New toy!

I used my Christmas money to buy myself a new toy...

The Addi Click circular needle set!


These needles are Addi's interchangeable circular needles set. (Circular needles are the ones that look like 2 needles with a string attaching them. They're used for projects with many stitches or to knit large tubes.) They cost $150, but are so well made that it's worth every cent.

The needles can be attached to the three different wires, which can create hundreds of combinations... One of the reasons I bought this set is that if I were to buy all of those combinations, I would spend well over $600. You see in the picture that some needles are already missing, and they are working on a scarf right now.



See? Scarf.

It's the Yarn Harlot's one row scarf, knitted out of the remaining yarn from the poncho I knitted a few months ago, (which I've just realized is also ironically of the Yarn Harlot's design.) I love the yarn, it's alpaca wool and very warm.

I have a babysitting job tonight, so hopefully I will be able to get more of it done.

Tomorrow you will probably see something about 2009's new years resolutions (and last years, too), because I have been planning them.

Have a great new years eve, yall, and a great new year. :)

Christmas, concerts, and clothes!

What a week!

Christmas, concerts, and clothes for me!

Mom has just sent me upstairs to blog with a very obvious hint that "While I pay bills you should go upstairs and blog or something."

"Okay, Mom..."

(Boy, since coming home Mom knows more about my day-to-day life than when I'm in away... and yet she still insists on me blogging about it. Why is that, I wonder.)

Christmas was awesome; truly one of the best ones I've had in a long time. Being an "adult" now means that people have more options for presents for me and I really think that they rose to the occasion. And... you know, I really enjoyed a lot of the things that I got! A year ago I would have been a little less than pleased with a tool kit and kitchen spoon rest, but I'm just delighted with them. It's one of the most pleasant surprises about growing up that I've experienced so far. Santa brought me dishtowels in my stocking. "Ooh! Yay!!"

Aside from the home-y gifts, I really did get a few good ones. Some lovely drapey shirts from my stepmother and aunt, some lovely Seven jeans (since my Lucky jeans weren't so lucky in the end.) some calendars (including "Never Not Knitting", the 'Yarn Harlot's calendar that I am very excited about) and a Harry Potter wall calendar. Speaking of Harry Potter, a very loving brother of mine gave me The Tales of Beedle the Bard. And among other books, I got a traveling book of a journalist in one of the middle eastern countries and The Children of Hurin, the latest Tolkien book. On top of all of the other gifts (though at the very bottom of the stack) I found a lovely 22" flat screen HDTV. That will be a lovely replacement for the dinky little one that Abby and I currently have at our apartment!

The 26th of December was a very cool day in many regards. Mom took me to see Carolyn Wonderland, who was an absolute delight. Mike, Meg (Mike's daughter), and Kerry-Lynn went too, and we all had a good evening at Poodie's bar and grill laughing and listening to good music. The opening band was a local band called Blues Mafia, and they started around 8:30ish, and Carolyn played after them until around 1 in the morning. We all went home smelling like smoke and I was just too tired to get in the shower, so I fell into my bed and slept until 10:30 or so, when I dragged myself out to have a shower and smell minty fresh again.

Today, Mom and I have been to the mall and to Stein Mart to look for some good shirts for me, since I've been watching a What Not To Wear marathon all week, and am feeling like some shirts that don't say "St. Michaels" or "Fall Play/Spring Musical" on them are in order. No joke... Shirts from St Mikes make up most of my wardrobe. So, with the desire to get into some fashion forwardness that Mom and I are both experiencing, we're going out again and doing a little more shopping later and then will probably go see Marley and Me tonight.

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A little note here at the end. The 26th of December was my 2nd Blogoversary. I wanted to tell yall that I'm so grateful to have readers that care about me and I'm so happy that I have so many people to support me through the changes that I've been experiencing lately. Growing up and moving out are more easily said than done and I know that I have a whole horde of people out there who love and support me, and I can't express enough how much I love sharing my day-to-day life with you all. So thanks. Here's to another year of living, learning, loving, (and a little blogging on the side.)

How to use (nearly) all of the sugar in the house

The other day I was scoping out some good snack recipes on the Whole Foods website, and I came across this one. It was a recipe for candied orange peels that looked simple enough that I had to try.

Ingredients, you ask? A very complicated list, I assure you. 6 oranges and 5 cups of sugar.

