My Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Peeps, I'm antsy. And a tad hungover. And stuck at the office where I can't do anything about either malady. And so, I kvetch. Join me, will you?

First, here's a nice photo of a little succulent farm I planted last weekend in my free 10 minutes. I offer it to you as a reward for reading on through my whining...Is it working?


I want spring to be here.

I want my garden planted and growing wildly.

I want my garage rebuilt STAT (it leaks like a sieve).

I want my fence rebuilt (it is literally falling down piece by piece).

I want my puppy dog.

I want my car to show up, finally.

I want to know all about BackTack III.

I want my kitchen finished (yes, we're still working on this beast -- one last piece to go. Yay.)

I want time to stare blankly into the morning sky and let my brain unravel.

I want the random house projects finished (oh yeah, we've moved on to other rooms in the house because we've not had enough fun with the first one).

I want. I want. I want. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, like a big baby, I know. But I'm finding that lately I have less and less time to get anything done. My weekends get planned months in advance. I had to actually schedule, in my calendar like a psycho, a day three weeks in advance to spend with one of my very best friends just so we could see each other and exchange CHRISTMAS GIFTS. Last year we didn't do this until July. I should have seen this as a sign. But no, here I am, without a weekend in sight to tend to any one of the aforementioned projects that I have bogging down my Mental Mind List.

I simply have no time.

What's worse, I have a prolific group of seedlings just screaming to be planted in the garden and no time to do it. I mean look at these guys: (cuke, Pumkinzilla)



I've even gotten so desperate that when I saw this months issue of Real Simple, which proclaimed on the cover, "How to Make Time for Yourself" I nearly knocked down the cashier to get to the rack. It's sad.

And really, I didn't find anything in there that has enriched my life. All I have now are Windex wipes under my sink (so that I can quickly clean up the bathroom while I brush my teeth instead of taking the 10 minutes to do it with a paper towel and spray bottle) a compost bucket on my countertop (so I don't have to take the precious time to, god forbid, walk out to the compost bin more than once a week) and an unreal desire to take a plane ride ANYWHERE so that I can get an hour to myself to read a book. It's come to the point where I just do not do one thing at a time -- I always double up.

So, if I'm sitting on the couch "relaxing" and watching TV, I'm also flipping through one of my magazines in the growing heap of magazine subscriptions, checking off a weekly call by talking to one of my family members on the phone, knitting a gift for an upcoming birthday, thinking about the work event I'll be attending the next day and planning the outfit/transportation/logistics/preparation for said event, trying to recall which bills I've paid and schedule time to pay them, feeding/brushing/kicking the cat, sorting mail, doing my nails, Dustbusting grodiness, starting the Scooba and making an attempt at QT with hubby by grabbing his butt while I run past him with the cat under one arm and a toilet brush in the other.

And there seems to be no end in site.

This weekend: Ski + all other recurring weekend chores
Next weekend: See estranged best friend, plant garden, finish kitchen, paint walls, fix door, gather everything for upcoming out of town visitors before garage caves in + all other recurring weekend chores
Weekend after: Passover + Dad's birthday party + all other recurring weekend chores
Weekend after: Out of town friends in town + all other recurring weekend chores
Weekend after: Have seizure + all other recurring weekend chores

And here's a picture of my friend's sweet dog, Dixie, to reward you for reading this much of my Waaaaa:



Isn't she a doll? Love this dog. She nibbles your leg when she's feeling luvy.

And what is the point of this blog? Well, I'm wondering if, out in smartie-pants blogland, you all have better tips on how to not drive yourself into a bridge abutment out of pure stress. So, since the Real Simple article failed to deliver any really useful advice on making time, I thought I'd extend the question to my blogging public. All three of you.

If you have time (insert ironic giggle here), hit "COMMENT" and tell me what you do about making time for everything and yourself while maintaining a sufficient level of sanity.


I'll nibble your leg?

Hello? Anyone home? [UPDATED w/ PHOTOS]

So, blogger isn't working right now.

Which sucks the bag pretty hard since I have a bunch of photos from my sunshiney weekend in Arizona to share with you nice folks.

I was all digging the wild contrast between last weekend's snow filled goodness and this weekend's sunshiney-ness and was going to do some neato photo comparisons AND show updates on the progress of my monster seedlings, but no, I have been twarted by the shortcomings of blogger and will therefore have to resort to lame descriptions of what I hope I'll be able to share later.


Photo #1: Lovely sunrise desert scene with the hills east of Phoenix in the background a canyon on either side and an early morning, let's say dusk, view of a winding trail, many erect cacti and the corner of a driving range.


Photo #2: The same whimsical desert scene from #1, but this time with The Fountain (2nd largest in the US) spouting in the middle of the valley.


Photo #3: Desert hills spotted with low lying brush, many cacti, a winding trail and a crisp blue sky strewn with whisps of clouds.


Photo #4: My attempt to capture an animal in the wild. It's actually a far off semi-view of a tiny brown bunny foraging below my balcony. It's not all that close up, so this description is probably as close as you'll get to actually "seeing" the rabbit.

As you can imagine, the photos would be helpful, so if we could all hold hands and pray that blogger will be back to uploading photos soon, that would be ideal.

