The camellias in the front yard are looking pretty right now. I guess that’s one nice thing about renting a home. Normally I would never buy or plant a camellia. I know the flowers are pretty, but the rest of the year, the plant is just blah. Nothing I’d ever pay attention to, but I’ll certainly enjoy the benefits while they hang around. Might as well, since they are here to stay.

In other news, I’ve been having multiple mail and comment moderation issues, so if you have emailed me in the last couple of weeks and I haven’t replied, please email me again. The problem has been fixed, but I’m afraid I might have missed a couple emails. And if you have commented and it isn’t posted yet, email me and let me know.

I’ve been doing some serious cleaning today. I spent this morning scrubbing the oven and polishing the counters. Sometimes I don’t know what the point is of this. It gets dirty the very next day. At least it feels good and clean for five minutes or so I guess? It makes me feel a tad bit better, but not really. Anyone know of a good eco-friendly cleaner that gets off grease? No matter how much I scrub the stove, I still see a sheen of grease. It bothers me to no end, but I’ve gone so long now without using products containing bleach or petroleum that I don’t want to cave now! Vinegar, baking soda, and castille soap have not managed to work on grease.

I know this isn’t the most exciting post I’ve ever produced (are any of them really?), but I’ve been having bad luck with picture taking these last few months. Maybe I’m just not as focused…I don’t know. I’ve made a few good eats these last couple weeks, but haven’t been able to produce an adequate picture to show you so I’ve been quiet around here. Although, I found a new cooking blog that has made me want to really get to work in the kitchen again, so hopefully I’ll have something to show for all the work I know I’ll put in. Doesn’t whole wheat cranberry-rosemary bread sound good? Or what about chicken, olive and lemon soup? I think I’m going to make the soup tonight, along with pumpkin spice cupcakes for dessert. I roasted my sugar pumpkin last night so I’ll be all prepared today. Let’s see if I’ll manage that and math homework (test tomorrow! yay!).

Hope you all are well.

&

So glad fall has come, and especially happy that the cool breezy weeks are still peppered with days in the low 80’s. I wish we always had a nice mix of light rain, cool breezes and warm sun. I know this lovely weather won’t last long, so quickly do the best seasons leave us!

I’ve been assigned my garden plot last week and spent a perfect day breaking up the compacted clay and refreshing the soil with horse manure. I haven’t had a chance to plant anything yet. It’s getting so late so I need to do that this weekend, luckily the weather is going to be perfect for that.

Mostly though I’ve been knitting away. The blanket is still not complete. I’m at the half way mark. I’m definitely not progressing as quickly as I was hoping. A whole blanket of seed stitch gets ridiculously boring, so I decided to start a couple of quicker projects to work on when I need a break from the blanket. I’ve almost got my first Saartje’s Booty complete! I just need to knit the button straps and seam them up. I’ve hit a speed bump though and have a problem with casting on for the straps. I just can’t figure it out and apparently I’m not the only one with this problem, but the explanations in the help forums aren’t helping me! I hate being so close to complete and not being able to finish!

I’ve also been thinking up quick knitted christmas gifts to start now…a silk lace scarf, a pair of fetching wrist warmers, a scarflette are all possibilities. Can’t wait. I just love sitting with a warm blanket, a warm drink and something to knit.

In other news, Joe and I are going on vacation AGAIN! I know, that’s a lot of plane rides for us this year! This time I’m taking Joe to Montreal for his birthday (this month). Anybody have any suggestions for good food, things to see and do, that would be great. Just drop me an email or comment here. I’m assuming a hockey game is in order (Joe’s favorite hockey team during his youth was Montreal) and of course the botanical gardens, but what else? We are just staying for the weekend.

Oh yeah, to the local knitters:
I heard about a free alpaca farm tour on Sunday. I’ll probably be going so if anyone wants to come along, drop me a line.

Hopefully I’ll post soon with a completed pair of baby booties and a baby blanket! Have a good day all!

I’m here still. Really I am. I’ve just been busy with school and knitting. I’ve been knitting a lot it seems. Every spare minute I can manage, I do a row (which consists of 133 sts!) here and there. When I have more time, I knit right up until my hands feel as if they are going to fall off. I started a baby blanket a while back and then I restarted it and now I’ve taken a break because I’m angry with it. So angry I can’t bare to look at it. It’s too small! Why didn’t I accept this earlier and move on? I would have just made it bigger, but the yarn I was using, I bought in England and can’t readily be found here. Now I don’t have enough to enlarge the pattern. Oops.

