Random bits

1.  Chocolates make me sick.  I can't eat filled chocolates... this makes me sad because even tho I shouldn't eat them, I do like them... until my stomach blows up like a balloon and I get a strong inclination to take my pants off at work... which is frowned upon at most places... especially in health care!

 

2. I'm addicted to stovetop potpourri... There's nothing I like more than a fresh pot of sliced lemons, oranges and clove stabbed apples with a sprig or two of rosemary and some cinnamon sticks.  Through the process of experimentation (read: overwhelming laziness) I've determined that if you top it up with water every day and cook it every day, it will last on your stove for up to two weeks.  And it smells super fantastic that whole time!

 

3.  My tattoo is 3/4 healed and I love it more and more every day.  It may be a placebo but it's brought me a sense of calm... I've mostly been accused of 'painting it on' and it 'not being real' but those people are what I like to call 'shut up!'.  Why would I fake a tattoo??

 

4.  My stomach is currently the size of a pumpkin and I"ve taken one leg of my pants off... so far no one's noticed!

 

5.  I'm all done my Christmas shopping!  That's right... ALL. DONE!  Now, before you start to firebomb my house, let me just say that I only had two people to shop for this year.  My sister and my dad.  And my sister's birthday... which incidentally is the same day as mine!  Weird right? ;)  I bought my sister all very cool things and was so excited for her to have them all that I've suggested we do our birthday AND Christmas exchange sometime before I leave for holidays... Hopefully that works out!

 

6.  I found something really cool that I'm really excited about but I can't say anything about it because it's one of the presents in #5!

 

7.  Saturday I'm going to hang out with a friend of mine and we're going to go to Richmond (remind me to pick up my suitcase!), Dressew, Button Button and then we're going back home to bake cookies and other junkfood style treats for our baking day on Monday.

 

8.  Sunday is my birthday.  I've never been less excited about my birthday as I am this year.  I'm most excited to give my sister her presents!  There's no party this year and no cake or balloons.  I'm okay with that.  There's also not a single Christmas ornament in my house, not a bough of evergreen or a red velvet ribbon.  Not a candle, a cookie or a wrapped Christmas package.  I'm actually quite astounded that it's Christmas in a week and a bit...

 

9.  Some how, even tho I've managed to keep my house really clean (okay... clean... really is a bit of an exaggeration) during this time of not feeling too well, the bathroom has evaded my touch... I have no choice but to clean it tonight... and the rest of the house... vacuum, scrub, clean... because tomorrow I'm going to see my beloved Dr. Ed and then I'm making THESE!  Chocolate chip cookie bars with a layer of caramel peanut butter inside!  I'm going to give the majority of them away... I have two people in particular that I'm making these for... and because they seem fun and I don't have anything else to do on Friday night.

 

10.  I think in the last few years I've actually become a pretty decent cook and baker.  I used to be TERRIBLE... as in celery salt in the cinammon buns, light garlic bread on fire terrible.  I'm not so bad now and people actually request things I make and/or the recipe for things I've made... it boggles my mind!

 

11.  I lost a mitten from my olive green arm warmers that I made.  I don't know how it happened and I'm pretty sad about it :(  I have yarn to make another pair, but I wanted two pairs, not one pair and a sad mitten.

 

12.  I made a new cowl last night.  Originally I had bought the yarn for a present for my Sam, but then we decided that we weren't exchanging gifts and he didn't want a black anything anyway... The stripe bit of yarn was a skein of core spun handspun that I bought at a craft fair last year... I originally tried to make it into a hat, but it was a bit goofy.  It worked perfectly in the gauge of the black yarn (Berocco Peruvia Quick) and I love the look.  It's very long... past my waistband, but looks pretty cool in one big loop.  It's also (obviously) long enough to loop around twice my neck as a nice warmer.  Next time I'd make it a LOT shorter... and I'm not sure how my math went that horribly wrong because I wanted it to be a short thick cowl... it's a long skinny one...