In addition to my glorious time spent in Fountain Hills, AZ drinking wine with friends, welcoming a new baby to the group, getting hot stone massaged by a man angel named Seth, dining like a wild beast on enchilada style ground beef burritos from La Pinanta and playing "Celebrity" with my best friends I also had a blessed day off from work today (self-imposed) to do a little thing Finny likes to call, Nothing.

Let me describe Nothing, Finny-style, for those who are unfamiliar with my ways. Finny Nothing is a lot like what other people might describe as Everything. Or some might call Anything. Or even others might call Something.

Finny Nothing goes like this:

Tell everyone including Hubby that you are doing Nothing during your day off. On the day of Nothing, get up earlier than you normally would for work, make tea and begin the rounds through the house picking up and relocating things that are out of place.

Make another cup of tea.

Drink one sip and set it down in a location that will soon be forgotten.

Go about your ways through the house finishing random abandoned projects, cleaning forgotten corners, discarding old magazines, sucking grodiness with the Dustbuster, etc. All the while kicking the cat out of the way every time you turn a corner.

Find cup of tea and drink half of the icy cold liquid before becoming nauseous and then dumping the rest in the can.

Consider putting on real clothes and then decide against it because you've just become distracted by the calculator and decide to balance your checkbook.

Balance the checkbook.

Realize with horror that it is nearing the 9am hour and you haven't yet been outside to say good morning to your seeds so that they might be coaxed from the soil. Put on your garden Mentos and race out to the beds, remembering to bring your third cup of tea with you. Stare idly at the barren soil searching for even the tiniest of sprouts. Give up and start pulling weeds. Drink/dump out the rest of the tea and use the mug to hold all the weeds you've pulled. After the entire yard has been stripped of all weeds, proceed back in the house after dumping out the mug in the yard waste bin.

Clean up the kitchen. Put in a load of laundry. Feed cat to get her the F*#% out of the way. Turn on Scooba and watch cat flee the building.

Start making lists of errands you need to run.

Go to Trader Joe's. Go to the bank. Go to Target. Go to Goodwill.

Throw down your pen with haste and race off to the bedroom to throw everything from the corner heap into a bag for Goodwill before you lose your ambition. Accidentally throw cat in bag and tie up bag before noticing. Begrudgingly let cat out of bag.

At the sound of the Scooba, load everything in the car, put Scooba back on the charger, put on real clothes, brush tooth, ponytail hair, grab keys and lists and race from the house as though on fire.

Do a hundred errands, barely avoid being clipped by maniacle soccer mom drivers, treat self to naughty lunch at In-N-Out, return home with a staggaring amount of groceries from TJ's (there is so much more to find in that store when you don't have to push 18 carts and children out of the way to get to the shelves), rotate the laundry and begin on random afternoon project TBD.

Do project TBD which has now become Mission: Take Down Holiday Decorations and Replace with Spring Like Decorations Before Hubby Divorces You for Leaving the Wreath Up for One More Day. And during this project decide on the next project TBD.

Do project TBD #2 which is now, Polish Discarded Silver Tray from Garage That We Found While Preparing for Project #1, so that we can use it in the bathroom to display pretty sheshells. (I usually say it this way because I'm mildly insane)

Dismantle flower arrangement recently purchased at TJ's and make into two bouquets. Decide that the little bouquet would be lovely next to some succulents. Take clippings of succulents from the garden and fashion a spring centerpiece to replace the holiday centerpiece and arrange all on a tray with the flowers. Arrange the other flowers. Set out.

Look down and realize you have on two different Chacos. Laugh hysterically and kick the cat.

In a moment of indecision, grab the camera and photograph your days undertakings. Wander to the computer for a short stint of blogging. Realize blogger is jacked and won't upload your photos. Become desparately annoyed and blog anyway, describing the photos instead to your extremely limited, but mercifully loyal, audience.

Make for the booze.

As soon as blogger gets its act together, I'll be back to post some lovely photos of the desert, the succulents, some seedlings, the Garden Mentos and the cookies I'm about to bake.

Oh, and for those of you who aren't familiar with the aforementioned game, "Celebrity" its goes like this:

1. Break into two teams of at least 3
2. Have each person of each team write down 8 names of people you either all know or are celebrities of some kind
3. Put all the names in a bowl/hat/holding apparatus
4. Team 1 goes first by pulling a name from the bowl and describing (without using the name of the person) the "celebrity" to their team only. Each right answer by the team gets them 1 point. This goes on for 1 minute while the other teams times them.
5. Team 2 goes just like Team 1 did. This goes back and forth until all the names in the bowl are out.
6. Team 1 starts second round by pulling a name from the bowl and uses ONLY ONE WORD to describe the "Celebrity". For one minute while Team 2 times.
7. Team 2 goes just like Team 1 until all names are gone.
8. Team 1 starts the third round by pulling a name from the bowl and acting out (Charades, folks) the name on the paper. This goes on for 1 minute while Team 2 times.
9. Team 2 does it, too. This goes on until all the names are gone.
10. Winner is the team with the most points. 1 point per right answer. 1 point deducted for each "pass".

Just try not to pee yourself when your friend's little sister does an erotic interpretation of "Dick Chaney" in front of both of her parents and aunt. Damn that's good.

