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December 31, 2008
#1 Baaaaa
Okay, so Nicole is doing this 101 Things in 1001 Days thingy, and I think it's a fine idea.
The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days. (That'll be September 29, 2011 for me.)
The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).
I've left a couple of blank spaces at the end so I can add a few more things as I think of them. A couple of the items on this list are things that are more for Nathan - my job is to, er, encourage him to do them.
- Finish molding in kitchen
Floor in laundry room- Unpack all of the books
- Organize garage
- Organize basement
- Sort through the CDs
- Organize costumes
- Have corset repaired
- Deal with the cloak
- Make new bloomers
- Mend chemise
- Turn juniper patch into edible garden
- Make curtain for under sink
- Cook through Fat book
- Vaccinate cats
- Go to the dentist
- Organize yarn collection
Knit pirate hat- Knit something from Victorian Lace Today
- Knit sweater for mom
- Finish that pink scarf
- Darn all the socks that need darning
- Knit argyle socks
- Finish Gen's blanket
- Finish kitchen cabinets
- Knit 5 things on Ravelry queue (other than the things on this list)
- Knit something for charity
- Knit something for three different babies
- Put names on Christmas stockings
- Can something
- Watch at least one Oscar movie/month (1/35)
- Finish Nathan's pajamas
- Cure some bacon
- Make sausage
- Make beer
- Finish Forbes Forest
- Lose 10 Lbs
- Do an exercise video at least once a week
- Build cabinet for living room
- Strip/repaint dining room windows
- Finish table
- Make Nathan a new faire shirt
- Get rid of xylosma (just the stumps are left)
- Replant front of house
Plant planter box- Replace house number
- Re-seed lawn
- Have house painted
- Refinish floors
- Win 5 online poker tournaments
- Go to Disneyland
- Go for five hikes
- Ride bike once a month
- Go to Seattle
- Plant some bulbs
- Fix/replace deck
- Sell 10 things on eBay
- Sell something on Etsy
- Make a Morris chair (this is all Nathan.)
- Replace overhead light in bedroom
- Simmer burner for stove
- Fix oven pilot light
- Get new shower curtain
- Re-do hall closet
Buy a bra that fits- Bake bread 5 times
- Make fruitcake
- Win the cocktail contest at Dickens (I know, it's fixed)
- send 15 postcards
- Watch The War
- Watch The Civil War
- Make 3 different cassoulets
- Make puff pastry
- send Christmas cards
- Make 1 thing for everyone on Christmas list
- Make a quilt
- GET A HAIRCUT
- Visit the Vallejo farmer's market 5 times
- See 5 movies at the Empress
- Have 5 dinner parties
- Have 3 cocktail parties (1/3)
- Have 1 costume party
- Have a rockin' 50th birthday party for Nathan
- Read that biography of Dickens
- Read 10 things on unread shelf (1/10)
- Learn a poem to do at Faire
- Get Nathan's boots fixed
- Learn to play a musical instrument
- Knit socially 10 times
- Do something for every Project Spectrum grouping
- Participate in local theatre
- get somebody famous to respond to me on Twitter
- Try 5 new restaurants
- Meet in person someone I've known online for more than a year
- Get the sconces and overhead light in the living room repaired
- Have the mermaid print framed
- Deal with the Curliecue Blanket, one way or another
- reserved
- reserved
- reserved
- reserved
I am going to get right on this as soon as I have another cocktail.
Posted by Kate at 9:01 PM | Comments (4)December 30, 2008
Proud as a Dead Fish?
Well, remember how I have Carpal Tunnel and I'm not supposed to be knitting? Yeah, well, the Winter Knitty came out, and I had to have it. I had to. You know what I'm talking about.
I stayed up Christmas Eve finishing it. I was mildly concerned that Ethan would either just tolerate it or dismiss it entirely, but he put it on immediately and walked around with it pulled over his face. High praise from an almost-six-year-old.
Zoe liked her crazy hat, too. But this picture's just an excuse to show off what an adorable niece I have.
Posted by Kate at 6:04 PM
| Comments (3)
December 19, 2008
Oscar Challenge: Going My Way
So I really wanted to like this, since it's one of my dad's favorites. It seemed like a winner - Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald, and a bunch of singin'. I love me some Bing. His voice was like warm caramel, he was easy on the eyes, and I totally get why the girls went nuts for him.
But this movie is AWFUL. It's a bunch of random scenes, admittedly with good actors and a damned fine soundtrack, tied together with a rope of sentimentality. Blech. I need some drunken debauchery now.
p.s. This won against "Gaslight", for heaven's sake. What was the Academy SMOKING??
