03 November 2010

Is it just me?

Or does the "alleged furniture" in this picture look like something from a Witness Relocation Program?

Is the chair ashamed? Shy? Has it been captured by insurgents and will only be released if the captor's demands have been met?

http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/fuo/2037791570.html
It's not his fault, though, the guy has a phone that doesn't take "well pictures". (his pictures are sick, see, THAT'S the problem!


01 November 2010

The Cheap Plastic Pony of Knitting

As we now sneak up on my first anniversary of my acquisition of Knitting Knowledge I have realized something.

I don't really know much about knitting after all.

I told Laura the other day that I think of her every time I cast on and knit in the round with double pointed needles (DPN's) since she was the one who taught me the whole Circular Knitting Lore.

She sniffed and said,"Heh. Using DPN's (double pointed needles for all of you knit neophytes) is so last century. I use Magic Loop now. It's so much easier!" I know what's gonna happen, though. I'll finally learn to use this mysterious contraption they call "Magic Loop" then the Knitting Socialites I hang with will have moved on to something even MORE cool and amazing. It will be all, "Oh, we knit with Space Needles now. All we have to do is just THINK about what we want to knit and there it is!"

You see, as usual, I'm friends with people who are WA-A-A-A-AY cooler than I am. Laura is riding the Knitting Stallion while I sit perched atop one of those cheap plastic ponies on huge springs. Ya know, the kind that make you so giddy that you keep bouncing like an idiot and then you pitch forward and chip a tooth? Yeah, that one. (I'd like to point out that I have only had ONE knitting injury thus far, thankyouverymuch!)

She is knitting beaded scarves, the sort of thing that is so lovely and exquisite and doesn't look warm at all. (the kind of fine knitwear I'd spill hot chocolate on, to be honest!) I knit the sort of scarves that induce exclamations of, "Oh, it must be homemade......uhm,....it looks very warm!"

I look at her knitting.....then look down at the yarn mess in my own lap and steal myself for the inevitable inner monologue. "It's okay, Cyndi....what you're making looks nice, too. Someone will love it, even if it doesn't have any beads."

28 October 2010

Curtains, Coffee and Midnight Murderous Rampages

So, today is Day Two of the Drop Cloth Curtain Project. I have just been made privy to The Secret That is Drop Cloth Curtains which means that the fad is probably about to go the way of pet rocks and zoot suits, but, alas, I'm doing it anyway.

Yesterday I bought the drop cloths then went home and fell asleep. Today I plan to make coffe (lots of it) and use the coffee to dye the cloths. (On second thought, I drink way more Diet Dr. Pepper than coffee. I wonder if soda dyes fabric just the same as coffee?) I may do some sort of border on them,but, knowing me, they will be trimmed with paperclips and dog hair.

Don’t get your hopes up.


Of course, none of this will happen if Kirk and I end up in jail. You see, we have been on a Murderous Rampage of sorts lately.

A killing spree.

It started with a possum who just refused to get out of my way as I drove home from work in the dark.

Swerve.

Thud.

Then Kirk arrived home to tell me that he killed a squirrel on my behalf by plowing it down with his car. He told me that he was defending the honour of my garden.

Uhm....thanks?

So, I apologize for the inadvertant killing spree. We didn't mean it. Well, I didn't mean it. Kirk? Oh, he has Wildlife Murder in his soul for sure, bless his heart.

25 September 2010

Coffee: Now


Today I remembered that I learned how to do embroidery about well,...let's just say MANY years ago. I decided to make this tea towel as practice before I move on to stitching for others:

08 September 2010

Her name is Lola....


Now, before you read the next part please quietly hum Barry Manilow's Copacabana song:

"Her name is Lola, she is a dauchsund.
With soft flowing hair of red and a cool pink doggie bed..."




My heart is completely overwhelmed with love and awe and that freshly-fallen-in-love-smitten feeling. You see, this weekend our family adopted Lola, the World’s Sweetest Weiner Dog Ever To Exist In Known History.
We watch her sleep.
We take pictures of her sleeping.
We hold her while she sleeps so she will know that she is loved.
We touch her little paws and whisper sweetly into her ear.
We pet her so much that I’m amazed we haven’t worn tracks into her fur.

She has us completely and I mean COMPETELY AND TOTALLY wrapped around her paw.

And we wouldn’t have it any other way!

13 August 2010

Puh-Harmacy Phun

I picked up a prescription for MYSELF recently. (in a minute you will understand why I had to yell “MYSELF”.)

On the bottle was a label that read, and I quote,

Give “Cyndi” one tablet each day

Now, this was different for two reasons. For one thing I have never been referred to in the third person on my very own prescription label and, for another thing, my name has never appeared on it in quotes like that. Only two possibilities exist here:

1) I am a persnickety feline who requires human involvement to take a pill, most likely by hiding it in a chunk of tuna or…

2) I am not real.

Last time I checked I was a 30-mumble year old woman who picks up her own prescriptions. I wonder if my long-suffering husband is supposed to rescue me from my perch atop the dining room drapery rod, gently stroke my back and shove the tuna covered pill down my gullet while singing Soft Kitty to me?

In other news Jake can’t believe that the PH combo in words sounds like the letter F so every word he sees with the mysterious PH combo is pronounced separately. Phillips is Puh-Hillups and Physics is Puh-Hissicks. So, of course, Pharmacy became Puh-Harmacy.

Sounds about right.

21 July 2010

Mmmm! Hot Fudge Pudding Cake!

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

1 c. unsifted all-purpose flour
2/3 c. sugar
¼ c. cocoa
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt

½ c. milk
¼ c. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla

¾ c. packed brown sugar
¼ c . cocoa

1 ¾ c. hot water


Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9X9 square pan with Pam. Mix first 5 ingredients in bowl; add milk, vegetable oil and vanilla. Spread in pan. Combine brown sugar and cocoa, sprinkle this mixture over stuff in pan. Now pour hot water over the whole mess and lament the fact that you probably just ruined it, but…..YOU DIDN’T! Do not stir. Bake for 45 minutes. Serve hot, cut into squares inverted onto serving plates or dishes. Spoon sauce over each serving. Serve with whipped crème or vanilla ice cream. Yields 2 servings or 8-10 for more polite individuals.