10 or Less Movie Review

Good God, that was irratating.

No Foolin.

It's April 1st, but no joke here. I'm going to try to quit smoking again. As I type I'm about 3 hours into day one, so far so good.
I've been bitching and moaning about quitting for a while now and i just decided i needed to pick a date and stick with it, otherwise i'd just keep talking about quitting and not do it.
It's just time. I've been hacking and coughing almost non-stop for a few months. i can't sleep on my back, it makes me choke.
I used to say i didn't want to quit because i loved to smoke, not so much any more. it's been more of a chore than anything. And i've been making my own cigs for a while, so that was an hour or two every other day wasted making them.

i'm actually feeling pretty good about this one, there was no real dread leading up to this morning, and i didn't take my first piece of nicotine gum until 4:30ish. I've been keeping up on doing some kind of exercise/physical activity every other day, so i'm hoping that will help with the weight gain. mostly because i can't afford to buy new clothes! the weather this weekend should be great, and i've got things i want to do outside. And knitting...there's always knitting.
i'm sure there will be some ugliness, so i apologize in advance to my family, friends and co-workers.

so that's that.

10 or Less Movie Review

*yawn*...even with Johnny and Christian.

What do you do with left over mashed potatoes?

Make Shepherd's Pie, duh....

Poor 'Biscus

i know, i know...it's been a while. I'm terrible at this. there are so many things i've thought of posting...what i did with all that yarn from my last post, where you can send money to help the people of Haiti, a great photo from one of my more recent visits to the APL, hundreds of photos of the cats, but this post is about my poor, poor Hibiscus plant.
I fell in love with this plant. My neighbor had gotten the plant from a customer of her's and i flipped out about it so much she told me if i could manage to divide it and repot her half i was welcome to the other half.
It thrived all summer, huge blooms appeared almost overnight.

see? so pretty.
the weather turned colder, as it tends to do here in ohio, so the 'biscus came inside. i did some plant re-arranging and gave it a spot smack dab in the middle of the window in the living room. the flowers kept coming, not like when it was outside, but enough.
Then one morning i noticed what i thought was dust, or string, or cat hair, or spider webs. Then i looked closer. bunches of little somethings were crawling around on the webby looking threads.
i quick search of the interswebs revealed the invaders. spider mites.


ugh
one of the reasons i wanted one of these plants in the first place was becase we could feed the flowers to Bosch. so i looked for a way to try to kill the pests without chemicals. back to the intersweb i went, and was happy to find (from several different sources) that the best way to kill the mites was to soak the plant in hot water. perfect. so 'biscus got a bath.
and the damn things came back.
bath number two.
things seemed to be going well. the plant even had a growth spurt. and the damn mites came back again.
bath number three, and here is where we stand.

poor, poor 'biscus.
i'm hoping most of the leaf loss is from too much water. the tops seem to be continuing to grow. i've resigned my self to trying chemicals on it, and that Bosch won't get to have any flower treats. Being winter its proving hard to find the right spray (Bayer 3 in 1).
poor, poor 'biscus. i'm not giving up on you get buddy.

Let the Holiday Knitting Begin!!!!

Sorry for the crappy cell phone picture, but the regular camera is being cranky.

I Like to Make Things: the Project Linus Blanket

Project Linus Blanket Pattern

I LOVED this project! Sam's sister wanted something to give a co-worker as a baby shower gift, and asked if i would knit something. This pattern came to mind immediately, having seen it in the book Knitting for Peace. Mom-to-be was described to me as "kind of a hippy...and a vegan." So i wanted to keep that in mind choosing a yarn, plus the fact that it is for a baby. Babies that poop, pee, puke, and spit on most everything. So a machine washable yarn it had to be!
Knit Picks to the rescue!!! I went with their Simply Cotton in the worsted weight. I thought this would be a good choice because, yes, it was machine washable, and organic with no dyes used. The yarn knit up soft and squishy, perfect for a baby blanket! I'd heard that some folks had problems with the yarn splitting, but i didn't. Not even with my extra pointy metal needles.
The only problem i had with the pattern was swatching. I couldn't seem to get the lace sequence to come out right. I was working with the pattern out of the Knitting for Peace book, but the link (above) from the Project Linus website explained that it is worked over multiples of eleven plus one. Mystery solved! It's an impressive looking result that is EASY!
One of my favorite knitting projects to date.

the continuing saga of the bathroom

I don't think either Sam nor i ever thought it would take as long as it has to actually re-do things in the house as it has. (did that sentence make any sense? i haven't had enough coffee.)
So back in March Sam started to tear down the wallpaper.



Behind the mirror there was a different square of wallpaper. We both agreed that if this was the paper in the whole bathroom we would have left it.



This past weekend was the grout work. After a first failed attemp at mixing the grout things went well and i think it looks great.



On to painting next!!! Picking the color was MUCH easier than i thought it would be, Sam had his heart set on painting it orange. At first i thought some of the colors he liked were too bright and would look too heavy at the top of the wall. I wanted the tone/hue/value????? (i'm forgetting color theory right now....like i said, not enough coffee). We went with Sherwin Williams Orange Blast. Who knows when we'll actually get around to painting.

Toad in the Hole

Second only to sleeping in, the best part of the weekend is a good greasy breakfast. I decided to tweak things a bit and made 'Toad in the Hole'. Someone (Jimmy D) mentioned that this is also called Bird in a Nest, which makes more sense, but i like the toad thing better. All you need is bread, butter and an egg.