The preparation for took most of the time. The recipe tells you to peel the oranges using a vegetable peeler, but I found it easier to quarter the oranges and (slowly) cut away the fruit, pith, and then stick the rind in a bowl. I ended up separating the pith from the fruit so that I could blend it up and freeze it with another cup of sugar for a sorbet-like orange freeze. (It's happily freezing away in the downstairs freezer right now.)

After cutting up half an orange and spending about twenty minutes on the one orange, I stuck Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone into my computer's DVD player and watched that while I worked. After a while, I did get faster and more efficient at peeling oranges, and it didn't take as much time to peel one orange.

It took me most of the movie to peel the oranges using the knife instead of the peeler. (Harry was facing Quirrel when I finished.) After that, it was a series of boiling and simmering for about an hour and a half and then rolling them in sugar and letting them dry... and voila!


Aside from the orange sorbet, the other biproduct that came from this was this orange-flavored sweet water that the peels simmered in for an hour.


The recipe suggested that I jar them and use them to sweeten tea... so I have. I'm enjoying some lovely organic fruity tea right now and used the syrup to sweeten it.

Once they dry, I am thinking that I will separate them into bags and give them away to people. It is the season of giving, and there are an awful lot of orange peels there for one family.

A bit of a tour

Because everything is so festive and merry around here at Christmas, I thought I would give you a tour of some of the decorations around my house.

Starting upstairs, the only festivity that one can see are wreaths that Duncan and I made in Kindergarten.

Moving downstairs...


We find loads of stockings on the stairway.


These are the stockings that Duncan and I have used forever. We're very fond of them. (At least I am fond of them.)


All three of our dogs have their own stockings. (Topher, Boo, and Choco. Choco's looks just like her when she was a puppy, ear fur and all.)


We have a mantelpiece full of lights and love. And...


...What's that? Those look like they might be nutcrackers in a row. And... more nutcrackers?


Nutcrackers in the study,


Nutcrackers in the kitchen,


Nutcrackers in the dining room,


Giant nutcrackers,


Nutcrackers at the bar,


Nutcrackers hiding in alcoves,


And yes, nutcrackers on horses.


My mother collects Nutcrackers... Can you tell?

Blog blog bloooooog, AKA "Look, Mom! I blogged!"

Mom keeps bugging me to blog. "Are things so boring at home that you don't have anything to blog about?"

No, Mom. Things are so wonderful at home that all I can do is collapse into bed at the end of the day. All I have to do is wake up late, hang out, watch tv, babysit occasionally, and knit christmas gifts.

All of these have been achieved at least once... the christmas gift thing several times. I finished a scarf yesterday that pleases me very much! I am going to get Brandlyn to model the scarf for me at some point before I wrap it up and stick it under the tree.

This afternoon I spent a nice few hours being teased by my father as he went about preparing to make a lamb indian dish. (He didn't actually verbally tease me, but watching him prepare the spices was torment enough.) As much as I wish I could have stayed for dinner, I had a babysitting job to do. This kid is one of the best-behaved little 7-year-old boys I've come across. I first started babysitting him around 3 years ago when his family moved down here from the northeast, and I always enjoy looking after him. (Plus, his bedtime is at 8. I love little kids...) He had gone to the Nutcracker Ballet this afternoon, and bought his first nutcracker while there. He says that he has decided to collect them now... Being the daughter of an avid nutcracker collecter, I shudder to think how many nutcrackers he could collect by the time he is my mother's age. (...Which is 29, of course.)

The next few days should be about finishing off knitted christmas gifts and doing a whole lot of nothing. Ah, excellent.

Mini Blog - Final #5 English...

Last mini blog since I took my LAST FINAL this morning!! Was going to blog earlier, but I was checking and double checking (and then rechecking for good measure) that I wouldn't leave anything in San Antonio... because I won't be there for a month!

So anyway: English final!


Not much to say, really, other than I wrote a five page essay (single spaced) and I kept on surprising myself at the organization of the essay that I basically just whammed together as I went.. And then I tied everything up at the end, and it went really well! I wrote from 7:30-9:30 and at the end I had a crazy bad hand cramp.

The essay was about the food crisis in the world. I had to write about the causes and effects... it was hard not to write a "this is how we should work toward fixing it" but I think I managed.

I just got to Austin about 20 minutes ago. Mom's already hinted pretty obviously that she wants a cake... and I want to eat the batter. I guess this works out very nicely. ;)

Power outages, internet failure, christmas gifts, and hanging flashlights

My weekend was very eventful! Let me tell you all about it.

In between studying, relaxing, and studying more for my Politics and French exams over this weekend... A lot of stuff happened! These things include power outages, internet failure, christmas gift exchanges and a little improvisation.

