Groundhog-Along 2010

For the last few months I’ve been collecting amigurumi patterns with the intention of making some one of these days.  Thanks to my crafty buddies on Twitter, I set up a Raverly account, ordered some fabulous patterns from Planet June, and joined the Groundhog-Along.

Need a quick translation?  A group of crafty people chatting together via social networking sites (Twitter #groundhogalong) decided to each make a groundhog amigurumi by Groundhog Day.  I’ve thought about taking part in a group craft effort before — a painting a day, etc. — but this seemed like something I could actually accomplish within  the stated time frame.  A pattern download from Planet June and a quick yarn run later and  I was on my way.

I’m afraid my crochet skills are a bit rusty.  The pattern is well-designed and easy to read, but I  used a hook 2 sizes bigger than recommended and chose a yarn with texture so my stitches weren’t quite as precise as they should have been.  After a minor freak-out that I was making a life-sized Punxsutawney Phil in lieu of an amigurumi miniature, I was relieved to discover my groundhog is not of gargantuan proportion.  It’s actually pretty cute!

Check out the Flickr Groundhog-Along 2010 Pool and see the assortment of adorable creatures just waiting for their Big Day in the sun (or clouds).  As  for me and my little as-yet-unnamed groundhog, we’ll be waiting for another crochet-a-long project.  And in the meantime, I’ll try to stay crafty.

Wonder what my next project will be?

 

A Few of My Favorite Things

Queen and the Muppets.  Need I say more?

 

Hooked on Technology

I confess: I downloaded the new BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 simply so I can read QR barcodes.   I don’t know many ‘Berry owners to message, so I guess I’m on the hunt for barcodes to scan  .  .  .  rumor has it they are appearing in all kinds of  places.

If my BlackBerry was a man, I’d marry him.

QR Barcode

 

Pantry Overhaul

Before

Stuck at home, trying to stay hydrated and rested, I started going a little stir-crazy.  So I figured it was a good time to clean out the pantry – I had a few days to work on it, and since I’m still not eating much I didn’t have to worry about having usable space to cook.

I’ve been shopping for GF staples over the last few weeks; all those bags of bulk items were slip-sliding all over the place.  High time to get that stuff in containers!  I’ve also acquired a variety of Bob’s  Red Mill baking mixes – cinnamon bread, pizza dough, cornbread, and an all-purpose GF flour.  Somehow I had to figure out a way to store them so I could see what I had.

After

Hardest part was disposing of the partial containers of pasta.  Pasta!  I’d already given away as much food as I could, so I didn’t feel too bad about throwing out the random servings of pasta.  Washed a zillion containers and let them dry thoroughly overnight so I could refill them with new staples.

My pantry overhaul project turned out OK, although I really only tackled three of the five shelves.  The most exciting part is that I have new rice varieties (black, mahogany, jasmine), as well as new grains (millet, buckwheat, red quinoa) to try.  The plan is to rotate through the grains and sample new recipes.

Next time I get the cleaning bug, I’ll work on those remaining shelves.  Even though the rest is mostly canned goods and bulky items like cereal, it’s good to get everything out now and then so I can wash down the shelves and see what’s been hiding in the back.  Oh, and sorry I didn’t get any true “before” photos of the bulk-bag chaos — I emptied the pantry and started pouring bags into jars before I though about documenting this little project.

 

Fever

Trying to find something good about losing a week to a fever of unknown origin.  OK, here it goes:

1. I tested negative for flu, so I’m dealing with some random virus rather than a known killer.
2. No sinus infection yet.   This is a BIG deal, because almost every fever I’ve had in the last decade was a result of a sinus infection.
3. After 4 days of coughing, my lungs are starting to hurt less.
4. There are no photos of feverish and coughy me to accompany this blog entry.
5. I haven’t been hungry this week, so there’s still one  GF cupcake in the fridge.   It gives me something to look forward to once my appetite returns.
6. If I had to stay home sick, this was a good week for it — I was able to listen to the rain.
7. Yes, I said rain.  We’ve had rain.  No, it’s not a typo – rain.

