Mango Tree!

I've been sprouting mango seeds this summer, and my first baby tree has sprouted! I was so excited that it had actually emerged from the dirt at all (me having a very bad history with botany), but even more so that it looked just like a little baby mango tree. If all goes well, we will be feasting on home-grown mangoes in 7-8 short years!I couldn't get a great picture, but I thought this one was cute because Jack is taking a peek.

A Resolution

It has occurred to me that the harder I try to do nothing but study, the more I end up doing nothing at all. I have been mortified to find myself spending mind-numbing hours in front of the television and eating more than I'd like to - something I tend to do when I'm procrastinating.
Therefore, I hereby resolve to drag the knitting back out (having packed it away at the start of the semester) and to devote a substantial amount of time to reveling in its yarn-y goodness. I feel better just thinking about it. As it stands, Angel's earflap hat remains unfinished, temporarily lagged by some confusion with the i-cord trim, and my Hedera socks are stuck in SSS limbo. Additionally, I have since queued this fabulous, albeit mind-boggling, Entrelac Cube.
And to think, I wasted a whole week of hurricane vacation
(or "hurri-cation" as the locals have taken to saying) agonizing over homework that never got done instead of knitting. For shame!
I did however, senselessly evacuate to Dallas. At least Jack had a good time.

Day One

August 1, 2008: The first day of my week of freedom between full-time employment and leaping blindly into the mysterious world of law school. Yesterday being my last day, we had lunch at La Caretta, where I had some amazing ceviche, and I was showered with very sweet and totally unexpected gifts (see: Totoro).
It kind of feels weird having my last day be a Thursday - my nagging need for closure keeps insisting that I finish the week - but seeing as how my first day of orientation is next Friday, it's only fair that I take a good, solid week off. There are SO many things I have been planning to get done this week that I'm sure I won't get around to half of them, but it's way too early in the week (and the morning) to worry about that. Right now I just need to concentrate on willing the rain away so I can float in the pool today. I'd really feel better about everything if my car was home and well, but as it is, it is sick and away. In seven years it's never had any problems, but I guess it's finally starting to show its age. So I guess I had it in my head that some blogging about all the nonsense zooming through my little brain would be somehow therapeutic, alas, it has only made me dwell upon all these little loose ends that are bugging me. Maybe I'll make some brownies.

Isabella

I just finished the Isabella top I've been working on since March. I'm not all that thrilled with it; kind of short, kind of... vest-y. But I think I'll wear it.

Berry Blue

I just took my first stab at dyeing! Two big skeins of Knitpicks Bare dyed with delicious Berry Blue Kool-Aid as per this tutorial I found on Knitty.com. I was pretty impressed with how easy it was and how well it came out, especially considering the fact that it's Kool-Aid and that my yarn was superwash - i.e., not 100% wool, but a 75/25 wool/nylon blend, which the tutorial warns against. The color is kind of uneven, but that's pretty much what you can expect from hand-dyed yarn. It just sucked up all the color as soon as I threw it in; no time to swish it around and try to get the color to soak up evenly.

All in all, more fun and less messy than anticipated. The hard part now is waiting for it to dry! I plan to use it to start knitting this as soon as possible.
I've also finished my fantabulous Rhiannon Socks and my Katamari...


^_^

...aaand we got MarioKart Wii at midnight last night. I honestly couldn't imagine how they were going to make Rainbow Road harder than in Double Dash - but they did.

Royal Rainbow!

I thought that I couldn't wait to start working on this, but now I want to play We Love Katamari so much that I've gotta get my fix before I start. Rumor has it that a Wii version of Beautiful Katamari is due out in November, and - check this out - it's even listed on Amazon.com, although it is listed as, "Currently unavailable. We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock." Mmkay.

Two Fine Mondays

Albert called me this morning to tell me that Eddie Izzard is doing a show in Dallas and we had to go. Much to my shock, awe, and glee, there are to be two shows, one of which is next Monday. I wasted no time in ordering our tickets. How awesome.

Extra awesome, I managed to finish sock #1 today. Alas, I fear that with the warming weather, Second Sock Syndrome may be setting in. I am NOT looking forward to doing that big cable set-up row again, but I am looking forward to wearing my kickass new socks.

In addition, I took this sweet picture of a little tree, probably not long for this world, but cute nonetheless. I have been seeing it for days and wanting to photograph it, but was waiting until the weekend when I'd be able to shoot it in better light (morning sun). But as I passed it today and saw that the nearby structure was in the process of being disassembled, I figured I should seize the moment and take its picture before it goes down as well.

The Week Nothing Happened

Having spent the past week fighting off the cold that wouldn't die, I have been sitting home dwelling on the numerous problems with sitting home: namely my oven-like living room, having many windows, none of which are adequately covered, and the always loathsome daytime t.v. The former I managed to tolerate by means of alternately cranking the a/c and diving under blankets in an attempt to achieve some kind of balance, but afflicted with feverish symptoms, I had little luck. The latter led me to concoct the theory that daytime television was perhaps invented to punish the unemployed and somehow scold them into getting jobs so as to avoid watching things like Judge Judy, ancient re-runs of Full House, and a seemingly endless string (regardless of what channel one watches) of commercials for debt consolidation and lawyers who claim their services will result in cash materializing out of thin air because you deserve it. Oh, and weight-loss gimmicks of all kinds. Enough fatness-related advertising to give anyone an eating disorder. Of course, I have basic cable. Really basic. I guess, by today's standards anyway - just shy of 80 channels and NONE suitable for viewing before six in the evening.

That being said, I'm not much of a t.v. viewer. I'm more of a t.v. listener, while knitting or somehow occupying my hands with something; i.e.: my Nintendo DS. So while The Forensic Files or That Generic Hitler Show* droned on in the background, I spent most of my time - that is, the time that I could focus on something that small without feeling nauseous - working on my fabulous (though still singular) sock.
All I really have left to work is a couple more inches of foot and then the toe, but I've kind of blown off working on it all weekend, opting to frolic (well, not quite - maybe walk the dog, rather) in the pleasant weather and go on a shorts-buying spree (the sickness must have gotten to my brain). But, I'm sure my return to work tomorrow will make the prospect of sock-knitting seem exciting as ever by comparison.



*That Generic Hitler Show, though it should be, is not an actual show. It's just the name I've given for the many interchangeable, 30-minute segments of Nazi-related nonsense the History Channel churns out by the millions.

Friday Night

IMG_0341
Originally uploaded by treaty_of_paris

It rained. It was cold. Nobody came. Rock on, boys.