Around 12:30 (as in half past midnight) the power in University Oaks went out. I wouldn't be surprised if the power went out on the whole campus. I couldn't tell, because the lights in the parking lot were on, but I think those have backup generators. For some reason, the power going out was apparently cause to scream really loudly and frequently for the 2 hour duration of the outage. The power came back on around 2:30am, and that was cause for people to scream and whoop REALLY LOUD. Wouldn't have minded, except that I've been having trouble falling asleep and I had just slipped off at that point. Grr.

When the power went off, and Abby and I suddenly found ourselves with no internet connection and no other ways to amuse ourselves without draining our computer batteries, we decided that we would read. We had only one small flashlight, so we tacked it to the ceiling, where it cast its dome of light around us. I have to say... it's one of the more clever things I've ever thought of.

Yesterday, the people who are in control of our internet connection apparently decided that it was a good day to do some updating, which left us without an internet connection for well over 24 hours. The most frustrating part of this is that we could not look up extra information for our politics exam like we usually do when we don't understand a subject as well as we should. And another result of this internet failure was that my bum was firmly planted on the couch all day either reading or studying the previous tests.

Another thing that Abby and I did yesterday were exchange our christmas gifts for one another. She gave me a cute blue mug, some purse-sized lotion, and some yummy body sugar scrub for the shower. It's eucalyptus and mint flavored, and made our apartment smell yummy all yesterday. I gave her a cute purse (which is what she had asked for) and inside the purse I put chocolate, the book Speak (which I think everyone should read at least once), and a watch. She loved everything... and it makes me especially glad because I shoppes so well. Now all I have to do is finish up christmas shopping for the rest of the family!

Only one exam to go - English, which should be a breeze. One more exam and then I'm homeward bound!

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OOH GOOD NEWS!! I got an 88 on my Astronomy exam, and so I got a final average of a B in the class! It's the only grade that has been released so far.

Mini Blog - Final #4 Politics

Brrrr it is cold outside! I had to walk to my Politics class for the last time ever this morning, and boy was I glad that I had bought at hat at Target the other day! (It was on sale!! Best $3.56 I've spent in a while. The thing I hate most about cold weather is the way that my ears hurt after a while of being outside.)

Abby keeps on randomly celebrating the fact that we'll never have to take Esparza's class ever again. I like him as a teacher; he's very interesting and teaches very well... His test making abilities leave many wanting, though. The final exam has been the only test that I've enjoyed taking, mostly because 75% of the exam was made up of questions (word for word) from the other 3 exams that we took.

Because I spent so much time over the last few days more or less memorizing the tests... this was a very good thing! And because of this... I feel confident that I got at least a C on the final. Which means that I get a B in the class... Woo!!!!

Hardest question on the exam had to do with "What was the primary reason that the proposed new Texas Constitution of 1973 fail?" ...Three of the answers were the right ones, according to the notes, so I just chose one about "not enough time".

(Now I am going to blog about my weekend in a different blog - since these blog are all about my finals.)

Mini Blog - Final #3 French...

Just sat my French exam and am very confident about how I did on this one! I think I did really well, because I studied a lot for this one. I made a giant stack of flashcards and color-coded review... I think it would have been hard to fail this one! I even memorized the composition that we could pre-write and work on before the exam.

Hardest part of the exam was the listening comprehension. Part of it was a picture of a bedroom, and we had to identify where things were. The questions were things like, "Where is the lamp? A) On the table B) Under the table C) Far from the Window" (in French, of course.) I have always had trouble with prepositions, be it in Spanish or French... don't know why.

Now I have to concentrate on studying Politics (which will be very hard, methinks), and then English... and then I am free!

Happy Birthday, Mama!

Today is my mom's birthday. She's celebrating her 19th anniversary of her 29th birthday (Yall add it up. If I say it I may get in trouble. ;) ) and she seemed pretty darned happy when I called her to wish her a happy birthday this morning.

I can't tell you the story of my mom's life, or show you pictures of her various birthdays, or all of the usual stuff that she blogs about Duncan and I, but I can tell you that she's the best mother I've ever had.

She's beautiful, one of the most beautiful people I know, and has always been there for Duncan and I.


She loves us, and always has.

She loves the beach, even if she has to work a little while she's there.


(I think the ice cream makes up for it, though.)

She works so hard and travels so often, but always finds time for a nap.

Being a mother must be a pretty hard job, but I think she's done it well.