Some good "Celebrities" from our recent bout: Christopher Reeve, Star Jones, Jimmy Carter, Liza Minnelli (eh?) and Gordy, the crazy accordian player from a restaurant in Vegas.

Weekend Wishes : GRANTED

So, I'd aimed to post this at the beginning of the week, because my weekend was so friggen sweet I couldn't wait to share it, but pesky work got in the way, so here I am at 7am before a long day of training to finally get my post up.

As you know, the faboo, long-awaited outing to Daffodil Hill had to be postponed due to weather (snow, lots of lovely snow), so mid-week we were SOL for a weekend getaway with our fabulous Outside Friends (more on them later).

Woe is us, right?

No way! Outside Friend Paul pulled a clutch move and had the fantastic idea to instead go see Yosemite Valley the way we'd never seen it before -- covered in the lots of lovely snow that was ruining our other plans. Oh and what an idea it was!

Let me try to describe...You know how any town (no matter how ugly, really) takes on a whimsical, clean and much improved look when draped with a bright layer of new snow? Well, imagine that effect, but with Yosemite. Basically, I had another clutch-the-bosom-but-for-the-sheer-beauty-of-it moment when we drove into the valley and looked across the snow covered meadow surrounded by snow capped peaks, snow heavy pine trees and a gentle mist of snowflakes drifting about our faces. Seriously, delirious with insane joy. We saw the fast flowing waterfalls. We saw some wildlife (coyote and deer). We hiked about in our cold weather business. We drank some beers. We ate some rather potent chili. We threw snowballs and got yelled at by some mean grownups (I cease being an adult when there's over 2" of snow). It was all just well and good. For anyone who's not seen Yosemite in the winter -- go. And then never go back in the summer when all the friggen tourists stand in the road like really annoying hood ornaments-to-be.

Random food sidenote: If you're passing through Morgan Hill, CA (or live there, I suppose) and like BBQ -- the TrailDust in downtown Morgan Hill is just smoky goodness. I had pulled pork and had to fight the urge to wrap my body in it. Mmmmmmmmm, pulled pork suit........*drool*

Here's some footage of the falls, etc: (Good job reading all the way to here--I know, its far)



Also on The List for the weekend was getting the summer garden underway, finishing a matching purselet for soon-to-be-1 year old, Ms. Ava, QT with hubby, reading the book, gathering postcard collection, baking, Scooba-ing, spring shopping, TBD.

Well, I'm gleefully happy to report that so many of these things actually happened. Honestly, I thought I'd set my sights too high. But no!

I can proudly say that the summer garden is ready to roll! Oh yes, it is the first day of Spring and my beds are turned with my homemade brew of organic compost (made it myself mom!), raked, piped and ready to rumble. I even got the peas in the ground next to their, also homemade, pea fences that I love OH so much. Hubby helped me construct them, because he is so crafty (with metal, cars and other boy things) and because I don't like wrestling half a mile of coiled aluminum fencing without a sidearm. So, 70 days from now, we'll hopefully be feasting on some tasty Super Sugar Snap Peas. I'll admit, I was hoping to have them in by the designated St. Patricks Day deadline, but hey, what genius made up that rule anyway?


Also part of the weekends Wishes: finishing the purselet. DONE! Now, I know I originally was making a zippered pouch, but as it turned, out, this baby got finished in the car to Yosemite where there was nary a zipper to be found, so, hey, no zipper. Do you think a 1 year old is going to care? Do you think a 1 year old is even going to carry the purse? Does any 1 year old? See, you know why I forged ahead sans-zipper.


And there were a great many more fun things that we did over the weekend, but finally, in preparation for an evening of naughty animated comedy, we celebrated with Sunday dinnah complete with veggies from the garden and plenty of wine.

As for the QT with hubby, I was quickly reminded when this character appeared in my kitchen. Oh how I love that man, look what he can do with carrots (oh, did that sound bad?):



Heavens.

Weekend Wishes

So, a little behind the scenes look into the Mind of Finny -- I spend my weekdays imagining all the crafty fun things I can do on the weekend, or after work, or in any spare moment of my day that is not already filled with work, the gym, or any of my other pesky grown-up responsibilities.

Hubby makes fun of me for, what I like to call, my Mental Mind Lists. But this week, this is what the list looked like:

1. Check in on the seedlings:



2. + 3. Crochet up a purselet for Ms. Ava's #1 Birthday and read some more of my new fab book



4. Check in on the cauliflower and see if I can pull out the rest of the carrots in preparation for the onslaught of the summer vegs.

5. Re-plan the Saturday Adventure since Daffodil Hill fell through. There's been so much snow (probably thanks to Hubby's snow dances in the yard wearing only his helmet and an insane smile) that they've had to postpone the opening of this lovely seasonal event. Perhaps we ski more? Perhaps we wander the meadows of Yosemite? We dunno yet.

6. Gather up my Italian postcard collection to photograph and post on the blog. Wait till you see all the lovely bits my Roman friend sends me from her Euro travels -- multo buono.

7. Bake something for godssake. I haven't baked a pie, a batch of cookies, a loaf of bread or ANYTHING in so long that my oven is starting to give me the sly middle finger when I walk by to the laundry room. On the other hand, the W+D love me long time since I seem to spend all my waking hours shuffling sweaty gym clothes from one to the other. Oh to be a kid again -- when my clothes magically reappeared clean and folded in my drawers. And when I didn't think my household appliances were holding secret grudges against me for negligence.

