Retrospective

QE and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary last week. Although it sounds like a long time, we both agree it doesn't seem like it's been that long. I've known QE for a very long time and it's reassuring to have the same mate in my life all these years, who knew me way back when and still love, accept and LIKE me now. In addition to gaining "a few" (ahem, times ten) pounds, I have evolved over the years...probably not all for the best. He still loves and cherishes me like the day we married. My mom says we still behave like we're newlyweds. :)

The other constant person in most of my adult life is Em. I've known Em for what seems like a lifetime. She knew me when I was still a teenager. WTF Em watched me transform from a naive, nice, sweet girl into the mean, cruel, and cynical bitch I am today. And yet she stuck by me through all of the drama and joys. Em came to visit me for lunch on Friday. It was awesome catching up and seeing her. She looks very happy and glows. (oh barf, right???) Em grounds me, calms me. She's one of the few people who knows the real me. Most of my anger and hostility isn't ill-will as much as sarcasm, I think. It's my coping mechanism, bracing for the next screw-over I will experience. Em understands that and lets me unleash the worst in myself and manages to overlook and forgive my flaws. That is true love.

I'm going to vegetarian hell. hahahaha I had sushi Saturday night (and a mildly cranky tummy), grilled Polyface steaks Sunday (no side effects), and made a Tuscan (Polyface) beef soup yesterday (snarky belly). I don't miss meat. Not the flavor, not the texture, nothing. That's not to say I hate it, I just don't care if I ever eat meat again or not. I assume I will probably eat animal flesh again at some point in my life, but I won't make an effort to do so, nor will I go along with it just because I am in a group setting.

There was a BS potluck at work on Friday and one person was asking about every dish. She explained she was vegetarian which got a few people flustered. I told her I was too and was considering going vegan. Holy tofu! I was kidding of course, but several people froze in shock and disbelief. I still can't figure out how my eating choices affects them. I should have brought a lasagna made with soy cheese and not tell them until after everyone ate...that would have freaked them out. HA!

I Love Adam Reid

My knitting queue is building rather quickly. I have become a Ravelry addict and find myself logging on about every 15 minutes. As a result, I see cute projects others have completed and want to knit them myself. Mostly baby stuff. My piglet is growing too quickly--I can't keep up with his size. His mom reports that he wears a 12 mos onesie--he's only 6 months old! He has a very long body so I'm not sure what size to knit for him anymore. I bought yarn yesterday. Rowan cotton for cupcakes (I'm the victim!). I also bought needles for the bee hats I have to make (poor me!).

Yesterday's haul also included an All-Clad MC2 casserole pot that is the perfect size for us at an awesome price (confirmed with numerous checks online). QE thinks I am a total dork for getting excited about cookware. It's made in USA! So pretty! I admit, I must have looked like a nerd clutching the display model close to my chest lest anyone snatch it from my hands. I also scored saucers for ten cents each! LOVE Crate & Barrel outlet! Last week I was near tears while admiring the half-sheet and square baking pans I bought online from Williams-Sonoma. Oh the beauty...the weight of the pans...made in USA by Chicago Metallic exclusively for W-S. I've eyed similar pans at Sur la Table by Chicago Metallic and those were not US-made. Does it really make a difference? Not sure. But at a minimum, it saves on freight and energy unless the pans were made in Alaska or Hawaii. Wah. So beautiful. I need to find a reason to buy the GoldTouch non-stick pans but I usually use parchment paper, so non-stick is unnecessary. America's Test Kitchen rated GoldTouch best non-stick too.

Woot on the Loot

Last night, QE greeted me in the garage cussing up a storm. It was like a little kid trying to fit as many cuss words into a sentence that barely made sense. He finally explained he was cussing for asparagus. :) We got some beautiful, tender asparagus. Even the fat ones were tender. Our CSA loot also included kale with red spines, kohlrabi, a specific variety of turnips, garlic scapes, and a dozen eggs. We now have five and half dozen eggs in the fridge. What the heck am I supposed to do with turnips and kohlrabi?! The turnips aren't big...cute little white balls, just like in those Mario video games. Two the size of tennis balls and a baby turnip.

Cat: (wo)Man-Do

Davis has moved past a mere hunger strike. Mealtime now involves me chasing him and carrying him to his room. And after all that, he still refuses to eat. A fresh can of food at room temperature gets snubbed. A gently warmed plate of food gets snubbed. A plate of food garnished with kibble gets snubbed. He will reluctantly eat a tiny bit if I sit with him while he eats.

Cara is addicted to Da Bird and is oblivious to her surroundings. She has slammed into our coffee table, tumbled head-over-tail, and run into walls just to get Da Bird. She has worked herself into a full dog-style pant with hanging tongue madness. And will continue to chase if I don't force her to take a break! Cara can easily destroy the toy in days--we try not to let her chew the feathers too much in hopes it lasts a week. So far it has. Ok, not really. That's a $5/week habit she's got there. I bought a knockoff with the same brown with white spots feathers, but she's not fooled. Grrr...it would save us $1/toy.