I love you, Mama. Have a wonderful day, and I'll be home next week to hug you myself.

Mini Blog - Final # 2 Math...

Right now I am very glad that I only have 3 finals left.

I just sat my algebra exam... and looking back, I realize that I should have studied a bit harder for one particular portion of it. It was all about APR and savings plans and how much money I would have to put into an account at this APR for this long to end up with this much money. Gah. I know it's useful to know, but the formulas are rather complicated.

That said, I feel confident that I did well.

And on the plus side, my teacher saw my 14 page review that I typed up of terms and formulas and asked me to email it to him so he can use it for future semesters review. (My goodness, I am such an overachiever.)

Now it is time for me to relax and eat a late lunch, and later to finish my french review.

Mini Blog - Final #1 Astronomy....

Because finals have been ruling my life, I think that I will be doing a "mini blog series" of how I think that I did after each final. Today you'll see two, because I have two exams today. (Whoda thunk?)

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Woohoo one final down! (...Four to go...) I feel confident that I did well, considering that the three questions that my group had were more or less answered by the TA, AND the fact that it was an open note exam, so anything that we were unsure of or couldn't eliminate we were able to look up. Hardest question on the exam:

If you were to study the surface of another planet orbiting a star, what kind of telescope would you use? (The answer is a telescope with angular resolution... or something along those lines.)

The other question that was pretty hard had to do with the Doppler effect. The question was: Why do you not need to tune your radio while you drive? We think it had to do with the fact that your car is not going fast enough to really experience that effect with radio waves... And the effect would be negligable. (What a fun word, that... negligable.)

Thirty minutes until my next exam... wish me luck! (It's math. Ugh.)

Y'all just wait and see what comes at the END of the blog

This blog comes in 4 parts! (And it will be short because I need my sleep because tomorrow I have to take two finals...)

Part 1!! Final exams!

The reason you haven't been seeing any posts from me is because I'm studying for/taking finals! Yay studying! (You have my excuses now, I can move on.)

Part 2!! $50!

I went to the Paisano semester-end dinner where I got to chat more with the other writers and editors and get a free italian dinner. And then they awarded small scholarships to the editors and contributors and I got $50! Hello, shopping!

Part 3!! My Mom!

My mom is the most wonderful, amazing, awesome woman and I am so glad that I've got a claim on her as my own. (Well except for Duncan has a claim too, but you know what I mean.) Because yesterday she overnighted me these:


Cute little gift bags for each day of the next week while I take finals. (Even though they're not chirstmas presents, I still put them under our tree!) Thanks, mom. Love you bunches, and even though it's technically wednesday right now, I haven't opened Wednesday's bag yet.

Part 4!! The Magical Number 32 (degrees)

OH MY GOODNESS IT'S BELOW FREEZING AND SNOWING OUTSIDE. And despite the fact that it's half past midnight, the entire apartment complex is up and about and throwing slushballs at each other. (!!!!!SNOW!!!!!) To give y'all a clue of exactly how unexpected this is, Abby wore a tanktop today and I wore my flipflops while I walked to campus. (OMG SNOW!!!!!!) I just stood outside on my balcony and laughed for about 10 minutes... I'm so happy. Snow is so cool. ("You know who comes from the north and who comes from the south when it snows," Abby just said dryly as someone else screeched.)

(SNOW!!!!!!)

Post office luck

Yesterday I went to the Post Office to mail two Christmas packages.

Now, I think I can count on one hand the number of letters and packages that I have sent in my life. (This does not include thank you notes.) I have been inside of post offices only a handful of times, and part of me thinks this could be a sad thing. The other part of me is glad that we have insta-communication through the internet and I can save a lot of money because email and facebook don't require stamps.

What this all boils down to is the fact that my experience of post offices is mostly through what I hear from other people. So going there yesterday was kind of a new experience for me. My experience yesterday was a good one, and this is why:

1. It took 10 minutes.
2. There was one person in front of me in line.
3. The employee who helped me was really nice.
4. Postage was only $6.
5. Right as I left, about 10 people came in.

#4 makes me happy, very happy. My mom warned me the other day (and I have heard throughout my life) that international postage can get really expensive. The list also makes me realize that post offices aren't so bad... maybe I'll even write a letter sometime.

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Studying going well, by the way. Ahead of schedule = Very good. One day of class left... completely finished with Politics, Astronomy, and English classes for the semester (since my English teacher canceled class tomorrow morning... Yay, I can sleep late!) A little sad that my Astronomy class has ended, though.