8. Take Scooba out for a spin. I've only Scooba'd once this week, and frankly, that's just not enough. No, I would like to make Scoobaing a daily or at least thrice-weekly activity since it's just so gosh darned easy. I mean, come home to clean floors everyday? Yes, please! Scooba has a date with the bathroom today, and then a secret second date with the bedroom and hallway tomorrow. The Scooba is clearly sowing it's wild suds here and the daytime drama is enough to rival even the likes of Susan Lucci.

9. Buy some new clothes. Monday is the start of Spring, people. The much anticipated season in the FinnyKnits household, and daggummit, Finny needs a new wardrobe to usher in the new sprouts, blooms and bees. Off to Goodwill with this old yucky winter crap and in with the new springy, happy, garden friendly wear. I've already ordered, what I'm sure will be, this season;s most fantastic flipflops:



I got the orange ones, or as they call them "dandelion" Awesome, no? For reference, these are Chacos, the ideal shoe. I was married in Chacos. I spent my entire summer last year in Chacos. I wear Chacos paired inappropriately with work clothes because I love them so. If you don't have a pair, your life is missing a crucial element. Get a pair to fill the void. You, too, will love them long time. If not, you're a communist.

10. You know, I'm not sure I have a #10 in mind yet. But you know what happens when I am home for five consecutive minutes, I start to develop more things to add to my Mental Mind List.

I'll check in next week and let you know how it went. Good, crafty, productive and relaxing weekends to all.

Whiplash, and other related conditions

Dudes. The snow was exceptional for our jaunt last weekend. Lookit:



And what is a little movie without a little story:

So, once upon a time when Finny had a brave day on the mountain and she was skimming happily through the trees on a smooth sheen of untouched snow, she came upon a sheer drop-off too quickly for her mind to absorb/react to. This caused Finny to disappear over the edge (a la the Road Runner) with nary a moment to brake or contemplate reality. Before Finny knew it, she was diving down the mini chute, flying over a hidden jump (damn teenagers) and sailing haphazardly back onto the main trail, followed by her goggles, hat, ponytail rubberband and sense of well-being. As Finny sat, spread eagled and clutching her noggin, she thought to herself,

"Finny -- it is high time you got a helmet."

Which brings us to present day, when despite my best efforts to cradle my walnut from crushing blows with a sophisticated walnut protecting device (read: helmet), I am still suffering from a poignant case of whiplash from my many cartwheels through the scenic wilderness surrounding Mt. Rose.

Aside from all that, this past weekends snowy exploits were simply divine. Perfect weather -- cold, snowy and oh-so-powder -- I was in clutch-my-bosom-and-bring-a-tear-to-mine-eye heaven every time I got off the lift and had to shake the snow from my hood.

Thank you crazy NorCal storm! How much do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

In other news, we had some unexpected visitors knocking on our back door this morning. Hubby alerted me to the intruders:




Here some moisture loving alien beings sit happily in their new home, my doormat. Has it been damp here in NorCal? Oh neeeoooww, never. I didn't have the heart to tear them from their spongy little space because, apparently, I am a major softie when it comes to plants in any form. Who'd have guessed, huh? However, I will have to summon the will to chuck these little fungi since Rocket will likely see them as a snack - a delicious but bad-for-kitty snack - and I must continue to protect the fat cat from herself. On the bright side, I am at least I'm still choosing Rocket over other life forms, which is a big gesture seeing as she yacked a giant hairball right on my dining room table last week. Now there's something to come home to.

To lift some of the gloom from these posts, I am planning on posting some new garden photos to showcase the gargantuan growth of my seedlings. Namely the Big Max pumpkins which I just knew were going to be trouble. They're immense!

With any luck at all, I'll be able to also post finished photos of the baby poncho's matching purselet and perhaps some nice shamrock cookies, if I'm really ambitious. I should have plenty of time, seeing that our weekend trip to Daffodil Hill has been postponed due to an extreme amount of snow. POO! This is what happens when hubby suggests we do something that I've always wanted to do. Nature says, NO YOU WILL NOT, and I spend the weekend inside baking instead.

Who knows, maybe me and my fanc-Y helmet will hit the slopes some more.

Hulking out

Seriously, hide the children and shield your eyes, cuz the seeds are friggen hulking out. I have been shocked every morning when I lift the lid on the farm and see how much they've grown IN A DAY.

Don't believe me? Look, since two days ago:


Also, as promised here is a tantalizing look at the other alien invaders:

(Big Max Pumpkin, aka Pumpkinzilla-to-be | Cukes | Aforementioned Overachieving Basil)

So, it does appear that last weekend's efforts to get seeds in soil was successful and we might be able to look forward to a summer garden grown mostly from seeds I started my damn self. Imagine the bragging. Hello -- "Tales to Astonish" here I come.

Also, a fabulous thing this week -- surprise presents?! There is little else I love more than a surprise present and when I came home late (again) from work on Wednesday what did I find but a surprise present from one of my favorite peeps.


And to dispel any evil rumors hubby may spread, I did NOT immediately throw down my bags and tippy-toe dance my way to the couch so that I could get comfy for the Opening of Surprise Presents.

Because that would be inaccurate.

