Giving Ugly Animals Their Day in the Sun

If Cute Overload made you roll your eyes so hard you sprained your retinas, you gotta check out Ugly Overload.



Here are a few of my favorites:

The Madagascar ugly-monkey

The ugliest kitten in the universe

Baby bird = ugly

Barely-Rising-to-the-Level-of-Primate-Behavior Bathroom Antics

I hate for this to be the first thing I write after such a long leave-of-blog, but someone has pooped on the bathroom seat in my office. She took a shit OUTSIDE of the toilet. Has the seat pee-er decided to escalate her assault on decency, or does she have some hardcore competition? I don't know, and I don't want to know. I just want to share a bathroom with the well toilet-trained. Is that too much to ask?

P.S. How wrong is it that I just thought about going back and taking a picture of it with my phone so you would have to look at it, too?

Save Your 99 Cents

My mom requested a shawl with pockets for Christmas, and I found a pattern online at Lion Brand Yarns. They actually made me pay 99 cents to download it. Seriously, how is it worth the cost of processing the credit card transaction for 99 cents?

Turns out the pattern kind of sucked. The yarn it called for was too stiff and didn't come in a color I liked, and the pockets were too tiny. So, I fixed it.

Here is The Husband Who Is A Good Sport modeling it for me:





Here is my mom enjoying it:



What's that you say? It is so awesome you want to knit one yourself? Okey dokey then. Here's the pattern.

Pattern: Knitted Shawl with Pockets

Size
Approximately 18" x 72"

Materials
3 skeins Lion Brand Homespun (98% acrylic, 2% polyester; 185 yds. per 6 oz. skein)
Size 11 (8 mm) knitting needles
Tapestry Needle

Gauge
Gauge is not important. BE SURE TO CHECK YOUR GAUGE. (Just kidding. Inside joke.)

Shawl
Cast on 40 stitches. Knit every row until shawl measures 72". Bind off loosely.

Pockets (make 2)
Cast on 20 stitches. Knit every row for 7" Continue in reverse stockinette stitch (purl RS rows, knit WS rows) for 2". Bind off loosely.

Sew pockets on each end of the shawl.

Cutest Little Parasite Ever

When I first got Dizzy, she would only begrudgingly sit on my lap if I spread a blanket over it. Even then, she would just uncomfortably crouch on my leg. As we became best buddies over the years, Dizzy started sleeping with me, sleeping on me, sitting on me, lying on me, and finally following me around while loudly demanding that I sit down in order to facilitate opportunities for her to lie on me.

Recently Dizzy has stepped up her fucking annoying wildly adorable need to be near me. Now she's decided that she needs to be inside my clothing while lying on me.

The Duckling Drinks Malbec

Elsa Bianchi
Argentina
2004 Malbec
$7.99 at Central Market

After a disappointing first glass, I found that this wine really benefited from sitting open, "breathing" as it were, for about half an hour. Once I gave it that chance I was really blown away by this relatively cheap red. The flavor echoed the aroma of cherries and dark chocolate in addition to minty and peppery notes with a finish of sweet oranges and cloves. I definitely would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a big, flavorful red wine.

On Being a Tortoise

New Year’s resolutions have never been my strong suit. I actually made my last resolution in July, which was to eat infinite vegetables every day. If I aimed for infinity, I might actually eat 5 or 6 servings, right? That strategy worked pretty well for about a month, as do most of my self-improvement schemes.

Despite being weak on the resolution front, I’m all for vague good intentions. My most recent vague good intention is to try to be in better shape. Not to do anything specific, mind you, just to try to be somewhat better.

Well, even though every time the subject of running comes up I say that I hate running and I’m not a runner, I secretly wish I could run and run and run. It sounds freeing and exhilarating. At one point ten years ago I could sort of run, but I don’t remember enjoying it. I set a goal to run 5K. I did, and then immediately quit. When I think of running now, I think of feeling fast and strong, not in terms of time and distance.

A couple of times recently, with vague good intentions, I decided I would learn to run. I would start out running about a minute at a time, figuring I would work up from there and the whole process would be easy and painless. But, after 30 seconds my lungs would be burning and my legs cramping, and I would be hating the whole thing.

