Victorious!

I finished up the collar & the last of the hemming on Red Oak last night...WOOT! I still have to put the buttons on - I bought them today, and hope to do that tonight. But for all intents & purposes, I am DONE!

So, of course, I had a victory drink last night. In, appropriately, a sheepy shot glass:

WOOT! Will, of course, post pics of the finished jacket as soon as I get some decent ones. Hopefully tomorrow, in the course of a massive Yarn Crawl. Meanwhile, I'm getting myself organized for the Expedition of Insanity, and a bit of knitting, to the accompaniment of Robert Plant's new CD.

It's awesome. And that man is still far, far sexier than anyone has any right to be, in my humble opinion. There are worse ways to spend a Friday evening, indeed!

Now...back to the task at hand. If I'm lucky, there will even be time to bake cookies...

(I wonder) What am I doing here?

I finally decided to take a bit of my own advice - after living on the Wet Coast for many years, I ought to remember that you just can't wait for the rain to stop in order to go out, or you'll never leave the house! So I tell my students often...but often fail to remember myself. This weekend, though, the stakes were high, as it was the last chance we'd have to go to Playland - something I've never done, for all that we can hear the screams from our place.

There was a rainfall warning in effect today, and I was quite disappointed. A timely tweet from beentsy, though, hinted at blue patches and lifting clouds. I knew it was probably too good to be true, but I jumped at the chance anyway. Mr.Q was unceremoniously rousted from his sleep, rain jackets were donned, and we headed out into the day.

See, here's the thing. There's kind of this wee fad of "bucket lists" going on. And you may have noticed I kind of like to jump on fun bandwagons. So I did up a "40 by 40" list - giving myself a little over 2 years to see what I could accomplish. A lot of it is pretty banal, really - but it makes me happy to have goals to cross off my list, and a reason to do things I would otherwise have a tendency to put off. Like taking French lessons (I now meet with a private tutor once a week and mangle the language with great abandon!) - so easy to say "I'd like to do that, someday." And then never really bother getting around to it.

I gave myself a lot of lee-way with the list - items could be small-but-meaningful-to-me (making a perfect pie crust! or at least a decent one), or big and highly unlikely - zip-lining and para-sailing will likely never happen, and I won't really feel like my life is meaningless if they don't. But - what the hell! You never know, right?

Well, one of the things on my list was to ride the wooden roller-coaster at Playland. Considering that ferris wheels freak me out, that's a pretty big step. But dagnabbit, I was determined to make it happen! So, today, it did. Along with some other fun rides, too! Even ones that made Mr.Q a little queasy (the pirate ship was SO MUCH FUN! I couldn't get him to go on again, sadly!) and a few milder ones in between, to give my tummy time to settle. (Word to the wise: greasy breakfast before a rollercoaster? Bad Idea!)

Some highlights from the morning...no pics of me on the coaster, as I had my eyes screwed shut the whole time, and may have blown out Mr.Q's eardrums with my screaming...but I did it! (I also kicked his arse at Whack-a-Mole & won myself a stuffed wiener dog...Hah!)

I had a really long nap when we got home!

(And the ferris wheel at the end? Totally not scary at all!)

Movie of the Week

So I'm jumping on the bandwagon with yarnpiggy and beentsy today...partly as a clever trick to divert your attention from the lack of knitting success to report (I have, in fact, finished all but the collar on my Red Oak sweater...the hems took a lot longer than I'd anticipated!). And I'm posting this list as a clever trick to divert my own attention from the fact that there is a "heavy rainfall warning" in effect today, which means I will not be riding a rollercoaster. A fact which makes me terribly sad! Woe!

Instead, I'm home in my PJs, about to put in Pirates of the Caribbean (in honour of International Talk Like a Pirate Day) and tackle that collar. So here's the deal: you go through the list of movies, and check off which ones you've seen. This highly scientific test will tell you if you have a life (you've seen less than 85 of the movies on this list) or whether you don't have a life (you've seen more than 85). I would argue with its legitimacy - for example, does Rocky Horror Picture Show count if you haven't seen it in a theatre? (A failing of my own which I am embarrassed to admit!). Also, I would argue that this list is highly incomplete - missing, for instance, most of the John Hughes movies that ought to be included in any such list (for people of my generation, anyway!)

My list of movies seen does go slightly over the 85-title threshold...But in my defense, I watch a lot of movies & TV for the sole purpose of background entertainment while I knit!

(X) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(X) Grease
(X) Grease 2
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End
( ) Boondock Saints
( ) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch

(X) Neverending Story
(X) Blazing Saddles
( ) Airplane
(X) The Princess Bride
( ) AnchorMan
( ) Napoleon Dynamite
(X) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) Saw III
( ) Saw IV
( ) Saw V
( ) Saw VI

( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management
(X) 50 First Dates
( ) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
( ) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3

(X) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
( ) American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
(X) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp

(X) Harry Potter 1
(X) Harry Potter 2
(X) Harry Potter 3
(X) Harry Potter 4
(X) Harry Potter 5
( ) Harry Potter 6
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
( ) Resident Evil 3
( ) Resident Evil 4
( ) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
( ) The Village

(X) Lilo & Stitch
(X) Finding Nemo
( ) Finding Neverland
(X) Signs
(X ) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
( ) 13 Going on 30

( ) I, Robot
( ) Robots
(X) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
(X) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came Polly
(X) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
( ) Never Been Kissed

(X) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
(X) King Kong
( ) A Cinderella Story
( ) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris

(X) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
( ) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2

( ) Surviving Christmas
( ) Flubber
( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
( ) Practical Magic
(X) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
(X) Hellboy
( ) Hellboy II: The Golden Army

