Deviant Dispatches

I have two things to tell you about today. One of them is thrilling like getting caught in a cool rain on a hot day. The other one is thrilling like discovering something at the back of the fridge has turned an unusual color. This week, I made brussels sprouts. (You already know which one this is, don't you? Damn. I tried so hard to make it a guessing game.) We realized, heading home last night, that we had no vegetables at home. "What kind of vegetarians are we?" the two of us wondered, missing our summer CSA. So we stopped at Aldi for cauliflower, radishes, and, of course, brussels sprouts. This is how they grow, in case you were wondering. I know I was. All about the sprouts I've never made brussels sprouts before, so this was interesting. I charred them in butter and leftover bacon fat (yes, I saved it from the lovely CSA bacon we had a week ago), then let them simmer in veggie broth for four minutes and added salt. Spousal Unit, who...

Lately, my favorite project to knit has been baby hats. They're quick, versatile, and fun - the pattern I use, from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson, allows you to do pretty much anything you want to the hat. For example, you can add stripes, as I did in this hat for my New Mexico Auntie's new grandbaby. Pink was perfect for her, and I threw in a few green stripes to keep it interesting. I much prefer challenges, though, so I also made her a strawberry hat. And yes, I know there are already patterns for this kind of thing, but I made this one from scratch, based on the same hat pattern. I had so much fun with it. The one thing I might change about this pattern, next time I make it, is how far down the seed pattern goes. If this hat curls up at all, the black threads underneath show. Otherwise, I think it turned out pretty darn well. I'm pleased with the color combos, the innovation, and the way the green top turned out, decreases and all....

I had an awesome post for you today, full of things I'm excited about lately. I wrote paragraph after paragraph, detailing the awesomeness. Usually, this stupid site will save my progress as I go. But every now and then, the internet is a little silly (read: Class A dunce) and terrible things happen. Like I try to add a picture before I realize nothing has saved. And another window will open, which isn't really another window and blocks me from working on anything I've written thus far. So the page continues pretending to open the picture uploader, while the words I've written are barely visible on the other side, and I know I will lose all of them. Stupid internet. Stupid Blogger. So, rather than rewriting exactly what I just wrote (because now I am not only discouraged, but late), I will enumerate the things that make me excited, when I'm not too busy being pissed at my blog host. 1. Circle M Farm - Spousal Unit and I are getting a share of vegetabl...

Rather than writing a post for you, today I've given the blog its semiannual facelift. (This is becoming a rather frequent thing - I hope the blog isn't getting too spoiled.) For your enjoyment, the following changes have occurred: New picture header, complete with new tagline. I do enjoy coming up with those. A list of my "top ten hits," as it were, according to number of pageviews. That's on the right. Removal of my favorite links. It was starting to get crowded over yonder, so I closed my eyes and clicked. If you want it back and would rather let go of something else, let me know. I'm already well over my allotted hour of work for the day; Spousal Unit advised I do something fun on my day off, rather than doing like I do and accidentally working all day. So... maybe I'll read. It's hard to resist the urge to clean, though. Enjoy, and let me know if you've got suggestions for anything.

Christmas has come and gone, and so have all my Christmas gifts to others. Which means I can now share them with you. Feel the excitement, people! First is a little guy I made for a friend with an office, which was barren except for stress. This is Fuzzball the Destroyer , of planet Zweeflebox. He fits in the palm of one's hand, squishes rather nicely, and has opposable eyeballs. This might be the best destructive fuzzy thing I've ever created. (Yes, there have been others, but no relation.) I created him with size 6 needles, Lion Brand fuzzy pompom yarn, and a strand of brown Caron. The eyeballs are Patons Grace mercerized cotton. On a slightly more practical note, I crafted a selbu (Norwegian-style) hat. You remember Kaelin, right? She's the one with her foot all over the top of this page. I made this hat months and months ago, and I was so thrilled with it that I almost gave it to her back in September. But I resisted, and now she has a Christmas ha...

