skittermagoo!

As promised, pictures of knitting and food!

One of the things I've been thinking about in the new year (I am loathe to actually call it a "resolution", but there it is) is cooking. I've never really been a great cook, and I usually follow the path of least resistance when it comes to preparing meals, opting for quick and simple. Maybe I watched too much Food Network over the holidays or something, but lately I've been thinking maybe I can break out of the "frozen pasta and prepared sauce" rut and try some new things.

That said, I present to you our dinner from one night last week (I can't remember which day).

sorry for the blurry -- I was hungry, so my hands were a wee bit shaky!

Chicken with white wine and mushrooms, Sauteed asparagus, and Garlic mashed potatoes! YUM!

I'm still a bit amazed that for the chicken, I totally made it up as I went along, and it turned out soooo good! All I did was brown the chicken (boneless skinless filets) in olive oil and a tiny bit of butter, saltpepper, dump in some white wine, cover and cook til done. Meanwhile, I sauteed the mushrooms and added white wine to them, too, along with some sea salt, garlic, and a couple drops of balsamic vinegar. Easy-peasy! The asparagus was just sauteed in olive oil, and the mashed potatoes were from a package.

OH! And I've been knitting, too! I finished some socks for me:

Knitpicks Sock Garden in "Zinnia" (discontinued), done on size 1 addis

And started some socks for a certain pirate:

Lorna's Laces on size 1 addis, in the Anastasia pattern

I've also been working slowly on my Samus sweater, but it's feeling a bit camera-shy. Just imagine a bunch of pumpkin-colored stockinette, and you're there.

OH! And last, but not least, I bought some roving from my favorite online shop. Seriously, y'all, Scout has the fastest shipping ever, so go buy something from her! (I have another order in, but I'll tell ya what it is when it gets here. I promise!)

Superwash merino in "Pomegranate". This is sooooo soft, y'all! I have a feeling it's destined to be socks (but surprise, eh?), and I can't wait to start spinning it up! I think it may have to marinate in the stash a bit, though, until I'm really confident that I can do a consistent sock-weight 2-ply. Any bets how long I can hold off?

And now, since it is our first sunny day in what seems like weeks, I'm going to go stand on my back deck and synthesize some Vitamin D!

snow day, brrrr!

So, last night before I went to bed, the weather guys were predicting a dry day today, overcast and cold.

This morning when I woke up, I heard "tick tick tick" on the skylight in the bathroom . . . "hmmmm, sounds like sleet?".

Then I came downstairs and looked out the window, and saw about half an inch of white on my back deck. Now, half an inch is going to make many of y'all chuckle or outright laugh, but as I've mentioned before, this kind of thing is Serious Weather here.

TV on: some school closings, but most are in outlying areas -- none right in my vicinity. Now, let me back up a bit and mention that though I work for a university, we have a "never close" policy, and it's "left up to the judgement of the individual employee to decide if it's safe", yadda yadda yadda. My personal policy is that if either the school district that I live in OR the one I work in is closed for the day, then it is too treacherous for me to drive to work. After all, I am from here, and people from here don't know how to drive in Serious Weather (no matter what these people say to the contrary).

So. Finished getting ready, and got bundled up and into the car (along with my lunch and my gym bag). It took me almost 20 minutes to go about 3 miles, slippysliding several times, at which point Hub called me to tell me that schools were closed. But instead of turning right around and heading back home? I went to the gym instead (I was practically there, so if I'm already out in it, why not?). It was great -- there were about 10 people at the gym, 6 of which work there.

Then I came home and spent the rest of the day knitting and rubbing my hands together in front of the portable radiator (my two-story house gets nice and warm from the central heat upstairs, but not so much downstairs). And since I have to take a vacation day at work (part of the "never close" thingy), I opted not even to check my work email. So there!

I would have taken a picture of the "snow", but not only would it make most of y'all snort coffee out your noses, but it was too dang cold to go outside!! Plus, it would have looked very similar to the picture I posted a couple of times ago.

Next up: some food photos (I've actually been cooking!), and also some actual knitting content. Whoop!

Grrrrrrr.

I just got tagged with that "6-weird-things" meme (thanks a LOT, Purse-Ho!) . . . I wasn't gonna do it, but since I like Jen, and since she might kick my ass in person if I don't do it, here goes.

Six Weird Things about ME

1. Open cabinet doors make me uncomfortable. If I'm in a kitchen or other room and there is a cabinet with the door open (and nobody actually accessing it), I have to close it immediately, or it makes me crazy. I don't know if it's a subconscious fear of bonking my head on the open door, or just a weird OCD thing, but there it is. Cabinets without doors (like the ones in my lab at work) don't bother me, just ones with doors. Also, it seems to be worse with the ones that are up high, not so much with the ones down below waist level.

2. My memory stores some really odd things. When I was in college, a good friend of mine had a long-distance boyfriend named Joey. When the new year came, I remember she said that every time she wrote the wrong year, she thought "Joey" (and sometimes said it out loud, too). To this day, when January rolls around and I write the wrong year on things, I think "Joey", despite the fact that I only met the guy maybe once or twice, ever (and have since lost track of the friend, too). The thing about it is, I can't remember what year the "Joey" thing started! Also, I can't remember anyone's birthday or anniversary, but the "Joey" thing? Yeah.

3. Gum Karma I'm not a religious person, but I have a very strong belief in Gum Karma. That's where, if you throw your gum on the ground, you will invariably step in gum sometime in the near future.

4. M&Ms I didn't know this was weird until Hub pointed it out one day years ago . . . I have an apparently strange way of eating M&Ms. First I sort them by color, and then I eat one group of the same color, one at a time. Usually I let each one melt in my mouth slowly before I eat the next. This is of course only with plain M&Ms, never peanut ones (which I don't like anyway).

5. I hate driving in the rain. I mean, really, really hate it. A drizzle doesn't bother me, but a heavy shower? Makes me grip the steering wheel all white-knuckley and wild-eyed, especially if I'm on the highway.

6. I used to be an amateur paranormal investigator. But my skepticism interfered.

Now, the rules of this meme direct me to tag more people, but I'm not gonna do it -- I had a hard enough time finishing this post!