( ) Secret Window
(X) I Am Sam
( ) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards
(X) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child’s Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
( ) Ten Things I Hate About You

( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
(X) Nightmare on Elm Street
(X) Sixteen Candles
( ) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
( ) The Mask

( ) Son Of The Mask
( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number SlevIn
(X) Ocean’s Eleven
( ) Ocean’s Twelve
(X) Bourne Identity
(X) Bourne Supremecy

( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
( ) Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
(X) Independence Day

( ) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(X) E.T.
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
( ) Maid in Manhattan
(X) War of the Worlds

( ) Rush Hour
( ) Rush Hour 2
( ) Best Bet
(X) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
( ) She’s All That
(X) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
(X) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon

(X) Ever After
(X) Wizard of Oz
(X) Forrest Gump
( ) Big Trouble in Little China
(X) The Terminator
(X) The Terminator 2
(X) The Terminator 3
(X) X-Men
(X) X-2

(X) X-3
(X) Spider-Man
(X) Spider-Man 2
( ) Spider-Man 3
( ) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
( ) Catch Me If You Can
(X) The Little Mermaid
(X) Freaky Friday

( ) Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
( ) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(X) Shrek
(X) Shrek 2
( ) Swimfan
(X) Miracle on 34th street

( ) Old School
( ) The Notebook
(X) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf’s Tribe
( ) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
(X) The 40-year-old Virgin
(X) Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

(X) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(X) Lord of the Rings: Return Of the King
(X) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(X) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(X) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
(X) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
( ) Base-ketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses

( ) Devils Rejects
( ) Elf
(X) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three
( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer

( ) Night Watch
( ) Monsters Inc.
(X) Titanic
(X) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
( ) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
(X) Hulk

( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(X) Hook
(X) Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
(X) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
( ) Waterworld
(X) Kill Bill Vol. 1
( ) Kill Bill Vol. 2

( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) The Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness
(X) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace

(X) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
( ) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(X) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(X) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(X) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks: Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks: The Battle For Endor
(X) The Matrix
(X) The Matrix: Reloaded

( ) The Matrix: Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
(X) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
(X) Silence of the Lambs
(X) Hannibal

( ) The Ghost and the Darkness
(X) The Meaning of Life
(X) The Sixth Sense
( ) Unbreakable
( ) Unforgiven
(X) Dances With Wolves

( ) Pale Rider
(X) GATTACA
(X) Children of Men
( ) Bubba Hotep
( ) Getting Married in Buffalo Jump
( ) Pitch Black
(X) The Chronicles of Riddick
(X) Men With Brooms
( ) Weekend at Bernie’s

Your turn! Or, you could go here and find out your true pirate name...Mine's Mad Prudentilla Flint. Now back to swabbing the decks, you scurvy bilge-rats, or I'll make ye walk the plank!

Yaaarrrr(n)!

No rest for the wicked!

Busy busy busy! I had thought I'd take the holiday Monday as a Pajama Day, but I ended up doing a lot of puttering and cleaning and cooking and baking. Including a peach pie that was very tasty...with pastry from scratch, even! (I never make pastry from scratch. I am very lazy.) But it was a rainy day, and feeling fall-ish, so I even decided I would make a little extra pastry dough - it does keep well in the freezer, after all, and punkins will be in season soon! So I measured out the shortening and flour I had on hand...and realized I had enough to quadruple a double-crust recipe:

Mmmmmm! Pie! (For the record, I did do all the cooking, cleaning, and pastry making in my PJs. Just on principle.)

Also, of course, I have been knit-knit-knitting. 5 weeks till Rhinebeck, and I still have half a sock and 2/3 of a scarf I'd like to finish before I go. Not to mention The Sweater. (Which, after knitting for Pa and Mr.Q, has gone really, really quickly. The difference between chunky weight yarn & light worsted is rather...astonishing!) I blocked the pieces last night, and they just might be dry enough to start seaming tomorrow. Here they are, on a queen-sized futon frame:

Suddenly, the idea of knitting a blanket is a lot less daunting. Not that I'm in a hurry to do so (plus, my hands kind of need a rest!) At this point, I'm starting to get super-stoked about going button shopping...next week! Woo!

But, not everything (or, should I say, everyone) Chez Q has been bitten by the Busy Bug:

Are you surprised?

Coz I'm sure not!

Saturday Night's Alright

We found out that "After Dark" admission to the PNE was only $5, so we decided to go back to try a couple things we missed. It was...interesting! We caught the last few songs of Steven Page's set, which was kind of fun.

Then we had a culinary adventure, of sorts: On the right, deep-fried Oreos - interesting, not something I ever need to eat again! On the left, deep-fried jelly-beans....YUCK! Not only too sweet, but the jelly beans got kind of slimy in the batter. Well, at least we can say we tried it!

For the record, we barely managed between us to eat half of what they gave us! After that, there was no way we were feeling brave enough to try the other offerings of deep-fried insanity available:

Deep-fried butter! Nom! (Or, you know, not. Friends of ours tried it and reported it even worse than imagined. Glad we saved our pennies!)

Otherwise, our long weekend has looked more or less like this:

(Well, except for a fiasco with a new pair of shoes & SportChek's customer non-service policies, but that's all better now that I've sent a ranty letter, returned the shoes, and gone to Mountain Equipment Co-op like I should have done in the first place. That'll learn me! Also there was some Indian food, poking around clothing shops in the Punjabi Market, and knitting. Lots and lots of knitting! And there may be a peach pie later on today, we'll see how that goes....Wish me luck!)