Envious of those able to be green, that is. I like “being green”. You know, environmentally conscious? But has anyone noticed that it’s a lot easier to be green in a city? Ironic, isn’t it, how the further removed from nature you get by moving to a concrete city that the easier it is to be green in your choices? I live in the middle of nature here, but it’s awfully hard to be green when there’s no mass transportation (and it’s too frickin’ cold to walk - hello, the wind chill is -48 right now… what in mother earth’s ass am I doing walking even two blocks to work? I’m gonna freeze my skin black walking back home in the morning if this wind doesn’t die down!), no recycling whatsoever (even for newspapers or cans), no organic anything, the “farmer’s market” is mostly a joke, (and only open for about 2 hours, one day a week, for 2 months, usually while I’m sleeping, thank you very much for this job), and you have to travel 60-90 miles ONE WAY to buy essential supplies like… underwear. Everything is shipped in from billions of miles away. Buying ‘local’ is a joke on most things. I consider “made in Montana” about as local as I can get, and frankly, there just isn’t a whole lot that’s locally available.

My house is not really my own - I rent it from my parents. I can’t make changes to it to greenify it for two reasons: a) uh, it’s not mine, hello, and b) I am just not that rich. It’s all electric everything, meaning, it’s an electricity HOG. It’s poorly insulated. The toilet-that-ran-for-months was finally fixed after my mother gasped at the $80 water bill - something I’d asked my father to do many times (it’s not exactly a normal floating ball toilet, okay? It’s weird. I didn’t know how to do it.)

I’m trying to greenify my life a little, nonetheless. My car gets good gas mileage, and I don’t go very many places, really. I fill up maybe twice a month on average. I’ve purchased a couple canvas bags and use them not only for groceries at the local store, but to tote things around in everywhere. I just purchased a $20 aluminum water bottle to spare me from constantly buying single-use beverages to pack to work, where the water is pretty well undrinkable. That’ll save money and reduce garbage.

I use cloth pads. When I started this cloth pad venture a couple years back, I never thought I’d like them as much as I do. I can’t imagine going back to spending $10-$15 a month on bleached, chemical-drenched feminine hygiene products when cloth is cheaper, reusable, and far, far more comfortable. I just need to make more of them. My stash is a bit small. *lol*

I’ve been freezing more of my leftovers for later, instead of just throwing them out. Reducing waste there, and in buying more things in bulk, and things with less packaging (read: fresh food, not processed food) helps considerably - and I eat better, too.

I use paper towels only for messy jobs - cat vomit, for instance - and for cleaning up kitchen spills. Never for wiping my hands after I’ve washed them. (I’ve yet to break friends of this habit, despite the ever-present hanging towels and reminders.) I intend to buy a few packs of cloth napkins to cut down on paper towel usage there, too, but I’m afraid I’d need quite a few of them.

I’ve been slowly transferring my cleaning to natural products. I like (and use) Method’s products, which are nice, but expensive, and available only at ONE store, in a city I rarely get to… so I do plenty of cleaning with baking soda and vinegar - this, by the way, makes a nice, nontoxic toilet cleaner, but does use QUITE a lot of vinegar.

I’d like to do a bit more of that this year. I’d love to start a compost pile - especially with the chickens - but I don’t have the resources right now, and more, I may be moving into an apartment in late August (in a city, heh) and may not have any good use for compost anyway. Hmm. With any luck, I’ll find a way to get a house, rather than an apartment, though!

And moving, you ask? Why yes. This year, with my credit card debt 100% eliminated, and my car very nearly paid off, I’m headed back to school. And that’s another thing the city has that this beautiful little rural, close-to-nature town just doesn’t: opportunity.

It’s officially 2008. Okay, it’s been 2008 for well over 48 hours now, but give a girl a break - I’ve got a life, and it’s not /all/ lived on my blog… or, eh, something like that. I rang in the new year at work, which wasn’t very exciting, but it was better than A, who spent the whole night puking her guts up, and not because she had too much fun, either. Flu’s going around, and I’m popping vitamins. Getting sick isn’t the way I want to start out this year’s 366 days. (Yeah, you hear that? 2008’s a leap year. You get an extra day to be good, or bad, or whatever your conscience calls for.)

