This year for the holiday's I got a real Christmas Tree.
I absolutely love the holidays and it wouldn't feel like Christmas with out a real tree. But I did learn some things.
Firstly the watering of the tree is very important. By the time I was taking the lights off of the tree on this Tuesday just leaning into the tree would cause bunches of needles to embed themselves in my shirt and pull right off of the tree. Needless (but much emphasis on needles) to say this resulted in ridiculously large quantities of needles being shed upon my carpet.
After managing to move the tree outside (this involved untying it from the ceiling as it had fallen over sometime early December). I was very impressed with myself and feeling good. I figured I ought to try at needle removal with the vacuum cleaner.
This was a mistake as after 2 minutes or so of more or less futility….*zzzt* everything went dark.
I have now learned many things about fuses, crazy old ones in particular. While rather ridiculously inconvenient the generation of this knowledge I feel will definitely be useful later in life.
I strongly recommend shop- vacs for needle removal.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Crafting burn out.
As has happened to me now for many years I went and had some big ideas for my holiday crafting. This year it was all about the hand-spun (by me of course) alpaca yarn being used to knit stuff for people. Needless to say I bit off way more than I could chew and even having only 3 projects just finished knitting a gift last evening.
It’s some crafting burn out. Mainly the problem is I feel like I must devote all of my free time to these projects which tend to be not the most exciting or something that I’m really into. Plus all while I’m (theoretically) furiously knitting or spinning I’ll be drooling over all of the other things I could be doing instead. Very sad.
But the holiday’s are over! And I even managed to make a big push to finish the one "IOU" project that remained.
Here's what I made:
All three of course started as raw wool and so required: carding, spinning, plying, washing, then finally the knitting. So overall I suppose only having gotten through 3 is ok.
But I'm really looking forward to all the new and exciting projects I can tackle!
It’s some crafting burn out. Mainly the problem is I feel like I must devote all of my free time to these projects which tend to be not the most exciting or something that I’m really into. Plus all while I’m (theoretically) furiously knitting or spinning I’ll be drooling over all of the other things I could be doing instead. Very sad.
But the holiday’s are over! And I even managed to make a big push to finish the one "IOU" project that remained.
Here's what I made:
All three of course started as raw wool and so required: carding, spinning, plying, washing, then finally the knitting. So overall I suppose only having gotten through 3 is ok.
But I'm really looking forward to all the new and exciting projects I can tackle!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Simple Delights.
A few weeks ago I decided I wanted croutons for a lunch salad. The debate was then should I buy a box/bag or should I try making them.
Quick research indicated $2-$3 for store bought. Then I found this recipe for homemade. And as I actually had all of the ingredients it was the obvious winner.
At some point I decided that trying to eat a whole loaf of bread on my own was ridiculous and so I have a loaf of sliced wheat bread in the freezer. I pulled out two slices. Frozen bread is awesome in its ability to thaw in absolutely no time. I chopped up the bread (crust and all).
Then I melted probably 2 tablespoons of butter. I suspect that this was overkill. However I started with a smaller amount and it just disappeared when I mixed it with the cubes so I was afraid some of them and soaked up nothing. Even when I added more it still seemed iffy.
Having inherited garlic salt from the pantry of my old shared residence I made the first use of it in what I suspect has been a few years when I sprinkled it liberally over the cubes.
I spread everything out onto a foil lined pan and popped them into the toaster oven. When the cubes had reached some varying degrees of brownness I pulled everything out and gave them a taste.
Best. Croutons. Ever.
Quick research indicated $2-$3 for store bought. Then I found this recipe for homemade. And as I actually had all of the ingredients it was the obvious winner.
At some point I decided that trying to eat a whole loaf of bread on my own was ridiculous and so I have a loaf of sliced wheat bread in the freezer. I pulled out two slices. Frozen bread is awesome in its ability to thaw in absolutely no time. I chopped up the bread (crust and all).
Then I melted probably 2 tablespoons of butter. I suspect that this was overkill. However I started with a smaller amount and it just disappeared when I mixed it with the cubes so I was afraid some of them and soaked up nothing. Even when I added more it still seemed iffy.
Having inherited garlic salt from the pantry of my old shared residence I made the first use of it in what I suspect has been a few years when I sprinkled it liberally over the cubes.
I spread everything out onto a foil lined pan and popped them into the toaster oven. When the cubes had reached some varying degrees of brownness I pulled everything out and gave them a taste.
Best. Croutons. Ever.
