Big and little

I think Cinderella is a sweet and pretty (not to mention superfluffy) cat, don't you? Ironically, I have not seen her this weekend, as I have been at my sister's new home, a cute little 2 BR, 1.5 bath cottage in town (I walked from the train station! woohoo! and even made a detour along the way to the LYS here, which is closing on the 30th: the Greenwich branch of String). This weekend has been dedicated to setting up her new network and upgrading her PCs.

In fact, that's where I am right now, waiting for some software upgrades to finish downloading. While the wifi router (which I had never gotten around to installing at home, so I gave it to my sister -- heh) is working fine (finally) with her cable modem, Microsoft is -- as always -- being a pig: you know Windows XP service pack 2 is 266 MB? And since they are ceasing support of SP2 on July 13th, I figured I might as well download SP3 as well, but since THAT is 316MB, it's taking quite a while for both to finish chugging through.

The reason this is so pressing is that (a) her old Dell (not her new netbook) is just impossibly slow -- in fact, the day is coming shortly when either she or I will be throwing that thing from the roof -- and (b) my old Acer laptop has been working fine before I gave it to my big sis but none of the new antivirus software programs will work with SP1. Not a problem when it was sitting in my closet, but kind of key if my sister is going to use it as her primary PC. (HEY! My sister now wins for having the most PCs in the family: she has THREE! HA!)

Ooh, the download for SP2 just finished. Time to go!

But I will leave you with a photo of the pieces I just finished at the other ceramics studio: a giant coffee mug to replace my the one still (and at this point, now and forever) left at my ex's place, and some tiny soy sauce cups for my mom, who broke the one I made for her -- she wants to put them INSIDE her plates of food, a la chips & dip, so they are as small as shot glasses (or sake cups, depending on your point of reference -- heh).

Ding! SP3 just finish downloading. Okay, ciao for now!

Found Objects

I suspect this is what happens when a frat boy watches too much HGTV... and never throws out the bottle caps from his beer (although s/he eventually did throw out the entire table -- heh). Apparently this person really, REALLY liked Miller Lite. You can always click on the picture for an enlarged shot to see if you can identify all of the brands.

As they say on Project Runway, I question the taste level (no pun intended, since I hate beer).

Speaking of which, now that Runway is on hiatus, I'm going to settle for watching the (soon-to-be) screaming bitchfests on HGTV Design Star. And of course, the post-show bitching about the bitchiness on the Television Without Pity forum is also entertaining.

I'm not yet motivated to read the contestants' blogs (didn't do it on Runway either) but so far, I desperately want Nina (I am so fabulous I can't stand myself, but then, neither can anyone else) to get kicked off, and I wonder why Trent (you mean there's more to decorating than buying dust collectors?) is still even there.

Yep, summer TV will be a combination of diva smackdowns and serial killers: Criminal Minds is my newest TV fix, which is great since [a] I have 5 seasons of shows to catch up on, and [b] my sister likes the show and can fill me in on the backstory, though I notice that the more "personality" they give each profiler, the more I want them to run afoul of their prey. Heh.

And one for good luck

You know how when you were a kid and your childhood classmates would gleefully punch you in the arm on your birthday? (or maybe I just grew up around pint-sized sadists?) They would invariably give you an extra punch ("and one to grow on!" or something) so say on your twelfth birthday you'd wind up with a baker's dozen. Ouch.

Well, today was my annual mammogram and of course, the side that had the tumor -- you know, the side that still hurts occasionally? yeah, THAT side -- that side gets an EXTRA x-ray. Ow ow ow!

In fact, it still hurts, and it's hours later, but hey, the good news is that I'm all clear! Woohoo! Won't have to get squashed like a pancake again for another 12 months. Yay!

Fort those of you who are either too young or not female, imagine taking your thumb and squashing it flat between two Oxford dictioneries, or Manhattan phone books (remember those retro things? Yellow Pages in print?) -- but substitute something considerably more sensitive than your thumb -- and then being told not to move, or even to breathe (inhaling/exhaling would mess up the image). Fun, eh?

I complain (jokingly) but really, I don't mind when I think of it as one more way of making sure that those nasty old c-cells don't come back. Plus, it's completely covered -- yay, health insurance!

More good health insurance news: my dental coverage is apparently quite good, as it took care of about two-thirds of the cost of my new crown. RTBT!

Remember the filling that fell out right before my trip to visit one of the cutest babies in the world? Well, when I came back, I was not surprised to find that the offending tooth qualified for a crown, as it was rather more metal than enamel. Oops.

The temporary crown felt really weird, as it was not the same size as my actual tooth. Thankfully, it was only in for a week, and now I have a new fake tooth, for a grand total of three.

And into each month an expensive surprise must fall: my annual homeowner insurance premium is due. Thank goodness tomorrow is payday! Heck, thank goodness I'm still employed!

And now, I leave you would some World Cup team murals that are currently being displayed in the Time Warner Center. The top one is Switzerland (funny, eh?) and the middle one is for the Cote d'Ivoire, in honor of my friend Laura's first completed posting with the US Foreign Service. Welcome back LQ!

