Sunday, March 2, 2008

ravelry and remembering things I used to enjoy

One of the things I am enjoying about ravelry is the sense of community. I feel like I keep meeting old friends, yet these are people I just met. They have so many similar interests and "issues" (most are women, many are mothers, and a good number of them just like similiar things). It's really cool. I am remembering things I used to like but don't do much anymore. I want to resurrect these old parts of my personality. Such as: keeping a paper diary & writing letters & writing fiction & stuff like that. I miss that. I stopped most of all that either during college or immediately afterwards. I was an English major and by the time I finished, I had the desire to write completely destroyed in me. I didn't even want to read for pleasure anymore. I was just burned out, big time. I feel like a decade later I am finally ready to start again, and this time not for a grade or to get attention or to feel approved of or validated as a person. I just want to write for writing's sake.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

baking today, and watching bad t.v.

I was seriously thinking about baking a cake today because I have a recipe I want to try: a sour cream chocolate chip cake from Great Cakes by Carole Walter

But then I thought, "Hey, nothing beats peanut butter cookies when you want to munch on something sweet." I normally do not bake for myself. I usually only bake when there is an occasion with other people present to eat up the goodies. Because I don't think it is a good idea for me to be alone with sweets. But recently, I have been feeling sorry for myself and just thought I'd do something nice to enjoy all alone.

So I guess I'll wait until a later date to try out this cake recipe. I know that the yellow cake from that book is awesome because I made it for my daughter's 2nd birthday. But I want to try the sour cream cake recipe, and use the variation where you add grated chocolate just before pouring in the pans. I bet it looks and tastes wonderful.

Today I am all alone again. Nobody wanted to do anything with me. Everyone is sick. The weather changed and it's overcast and gloomy outside. I guess I have a weird mood as a result because I decided to watch an episode of the Outer Limits (I have the first couple seasons on DVD). It was called Corpus Earthling. This was such a strange episode, In fact, I have decided that because it is Ultra-Bizzaro, it is my favorite. Although O.B.I.T. was pretty strange and therefore interesting too.

my day was okay & my night is dynomite

Today was a good day. I cleaned, played with my girl, baked peanut butter cookies, and then spent some quality time with my husband when he got home from work. He made me feel so good because, before he went to bed, he kissed me and said "wonderful cookies!" It's amazing how good something simple like that can feel.

I decluttered my workspace, an IKEA dining table pushed up against a wall with some shelving installed above it. This has been a bugaboo for me the past 6 months or longer. The table had been packed solid with clutter and I had not the heart to touch it. But flylady gave me a boost and I found myself zooming through it tonight. Now it's all clear and I feel sooooooo good about it.

Tonight I worked on a "Vintage Vertical Stripe" afghan. It's such an easy pattern, it's almost embarrassing to admit that I am making such a thing. But I want to say: This pattern rocks for watching t.v. You can literally keep your eyes fixed on the screen and just work it by feel. I have never had a project where you could really watch t.v. while doing it. So this is my favorite for keeping "on the side" when you have something to watch on t.v. that you really want to pay attention to.

My plan is to start my Caroline Ingalls shawl this weekend. I have been wanting to make one for a couple years now but I never seem to have the right yarn. I also tend to put other people first and always be trying to make good on promises to make things for people. I love that. But this is going to be a shawl for me.

You know what tickles me? My husband has decided to go back to school, so he is taking a couple classes in the mornings at our local community college. One of his classes is English 101. And what tickles me is that he is writing the nicest essays. I think that he is going to turn out to be a writer. I think he will discover, after all the hard work, that he actually enjoys it. I love seeing what he has written. He's putting his thoughts to paper and talking about personal stuff. The teacher (a female teacher, btw) has assigned some topics that get him going in to personal memories. The first lesson is to write a narrative. It has actually made me want to start writing again. I thought my time in college had destroyed all my desire to write. But I remember the good part of it too.