Several bits of awesome have happened lately. Here's how it went down. I finally got myself an awesome pair of boots. These are the boots I've mentioned to you before : the ones I've been looking for over the course of several years. They finally had my size in at the website, My Hot Shoes . The sizing advice said this shoe runs true to size, so I got a 10. They fit. I was amazed. And to top it all off, the top folds down, to cover the zippers. When I wear the boots with the tops down (I sound like a convertible), they don't catch on my fancy skirts. These are my new favorite shoes ever. The only problem is the tread... or should I say lack of tread. The bottoms are completely smooth. I'll have to step carefully, go to a cobbler, or wear different shoes on icy days. Which would mean not wearing these boots all winter. (Like that would happen.) Another recent bit of awesome is a candle Spousal Unit picked up at Target just before Halloween. It's a silver skull...

This was one of many adventures on yesterday's sunset excursion: a box full of galoshes on the curb. The sun picked one little patch of marigolds to illuminate. They looked like they were on fire. This sunset was from earlier in the week... This one was from last night. Spousal Unit and I walked to a new place we found for sunset pictures - more directly across the lake from the Capitol. I took a video of the sunset, so you can watch it with the sound of waves anytime you want. Unfortunately, Blogger is once again a really crappy blog host and won't let me upload the video, and YouTube is also being a jerk and wants to take 70 minutes to upload a two-minute video. If I can ever get this video up, I'll repost. But it might take a while.

One warm July evening, Kaelin found a toad. He was soft and squishy and not very slimy, and he asked Kaelin to show him her grassless home. She was happy as a baby monkey riding on a pig . (That means she was very happy, indeed.) Toad explained many great mysteries of toad-life to Kaelin in their time together. He explained why toads are so bumpy, who gifted them with powerful, jumpy legs, and why they croak best near water, early in the morning. Kaelin was amazed and excited to be so trusted with the intricacies of toad culture. She vowed that Toad would always be her bestest friend forever and for always. She even offered him a nice little place under the china hutch, where he could be happy and squishy every day. Kaelin rubbed his soft little belly and held her friend close. Toad was happy. Then, tragedy struck, in the form of Spousal Unit. He offered Toad his skills with certain implements of destruction, so that he could escape this cruel world if he so desired...

I'm writing to you from the future, and the future is Toledo. Be afraid. It's an hour ahead here, and it was plain to see why the moment we pulled off the exit ramp and into our Days Inn parking lot. Looks very promising, doesn't it? At the least, the building shape seems to suggest a unique establishment bristling with interest. Well, kinda . We were astounded from the start. It's clear that this hotel sees routine maintenance. Why, even when we checked in, they were sending maintenance folk hither and yon on a mission to repair various AC units. Understandable, as there's a high of 98 today, and on the bright side, we were upgraded to a suite for free because our room's AC was also out. In the hallway, I noticed several large, grey bells - the round ones you typically see in old cartoons, or in boxing matches. *DING* "In this corner, we have..." All I could think when I saw them was, it would really suck to hear that go off tonight. In the room, we ...

Among other things, I read John Scalzi's blog on a regular basis. He has a feature called The Big Idea where he lets authors plug their books, and he posts pictures of the stacks and stacks of advances he receives by mail. I love finding new reading material this way, and I trust his opinion of all things scifi (or bacon). I first heard about Perdido Street Station in this blog post , where Scalzi talks about why his book isn't necessarily the best of the decade, and why he thinks China Miéville’s book is. Some high praise coming from a guy who knows the ins and outs of scifi and fantasy - plus, he mentioned world-building, one of my favorite elements of any book. So I grabbed a copy. Months later, I've finally started reading. This book is amazing. Lin, to her mortal horror, was running late. It did not help that she was not an aficionado of Bonetown. The cross-bred architecture of that outlandish quarter confused her: a syncresis of industrialism and the gaudy domestic ...