Ode to my sister

So it occurred to me this weekend that my sister is a rather fabulous human being. She has been faced with an escalating serious of shocks and challenges over the past few years which would rock anyone (say hi to Cinderella, by the way, the friendly cat at my brother-in-law's nursing home) amd instead, she just gets on with it -- no complaints or whining about "Why me?"

That's not to say I don't see her with the occasional reddened eyes after an abrupt dash to powder her nose, etc. (she's strong -- not superhuman) but really, I told her that I am so proud of her for the way she has handled everything with such grace and strength. I mean who else do you know who's gone back to work at 60 (yes, she looks fabulously young for her age) after 35 years without complaint? (AND looks smashing while doing so?)

And at the end of the month, she'll be temporarily moving into a small cottage since she is renting out her home to help with finances (see: expensive nursing home, above) so I'm doing what I can in my own little way: I am her personal Geek Squad with technology issues such as setting up her wifi, etc.

That is the message of the day, folks: my sister rocks.

And now on a completely frivolous note, here's what I had for dinner with my friend Curt last Friday at Maze, one of Gordon Ramsay's NYC restaurants, selected from their very tasty pre-theatre prix fixe menu:

Starters

Octopus terrine with Kalamata olives
crisp potatoes, pickled shallots, sauce vierge
(me)

Tortellini of beef short rib
escarole, trompette royale and dashi
(Curt - but voted by both of us as our favorite dish of the night)

Main courses

Carnaroli risotto of parsley
preserved lemon and mascarpone
(both of us - delicious with the lemon flavor, but not photographed since it it was, let's face it, a big green blob of risotto with some daintily sliced lemons)

Desserts

Chocolate pudding
stout ice cream, pretzel, peanut butter powder
(me - yummy, but I'm afraid the stout ice cream was wasted on me since I dislike beer, but hey, I was curious about the flavor)

Valrhona chocolate fondant
green cardamom caramel sea salt and almond ice cream
(Curt - tasty but not exactly photogenic either: chocolate cake in a ramekin)

And now, lunch time is OVAH!

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Craftastically crazed

That which does not kill them makes them... droopy? I transplanted my little seedlings into bigger pots yesterday, and considering (a) I have never done this before, and (b) I don't even own a spade [I used a giant serving spoon instead] I am wondering if these will survive my well-meaning but inept ministrations. For instance, I figured out AFTERWARD that I should have watered them prior to transplanting, so that the soil sticks together during transport. (oops

On the left are nasturtiums, and the surviving tiny things (half of which I did kill) on the right are marigold jaguar plants, both in flowerpots I made. (The saucers were both made by other people.)

It does make me feel better to know that my coworker Julia, who is an avid and expert gardener, told me that she gave up on nasturtiums because they are just too difficult. So I'm on my won (well, me and the interweb) on trying to figure out if I was watering them too much or too little. Hmmm... Wish me luck!

I've also taken to being obsessed about making gift tags for my baby sweaters. Although there are free printable tags, they do not provide fiber care instructions. And I am certainly not going to PAY for someone to make them for me. Besides which, you still have to fill in your own care instructions.

Instead, I am basing mine on a set that Interweave Knits once gave away as a free download years ago (naturally, they are selling them for $$$ now) and which I have adapted to include many options as I am a big fan of "circle one" vs. writing down details.

Thanks to my inaugural visit to the new UWS location of Michaels (danger, Will Robinson! danger! Danger!) I was able to find a hilariously appropriate hole-punch (on sale for $2.97!) and a pad of pretty (but not revoltingly cutesy) cardstock (also for $2.97 -- score! -- after which I ran out of the store). Got home last night and MS Word, my double-sided tape, and I all had a little party. Et voila!

I know I have all sorts of things I could use as well as the cardstock (old postcards, old business cards, etc.) but the card stock was really pretty AND really cheap. (After years of struggle, I have decided to embrace my inner Scrooge whenever s/he makes an appearance.)

In case you think I am crazy (well okay, if you know me personally, you may well think that anyway, but still!) there are clearly many people who have thought about handmade gift tags, as evidenced by this gift tag gallery and this woman's PhotoShop file which I can't even open because I don't have PS.

And now, speaking of long, drawn out projects (such as my knitting) I leave you all with a photo of the newly opened (but still with a non-functional water feature -- that big slab is supposed to be a fountain) Frederick Douglass Circle. Surely the fact that the official opening was a mere 10 days after a NY Times article which pointed out the circle took longer than the CIVIL WAR is a mere coincidence? Right? (BTW, the time lapse photos mentioned in the article were taken by yours truly when she was on the condo newsletter committee.)

Noodles and Yarn

So one of the things we did while I was visiting Seattle was go out to a kid-friendly restaurant, and at Chiang's Gourmet (which is quite tasty, and has also passed muster with Margaret's father), I ran across that fabled phenomenon of dual menus: American menu, and their much more interesting Chinese menu ("Authentic food like you saw in China") which thankfully came with English descriptions. Their homemade noodles were very tender (a la the difference between fresh and dried pasta), like this giant bowl of homemade noodles with beef and veggies, recommended by Margaret's dad and ordered by her husband (and sampled by us -- score!)