So I’m on to this new blanket:

It’s much bigger and cushier AND it has got a hood. Perfect to wrap a baby in. The deadline is drawing near, hence the knitting marathon. You seasoned knitters are probably thinking “oh posh…it’s only a baby blanket. I can knit that up in one sitting!”…but me? Well, I’ve got a long way to go and I’ve been at my top speed the whole way through (okay, I started this one a day ago, but it feels like an eternity!). The needles that I am using are so long and akward, I have to balance my left needle on my knee or wedge under my arm to keep at a steady pace and to keep my hands from prematurely cramping. I probably have just a couple weeks if I want my blanket to make it before J & S’s baby does. Wish me luck!

So how have I been spending my non-knitting time lately, you ask? Ravelry!

Yes. I finally received my invite last week and can’t seem to stop exploring this whole new world filled with yarn-y goodness. There are so many patterns to look at, and in turn, so many blogs to read! So excuse me if I haven’t been around lately.

And when I’m not on Ravelry, Joe and I have been watching a newly discovered show- The IT Crowd. It’s a British show, but it’s been picked up by NBC so it will be on the telly here soon…unfortunately. I don’t know why they have to go and change the characters and de-Britify the show. It’s hilarious the way it is. Does NBC think that maybe us viewers won’t get the jokes because they speak with an accent and their emergency number is 999 instead of 911? I’m not sure.

Anyways, here’s a clip. You won’t get some of the story line with Richmond, but the rest is self explanatory. I just love Moss.

Today was a good day. Good breakfast, good workout, good discoveries, good weather, all of it, good.

Today was day two of my exercising. I hate the way my mind works. When I decide I’m going to do something, I’ll be completely wrapped up with it for a few days. It’ll be all I think about, and then I’ll just one day stop. I’ll wear myself out with goals before they even have a fighting chance. I can’t do anything in moderation or for long periods of time. Take my exercising today: after my 45 minutes of jogging and walking, I wanted to keep going. I couldn’t just do the set workout and leave it alone for the day. I was too excited that I had gotten through the workout, that I wanted to do more. I thought about walking across town to visit Joe at his work. I wanted to walk to the library. I wanted to walk to get groceries. All of these things are pretty far. I guess my mind is reasoning that if I’m not sick of it yet, I’ll just keep going until I am. I need to strike while the iron is hot.

I held back…for a couple hours, but then I decided, “well Self, I have to pick up the iodine for the beer and the shop is only a few blocks away, better to walk than to waste gas”. So I walked. When I got back home, I convinced Joe to walk with me to eat out at Classico Pizza, so we had another nice stroll (luckily all of this stuff is a few blocks away). It was nice being outside and exploring, peeking into other folks lives (I’m nosy I suppose, I must take after my grandma).

I came across a strange home that was hidden behind a large wall and a plethora of trees. It was strange seeing a home with that much character in Folsom, where planned community housing is king. I loved it. But I think I loved the wall surrounding the home even more than the house itself! It looked as if it were constructed with nothing more than mud and rocks. It had all sorts of plants growing out of every crevice. I could go back and spend hours inspecting that wall and probably not notice every plant there.

It feels strange to post now that I’ve been away for so long. I’m sorry. Wait, no I’m not. I don’t have to post if I don’t want, right?

So, I’ve been thinking about my level of health lately.

I became painfully aware of how unhealthy and out of shape I am on a bike ride with Joe. Slight inclines seriously winded me (my heart felt as if it were going to beat out of my chest), while Joe just chugs along fine. It’s not like he’s been any more active than me in the past 3 years. In fact, I was the one doing manual labor outdoors for work! What gives? Why do some stay more fit than others?

I’ve decided to start exercising. Although, it’s something that I feel almost guilty doing. I have serious fears that I’ll be accused of being anorexic. I’ve been accused of it before. How can a girl convince anyone that she, who at 5′1” weighs a measley 98lbs, actually eats plenty of food (very fattening food, in fact) and never exercises? How can I justify that I need to exercise and watch what I eat? I’m terribly unhealthy, but am unable to prove it to anybody.

So I decided to begin walk-run intervals and some light strength training into my weekly routine. I officially began today. I walked at a quick pace for four minutes and increased to a light jog for one minute (I will continue to build up my jogging time). Wow. Let me tell you, I’m terrible at this. I really need to work on a good breathing pattern because I get winded so easily. But I’m glad I’ve been motivated enough to start. I only hope I can make this habit stick.

*oh and I’ve decided to try to participate in ‘feet week’ even though I’m a couple days late.*

This week has been a busy one. I actually sewed something since I’ve been away from the computer! Unfortunately, I can’t put up the pictures because I’ve sent it out to and the recipient has not seen it yet. It was nothing special, really, but I’m proud because it was the first sewing project on my own. I learned a lot, but I wish I had learned it all before making something for someone else, someone else who is an excellent sewer who has a good eye for style. I’m a bit nervous, can’t you tell?