Utilities
So since moving into my very own apartment which I don’t share with anyone else I’ve quite loved it. But this winter the utilities costs may be the death of me.
When I first moved in things were pretty ok, with the exception of evil Comcast ridiculous charges. My first electric bill was like $19. I was being pretty ridiculous about not having anything on and come to think of it I also didn’t have much stuff for some of the time.
Things have changed.
Mainly I blame the cold weather. I knew the cold factor was pretty much going to be the demise of my thriftyness. To combat this I set the thermostat originally at 65 but soon down to 60. Then sometimes I’d turn it up to 65 if I were home for the entire day (weekend). But now even if I’m home I tend to leave it at 60. I survive mainly by more or less sitting on top of a space heater when I’m at home in the evening. And to sleep I typically wear: socks, pajama bottoms, 1 or 2 shirts, and a sweatshirt. Plus on the bed is: a sheet, a velour blanket, 2 comforters, a decorative fleece blanket, and a seriously retro (probably from the 70’s) electric blanket (donated by Mother) which I try to turn on 30 minutes or so before bed and then turn off while I’m sleeping. I most always wake up toasty and it is awesome.
But attempts to save/conserve are only getting me so far. The electric bill is around $40 now and I’m dreading what it will be now that the rate caps have expired. For me the uncertainty is worse than anything.
The oil is the heavy hitter however. Early December I almost ran the tank dry (which is very bad). So to fill it was 214 gallons. It was 2.60 something per gallon I think. That hurt, a lot. But I hoped it would last me a good while. Then when I looked at the tank gauge approximately 2 weeks after it was filled there was already ¼ of the tank gone. Doom!
Just yesterday I arrived home and found that they’d come and filled the tank again (I signed up for automatic delivery so I don’t almost run the tank dry again). And even though it was a little under 100 gallons thankfully, the price was up to 2.90 something. More Doom!
The carnage (so far):
12/12 – $557.06
1/6 - $274.95
Total: 832.01
I predict things will be getting a bit worse before they get better on this front.
When I first moved in things were pretty ok, with the exception of evil Comcast ridiculous charges. My first electric bill was like $19. I was being pretty ridiculous about not having anything on and come to think of it I also didn’t have much stuff for some of the time.
Things have changed.
Mainly I blame the cold weather. I knew the cold factor was pretty much going to be the demise of my thriftyness. To combat this I set the thermostat originally at 65 but soon down to 60. Then sometimes I’d turn it up to 65 if I were home for the entire day (weekend). But now even if I’m home I tend to leave it at 60. I survive mainly by more or less sitting on top of a space heater when I’m at home in the evening. And to sleep I typically wear: socks, pajama bottoms, 1 or 2 shirts, and a sweatshirt. Plus on the bed is: a sheet, a velour blanket, 2 comforters, a decorative fleece blanket, and a seriously retro (probably from the 70’s) electric blanket (donated by Mother) which I try to turn on 30 minutes or so before bed and then turn off while I’m sleeping. I most always wake up toasty and it is awesome.
But attempts to save/conserve are only getting me so far. The electric bill is around $40 now and I’m dreading what it will be now that the rate caps have expired. For me the uncertainty is worse than anything.
The oil is the heavy hitter however. Early December I almost ran the tank dry (which is very bad). So to fill it was 214 gallons. It was 2.60 something per gallon I think. That hurt, a lot. But I hoped it would last me a good while. Then when I looked at the tank gauge approximately 2 weeks after it was filled there was already ¼ of the tank gone. Doom!
Just yesterday I arrived home and found that they’d come and filled the tank again (I signed up for automatic delivery so I don’t almost run the tank dry again). And even though it was a little under 100 gallons thankfully, the price was up to 2.90 something. More Doom!
The carnage (so far):
12/12 – $557.06
1/6 - $274.95
Total: 832.01
I predict things will be getting a bit worse before they get better on this front.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Reading into the future.
I fell off the bandwagon for quite a while again. Oops.
So without further ado back into the randomness that is my brain:
In 2009 I decided that I wanted to read at least 1 book a week. For a while it was really easy. Then it got more difficult. I latched onto a boyfriend and gee-wiz all of my free time was gone.
But I still did it. Mostly because I got ahead of schedule early on and cheated by counting audio books (it's a very different experience but my primary goal was to acquire the knowledge of a story so it didn't matter through what means to me).
Currently I stand at 53 books. I anticipate finishing 2 more before the end of the year. Yay me.
