, actually. *shrug* I'm kind of excited though because I have plans to challenge a Rank 5 elder next session since I don't like his politics. I can take him. :)

Tonight Greg's parents are coming by for dinner. Should be good times. Tomorrow we get Game Day with Kirsten and Chamness. Excellent.

current mood:

blah

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

1:20 am - Insert Panic and Depression

I got my very first student loan bill in the mail today. I'm now in a bit of a state of panic. Must try to figure out how I'm going to make payments. Will probably look for a second job since a "real job" doesn't seem to be presenting itself. The good news is that at least it's the season for retail.

I'm kind of depressed.

In happier news, I made a platter of ten different kinds of cucumber sandwiches for dinner tonight. Greg and I sampled them in an attempt to figure out what kind to make for Thanksgiving. I've decided to go with butter, vinegar, salt, and pepper. I also liked this version with a little bit of dill on it, but Greg didn't care for it so I'll probably leave the dill off. An identical sandwich was also very good with cream cheese and dill instead of butter, but it was much more filling - I want the lighter sandwich for an appetizer. I must also decide if I want to cut the sandwiches into thirds (as I did tonight), quarters, or four triangles. If I do either version of fourths I'll probably get them to stretch farther. Hmm.

Had a very good day yesterday. Made another trip to Mitsuwa with Chamness. Tried some Korean food (very delicious) and had mixed results in my attempts to pick up rice with chopsticks. Also bumped into Nate and Brett and their posse while we were there, which was a delightful coincidence. Brownie points for me for spotting them! I also purchased a flask (yes, a flask) of hard candy, which is AWESOME. I'm having some trouble identifying the flavors though since all of the writing is in Japanese, but that's kind of fun too.

On the trip, I discovered that Chamness had never seen The Lion King. Or any other Disney movie made in the '90s. Seriously, he had no cultural concept at all of Hakuna Matata. How does this happen?!?! We amended this travesty at Dustin and Jenny's, and threw Aladdin in there too for good measure. Kirsten has promised to take on the challenge of introducing him to The Little Mermaid sometime soon. If we can track down Beauty and the Beast we'll have to add that the the list too. Hercules too since that one's funny.

current mood:

depressed

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Saturday, November 21st, 2009

1:18 am - UCS Complete! Well, Mostly...

I bound off on the Ugly Christmas Sweater! All ends are sewn in, so I'm basically finished. It looks pretty awesome if I do say so myself. Just need to duplicate stitch the star, decorate the tree in a delightfully tacky way (I'm thinking cheesy Christmas-themed buttons as "ornaments", or possibly more duplicate stitching, but that's extra ends to weave in) and block the whole thing. Should be great fun except for the blocking, which I hate. I'm also not entirely sure how necessary it is since it's 80% acrylic, but I guess I'd rather be safe. There's a few areas where the stitches really do need to be evened out, and while the washing machine might take care of it I guess you never know. Hmmm, do I have to block both sides separately? It was knit in the round in one big piece with no seaming, so there wasn't a chance to block before sewing together. Must ponder that.

Huzzah!

current mood:

pleased

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

12:07 pm - My Cat is Asking for Trouble...

Since I last posted, Zeke has "fallen" behind the TV four more times. Eesh. It's getting old. Woke up for breakfast. Wasn't very awake though, and went back to sleep after Greg left. Woke up and started moving about at about 11:00, but I'm debating how much of that was just because the phone rang. We'll see how tonight goes. current mood: blah
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3:10 am - Sleepless in Sun Prairie

I had thought that by staying up all night on Friday and then crashing and burning after Saturday would reset my sleep schedule. It seemed to work for about a day and a half...and now I can't sleep again! I have no idea what's wrong with me. The sad thing is that I'm tired. I feel like I should be able to just curl up, get cozy, and drift off. But no such luck. I'm really not sure what's wrong with me or what to do about it. *sigh* I told Greg to wake me up when he got up in the morning and I'd have breakfast with him. We'll see if having a concrete reason like that to wake up helps. I'm sure I'll be exhausted tomorrow, but if I fall asleep before 2 AM it'll be worth it.