But then, I stumbled across some website (which I am kicking myself for not book marking) explaining how even the laziest of lazy-butts could learn to run by going v…e…r…y s…l…o…w…l…y. She said to go so slowly you would be embarrassed if anyone you knew saw you. This floated around in my brain for a while, sounding like a better and better idea until the other night I tried it.

I ran farther and longer than I have in ten years. And! It felt good.

You may be skeptical that running so slowly would have any benefit, but it was definitely a better workout than walking. I got out of breath, but not in an imminently fatal way, and my quads were sore the next day, but not excruciating.

This may be boring for a lot of people to read, but I am just bubbling with excitement. The fact that my pudgy little round body actually RAN anywhere has me grinning and surprised. I’m actually looking forward to trying it again!

On a side note, this whole “try to be in better shape” thing came to fruition when I realized I had gained several pounds over the Christmas holiday, mostly due to the efforts of my coworkers. Every day for a week people were supplying all manner of candies and baked goods. I do not understand this urge to spontaneously make food to offer to people who didn’t ask for it. My coworkers are wonderful folks, but I wouldn’t dirty the kitchen for them unless I had to.

Happy New Year!

Last night The Husband and I drank champagne, watched silly movies, and ate like kings.



There's nothing like starting out the New Year overfed and half-drunk! Midnight found us groaning slightly and watching Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. We didn't actually get to see said Conquering because we couldn't stay up any later, but least I made it to midnight this year.

Christmas 2006: A Look Back in Silly Pictures

The Husband and I went to visit my folks on Christmas Eve. I know it kind of looks like they live in a Cracker Barrel, but they don't.



It was raining on and off, and when the sun came out we got to see a rainbow. We all thought it seemed terribly symbolic to see a Christmas Eve rainbow, but I don't think any of us knew why.



The sunset was spectacular.



My favorite part of Christmas Eve is when the sun goes down and we get to turn on all the lights.





Can't forget the baby Jesus!



Here's my Grandma's house. It was really hard to get these pictures outside because it started raining again, and my tripod was sinking in the mud.



If you turn your back on my Grandma's house, you see my parents' house.



Here's their hitchin' post.



We've been saving these fireworks since last New Year's Eve, but the drought was so bad all year we never got to shoot them off. This was the first Fourth of July in my memory when we didn't get to have any fireworks at all for fear of burning Parker County down. It may not be traditional to set off fireworks on Christmas Eve, but it was raining, and we were all together, so we thought, "What the hell?" I mean, "heck." We wouldn't think the word "hell" on Christmas Eve.



On Christmas Day, we visited the other side of my family. Most of the pictures I took were goofy ones of my brother. In respect for his privacy, I'm not blogging them all over the internet for the whole world to see. But, there was a really cute Christmas tree ornament.



We also spent time with The Husband's family, opening presents and playing with the bay-bee, whose internet-related privacy I am also respecting. Most of the pictures turned out like this, anyway. He's a wiggly little booger.



I hope all y'all had as much fun as I did!

A Very Whedon Season's Greetings

Many thanks to The Husband for such awesome Christmas gifts!

Cafe Japon Revisited

I know I said that I wouldn't go back to Cafe Japon, but I decided to give it another try. The Husband and I were on our way home from work, and I really wanted some sushi, but I wasn't in the mood for the take-out place. The Husband is repulsed by does not care for sushi, so Cafe Japon seemed like a good option since they have a good non-sushi selection.

Fortunately, the sushi was much better on this visit. Everything tasted much fresher and wasn't at room temperature like last time. The squid wasn't stringy, and the mackerel was flavorful. I didn't try the salmon roe again, however. The Husband got the salmon teriyaki*, which was also delicious - not overcooked and dry like it was at Mr. Sushi.

I had my own problem with Mr. Sushi's food and their overly liberal use of wasabi. Another advantage of Cafe Japon over Mr. Sushi is that you can order single pieces instead of everything coming in pairs. I know pairs are more traditional, but sometimes I don't want that much of any single thing. I would go back to Cafe Japon before I'd eat at Mr. Sushi again.

Since I've only been there twice, I'm not sure if one visit was an anomaly or if they are consistently inconsistent. I will definitely give Cafe Japon another chance, and I can recommend that you at least check them out if you're in Addison to do some sushi-eatin'.

*The Blogger dictionary has the word "sukiyaki" in it, but not "teriyaki." Weird.