That’s all the happy I can think of at the moment.  Given my mental state a few days ago, I think I’ve made big strides in seeing the positive side of things.

 

Heavenly: Hill Country Cupcake

Today I made a trek to the south  Austin farmers market armed with a cooler and a 10-pound bag of ice. Since I had plans to stay in town for a few hours, I hoped that my preparations would keep my purchases fresh until I got home. Quite fortunately, a thick layer of clouds blanketed the city and the temperature remained surprisingly mild as I wandered through the maze of vendors, dogs, and baby strollers.

Bromeliad

In addition to a large selection of colorful local produce, I was taken in by the variety of other offerings — homemade soaps, grass-fed beef, goat cheese, buffalo jerky, sushi, rotisserie chicken, popcorn, nuts, clothing — everything was tempting!  Pears, figs, purple hull peas, and oyster mushrooms (as well as a stunning bromeliad) came home with me today.

Oh, yes – there were also cupcakes. After the not-so-great GF bakery experience, I was a bit hesitant to try baked goods again. But when I got to the Hill Country Cupcake booth I was mesmerized by the gorgeous selection of delicately iced and decorated cupcakes on display. How could something so angelic in appearance taste anything but heavenly?  I took a chance and requested the GF cupcake and was told they had four flavors available.  Well, in for a penny, in for a pound — I asked for a  4-pack so I could sample them all (actually, strawberry had sold out, so I got an extra chocolate one to fill the space).  I carried my precious little box back through the market to the car, arranged it carefully in the cooler to keep the cakes upright, and went about my day.

A sampling of GF varieties from Hill Country Cupcake

The cooler did a great job of protecting all of my purchases  while I ran errands and had lunch; the buttercream on the cupcakes was absolutely perfect when I got home.  This evening I sat down with a cup of tea and a chocolate cupcake.  To my complete delight, the cupcake was wonderful!  Dense and with a lovely crumbly texture, the rich chocolate cake was perfect all by itself  — but even better with the swirl of chocolate buttercream and sprinkles.

Anyone in ATX who hasn’t tried Hill Country Cupcake should give them a try!  (OK, so I know that my blog doesn’t have any followers, but still – these cupcakes deserve word-of-mouth advertising.)  With flavors like cinnamon and sugar, cookies and cream, strawberry shortcake, banana pudding, triple chocolate threat, lava fudge, and spring daffodil lemon, who could resist?  I’m pretty sure the ones in my fridge won’t last beyond the holiday weekend.

 

Gluten-Free and Breathing Easier

It seems I’ve found a surprisingly simple solution to ending my long-term misery.  If only a doctor had suggested a food allergy/sensitivity at some point in the last 7 or so years, I might not have lost such a big chunk of my life.  And in a perverse way, I’m thankful that my new ENT told me that he doesn’t prescribe compounded medications and — as a patient with chronic sinusitis — I shouldn’t expect any improvement and I should just get used to it.  Because if I had found another sympathetic doctor who wanted to ease my symptoms with medication, I may not have reached the end of my rope and put myself on an elimination diet.  It’s been a month now, and it seems that wheat and/or gluten is the major culprit.  My life is a bit upside down, but I appear to be all the better for it.

IKEA pot

I’m cooking more, eating out far less, and reading labels like never before.  Over the last few weeks I’ve discovered that I don’t have enough pots to cook rice, beans, and a vegetable at the same time (I usually make simple meals in a shallow “everything” pan).  I can make a single-serving of soup or enough to feed an army – but nothing in between.  So on a recent trek to IKEA, I hit the kitchen section in hopes of finding something to cook a reasonable volume of soup.  After a lot of indecision, I finally picked out a charming little 3qt stainless steel pot (which is highly polished and difficult to photograph, by the way).