Posted by Kate at 9:51 PM | Comments (0)December 15, 2008
She was born upon the bright blue sea
notes on the third weekend:
I can carry a tune, but I'm not a particularly good singer. I'm pretty enthusiastic on stage, which I think squeaks me by with the Naughty Minstrels and with Paddy West. The carol singers at Dickens, though, are mostly really good/totally fabulous singers, and they seem sort of formal (not stuffy, but more proper than I usually play), so I was pretty nervous singing with them, especially without having rehearsed at all. I forgot that Bob and Terri Crabb are delightful, warm, silly, non-stuffy people. They don't seem to mind that I can't hit the high notes in "Carol of the Bells", and I can only hit the high notes in "Silent Night" when I am totally warmed up/don't have a cough, or that I don't know about a third of the songs, and when I do, I only know the words in Latin. We sang "Joy To the World" tonight, and during the "...and heaven and nature sing..." part, I had a moment of complete and total happiness. Thanks, Mr. G. F. Handel, and thanks to Bob and Terri and Mrs. Sharon Collier, who's a delight to work with.
Monique W. has been so kind and charming about me not knowing she's a twin. It's so obvious now, but I was SO CONFUSED before.
Last night I had wriggled out of the Prison Mattress Ticking dress and was about to get into my civvies, when the lovely costume mistress of Postcards walked by and said, "Well, if you're going to wear that, you might as well come and be in Fun Below Stairs." So I tore off my petticoats, put on some lipstick, and made a mad dash backstage to be part of the Naughty French Postcards participants' show. The regular Postcards show conflicts with the last Paddy West set, and I'd made the painful choice to sing rather than run around with my naked homies. I can't tell you how happy it made me to be greeted by my scantily clad comrades. Thank you so much, Sarah, and to Mrs. Boffin, who gave up her spot in the tableau for me. Spoon!
I've "taught" a bunch of little girls how to knit over the run, but Pappy's daughter took to it last night like a duck on a junebug. I felt bad that all I had to teach her with was some gorgeous but splitty worsted on #5 DPNs. She was tense and made a lot of mistakes, but she seemed to like it, so I brought her some Malabrigo and my only pair of straight #8s, and, as I suspected they might be, her first 12 rows were nearly flawless. No, really. If she keeps up, she'll be better than me in six months.
This is a crappy picture of me in my new hat, taken Under the Influence on my iPhone, but the colors are just right.
We were only going to do two weekends of Fair this year (I know, shut up), so I didn't turn in any paperwork for Dark Garden. Despite that, I still filled in for someone first weekend. I didn't wind up being used, but it was absolutely lovely to be asked to stand by in case of emergency again today. (And I bought as many raffle tickets as I could afford. GO ME!)
Little kids usually loathe me (I think they know the feeling is mutual), but for some reason, Tyler Anne seems to find me a kindred spirit. Likewise, you little blonde monster.
Every morning during the first Paddy West set, Mr. Scrooge comes by and threatens to take the whole ship away if he doesn't have his loan repaid by 3:00. Scrooge, of course, has a lovely redemption every day, which doesn't happen in our area, but today he stopped by during the second-to-last set in the breezeway, and sang the most gorgeous, loving song I've ever heard. I was in the kitchen with a gaggle of charming young ladies, so I only had one ear pointed at the stage, but the joy and the pathos read perfectly clearly all the way across the bay.
How is it fair that Jessa is so unbelievably hot AND so nice AND is such a good cook? The pumpkin and pecan thingies were almost as delicious as she is herself.
The last song set today was perfection. Our Learless Feader had run off to get a libation, and everyone else, anxious to keep singing, did an impromptu performance of "Billy Bones". Both Nathan and I nearly swooned when the leader of Cap'n Dan and the Mutineers decided that we should sing "Dark Lady". Steve and Anna reappeared and announced that we'd sing "Billy Bones". I wish I'd had a camera to capture the look on their faces when it was revealed that it had just been sung. So then we sang "Dark Lady", which is my favoritesonginthewholefuckingworld, and I was nearly perfectly happy, and then Nathan stole my suggestion to sing "Spanish Ladies", so then I had to suggest that we sing that song about Old Maui, and then we sang "Jack Was Every Inch a Sailor", and half the audience was dancing and Sharon led this sort of weird Victorian Conga line, and I had a moment of absolute and total and undeniable happiness (if you know L.M. Montgomery, you'll know what I mean when I say I had "The Flash"), and I didn't think I had any voice left after the Great Carol of the Bells Massacre of Ought Eight, but I sang my guts out, and then later when we were changing, Ryan said that he could have kept singing for hours, and I couldn't have agreed with anybody any more, ever. I'm just glad that crazy Steve H. didn't make us sing "Rolling Home, because I would have cried buckets, even with Rick in his batshit-insane pink dress.
And then we got home and found out that we're going to be grandparents. OMFG.
Posted by Kate at 1:08 AM | Comments (6)December 2, 2008
ACTUAL KNITTING CONTENT
Okay, you have to look closely, past my crazy-ass wig trying to escape my head, past the adorable Evil Minion, past Tess looking hot with her ukulele, but that yellow thing is KNITTING. It's just some yellow Malabrigo in seed stitch, but it has aspirations to be a scarf. If only it didn't make my wrists hurt so much. But who cares, it's KNITTING.
p.s. Can I tell you how much it sucks being with Paddy West at Dickens? Oh, wait, it doesn't suck even remotely.
Posted by Kate at 9:09 PM | Comments (4)