I’ve been listening to a lot of NPR and Georgia Gibbs while sewing. When I took a break, I was looking through these. Isn’t that the most wonderful set? After listening to Georgia Gibbs and looking at those old photos I got all nostalgic and had to watch The Bad Seed. My mom loved it when she was young and so did I (I didn’t even know that until after I told her I had watched it and loved it!). Despite the terrible overacting and the constant foreshadowing that bordered- no, crossed the line of ridiculousness, I still think that little Rhoda is the creepiest little girl I’ve ever seen, but so lovable too.

My family is coming to visit tomorrrow, so I have been cleaning (organizing cabinets that were long overdue for an overhaul and shredding old bills mainly) in preparation. I’m so happy I’ll be able to see them! I hope I’ll have time to show Juliet this and this in our backyard, but NOT this. I hear she’s doing much better in math and science than in reading and language (what? yeah, completely opposite to me), so maybe cool science experiments will win her over to the Dork Side since me buying her book after book for her was doing nada. She’s seven and she’s too cool for school.

I went to the farmer’s market today and then over to the Flower Farm to pick up produce for meals this weekend. I also went out on the farm and cut that bouquet for a nice homey touch. All the flowers in our front and backyard are done for the season, so I had to get the next best thing. I even scored a huge bottle of liquid worm castings from Sherri for free! She sure knows the way to a gal’s heart!

Sorry in advance if this post seems like a bit of a downer. I’m not sad or upset or in a bad mood, this is just a slight departure from the norm. I was recently reminded of an old short story which hit a chord with me that I would like to share, as well as a song that in a way made me think of the story.

The Yellow Wallpaper.

-this piece deals with feminism, mental illness, and PND. The ending left me with a haunting image that I have never been able to remove from my memory.

A song I have been loving.

I know, I know, weird huh? But I just had to say that it is barely past noon and already today has been so exciting! Alicia over at Pozy Gets Cozy announced she has been making a sewing book that will be released next year.

Not only was there that bit of loveliness, but I received my “Bend the Rules Sewing” book by Amy of Angry Chicken! I actually got a bit carried away trying to open the box the book arrived in and tore a nail. Oops!

Her book is exactly what I had hoped it would be. It’s not just another on of those craft books that consists of giant full page pictures with little to no information. She actually has tons of useful info and tips. While the pictures don’t overwhelm the book, they certainly still are eye candy. The projects? beautiful! Everything about it is perfect.

I can’t wait to put this book to work!

The last few mornings I have been enjoying my breakfast outdoors while the weather is still tolerable. The garden gets my extra attention since I’m not dying to come inside and get away from the heat. It’s nice because I can listen to everyone go about their lives- someone is sawing wood, the new neighbor arrives home on her bike and greets her pet, the other neighbor’s little girl is crying again, insects are buzzing and chirping, and a multitude of birds are singing. The past few days that I have been outside, I’ve seen two robins inspecting our tiny back lawn, looking for worms no doubt. I wonder if they are a couple. One always stays a little bit longer than the other, usually to stare at me quizzically. As soon as I put down my knitting to stare back, he flutters off. So I have taken to pretending to not notice him inspecting me so he’ll stay longer. That’s when he starts to hop a little closer.

Yesterday I went to Placerville to shop for used books. They have a sizable used bookstore on the main street that has tons of great books, a much better selection than anything here in Folsom. I intended on buying some sort of bird book so I can more easily identify the more obscure birds seen in our yard. I bought “The Private Lives of Garden Birds” by Calvin Simonds. I first read the chapter on robins and found his narrative to be right on. He writes ” As it is, they [the robins] are merely puzzled to find me outside at an hour when they expect to have the garden to themselves.” I now wonder about all those perplexed looks that the little robin gave me the other mornings. He did look quite surprised to see me.

This morning I made lemon muffins (which, by the way, are excellent!) and sat outside intending to capture a photograph of this robin, but perhaps my eagerness put the little robin off. I heard every sort of bird song known to man, and saw hummingbirds hovering around too, but I did not see my little robin. Mr. Simonds later writes “birds are very sensitive when they are the object of human attention.” he goes on to say ” so it’s to your credit with your robins that you are frequently seen, yet mostly preoccupied with your own affairs”.

So I didn’t capture a picture of my little garden friend today, but maybe I’ll get lucky eventually. I’ll have to remember to be preoccupied this time.

Look what my sweet boyfriend surprised me with! A new mug from Luckymonkey’s Etsy shop!

Last week I was doing my usual Etsy browsing when I spotted that mug. I wanted it so badly, but I have so many mugs already, I couldn’t justify buying it for myself. I jokingly made a plea to Joe that he should buy me the mug for the upcoming public holiday, “Taryn Appreciation Day”. He just rolled his eyes and continued working at his desk.

Well, yesterday he got a package in the mail which isn’t that unusual, we both get some sort of package every week. I didn’t think too much about it, but then I was surprised to see him pull out the mug and hand it over to me. “Happy Taryn Appreciation Day”, he says.

Awww….I love him!