I believe I squealed with childish delight first.

Then, as I opened it to find a GIANT chocolate bar (hulk-sized one might say), a custom made CD, handstamped card and cutesy wrapping all tucked into an embroidered zippered pouch WITH POLKA DOTS I nearly passed away from excitement. It was only after many moments of deep breathing and a few big chomps off the chocolate bar (Special Dark -- MY FAVE) that I could collect myself enough to snap off this shot. Thanks AfricanKelli -- you know Finny so well.

And just to splain, she's on a mission this month to deliver surprise presents like this to other lucky peeps, too. Calculated Acts of Kindness, I believe she calls it. I call it SPECIAL DARK SURPRISES THAT I LOVE. Last thing, my polka pouch is perfect as a travel CD case -- I love it long time.

I'm off to Tahoe, people. Bring on the snow and save the laundry for Monday cuz it's me, Luna and hubby off to take on some powdah !

Right now!! --->I know dudes! What AM I still doing here? Ok, away I run...

Oh don't look so surprised

You knew it would be like this. As soon as the tiny green sprouts started poking their way through the cold winter dirts, I'd be there, like some kind of deranged yard banshee screaming, "Spring is coming! Spring is coming!"

So, don't get all, "What the hell is her deal?" when the topic of my posts are about my garden, my seedlings, compost, pea fences, vegetables, organic pesticides and the like. Just don't. Because this is my gig, baby! Plus, you know you love it. I mean, who else do you know who will be growing Moon and Stars watermelons this year? Yeah, just no one but me. Seeeeeeee...it's not so bad.

Ok, so for the first of mercilessly many posts on the progress of the 2006 garden -- lookie at the progress my big fat overachiever seeds are making:


Yes, intersted peeps, these are the same seeds that looked this this only a few short days ago:


Are they super seeds? Do they brandish magical powers? Am I growing weed?

No.

But I am certain that these will be some tasty ass salad greens. As for the other seedlings, they are looking good too (shout out to the Genovese Basil making its way through the soil ceiling) but I am not going to spoil you with sexy photos of all these babies.

Oh no! You will wait for the right time.

And then it will be glorious.

Go ahead, wipe the sweat from your brow. It's a big moment.

Settling all household debts

Ok, so I make a million little promises to myself. Do something with your scarves, dedicate some space to your seedlings, finish those sad projects languishing in the knitting basket, learn to make olive relish (this is a real thing). I do this until I've amassed a list of personal and household debts long enough to wrap around our water heater. Oh, another item: get a blanket for the water heater.

At these times of mass debt list awareness, I have to set aside a day, good health or not, to get them all done in a marathon of errand running. Saturday was one of these days for me. Arduous but satisfying, I successfully settled a majority of my household debts AND managed a few crafty things that kept me from outright weeping at Trader Joe's while I stood in the world's longest line.

1. The seeds are in! In keeping with my resolution to "Grow something from seed" I'm actually growing EVERYTHING from seed. Or at least I like to think I am. We'll see what happens in real-life.
   
   
2. Part 1 of 2 of Ms. Ava's #1 birthday present is finished. In stylish green and pink (as I was complimented on at the knitting shop -- squweet!) this poncho is another funk-ay creation (courtesy of Luv to Crochet via Crochet bythehook) from the fingers of Finny . Contrasting crocheted zippered purslet (yes, every 1 year old needs a purse) with rose adornment to come shortly.
   
   
   
   
3. The abandoned project of 2005 has finally been finished. And none too soon. It's friggen freezing around here. Leg warmies -- s'bout time.
   
   
   
   
4. I started the conversion in the breakfast nook from "ordinary nook" to "Indoor Nursery". I did this by ceremoniously transplanting my gardening books from the office to the nook. To me, this is huge. To hubby, this is geography. Books here, books there. Does not matter as long as food still bursts forth from the kitchen. He's so reasonable. I am so emotional. Couldn't you just find a quiet corner and wrap your eyeballs in the "All New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening"? Dude, yes please.
   
   
   
   
5. I purchased and filled the *promised* under bed storage boxes for all our miscellany that won't fit in our teeny SHARED closet. Yes, that's right folks. Finny and Hubby share a closet AND a bathroom. It's a wonder we're still together and he hasn't kicked me in the tooth. I'm not a good sharer, being a stubborn first born mule and all. So, now scarves are safely organized under the bed and hubby has one square inch more of space for his big man clothes. How does he do it?
   
   

In addition to all this settling of household debts, I also managed to spend some QT time with the bloodthirsty beast we call Rocket, bring some springtime into our house in the form of a billion daffodils (from the dreaded trip to TJ's) and discovered the one luminous head of cauliflower hulking out in the soon-to-be-demolished winter vegetable garden.




All in all, not too shabby for a sicky weekend (some germ has invaded my nose). And with that, I shall begin a new list of household debts.

From scraps

In the final moments before a nasty migraine took merciless control of my Sunday, I managed to get one matching wristlet through the sewing machine to complete the Nappy Bag ensemble for my friends upcoming baby shower.

Funk-ay, no?

This little guy (including the wristy part) was made from the scraps of this big guy here:

I must say, I'm awful proud. Thanks to Africankelli this bag has all the comforts of home. It's nice and durable due to the Decor fabric used in place of regular old floppy cotton and the fusible lining sewn between the layers is holding the shape all together nice. Makes ALL the diff.

