home

Made it home safe and sound - if a little tired (5 hours sleep Saturday night and 7 Sunday). It's miserable here, but it's kind of nice for a change.

penelope_stone taught me to crochet today. I made half a flower which was coming along well, but very floppy, before I ran out of wool.

We went for a walk along the Lee Fields today. We had to run back to the car because it started lashing.

I can't think of much else to say. This hasn't been the most scintillating post. Too tired for all but the basics.

Pancake Day

On nom nom. I just made the most delicious pancakes ever (okay, maybe not ever - that honour may go to the pancakes I made for lunch last week). I used Alton Brown's recipe, but cut down to size (I ended up with enough for 4 pancakes). Anyway. I've never had a recipe before where I enjoyed eating pancake with nothing on it. I find them flavourless and boring. But this mix. Oh wow. It was like a delicious, fluffy, soft, warm bread. (That sentence may be subject to hyperbole, but not by much.) I ate them with nothing on them. Not even the charms of nutella worked. I did put a bit of grated parmesan cheese on the last one and it made it even yummier.

So... last week's lunch pancakes - also delicious. I didn't have any bread (still haven't made any) and I didn't have anything for lunch. There was some pancake mix in the pantry (we have a pantry :) ) but I didn't feel like boring pancakes. I also had some fresh basil and a half a can of tomatoes in the fridge, so I threw them into the processor and mixed them into pancake batter. I cooked them - putting some cheese on top and they were so delicious. I totally didn't even remember than pancake day was coming up next week when I made them. But anyway - two delicious pancake meals. Nom nom.

What else - we got a basil plant. Woo. Can't wait for it to get big enough so that I can take leaves off it without harming it.

I cast off the string top I was knitting and started an easier one. I would have stuck with the first, but I measured it and it was coming out 4 inches too big, and the pattern didn't work so well with the colouredy wool. So the one I'm working on now is plainer, easier to knit and looks lovely.

Was noch? We went out on Friday to a mardi gras themed dinner. It was quite a good night. I wore 5inch wedges and my feet weren't so sore at the end of the night (but I was sitting for a load of it) and I didn't trip over. Yeay.

Ooh - River's doing really well with the whole not barking when I tell her to be quiet. She actually listens to my command. Woo. She's still doing paw like mad, and she's mostly grasping roll over. She still has no comprehension that down means lie down, but I think that could be that we also say down when we want her to stop jumping on us.

Finally - I'm back playing Skyrim again. It's such a fun game. Steam opened their workshop (where they collect mods) so I've been having fun trying out different mods. I must download the creation kit and have a go messing with my own mod.

Bread is Delicious

I have a honey-wheat loaf doing in the oven and it smells absolutely delicious. I really need to get myself another loaf pan, so that I can make two loaves at a time. It doesn't really seem justified - all the effort for one loaf (which depending on how scrumptious it is might not even last a day). I love this baking malarkey. It's amazing being able to eat your bread you've made yourself, that you know exactly what went into.

I now have 10 rows done on my string top. I'm a regular speed-knitter I am [sarcasm]. It's going to take months and months to finish at this rate. Though lordkilljoy's going on a wwe stint tonight, so I might get a lot done if I sit on the couch with him (rather than sitting at my desk playing games).

The wwe stint is therapy from a terrible, terrible end of week. Yesterday (was it only yesterday?) he lost the car keys. When they didn't turn up by noon today, he called a tow-truck to come pick up the car. Half way back to the rental place, the keys showed up. So typical, you really just have to shake your head and shrug. That's life, isn't it? Anyway, we have another car now, so it's all good.

I don't think I have a whole lot of other news.

News Things

I finished my skirt on Friday. Wore it on Saturday. It's a bit weird - not exactly even and I cut the material sidewards. So I'm not sure if I'll wear it that much; probably just wear it in the summer when I'm hanging around the apartment.

Did I mention at all that we taught River how to do paw. She does it for everything now. It's very cute: waiting to get lead on for walk - paw; want food - paw; looking at treats - paw. I think she thinks paw means I'll get what I want. Hee.

I went out with the girls on Friday. It was a good night - I got to dance, which is always fun. I think I'm good now for nights out for another few months. I can ignore all the things I dislike about night clubs when they only happen once in a while, but too often and I just get to hating.

What other news... Did I mention that I started on my cotton string top? I have 5 rows knitted at the moment. I've given myself until June, but this is going exceptionally slowly.

Dinner tonight was amazing. I did a tofu and veg stir fry and it was so delicious. Soy and oyster sauces make an amazing base for stir fry - add in a little stock, ginger and mirin and you get something absolutely divine. I love Mondays. I could eat rice and stir-fry every night.

Right so. I'm off to play Star Wars.

Coyote

Daylight savings compounded on the tail end of jetlag. My poor body will be awake at 4am tomorrow.

That could be a haiku.

Anyway. One cool bit of news: I saw a coyote in the wash today while walking river. It was amazing - just walking along, all uncaring about the humans around walking their dogs. It looked back at me as I stood on a rise looking down at it, then just turned away and continued walking. I stood there going: "wow, I just saw a coyote." And I took it as a good sign.

In other, less interesting, news: I have a cold for the first time in over a year. Probably closer to 2 years, actually.

In other other, slightly more interesting, news: I tried fair isle out on the loom. It didn't really work out. Too much wool gets dragged behind the stitches and the whole thing turns out really floppy. So that's a bit annoying.

That's all, I think.

storm's a-comin'

The weather are giving storm warnings for the end of this week, and it's really starting to get going now. It's windy and kinda cold out (cold being 17 degrees). They are giving bad winds for tomorrow too, and snow up on the mountains. Ooohhhh. At the moment I'm sitting here and every so often the wind slams into the building, and the window rattles a bit and the door shakes a little, and it's slightly unnerving. River and I just went out for a walk in it, and all I wanted was to get back inside again - I think River was feeling rather energised by the wind, though - she was mad hyper.

We went to the balloon festival last weekend - we went in the evening for the glow event. It was amazing - wandering among all these colourful hot air balloons that lit up every so often with jets of fire. Every so often a guy on a loudspeaker would do a countdown and all the balloons would light up at the same time. It looked incredible. And when that was over, there were fireworks. And they were some of the best fireworks I've seen. There were ones up in the sky and ones closer to the ground and the whole thing was pretty spectacular.

In other news, I've knitted a hat and a half, 2 pairs of gloves, a pair of socks and am working on another thing (it's a surprise). I'm pretty proud of everything - except the half a hat... don't know why I'm not so enthusiastic about it but it's just not gelling with me.

I don't have much other news.