MMMMMM...what more could you want? The correct answer to that question is, of course, bacon...which was on the table, but not pictured here.

Hi...remember me?

Poor blog...i spend so much time tweeting, facebooking and Ravelring(?) that The Bunker gets ignored. I promise to try to change that. So...lets take look around the back yard shall we?
I won't mention the vegetable garden...once again not much luck, so on to te flowers.

The clematis was out of control. It was just a huge mass of tangled dried stems. So back in early April i hacked it down.



Sam was a little worried that it wouldn't have as many flowers....

Two months later....


and this is NOTHING compared to how many flowers are there now!

When we first moved into the Bunker these two sad little lilies popped up. The pink one was so wobbly we had to prop it up....


Well, two years later, we may be in danger of being over run.


It's hard to see in the photo, but the count was 19 flowers on the pink plant and 10 on the white!

First Signs of Spring

No Socks.....



and even better than that...the daffys are coming up!



i know, we haven't seen the last of winter....but just enjoy!

I've been knitting, really I have!

It's the beginning of the gifting season, and once again i'll be trying to make some things.

Thanks to "Knitting on the Edge" by Nicky Epstein, i've learned to make these cool corkscrews!



This was just a test, but they will appear in a future X-mas gift! They are really easy, but make sure you cast on with two needles and keep that tension LOOSE! Otherwise your fingers will hate you!

I spent some of the money I got for my birthday back in October on more yarn to make into gifts! Yummy stuff....

Knit Picks Comfy in Lilac Mist...soft with a little shine!



This is all for one project....
Knit Picks Cadena-Peat
Knit Picks Telemark-Cream
Louet Gems-Crabapple



And finally......Fatty by Dream in Color



the project i have in mind for this yarn is so cute and simple and this yarn is soooo pretty...i think that after the holidays i may be purchasing a few more skeins in different colors and making a couple for myself!

October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month!

Some day i will have a dog. Not anytime soon, little Miss Goo will not tolerate a canine, but someday. If you are looking for a pooch October is National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month. Many shelters are having special promotions to help their pooches find new homes.

Here are a couple of things i think you should consider....

Adopt and older dog. Training will be less intensive than with a puppy. Just think..no potty training! They tend to be more laid back...that means less destruction and chaos. Finally, unless they are housed at a no kill shelter, they are more likely to be euthanized.

You say you want a pure breed pooch? No problem! May shelters will alert you if the breed of dog you are looking for comes into their shelter. Got something specific in mind? Almost every breed you can think of has a rescue group out there. Just search (insert dog breed here)rescue. I am a fan of some of the smooshy face dogs and I constantly check in with the Midwest Boston Terrier Rescue Group and the French Bulldog Rescue Network. Many times these shelter groups have already dealt with the animal's major medical or behavioral issues. These good people also, many times, are the ones who care for animals rescued from puppy mills. (Don't get me started....just this....if you feel the absolute need to spend money on an animal, any animal, and the breeder will not let you come for a visit, take your money and RUN.)

This is going to sound strange coming from a future crazy cat lady, who has two rescued cats that run her life....but it seems to me that a dog KNOWS it has been rescued, and love you all the more for it. It seems to come from that part of them, their soul, that wants to please their owner. (Cats...believe me...do not have owners....servants more like)

So if you are ready....go save a life!

What? An actual post?

Yes! It's true, and it's even knitting related! Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne are Mason-Dixon Knitting. They wrote one fantastic book and have just released another. I love the first book because, as someone with limited knitting skills, they really show that something does not have to be complicated to be beautiful. They are smart, witty, sassy and apparently Old-School County Music Divas!

In the Dark

The crazy winds on Sunday knocked out our power at about 7 pm. Actually, on our street only about 8 houses have no power. So we are a low priority. Last word was maybe we'd get power back on Friday.

As you can see Gibson is unaffected....

Checking In...

Has the Super Collider destroyed the world yet?

Will they cover the concussion i give myself by banging my head against the desk?

So, the yearly email goes out that we have to take a "Health Assessment" in order to qualify for the "Choice Plan" for our health insurance. (Yeah...i don't know what that means either) BUT...this year we also have to "do 2 Healthy Lifestyle Activities" and find some way to prove that we have done them, or be dropped from the "Choice Plan". What? Sounds kind of scary right? If i do the wrong thing am i going to lose my health insurance? The only instructions we were given other than how to access the health assessment, was to email the Benefits department directly with any questions. So in a slight panic, i send as brief and, more importantly, simple request. Please explain what this means and what i need to do. What do i get back? A vague and useless explanation? (What i was expecting) A repeat of the original email? (Also very likely)

Nope...I got this....

Fail

This was not a good year for us as far as growning things to eat. None of the herbs i planted made it beyond an inch or so tall. Our veggies in the little garden in the back are still chugging along, just VERY slowly. A couple of green beans have shown up, one Habanero, a small eggplant. There is promise of one tomato, a Roma I think one one plant, but i'm seeing more and more flowers.

The sunflowers have been the heartbreaker.

I planted four originally, All four sprouted and two were dug out of the ground by some little beastie. So two grew up big and strong. The smaller of the two, maybe six feet tall showed it's face first. I notice one morning some yellow petals starting to open up. That night Sam called me before i came home from work to tell me the flower had been butchered. Sure enough, the poor thing had been decapitated. That leaves the big one. Best guess at least 8 feet tall, far enough away from the garage that it would be out of reach for a small animal.

Then this morining...this....




FAIL

Oh noes!!!!!

Come back Ravelry! Come Back!!!

One of Those Days....

more cat pictures