Ooh, almost forgot, a few notes on the Wristy, should you want to make one of these bad boys; I got the pattern from Thimble (thanks to Caro for introducing me to it with my fab zippered pouch) and totally love the tutorial.

A few little notes:

1. Using coordinating thread to fabric for the spool and bobbin made the pouch look more pro (IMHO) instead of doing what hubby suggested, which was "Just use black thread all over". Oh silly man.
   
2. When you pull the pouch right side out, pull the lining out and top stitch the hole with matching thread
3. To make the Wristy part, cut a 2" strip of fabric from the outside material, fold in half lengthwise (right side in), press and sew along the raw open edge. Then, using a turning tool (or safety pin or miracle from above) turn right side out and press. When sewing the outside material, fold Wristy in half and pin underneath outside material just above the zipper, leaving the two raw edges sticking out and the loop part tucked safely inside the pouch where it can't be accidently sewn down. Sew only to the outside material -- not to the lining. When you turn right side out, you'll have a handy Wristy to your zippered pouch.
4. Before turning out the pouch, cut the corners off the lining and outside material and press out all the seams to make the sharpest corners on the final product. See, I learned a thing or two from Amy Butler, even though her pattern was friggen maddening.
   

Ok, I think that's it. It's hard to improve on such a great little scrap project. Don't you love when you can use up all those leftover bits? Does the cheap psycho/efficient economist in me good. I am beginning to see a lot of zippered pouches made from all the bastard fabric I have laying around taking up space on the craft shelf. Muhuhuhahahahaha!

Finny Jetson

Let me tell you a little story about Finny and how she came to hate the household tool knows as the mop.

Once upon a time Mother Finny had a chore list. She would post this list on the refrigerator for all her spawn to see. Alongside these chores were dollar amounts that would be doled out, once the chore was done. There were all manner of chores on this list.

Empty dishwasher, $.50 (I didn't say we were rich, just organized)
Weed roses, $1.00
Vacuum house, $2.00
Clean hall bathroom, $2.00
Take trash cans to the street, $1.00

And at the bottom of said list was the one chore no one would do:

Mop kitchen, $5.00

Yep, that's right, five whole bucks. Because Mother Finny hated mopping just as much as the spawn did and she was willing to pay big bucks to have someone else do it. Money was no object to Mother Finny and to this day she continues to avoid mopping by paying much more than $5 to a very nice housekeeper who will do the whole list of chores and leave her floors sparkling.
Well, not everyone can justify a housekeeper. Especially when their house (while lovely) is smaller than their first apartment.

This brings us to present day, where, having lived in a household where it was acceptable to exchange large quantities of cash for clean floors, the grown up Finny has purchased a fine mopping robot so she never has to wrestle another bucket of dirty water around the linoleum.

Let us all welcome Scooba. The newest member of the FinnyKnits household.

The hodgepodge of my mind

This past week has been a whirling dirvish of random activities, travel and inappropriate levels of spending.

So quickly whirling, in fact, that I haven't had a moment to blog about any of it for you, my loyal blog reader(s).

I tried to blog about all of it in a bulleted list (because bulleting a list is one of the finest joys in life) but, alas, it created a mess of mind numbing mini-stories that I thought might be more easy/interesting to wrap one's mind around if I made a collage of some type. And so, I bring you an e-collage of the weeks activities.



And because I can't resist a summary in the form of a run-on sentence: (from top right to bottom left)
-trip to AZ to see college friends, Nappy bag for pregnant college friend (featured in bottom row), inside of bag, the bag again, shoes I bought, AfricanKelli and me in AZ, fish button on baby bib, baby bib I knitted, second wave of Vtines flowers from hubby, first wave of Vtines flowers from hubby, SCOOBA (more on this later), lettuce from the garden, Walk the Line, Walk the Line (it's there twice cuz I saw it twice), pregnant college friend, amaryllis blooming in my living room, hubby scrutinizing most recent carrot harvest from the garden.

Ok, phew! Now that the past week's activities have been summarized (however inefficiently) we can move on to more pressing things like;

• Super engineering Pumpkinzilla in Poison Ivy's newest habitat
• Surrendering housekeeping to a robot
• Closing the book on the @#*&%# kitchen project
• Opening the book on the rest of the @#&^% house projects
• Hybridizing (this is a word, so put your eyebrows down)
• Xeriscaping (ok, this is totally a word. Look it up.)

Plus, I'm sure a million more random topics from my favorite categories; gardening, crafts, books, travel, everyday life, cooking, talking shit about people/things, lamely attempting to accomplish any of my resolutions, my ongoing relationship with Gime/Gym, how I want to be a farmer, etc.

Have a favorite or preference? Comment away, please.

Goldilocks and the Six Carrots

Ok, so remember the bizarre dialogue I incorporated into my last post about the perfectly formed carrot pulled fresh from my backyard earth? Turns out that was something of an anomaly and I'm even more annoyed now that "Me" won out over "FinnyKnits" and chomped down the Miracle Carrot before it could be photographed and eventually bronzed for its utter perfection.

