nekosensei: (Default)
* Yay! Finals are over! I have a little bit of grading to do, but it shouldn't be too bad.

* This afternoon, I took advantage of the break in the rain to walk to the library-- about a three-and-a-half mile trip in all-- to drop off some books and check out Mists of Avalon and The Gravedigger's Daughter. I also got Precursor (a book in C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner series) for [livejournal.com profile] doomsey and a book of folk shawls. The latter book has many good patterns, but I'm particularly enamored of the Irish shawl. Must buy yarn and make!

* After catching two neighborhood children attempting to climb the big maple tree in my front yard, I poked my head up and told them told them to get down from there before they fell down and got hurt. I'm not turning into one of those old fogies telling kids to keep off their lawn, am I?

* Google is awesome! Did you guys know that you could play Pac-Man on their webpage today? Yeah...I might have spent a little too much time playing around with that today. (makes an innocent-looking face)

Yay! Links!

* These are pictures of an abandoned medieval stone city in rural Spain. *drool* Now I want to go visit it. I've been meaning to drag [livejournal.com profile] doomsey to central and southern Spain for years now.... (Link courtesy of [livejournal.com profile] ginmar)

* This next one is for the Doctor Who fans and knitting geeks on my friends list. Knit Picks has a sock yarn that goes by the name "Time Traveler." Go read the description! Now I'm half tempted to get both the "Time Traveler" and the "Abracadabra" yarns. (Swiped from a Doctor Who knitting community)
nekosensei: (Default)
The server holding my email is down, so I probably won't be able to read any of my emails until tomorrow morning at the earliest. What a pain in the ass! Let's hope that the computer it's on just needs re-started and that it doesn't need any other work. Otherwise, I will be email-less for a couple of days.

This morning I studied for German class. Then, in the afternoon [livejournal.com profile] fuzzyscribble and [livejournal.com profile] samcallahan showed up so that [livejournal.com profile] doomsey could help [livejournal.com profile] fuzzyscribble with her computer. It turned out that the poor computer died a horrible death. Fortunately, [livejournal.com profile] doomsey was able to pull off all the data that she needed. [livejournal.com profile] fuzzyscribble and [livejournal.com profile] samcallahan also brought their dog, Re-run, who is a Beagle Coon Hound mix. He's an adorable dog. Anyhow, they put him on a tie-down in the backyard so he wouldn't traumatize my cats too much. Don't worry! He wasn't neglected for too long. [livejournal.com profile] samcallahan and I sat outside with him for a while while [livejournal.com profile] doomsey and [livejournal.com profile] fuzzyscribble worked on the computer.

I also got some time today to do some reading, go for a walk with [livejournal.com profile] doomsey, and knit. I am four rows from being finished with the hat I'm making for [livejournal.com profile] doomsey! Aside from the computer server blowing up, it was a pleasant day.
nekosensei: (Default)
* Okay...I admit it. I was singing in the shower this morning. And the cats...well...they were fighting outside the shower door. Damn cats.

* Hmmm...They don't have a karaoke version of The Secret Garden's "Fine White Horse" do they?

* Hey...if I try out for Lombard Idol this year, they won't let me get away with singing Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" will they? Maybe I can do "All That Jazz?" "White Rabbit" is another possibility. And that's all assuming that they're still going to have a Taste of Lombard this year. The Village of Lombard is short on cash and talking about pulling funding for it.

* It's still really a shame that I can't find "Fine White Horse." I can sing it with the Welsh accent. That would have been kind of impressive.

* And my computer crashed. Thankfully it didn't take my LJ post with it because it autosaved it.

* It's definitely spring. The daffodils are coming up at my in-laws's house. I'm going to have to get pictures when they start blooming.

* Where are my crocuses? They haven't sprouted yet. :(

* (giggles)
nekosensei: (Default)
* Watching last night's opening ceremony for the Olympics online. Okay...let me get this right. Lichtenstein has an Olympic team but Luxembourg doesn't? And why do I care in the first place? Because some of my ancestors hailed from Luxembourg.

* Okay, some of the special effects they used in the ceremony are amazing. I particularly enjoyed the part with the whales swimming across the stadium floor.

* And they have Loreena Mckennitt singing "Old Ways" for the Montreal portion of the ceremony. WIN!!! I LOVE that song.

* Also love the fiddlers and tap dancers. They're also saying that the creative director for this was messed up on a strong drink called Screetch when he saw fiddlers tap dancing in Newfoundland. During that time, he came up with this segment. I have to approve. And yes, you really can come up with some good creative insight when you're drunk off your ass / stoned off your gourd. The music and dance steps remind me a lot of Irish dance. (Can you say River Dance?) I wonder if you had a lot of Irish/Scottish settlers move into that particular area....

* Hey look! It's the Flying...er...Canadian!

* Hah hah hah! Cauldron fail!

* I'm so glad Chicago didn't win the Olympics in 2016. You thought Illinois was in debt now...