Chugga Chugga

I feel like Hermione Granger. (Except without the magic part.) I actually drew up a timetable for studying for my final exams.

(There's that bit in book six where Hermione draws up a studying timetable for herself, Harry, and Ron and when Ron gets his he says, "You've left me a night off a week! Thanks!" and she comes back with "That's for quidditch practice." So if you're still wondering why I feel like Hermione, she reminds me of timetables.)

(If I had my books with me I would quote it directly... but I don't.)

Me and final exams go way back, (seven years, actually) And despite the many exams I have sat through in the last seven years (Assuming 7 classes per year, the number is 98) I have never made a study schedule. Oh sure, teachers would spoon feed us reviews and give us a calendar with a proposed schedule... but I would never use those. Why on earth would I actually study for finals? They're easy to ace.

Well, I think that Abby is getting to me. Her constant blabbering about studying (and seeing all of the signs around campus reading "Freakin about Finals?") has made me suddenly care about my studying habits. So I have drawn up a schedule for myself (color coded to boot) and will (hopefully) be sticking to it.

(So far so good.)

I am chuggin right along to my finals, and then my glorious month of Christmas vacation...

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While sitting in my Astronomy class today, we were talking about extrasolar life, or life outside of our solar system. Apparently there are 329 extrasolar planets that we have found to this day, whereas 15 years ago, the number was none. We spent part of the class today talking about how life forms (or our ideas, because we don't actually know what sparks life) and he said that one of the main problems we need to solve in order to find out how life forms is how abiotic chemistry leads to biotic chemistry... and apparently this is all under the study of "Astrobiogeochemistry"... Which leads me to believe that it is the study of absolutely everything.

(It also makes me want to major in Astrobiogeochemisty and have a minor in physics... just so I can get it all covered.)

I am pleased

(Warning: Knitting content ahead!)

I am pleased, because Christmas gifts are going well...

I finished the stripey one... (You all guessed what this was, and she who shall be receiving it has already seen and approved it... so I do not mind spoiling.)


Started something else... (It is the most delicious mohair/silk blend... I want to eat it. It's ShibuiKnits Silk Cloud.)


And I don't mind spoiling this. These will be this year's adorable little miniature ornament, like last year's mini mittens. I give you...

Mini stockings! Aren't they adorable? They each take around an hour to do, and they're just so easy. It's turning out to be a fun way to experiment with fair isle.

It's beginning to look a lot like

Because Thanksgiving is over, it is obviously time for Christmas to start! I have things on the needles, I have lights over my door, and I have the heater on... Oh yes. Clearly it is time for Christmas. I may have to bake some cookies now!

First off, go here for my mother's blog about the Chuy's parade. She says it better than I have the patience to. ;) Long story short: Best year that we've participated in. The first year was nice because it was hot (like 85-90!) Last year was "misable" because there was hardly any turnout due to the fact that it was cold and wet. Remember how I defrosted for six hours afterward? And this year... well, yes, it was a little on the cold side, but it was a great turnout and we all had fun waving and dancing with the vegetables. As someone near me said after another person had high-fived Mike (the Carrot!), "We're doing excellent PR for vegetables."

So the drive back to San Antonio was uneventful. I listened to Harry Potter #7, because I have it in my car, and I clearly have not listened to it enough in the last year and a half. :) (As an aside, I now have all of the Harry Potter books on my iPod, and have been working my way through them for the last month or so... it's fun to hear the stories again. Just in case you were wondering, I'm on book 3.) So yeah. Uneventful drive. Got home and unloaded the car... and brought home THIS:


This is the little tree that Duncan and I have gotten to decorate for forever. Because we could have it upstairs, we could put all of our paper decorations that we made in school on it. The jury is out on whether we will find an angel for the top.

And also graciously supplied from home...


ICICLE LIGHTS!

They were very long icicle lights, so we knocked on our neighbor's door and asked if they wanted the icicle lights on their side too. ("Of course!" they said.)

Look at us, all festive!

Abby finally gave me a birthday present when I got home because she finally had a chance to shop without me driving her there. She bought me a cute UT sweatshirt, and I love it! I've been needing one...

Another knitting blog will be coming your way soonish... sure to bring fun camera angles and a variety of colors. I have to be all sneaky nowadays that people who receive presents read my blog. And plus, Legolas isn't around to model. (<- I like the last one best. Funny, funny, funny...)

Altough I am sure you are unaware of this as you read, it's 1:18 AM right now and I have to sleep. G'night, all!