Yesterday I got all domestic with my bad self and made rhubarb crisp . The friends whose space in which we're getting all up (just doesn't sound right with correct grammar, does it?) have this thing where they contribute to a co-op and get veggies and health care money in return. Love, love, love this idea. They get a weekly basket of random goodness from local farmers, and this week, there was rhubarb. Hooray for rhubarbs! I decided to make it into rhubarb crisp for them (okay, it was for me too), and talked my mom into sending me a recipe so I didn't have to go hunting for my cookbooks, which are probably in Chicago anyway. The recipe is way easy and I plan to make it repeatedly now. Check out this shot of the rhubarb. If you enlarge it, you can see some of the little details. Kind of fascinating. The gist of it is you pour chopped rhubarb in a dish, coat it with sugar, cinnamon and butter, like so... Looks delightfully bad for you, doesn't it? ...Cover with a brown ...

As you all probably know, I like to buck the system from time to time. I especially enjoy this when it comes to a certain heart-infested holiday used to force consumers into purchasing as many obnoxiously sweet gifts as their little pocketbooks can afford. So one year, I cut various organs out of construction paper and wrote these little diddies on them. And they were my Valentine's cards. Written on kidneys Roses are red Violets are blue I give vital organs To no one but you! Roses are red Violets are not My heart is beating My kidney was not. Roses are red Violets are blue Who needs two kidneys? I'll give one to you! Roses are red I like my heart It's very nice And my kidney is not. (The above kidney was drawn to have an eye patch and a knife.) Roses are red Violets are stupid Here is my kidney Instead of a cupid. Written on spleens Roses are red Grapes can be green I'm using my heart So here is my spleen! Roses are red You need a joint I need a heart But a spleen has...

It has been astoundingly dry here the last several... well, months. Dryer than an empty bottle of vodka in an alcoholic's liquor cabinet. Dryer than a pair of feet cracking at the heels without lotion. Dryer than a camel's floppy hump. This is what happens sometimes. The last precipitation we had was in February. There has been no rain. The "river" in town is pitifully small, and severe water restrictions have been put in place already. It's only mid-April - I can't imagine what the summer will be like if this continues. On top of the dryness, we've been getting the usual "windy season." There pretty much isn't a spring, fall or winter here. The seasons go windy, summer, windy, barren. And when it's been especially dry, like it has of late, the windy season is particularly obnoxious. Sometimes when I walk to work, a wall of sand roars toward me. I can close my eyes and mouth, but I still taste the sand afterward. It wasn't until mov...

This is Sadie, the beautiful and talented bookstore kitty who keeps me company in the dungeons of the bookstore (aka the back). She comes and pesters me every morning to pay attention to her - she doesn't have to try very hard. When she first moved in at the bookstore, she was terrified (as all small kitties are in strange new surroundings). I had house-sat her before though, and I think having another familiar person around helped her adjust. Now she loves being petted by customers and even joins the older group of kids for story time. My devious plan was to post a video here of her enjoying her favorite pastime. Unfortunately, this blog host continues to be stupid and I had to create a youtube account just to post this video. Seriously, I tried twice to upload it here, and nothing happened. This makes me rather not pleased. I have a life too, evil blog-host. I guess that's one more point for The Universe. If this post looks sloppy, it's because I'm beyond the point ...

This weekend, I was finally able to start belly dancing again. Last summer, I had a painful pinched nerve that led to stomach pains as well, resulting in my not really being able to exercise much because of the agony it induced. Yes, I've pretty much been hurting every day since last summer. I've finally started seeing a chiropractor who's able to help me not hurt so much - yay for that. Boo for this town having really stupid doctors who didn't "get" what was hurting me. Anyway, so this Saturday I danced for almost a half hour, and the only thing that hurt after was my left leg. But that's an old injury, from the time I accidentally ran to another town. Don't worry, if you haven't heard that story, I'll post it here sometime soon. Getting to dance again without pain made me way excited, as did paying my monthly bills and having one less student loan to pay. So I figured I could allot myself the amount I usually pay for that loan, and use it tow...