* The Slytherin scarf I'm started several months ago is coming along now that I'm finished crocheting that blanket. After this, I think I'm going to make a matching hat, and then a Ravenclaw hat for [livejournal.com profile] doomsey. Once I'm finished with all those things, I think either I'm going to try my hand at making a shawl or another project that requires intarsia. Either of those projects should be suitably challenging.

* Speaking of knitting and crochet, I really should take a picture of that afghan...

* I am now on the "Ow! My Tooth Hurts" diet. I wonder what I should have for a late lunch. Shoop? (And only a handful of you will get that reference)

* Enh...going to have noodles instead.
nekosensei: (Default)
So...here are the New Year's Resolutions I made last year. Let's see how well I did with them...


1) Exercise more (and maybe lose a few pounds) -- Bwahahahahaha! Yeah right.

2) Stay healthy in general -- I did okay with this one, thankfully. I got a lot of colds, but I had no major health dramas in 2009.

3) Learn to crochet (already started!) and continue knitting -- I did indeed learn to crochet. Last week, I finished crocheting a baby blanket for my best friend, who will be having a baby boy this March. While working on this project, I discovered that crochet projects go much faster than knit ones. I'm also crocheting an afghan for myself. This one is going to take me a long time because the yarn is so fine.

And of course, I've been doing a lot of knitting. For instance, I finished my Doctor Who scarf in March.

4) Write more -- Done. I did NaNoWriMo this year. I also wrote a couple of short stories.

5) Try to figure out some of my great-grandmother's recipes -- I made one of the dishes from my great-grandmother's recipe book, but I haven't tried any of the other ones. I meant to make one of her bread pudding recipes, but I decided to use a recipe that I found online because it had choooooocolate.


Judging from my progress last year, I'd say that I get much more accomplished when I post my goals for the year on LJ. So...that means that I'm going to post my New Years Resolutions for 2010 as well. Here they are in no particular order...

1) Finish writing the novel I started for NaNoWriMo. This includes editing and revising.

2) Try to get something published. Extra emphasis on the word try. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to accomplish this, but we'll see.

3) Update all of my knitting and crochet projects on Ravelry, including the projects that are still in progress. That means taking a picture of whatever I'm working on, writing down what kind of yarn I'm using, and including a link to the pattern. I've been very lax about posting to Ravelry in 2009. Since joining Ravelry, I only posted one project that turned out to be very well liked, apparently, because fourteen people favorited it. Last week, I took pictures of my Doctor Who scarf and I the baby blanket I just finished.

4) More exercise! Muy importante! I probably won't be able to do much walking in January and February because the weather sucks, but I definitely should get out there come March and April. I think I'm going to try to get back into my routine of walking three to three-and-a-half miles a day. This will be really helpful when it comes to writing because I come up with most of my ideas during walks. Listening to my iPod while I walk also helps. By the way, I dreamed up the story that eventually became my NaNoWriMo project during a walk in September. Earlier that week, I had read a writing prompt that said something to the effect of, "you can come with this time, but only if you behave." I was thinking about it while I was walking and all of a sudden BAM! I had a story.

5) Participate in NaNoWriMo in November of 2010. Years ago, I tried writing a book called Dreams of Fenecia, but ended up abandoning it. Since that time, I've lost whatever work I did on it. Most of it was crap anyway because I had no idea what I was doing back then. Character outlines? Plot outlines? What are those? I also do think my prose in what I had written left much to be desired. It was too...perky. Anyhow, I think that I will try revisiting that book in November of 2010.

6) Maybe try to post more to Live Journal this year. I've been very quiet these past few months.
nekosensei: (Default)
Yeah...I got a little carried away with pictures this week. Also, for someone who doesn't like the snow or the cold, I certainly take a lot of pictures out in the snow and cold. What can I say? At least it's pretty.

Click Here for Pictures )
nekosensei: (Default)
Wow...I'm right on time with this one...

Click here )
nekosensei: (Default)
Yes, I'm several weeks behind in posting these, but I'm still taking pictures! Here's Week 26!

Click here )

Quick Post

Apr. 22nd, 2009 11:52 pm
nekosensei: (Default)
Hey, [livejournal.com profile] bkwrrm_tx and [livejournal.com profile] ftemery, I sent out the things I knit for you. The lady at the post office told me that you should be getting them in three to five business days. Can you let me know when you get them so that I can post a picture of them to my picture-a-day thing or whatever?

Last night, I mentioned that I thought the male snail was dead. He didn't move all night and I was sure that he had croaked. Well, I got up this morning and noticed that he was zipping around the tank again. He's currently sucking the algae off of the thing that puts air bubbles in the tank. (What's that called again, by the way?) Now I'm thinking that last night he passed out from *cough cough* over-exhaustion *cough*. Anyhow, I still have two adult snails and two baby snails in my fish tank. Anybody in the Chicago area want a baby snail for their fish tank?
nekosensei: (Default)
Yep...I'm late on this one. I had a lot of pictures to go through from [livejournal.com profile] doomsey and my trip to the zoo on Friday.