IKEA jars

I also found some practical glass jars for storing my bulk grains.  I’m gaining a healthy distrust for plastic and don’t want it to be in prolonged contact with food or beverages.  While I prefer stainless steel for it’s sturdiness, most steel canisters are expensive and too large to comfortably grab one-handed.  I’ve looked at jars from Target to The Container Store and all of them are heavy, slick, and again too large to pick up easily.  However, these jars have a comfortable 4″ diameter and — the best part — the frosted glass has a significant texture that allows for a secure grip.   While I’m not terribly impressed with the wimpy seals, I do appreciate the window in the lid that allows for a peek a the contents without having to open the jar.  If these things hold up well  (i.e. the lids don’t fall off and I don’t drop or smash the jars to pieces) I may have to pick up a few more.  At $4 each they are an affordable option for the pantry.

Wild rice, brown rice, and buckwheat (all GF grains)

As I adjust to the lack of commercially-prepared food in my life, I will experiment with baking tips and recipes provided by very kind GF bloggers.  I found a GF restaurant that serves wonderful meals, a GF bakery that has lousy-tasting baked goods, and a grocery co-op that offers a fantastic GF banana bread.  I’ll probably continue to try items advertised as GF, but doubt I’ll go out of my way for them.  Frankly,  I’m just happy I can still eat tortilla chips and salsa.

This breathing-easier thing is still new to me.  I lie down at night and am shocked that I can breathe through my nose.  I settle in to watch a movie and wonder when I’ll have to put the DVD on pause so I can put ice on my face just to get some relief.   I sleep most nights instead of going through a half box of tissues during a 12-hour face-swelling-closed episode.  As each day goes by I have a little more hope that I’ve found the underlying problem.  Nearly 30 days of intentionally avoiding gluten and I’m breathing much easier.  I’ll continue with the acupuncture, herbs, and yoga for a while to see if I can stabilize enough to stop the asthma, eczema, and hives.  Things are looking up.  Here’s hoping it continues.

 

My Social Life: Real and Imaginary

After a solid week of of annoying, frustrating, and downright pathetic events, I finally broke free from the streak of bad days and had a perfectly lovely one!  I took the day off to drive 50 miles for my annual appointment with my neurologist (par-tay, I know!) and meet a friend for lunch.  We enjoyed a relaxing al fresco lunch followed by some leisurely window-shopping.  Ahh, it was wonderful to have a little bit of a social life and spend some time hanging out with M.

Overall, my social life has been a bit . . .  missing . . . lately.   Spring Break solitude was  my own fault – I started reading* and spent 5 days living inside those pages.   I think I really needed the escape (it’s been at least a year since I dove that far into fiction), but it doesn’t do much for my “real” life.   Thus, I’m looking for events to attend this spring – you know, something to get me out and about with actual people.  So far I have mostly discovered that I have been in the wrong city at the wrong time!  But I did find at least one upcoming art fair that I should be able to attend.  One is a start, right?

While my real life has been a bit bland, my imaginary social life seems to be going pretty well.  I continue to virtually stalk Stephen Fry via Twitter.  OK, so he Tweets me, but it seems a little weird to receive so many charming messages from a man I’m not dating.  And since he’s been traveling in exotic locations with no data coverage, he’s not Tweeting a dozen times a day . . . and I feel a bit like I’ve been dumped.  Sad, isn’t it?  No worries – I just found Greg Grundberg, one of my Heroes.  And, frankly, Brent Spiner makes my imaginary social life seem completely sane.  Heh.

Well, I have a day of sheer drudgery ahead of me — laundry, bills, cleaning, etc. — and then one more day of fun and relaxation with another friend.  I have to say that taking a day off work to play is a very good thing for the psyche.   Coming back to work on a Tuesday (i.e. a short week) is a bonus.

OK, time to crash for the evening.  This is my favorite part of the day – being unconscious.   Now that the sinus infection is starting to break up, and the shoulder exercises are reducing the rotator cuff pain, and the dental work is easing the ache of that pesky molar, I can actually sleep!  This is a very good thing.  I’m a happier me when I get to be unconscious for most of the night.  Wish me luck.