One of the dishes which truly awed Margaret and myself (yes, this was from the Chinese menu) was a bowl of Five Star Spicy Hot Chicken, which honestly literally looked like and entire bowl of Szechuan chili peppers (what chicken? we didn't see any chicken in that bowl when we walked by!)

Another thing which amused us was the reaction of their baby, perfectly captured in this shot: "But Mommy, I want grown up food, not baby food!" heh. Now Margaret makes her baby really good food from scratch (ex: curried chicken, garlic beans, etc. all pureed and adjusted for baby's palate, of course) -- and after reading reading the ingredients in some commercial baby food last night I can see why: additives galore! -- but I guess textural food does LOOK way more interesting than various purees. You can't blame the little guy, can ya?

However, since cutiepie only has 2 bottom teeth, he is not yet past the puree stage. So his attempt to reach this variation on dan dan noodles (described as "Home Made Noodles, Ground Pork & Diced Drybean Curd w/Bean Paste Sauce" -- and did we forget to mention the chilies? why yes we did) was foiled by all of the adults. I mean, we would have let him try a piece of the soft, fresh, noodles of there weren't chilies involved. Sorry, kiddo.

And did I mention that all of the portions were GIGANTIC? That deep bowl of noodles was enormous. All the spoons you see wedged in the photos are BIG serving spoons, not tablespoons. Consider that after we finished eating, the spicy noddles still filled a takeout container to the brim, and THIS dish was an appetizer (!) portion. Say what?!

I ordered it because it sounded intriguing ("Chicken w/Ground Green Beans Sheets" -- oh yeah, and with mustard oil) and it was tasty, but we simply ran out of room to eat any more!

And what is a trip to another city with a stop at a yarn store? (Buwahahaha!) Little Knits, whose website is annoying but whose store is quite pleasant, provided entertaining browsing, where Margaret stalwartly refused all temptation, and I manege to restrain myself to only 2 skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (only $6 total!!) which I am currently knitting up for baby Olivia. I am making Sublime Yarns' Little Sailor Coat in Coral Sunset, which I am using US4s to knit, in order to get the correct gauge.

During my trip, I managed to finish Olivia's second sweater, the unnecessarily complicated but still tres cute Little Daisy Cardigan in Marks and Kattens Pacific cotton yarn, a discontinued yarn which I bought from a now defunct LYS, which goes to show you how long it's been in my stash. (I still have 3-4 more balls though!)

I find that I like British designs but their instructions are infuriating (witness: Debbie Bliss). As they say, 2 countries separated by a common language. But really, the Sublime Yarn baby designs are adorable. And I am still coasting on my vacation bliss, so I can't even get too aggravated about that at the moment.

However, lunch time is now OVAH. Ciao!

Sleeping in Seattle

Unlike that famous movie (whose stars I loathe) I have no problems sleeping here in Seattle as I visit my friend Margaret, her husband, and their adorable son (supercute, no?) Since he is also an admirably good-natured baby, there are no nighttime interruptions for adult sleep (or at least, not during my trip -- I was not here for the first few months of his life, heh).

Getting here, however, was kind of an obstacle course of sorts (good luck finding the correct terminal and gate for your flight at Newark if it's not a major airline) and most traumatically, the death of my Palm Pilot a few days before takeoff (a 6-hour flight without music?! aaaiiieeee!)

Instead of trying to upgrade my phone, as I had been planning to do anyway (I'd rather do it online instead and save at least $50) I decided to "spend" the $50 I'd "save" by buying a small MP3 player instead. Meet the Sansa Fuze, a teeny red 4GB player that was on sale at the local Best Buy. I promptly loaded about 700 songs on there, discovered that one of my fillings had fallen out the next day (getting that fixed the day after my return), got a giant request at work the day I was trying to leave for the airport, and eventually fled the jurisdiction.

Before the hectic rush for my trip (where I am now enjoying leisurely afternoons knitting, shopping with my friend Margaret, and playing with the ridiculously cute and enviably sweet-natured munchkin here, there were various family gatherings (Mother's Day, Memorial Day) filled with more knitting (like the sweater I made for my new great-niece Olivia? I call it the Easter egg sweater, due to its colors), and more cute little people.

Here, for instance, is a photo of my great-nephew Nicky, playing with the birthday present I bought for his second birthday at Kidding Around, an independent toy store downtown near my friend Jackie.

This game (whose name I forgot to look at, or I'd heartily recommend it to other toddler parents) teaches both motor coordination (you have to push the balls through the opening with the plastic hammer, or in Nicky's first few attempts -- his hand, heh) and color matching (the ball colors match the openings). The ball then rolls down the tubes, and emerges at the bottom, ready for the next round of mayhem.

Now Nicky is normally a very easygoing child, which is good, since his older brother is very not. This was the first toy which inspired Nicky to put his tiny foot down and stake his claim. HA! (The whole family -- except for his brother -- cheered. Heh.)

Speaking of family, and babies, here is a photo of my mom with her newest great-grandchild, 3-week old Olivia.