Click here )

Adopt one today!Adopt one today!
nekosensei: (Default)
Click here for pictures )

Wow. I've posted a lot today, haven't I? Tomorrow, I'm going to post more hawk pictures from Thursday and I'm going to write about the book I finished on Saturday.

Adopt one today!
nekosensei: (Default)
I had a nice couple of nights. On New Year's Eve, [livejournal.com profile] doomsey and I went to a friend's house where we spent much of the evening playing rock band. I did a lot of singing and I'm surprised that my voice held up the entire evening with all of the screaming I was doing. Yesterday, we went to the in-laws' house to eat the traditional dinner of pork with sauerkraut. Yummy! Also, [livejournal.com profile] almeda gave me crochet lessons. Many thanks! We also played Apples to Apples. I managed to win the green card, secretive, by making a Fargo reference. I played the noun, wood chippers. Heh! That still does not compare to the time I played the noun, Helen Keller, for the card, touchy feely. Yes, I am evil!

Anyhoo, this is my list of New Year's resolutions:
1) Exercise more (and maybe lose a few pounds)
2) Stay healthy in general
3) Learn to crochet (already started!) and continue knitting
4) Write more
5) Try to figure out some of my great-grandmother's recipes

Today, [livejournal.com profile] doomsey and I went to the Art Institute. They had a really cool exhibit on tapestries that is ending on January 4th. We also visited the Impressionist Art wing, which was closed when we visited back in July. Right now, [livejournal.com profile] doomsey is doctoring a pasta sauce. The smells coming out of the kitchen are delightful!

Adopt one today!Adopt one today!Adopt one today!

Holidays

Dec. 26th, 2008 10:30 pm
nekosensei: (Default)
The last few days have been enjoyable. On Christmas Eve, we had dinner at [livejournal.com profile] forestdruid's mother's house. As always, the food was delicious. Christmas Day was at my parents' house. My dad dressed up as Santa Claus and gave presents to my nieces. This year, Emma did not cry in Santa Claus' lap. Initially, she was afraid of him, but once she saw that she was getting presents, she was as happy as a clam. My parents also think that she might have suspected that Santa was her grandfather, so we're going to start changing around who plays the role. It looks like I'll be playing Santa next year. Tee hee! Sounds like fun. :)

I also got a lot of nice presents this year. My parents got me Charmed Knits, which is a book of knitting patterns for Harry Potter fans. I also got two classic Doctor Who DVDs: "The Hand of Fear" and "The Invasion of Time." My sister got me a cute kitty cat t-shirt.

Oh...I also brought the stuff that I baked earlier this week. The fudge was such a hit that it disappeared before dessert. Yeah...we have a lot of chocoloholics in the family. I kind of felt bad for bringing it though because my dad ate a couple of pieces. He really shouldn't be doing that because his blood sugar has been high. I did bring him some angel food cake and strawberries sweetened with Splenda for him to eat so that he wasn't eating all kinds of sugared stuff.

Also, I inherited my great-grandmother's cookbook. (Said great-grandmother came to America from Germany. She lived in a tenement not far from UIC when my dad was a kid. Allegedly, her coffee cakes were legendary). Originally, [livejournal.com profile] doomsey and I were going to scan it and give it back to my folks, but my dad can't eat sugared stuff anymore. [livejournal.com profile] doomsey and I put it in a safe place, and hopefully, we're going to start scanning some of the recipes soon. I would love to see if I can resurrect some of her coffee cake recipes. I just have to keep in mind that a) cups back then were six ounces and not eight and b) eggs were smaller then. Either I'm going to have to find regular eggs or I'm just going to have to monkey with the recipe and use less egg.

We left my parents' house in the early afternoon and headed over to see [livejournal.com profile] doomsey's folks. There, we had spice cake and watched Die Hard 3. My mother-in-law gave us our Christmas present yesterday. It was a new cushion for our papasan, which annoyed [livejournal.com profile] doomsey because, according to him, there was nothing wrong with the one that we had. ([livejournal.com profile] doomsey has been a curmudgeon this year because he keeps complaining about getting Christmas presents. He claims that he doesn't want more "stuff"). I don't think it's that big of a deal. I'm sure we can freecycle the old cushion.

Anyhow, we're celebrating Hannukah tomorrow with [livejournal.com profile] doomsey's family, so there should be even more festivities. I think [livejournal.com profile] almeda is also going to teach me how to crochet.

Adopt one today!Adopt one today!Adopt one today!Adopt one today!
nekosensei: (Default)
Here are the baby blanket pictures as promised! Now I have to motivate myself to write a post on Ravelry.



Three more pictures behind the cut )

Edit: Here's a link to the Ravelry post for those that are interested. [livejournal.com profile] emygination also pointed out that the link only works for those who have accounts on Ravelry.
nekosensei: (Default)
Yay! I *finally* finished my baby blanket this evening. This means that I can hand it to my sister when I see her on Thanksgiving. I think she's going to like it. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but it turned out nicely. I think it's one of the best things I've knitted so far. I'll post pictures tomorrow. I'm also considering posting about it on Ravelry too.

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