Angel is in full princess mode. She expects several brushing sessions per day. Let's clarify: for every time we're in the bathroom (a.m. getting ready for work and p.m. getting ready for bed) Angel expects several brushings. My bathroom routine is brush Angel, brush teeth, brush Angel, shower, put in contacts, brush Angel. PM: Brush Angel, brush teeth, brush Angel, take off eye makeup, brush Angel, wash face, brush Angel, slap on facial products, brush Angel.

Mulesing

WTF Is nothing cruelty-free anymore?! The one thing I do to ESCAPE from all the evils of the world also contributes to animal suffering. This is supposedly only applicable to Australian wool, but others say NZ and other countries do it as well. Maybe I should boycott Aussie wool just for the fact that it takes a lot of resources to ship yarn from there to here.

Mulesing is the surgical mutilation, without the use of anesthetic, of merino sheep. Skin from the animal's tail area is sliced away with hand shears, leaving a bleeding, gaping wound. The purpose of mulesing is to create a large area of scar tissue devoid of wool. This keeps the rear end of the sheep cleaner and therefore reduces the likelihood of fly strike.

Chicken Guts

Finished the Cinderella socks. It's a smidge small/short in the foot. That's what I get for not doing gauge. :) Tried to look for neat cardigan patterns and ran into two obstacles--I either don't have enough yarn for the project or the pattern is only written in one size, usually 34-inch bust. Um, yeah. I have boobs, jugs, hooters. My rib cage is probably 34 inches without any boobage.

Had a great time at Polyface and made a few friends. It's weird to know that my mental image of a farm rarely exists in the real world. I hope the animals at Polyface know how lucky they are to be living there. Chipotle execs were at the farm too, to talk business about whether Polyface can supply piggies for all VA stores or maybe supply beef and chicken for the C-ville store. We went to that Chipotle--QE said the meat seemed drier since it is leaner and cooked in-store.

I've realized that I loooove getting packages. Probably explains why I've been buying stuff online. It's quite neat...you click a few times, enter your info and voila! Things start showing up at the door!

Marrying Liz

Got our Liz cookies last night. Ginger who? Oreo what? I'm all about Chocolate Moose Dragons. The only thing that sucks is they are on sale now. I paid full price (and worth every penny!) but still...SALE! The cacao nibs add crunch, no bitterness. The cookie tastes like a fudgy brownie with the texture of batter. Liz is expanding distribution and we should be able to find them at Whole Foods and other hippie stores. Not sure if that's a good thing...too accessible to this CMD monster. :) QE said the SnickerDudes are good too. I was too in love with my cookies to fully hear what he said.

C is for Cookie

Today is the day QE and I have been waiting for. Liz Lovely's new cookies!!!!!

Almost done with my second sock. Can't wait to start on cupcakes again. And another pair of socks with Em. :)

With summer and grilling season on the way, I wonder how many tree-huggers will shun grilling since it is bad for the environment. I read that charcoal grilling is worse than gas, but both are still harmful.

Flesh for Fantasy

I ate animal flesh today. I feel sick. Need to barf. Just kidding. :) My tummy was a bit upset, though it could have been because I ate fried food. We went to Eammon's. I had cod and QE had grouper, the fish of the day. Yum. I don't mind being non-vegetarian when the food makes it worthwhile. Eating fish also seems more tolerable to me than land animals. Not sure why. The flagship restaurant, Restaurant Eve, serves Polyface meat. We will check it out eventually.

Went to Knit Happens since we were in the neighborhood. Bought a sock pattern, crochet hook, a cute pair of scissors, and an old issue of Vogue Knitting ($1!). Having finished sorting all my yarn, I couldn't bear to buy anymore yarn. So I bought everything EXCEPT yarn. Ha!

Stashing

Started to take inventory of my yarn. Whoa. There is stuff there I didn't even know I had. But it's really multiples of the same yarn and not a variety, so maybe that doesn't count. Will take pics later.

Un-Raveling

Feeling guilty for neglecting my Ravelry account, I thought I would try to enter some projects and my stash. I'm overwhelmed. I'm fine with the projects since I have photos of almost all of my completed projects. My stash is a different story. I think I will need a good full day to catalog and photograph everything. Ew. Do I really want to fess up to everything I have??? I dunno about that. :) Although, it would be very helpful if I knew what I had when planning projects. Ugh...there's a lot. Probably more than I will ever admit. Maybe I won't disclose my full stash.

Credit Card Baby

I suck. I can't bring myself to splurge on full-priced yarn. Went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and didn't bring my A-game. I found good prices on needles but my collection is already fairly complete. I could use Addis in different lengths (all but one is 24 inches), but I don't NEED them since I rarely do blankets or other large items. One booth had a loooong line of 40+ people. Ridiculous. I checked out the commotion and the yarns were about $22/hank. Maybe they knew a secret I didn't.

I guess the prices weren't too bad given most of the yarn were 100+ gram hanks. It got pretty crowded in the afternoon. Jostling through waves of people isn't my idea of fun (I'm anti-social like that) and gladly passed on any deals if it meant fighting my way through to the goods.