I went out to the garden this morning with the simple task of harvesting another perfect specimen, this time with camera in hand and mouth full of vanilla scone, to feature here as a testament to my impressive gardening prowess. However, it is likely that it was precisely this type of boastful attitude that caused me to have the experience that I did. A way for Mother Nature (and maybe the Burpee people) to say, "Hey lady, this isn't amateur hour around here.", if you will. Because when I pulled my first seemingly ideal candidate from the earth, it was obviously imperfect.

"A runt!" I dismissed with disgust.

Then another oddly shaped carrot was pulled.

"Heh?" I grunted, confused.

Then another, mostly undeveloped and misshapen specimen unearthed.

"What the F?!" I declared.

As it turns out, that pesky activity the gardening people like to call, "Thinning", is actually important. And, if ignored, can result in some inconsistent (I'm using this term extremely loosely) results.

Let's take a lesson from Finny on what happens when we don't thin our seeds properly.

(From left to right)
Specimen #1: Too young. Pulled too soon.
specimen #2: Too skinny. Allowed to grow too close to its neighbor.
specimen #3: Too lewdly formed. Allowed to grow to close to its neighbor, although appears to have won out at some point because it did start to develop after passing up its friends on its trip to the earths core.
specimen #4: Too nasty. Planted to close (read: ON) the sprinkler and was thus deprived of all nutrients.
specimen #5: Too rotund. Planted above something solid and forced to grow round instead of long.
Specimen #6: Just right.
Specimen #7: A lemon.

And so, when I return to the garden this winter (ew), I will remember this historic moment in time when I, as my dad would like to say, "learned something", and will spread the seeds evenly and take the time to properly thin them when they start to sprout instead of doing what I did this time. Which was to say, nothing.

Apparently applying the Darwin theory to gardening isn't always effective. So, from here on out (or at least with carrots as they've blatantly proved me wrong), I will apply the Goldilocks method. Which is that I shall thin them before they sleep shoulder to shoulder in my (vegetable) bed and emerge deformed.

And they lived happily ever after. The End.

Spring Fever anyone?

So, anyone else ready to abandon their cars on the side of the road when they see the first blossoming cherry tree of spring? Yeah, I nearly tore the bumper off a nice Volvo when I veered into a nearby parking lot to admire/bow before/photograph/covet/lust after a glorious cherry tree bursting with the first fluffy pink blossoms of the season.

I stalk this tree every year. Well, not this exact tree, but you know. I try to spy with my little eye through all the dreary dead looking branches of every bit of landscaping on every freeway, highway divide, office park, front yard, back yard, wild meadow, apartment complex until I'm nearly ready to get out my markers and draw one in myself. Because the moment I see the first bloom, I know spring is not that far off and then I can start my evil plotting of the vegetable garden, amongst a million other spring related activities that make me insane with retarded excitement.

Here's The First Tree of the Season:




Now, forget about spring, because the best part of spring is knowing that summer is right around the corner, and that's the real deal. Don't let it ever be said that I do not LOVE summer. I do. Granted, I hated it when I lived in Phoenix, because it was always over 105 degrees, even at night, and my tires melted to the pavement. But here, in sunny CA, I LOVE SUMMER.

I had my first hint of summer this weekend when I found 10 minutes to myself and sat on my back patio in my adirondack chair and felt the sun on my face for the first time in months. There was the hum of lawnmowers, tiny tweets of a baby bird in my avocado tree, the smell of cut grass, the sting of sunshine on my cheeks and arms. It was like that Campbell's soup commercial where the snowman comes inside and starts to eat a bowl of soup and then the snow melts away and he's a boy underneath. So, I'm not a boy and there was no soup, but it was the same thing. I felt my icy shell melting off and my sunshiney self ready to jump up and hug everything in sight. I think I was actually quoted as saying to hubby, "I want to hug our yard right now!" Which is ridiculous, but it was either that or cry. The emergence of spring/summer makes me that happy.

So, after much blessed weed pulling, mowing, pruning, etc I took some photos to give a high five to the few things growing in my yard/garden right now:



Not a great showing from the broccoli, but that's probably my fault. I'll definitely try this again next winter (ew-winter). The carrots look awesome and unfortuanetly I ate the big ass carrot that I pulled from the garden before I could get to the camera to get a photo. This was me in the yard,

Me: "Hello delicious carrot. Look how big and beautiful you are just right out of the garden. I shall rinse you off with the hose and chomp you down!"

FinnyKnits: "But wait, shouldn't I photograph this perfectly shaped beauty? Won't there be many disappointed peeps in blogland when they hear that I devoured the carrot before he could be featured on Finnyknits!?"

Me: "Shuddup bitch and munch the carrot -- Finnyknits readers know what carrots look like."

FinnyKnits: "But lookit how beootiful this one is! It is perfect! I must show it to...hey wait! Stop munching! You cow!"

Me: "HA! I win. Dee-lish."

The onions look fair to ok, I'm not holding out a lot of hope. The lettuce is actually growing now, but thanks to an unwelcomed invasion of nasty bugs, I've had to add a sticky trap (big sticky piece of paper that sticks in the ground near the lettuce to catch the flying lettuce crunchers) to get rid of them and await the next set of leaves to sprout without big gnarly holes in them. Then I will make a multi-colored salad with the aforementioned carrots. See lettuce and it's holes:


So after all the drama with the winter garden (ew-winter) I'm SO ready to rip the sucker out and start on the big veggies. It will likely get as out of hand as last summer when I had pumpkins and melons running across the yard to one neighbor while our tomato plants leaned over into our other neighbors yard searching for more acreage. I have no restraint and seem to wildy underestimate the staggering growing power of the mighty vegetable plant.