Oh, and for those of you keeping track of my Time Warner Cable rants, they haven’t killed a channel in the last month.  They have, however, announced that they’ll start a tiered pricing plan for Internet usage by summer.   Keep  in mind that TWC doesn’t tell you how much bandwidth you use . . . so there’s no way to predict how many gigs of bandwidth you need each month.   Surprises are nice when they arrive in a box with a big bow . . . not so nice when they arrive in the form of a much-higher cable bill.  I suspect that my Hulu/iTunes/Internet radio days are coming to and end (good thing I never got around to NetFlix and their streaming movies).   When TWC pulled our NBC affiliate a few months ago, they encouraged users to hook their computers up to the TV and stream the shows.  How evil is that?  Get us hooked on streaming video, then start charging to access each program.  Nice business model – if you’re following the ethical standards of Enron and Bernie Madoff.  I’d love to switch providers, but there are no alternatives — my apartment complex has an exclusive deal with TWC and the only competitor in the area doesn’t even recognize my street address.

___

*I read the Twilight series over Spring Break – 4.25 books in 5 days.  If you lack a week of leisure time, enjoy strong female characters, or have any literary standards, I suggest you read the synopsis and save yourself all the eye-rolling.  There was a compelling story somewhere under all the prattle, because I kept reading and hoping I would be rewarded for my tenacity, but I wonder just how long these books will survive once the fanatics grow up and find real literature.   I also suggest skipping the movie – I suspect that banging your head against the wall would be an equally-effective use of your time.  I’m still miffed that I’ll never get those 2 hours of my life back (and I’m still not sure what the movie was about).

 

Checkmarks

Ever have one of those days/weeks/months where you check off time by tasks completed rather than days on the calendar?  This is (apparently) my busy time of the semester, and  I’m trying to keep my head above water by checking off all the things I’m supposed to do.

• My new workshop seemed to go well today – no one fell asleep or left at the break.  I consider both to be good signs.  Perhaps it helped that the workshop started with a  game, included prizes, and ended with chocolate.  (No, I am not above bribing my participants to participate.)
• Half of my conference presentation is done.  I still have a few weeks to finish and get it posted to the conference  website (per the agreement they made  me sign – after changing my topic, combining my session  with another, and adding time back to my presentation after other presenters dropped  out), but I’m thrilled to say I have PowerPoint slides rather than just a general idea floating around in my head.
• My annual performance review is 99% finished – so I’m nearly ready for my meeting with my boss.  Not stressful in the least – just a pain because  of the level of documentation required.
• A few more hoops are now jumped in my quest to eventually become a homeowner: my debt is down by a considerable sum, I have copies of my credit reports and scores, I’ve talked with my insurance agent about coverage, and I’ve found the neighborhood  (and house!) where I want to live.  Now  I just need to save half my paycheck for the next 3 years and I’ll be set.

It’s been a long week . . . and it’s only Wednesday.  I’m  looking forward to March, when I finally get some time off and can plan for some fun.   Mild-mannered, inexpensive fun, but a simple break from the task-oriented madness is most welcome.

And instead of complianing about the things in life that are stressing me out, I’m  going to continue to look at things that made me happy today.

1. Pat made decaf coffee for me this morning . . . she knows that I only drink decaf, and makes sure I have a pot whenever I teach a class.  She doesn’t normally make a pot of decaf, so I feel special.
2. A surprise phone call from a very sweet  lady from  MI (complimenting me on my hand-made cards and commiserating over the torn rotator cuff situation) just made my evening.
3. The cool front arrived this evening; after a high of 82, I was thrilled that opening the windows was an option.  I refuse to turn on the AC in February!

Oh, and for those of you keeping count, Time Warner just pulled the TV  Guide Channel from the basic lineup.  Instead of red carpet coverage and annoying reality show coverage, I now get a shockingly bright red and blue screen that displays the time and date.  Down to 17 channels and counting.

 

It actually happened!

CNN reports that Liverpool Street Station was shut down by a large crowd of people “mimicking an advertisement for a phone company.”  Man, nothing cool like that happens where I live.