But now as I stand on the cusp of the year looking into 2010 I'm having difficulties deciding what to read. For a normal person this would seem a very strange thing. But I am odd and here's my situation:
In November a new book was published that I have been waiting for years for. It's the first part of the last book of the Wheel of Time series. The whole story of the series is a long one so to try and be concise: Really long books, really long series, author died a few years ago (when I heard the news I actually yelled "no!" in desperation), series being completed by someone else.
I was thinking I would re-read the books before consuming the new awesomeness. However it's a huge undertaking: think over 10,000 pages. So that's why I didn't include it in the 2009 book a week deal (even I know 800 pages in a week is a bit much).
So in the meantime I've gotten very good about finding books that look interesting and adding them to my "to read" list on the website Goodreads. And well if I read through all of the Wheel of Time I don't get to read the other new stuff. As a general rule I don't re-read (or re-watch etc.). I always go for something new.
This is quite the conundrum. I'm thinking maybe I'll alternate. One WoT, one new book. I kinda doubt that I'll make it to the new book in a year (especially since the boy is still in the picture and well I kinda have a life - weird), but one can't have everything.
Plus it's entirely possible that if I'm too slow the next book (part 2 of "book 12" the final book) will be out. Or if I'm really really slow the 'final' (I kinda almost don't believe them) book will be released.
Choices...choices...
So without further ado back into the randomness that is my brain:
In 2009 I decided that I wanted to read at least 1 book a week. For a while it was really easy. Then it got more difficult. I latched onto a boyfriend and gee-wiz all of my free time was gone.
But I still did it. Mostly because I got ahead of schedule early on and cheated by counting audio books (it's a very different experience but my primary goal was to acquire the knowledge of a story so it didn't matter through what means to me).
Currently I stand at 53 books. I anticipate finishing 2 more before the end of the year. Yay me.
But now as I stand on the cusp of the year looking into 2010 I'm having difficulties deciding what to read. For a normal person this would seem a very strange thing. But I am odd and here's my situation:
In November a new book was published that I have been waiting for years for. It's the first part of the last book of the Wheel of Time series. The whole story of the series is a long one so to try and be concise: Really long books, really long series, author died a few years ago (when I heard the news I actually yelled "no!" in desperation), series being completed by someone else.
I was thinking I would re-read the books before consuming the new awesomeness. However it's a huge undertaking: think over 10,000 pages. So that's why I didn't include it in the 2009 book a week deal (even I know 800 pages in a week is a bit much).
So in the meantime I've gotten very good about finding books that look interesting and adding them to my "to read" list on the website Goodreads. And well if I read through all of the Wheel of Time I don't get to read the other new stuff. As a general rule I don't re-read (or re-watch etc.). I always go for something new.
This is quite the conundrum. I'm thinking maybe I'll alternate. One WoT, one new book. I kinda doubt that I'll make it to the new book in a year (especially since the boy is still in the picture and well I kinda have a life - weird), but one can't have everything.
Plus it's entirely possible that if I'm too slow the next book (part 2 of "book 12" the final book) will be out. Or if I'm really really slow the 'final' (I kinda almost don't believe them) book will be released.
Choices...choices...
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
We just had to forgive ourselves.
In the past couple of years I’ve occasionally been hit with things that make me realize that I am growing up. At first they were more passive: friends being engaged, married even, myself buying ‘adult’ things like a bed, and generally paying for all of the things that one takes for granted as a youth.
Lately may things have been happening lately that make me realize much more actively that I myself am becoming an adult. I’ve found my own apartment, procured furniture (albeit mostly donated by the family), trying to budget my own utilities (it’ll be a while before I really know), and I’ve met a guy I could actually picture spending the rest of my life with (not to get ahead of anything however).
It’s crazy and hard to believe sometimes. But then in some ways it is also exciting I suppose.
Lately may things have been happening lately that make me realize much more actively that I myself am becoming an adult. I’ve found my own apartment, procured furniture (albeit mostly donated by the family), trying to budget my own utilities (it’ll be a while before I really know), and I’ve met a guy I could actually picture spending the rest of my life with (not to get ahead of anything however).
It’s crazy and hard to believe sometimes. But then in some ways it is also exciting I suppose.
"Growing up is never easy. You hold on to things that were. You wonder what's to come. But that night, I think we knew it was time to let go of what had been, and look ahead to what would be. Other days. New days. Days to come. The thing is, we didn't have to hate each other for getting older. We just had to forgive ourselves... for growing up."
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