Soon my pretties...soon.

Resolution Update

Ok folks, this might not happen on a monthly basis, but since I am thinking about my "progress" toward my resolutions and it just happens to be the end of the first month of the resolving year, I figured I would blog on it and see how big of a dent I've made in them so far. Let's just say, I don't have high hopes. Join me will you?

Let's see...

1. Swear Less.
   Yeah, this isn't going well. It doesn't help that Our Hero, the contractor, was still missing for the first half of this month and I spent most of my weekends in the same work clothes covered in Orange Peel texture.
   
2. Lose Weight.
   Ok, so technically I weigh the same as when I originally had the bad idea to lock myself into this resolution. However, I am halfway through the first week of my trial membership at The Gym to Remain Nameless and I'm feeling hopeful. Refer to previous post for details.
   
3. Run more often.
   So, slight change of plans. I'm going to re-interpret this as I "run more often" on the treadmill before and after my workouts rather than every morning through the neighborhood at the crack of dawn. Semantics...
   
4. Start back up with weight training before I get scary grandma arms.
   Uh-huh, this is what I was talking about in #3 when I said "workouts". I did chest and tri's the other day and it was suh-weet. Don't get close though, I'm still very sore.
   
5. Be a better niece and cousin.
   I'm more likely to be a better cousin than niece, I think. With the kitchen done (Ack! I'll stop saying that soon, I promise.) I still plan to invite my cousin over for monthly dinners. However, I've not made it to my aunt and uncle's place yet. And for that, I should be ashamed.
6. Save more $$.
   Well, last time I bought shoes I only got one pair...and a bag. Progress? Yes. Yes I said!


7. Grow some plants from seed.
   Well, it's still winter despite all my fist shaking at the dripping sky. However, my broccoli, carrot and lettuce plants are growing nicely and those were grown from seed. Good start.
   
   
8. Read something from hubby's book pile.
   No progress here. I've started and abandoned two non-fiction books since I did my resolutions. A fact of which I am not proud. So shoot me, I got three magazines last week and chose to read about making handmade Valentines instead.
   
   
   
9. Fix the bathroom ceiling.
   Natch. Maybe once the other fucked up room is finished.
10. Start the bedroom makeover.
    I think I saw an armoire that I like. But it's at a store I hate, so I'm dealing with that. I also drew some sketches on my notepad while I was on a conference call. That counts. Progress!
11. Stain the living room table a good color.
    I got samples! Progress! Maybe once the food room is done.
12. Remember as many birthdays as possible.
    I got one email from you folks out there. It's a start. That means I must be awesome at this remembering birthdays thing, right? Yeah, I'm sure that's it. For the record, I did remember to send a few birthday cards this month and I did just successfully celebrate hubby's birthday last week. I RULE AT THIS!
13. Knit myself that sweater.
    Yeah, no movement on this yet. I still remember the color though. It's orange. See, I know what I'm doing here.
14. Deal with the work thing.
    Uh, I wish this was getting worked out. Not after the recent minor hand-slapping. I'm starring in a Paula Abdul video. You know the one where she is following the cartoon cat up the stairs. Sing it with me: "I take one step forward you take two steps back..." or something like that.
    
15. Start research for the book.
    Check! I'm sort of, inadvertently, casually doing some light research. Ok, so make that a check minus.
    
16. Try out some new recipes from all my cookbooks.
    Dudes! I have tried TWO new recipies! Lemon-Artichoke Chicken (sans whipping cream and parmesan cheese. Remember resolution #2.) and Salmon with Lemon Caper Sauce from the South Beach Diet cookbook. You laugh, but there's good stuff in there. Evidence? Hubby ate nearly the entire filet. Oh yeah. And he's a red meat guy. Some more favorites to come: Lemon Wafters (hubby favorite) and meatballs.
17. Backtack 3
    Dude, just bring it already.
18. Be neighborly and throw a summer bbq
    I reserve the right to ignore this resolution in full until the summer gets here.
19. Go Hybrid and carpool.
    Like I said on #17, just bring it already. For godssake I'm friggen 126th on the list and I ordered this car last October. They told me another two months, so I prolly won't have it till March. I'm just guzzling gas until then. Glorious.
20. Tame the List Monster.
    Ack!! It's got me!! It's on a monthly rampage!! Someone, help me! The call's coming from inside the house!!

Well, I've obviously lost it. I do, however find some solace in doing a monthly check in on these things. Who knows, I might actually get some of these things done. Oh, and did I tell you that I've also signed myself up to make roman shades for our whole house? Oh yeah, I did. I'm retardo. I saw a pattern, I said to myself, "Hell, Self, you can make these! Why are you paying so much for these?" And then before I knew it I had spilled the new idea to hubby and now I can't turn back. So, with any luck I'll be cooking, sewing and getting all domestic and shit in no time. Plus we have a new book for book club that I've already ordered because, you guessed it, I'm a BIG FAT DORK.

Cheers all -- Finny