The good news is I'm getting lots of late-night knitting done. I'm going to finish the second sleeve of the UCS before I try to sleep again.

Zeke is being a complete silly-butt. He (and Phred too, but especially Zeke) has always liked climbing up into the TV stand. There's just enough space between the TV and the wall of the cabinet, so I guess it's kind of a cozy place to sit and view the room. Only for the past few days, Zeke's been trying to climb the TV. He met with success for about half a second on Tuesday before falling off the TV, through the hole in the back of the cabinet, and behind the stand entirely. Since it's a corner stand pushed nearly flush against the wall and Zeke's full-grown, I'm not really sure how he got out but he somehow managed it on his own while I was at work (the fall happened as I was heading out the door). He did the same thing again about an hour ago and was back there for 1/2 hour before I got nervous enough to slide the TV over a bit to open up the hold he'd fallen through and bribe him out with catnip. I'm rather concerned about this trend as there are lots of wires back there that he could chew up if he does it again (and we all know he's a chewer) and it's actually really, really hard for either Greg or myself to get back there to a) get him out if he can't be bribed, or b) plug things back in when Zeke unplugs them.

Thanksgiving is coming up and Greg and I are spending it with my family this year (huzzah!). We've been asked to bring an appetizer. Excellent. I've got a mix for an orange dip that's been sitting in my cupboard that I can mix up and serve with pretzels that I think would be delicious. Also quick and easy. But I'm feeling kind of adventurous, so I'm considering bringing a second, more involved snack as well. Serious consideration is being given to the cucumber sandwhich, which I think would be very tasty. The question then becomes - to I do a traditional version (bread, cucumber, butter, salt, pepper, maybe a little vinegar) or a more American and complicated version (bread, cucumber, cream cheese/mayo, dill/chives)? Must ponder this. Perhaps I'll make a sampling this weekend to test it out.

Also, I have sadly neglected to mention yet this month that the lovely Allison is again participating in NaNoWriMo and posting her novel here on LJ for friends to enjoy. Her story this year is kind of awesome. I'm greatly enjoying it thus far. :D

Greg asked me tonight if I wanted to go and see New Moon in theaters or wait to rent it. I pointed out that the last movie either of us saw in theaters was Twilight (good Lord) and while I actually kind of want to see New Moon I wondered what kind of person that would make me. He laughed. I think we might be going to the movies soon.

current mood:

confused

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Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

1:25 am - The Quest for Orange Yarn

I'm super excited because I have been commissioned to knit something for someone. One of my lovely co-workers has asked me to knit several pairs of fingerless mittens for her to give away as Christmas gifts. She's going to pay me for the yarn plus a little extra TBD for the labor. How cool is that! I'm super excited. The pattern she wants me to use is also super simple (I've used it before), so I should be able to whip these out fairly quickly - the only reason I agreed to do so many by Christmas.

So I went yarn shopping tonight to get the supplies I needed. I had been hoping to do it all in Caron Simply Soft, which I felt a touch guilty for since I feel like my friend deserves something nicer than acrylic, but it's cheap (good for both of us) and still super-comfortable, washable, and it actually breathes so it'll work just fine. And it comes in a wide variety of colors, so I felt pretty good about finding the six different colors that I needed. Everything went really well until I tried to find the orange. None to be had! I looked at other brands of yarn, and apparently orange isn't an easy color to find. A few shades of burnt orange, but we wanted bright and funky. But it didn't exist at JoAnn's. Michaels wasn't much better. I did find some orange sport weight stuff that Michaels that I bought just in case that was my only option, but I really want worsted/aryn weight so I don't have to adjust the pattern. So then I come home and did some searching online because good Lord there has to be orange yarn out there somewhere. Sure enough, Caron really does make an orange yarn (mango, actually). Go figure. I can buy it online from JoAnn's, they just don't carry it in the stores near me.

So I guess I have three options:

1) Keep my eyes open over the next couple of weeks to see if it comes in stock locally.
2) Order it online and pay more in shipping than for the yarn.
3) Spend some time looking at other stores in Milwaukee to see if they carry it. Anyone want to help me with this? I'm in Milwaukee enough that shopping there wouldn't be too much trouble, but I'd love it if someone would help me scout. :)

In other knitting news, I'm a good ways through the first sleeve on Tommy's Ugly Christmas Sweater. It's going very quickly. I'm kind of excited to get the sleeves done and attached. With any luck and a little motivation (and probably several more movies) I can probably get to that point by this time next week.

current mood:

happy

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

2:18 pm - Exhaustion

I'm kind of exhausted. I'm no longer sick at all as of about Wednesday (though I admittedly was running at about 85-90% from about Monday on), but since I spent a week feeling exhausted and napping a lot my sleep schedule is all thrown off. Somehow I've become nocturnal, which is not at all cool. It's really hard to fix too since I don't really have any reason to get up in the morning, so if my alarm goes off and I'm still a little sleepy I can just roll over and nap for another hour or two or five. I'm currently operating on only an hour of sleep since I slept until 3:00 yesterday and was consequently up until 6:00 AM.

I'm just hoping that I'm coherent enough for Lauren's birthday party tonight.

In other news, Greg helped me make a fairy magic deck. It's awesome.

And we have a scanner at the Children's Desk at work now! We've been without one since before I started and one magically appeared on the desk when I arrived this morning. This means much less 10-key typing and no accidentally putting things on hold for myself instead of patrons. Huzzah!

current mood:

exhausted

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

5:46 pm - Sick of Being Sick

I'm really sick of being sick. Stayed home from work again today. My head feels like it's going to explode. The good news is that the lovely generic Day-Quil (which tastes kind of like how I imagine Vicks would tastes with a hint of artificial orange flavor, BTW) has mostly supressed the cough, has slowed down my sinuses, and makes it possible for me to swallow without pain.

I'm to the point in the Ugly Christmas Sweater where I need to start the sleeves. Unfortunately, I don't have the needles I need to do so and don't particularly feel the need to leave my apartment and infect everyone at Michael's with the plague. Maybe I can send Greg on a mission when he gets home?

I'm getting really bored. The Internet has ceased to be entertaining, and I've read like four books in three days, and watched like eight movies. For some reason I feel like I shouldn't be playing WoW because it's a social game and you're not supposed to be social with anyone who doesn't live with you when your sick. Yes, I realize that the logic doesn't make sense but that's the way my brain is working right now. It's really frustrating because I'm not so sick that I'm bed-ridden but I'm running out of fun, somewhat quiet activities.

Enough grumbling. No one wants to hear it anyway.

current mood:

sick

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

1:58 pm - Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

I'm still sick. Debating staying home from work today. It's not quite that bad right now, but I worry that if I push it too hard it'll get much worse. I do NOT want a reoccurance of Saturday night.

I'm totally kicking the Ugly Christmas Sweater's butt. It's looking pretty good if I do say so myself. Soon I get to do the sleeves - woot!

Maybe I will stay home. I should probably decide now-ish...

current mood:

sick

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

2:37 pm - Chart Finished!

I finally made the chart for the tree that I'll put on Tommy's sweater, complete with a star on top which looks like an asterix. Huzzah! Making the chart was actually a lot of fun once I got going. Here's hoping it turns out - or rather, here's hoping that when I'm finished it looks ugly and tacky, which is kind of the goal. I cast on for the sweater itself on Monday and knit the bottom edge, so I'll probably just need to do a couple more rows before I start the pattern. Excellent.

I finally got to play WoW for the first time since February yesterday. It was fun. I had absolutely no idea what was going on and I had to re-learn how to fight, but once I got things figured out it was amazing. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed that game and the superficial sense of accomplishment it gives me.

But in the most exciting news of the week, Greg has a job! One that's in Dane County! He gets to work at a place in Fitchburg that makes forensic equipment. He also gets to work in a carpeted room and wear normal clothes. Work starts either next Monday or the week after (TBD). Huzzah!

current mood:

happy