I intended to do some sort of 2007 roundup of things I’ve done this year, most notably, in my knitting and all, but until I get around to that, here’s a survey I’ve seen flying all over the web in the last few years, most notably coming from All & Sundry. Did I do this last year? I forget. I’ll look it up once I’m through.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before??

Most notably, I raised chickens on a whim. Also, I knitted socks, bought ’serious’ furniture (you know, the kind where you go to a furniture store and spend a couple thousand dollars on something that might last a few years, instead of going to Walmart and spending a couple hundred on something that most definitely won’t…), played the Wii, and made all sorts of delicious new recipes in my very own crockpot. I’m sure there’s other things, too.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year??

Didn’t make any. Thank god. And no, I haven’t made any for 2008, either.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth??

No one particularly close to me gave birth. A couple cousins did, but I scarcely know them. A’s sister did, but I’m not real close to her either. I’ve never seen any of these babies, though of course, I wish them the best.

4. Did anyone close to you die??

No to that, as well, though we had a close call last March with Grandma R. I did have a few chickens get killed off by a fox, but I don’t think that ‘counts’ in this case.

5. What countries did you visit??

None.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007??

An acceptance offer for one of the tech schools in Montana, and enough money to go.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why??

April 9th - the day I was supposed to get my chicks.
June 28th - the day the sheriff’s office got shot up.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year??

Actually doing one of the things I’d been wanting to do (raising chickens) instead of just wishing and daydreaming about it. Fun, too!

9. What was your biggest failure??

Not even bothering applying for school because I thought it just wouldn’t happen. I was probably right about the outcome, but I should’ve applied, nonetheless.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury??

Nothing serious but for a while I had a severe cough that took three visits to the doctor, a useless ultrasound, an x-ray, and ultimately some allergy medication to clear up, a month later…

11. What was the best thing you bought??

My couch. Or maybe my dining table. Ooh, so hard to decide.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration??

Celebration? Uh, gosh. No one I know had celebratory behavior.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed??

Bush’s. *lol*

14. Where did most of your money go??

Aside from taxes and loans? Toward my new furniture. :) It was well worth it, too. And I spent an extraordinary amount on craft supplies (*cough*yarn*cough*) and on books and magazines. But I deserved it, dammit.

That said, I did pay off all of my credit card debt, have not yet missed a bill payment, and paid off nearly $3000 of furniture in just under two months, thanks to savings, a generous gift from my father, and a lot of dedication. So clearly, I am doing well, financially, and I don’t feel guilty about how I’ve spent my cash. I mean, face it, crafts and books are my ONLY leisure.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about??

Chickens. *laugh* And yarn!!!! And I was really damned excited about my trip to the waterslides with A. It was a ton of fun, too.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007??

Gosh, I don’t know. Maybe Saving Me by Nickelback, or If Everyone Cared or… I don’t know.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:? a) happier or sadder? ?b) thinner or fatter? ?c) richer or poorer??

I’m neither “happier or sadder” - these emotions just don’t cut it for me on the big, sweeping time scale unless you’ve just gotten married, had a baby, or lost someone dear to you, none of which happened to me. But I’m more satisfied, less depressed (not that I was overly depressed to begin with, but I’m less so this year) and enjoying more of my life. I’m fatter, but not by a whole lot. 10 lbs maybe? Thank you, birth control, and you, too, junk food. I’m richer in a way - I have less debt, I make more money, and I have more ‘nice things’ to show for it. But I have little actual cash on hand, much less than I did at this time last year, believe me. Last year I had this thing called ’savings’…

18. What do you wish you’d done more of??

Taken more pictures. Gone out of town more. That just never seemed to work out for me this year - every chance I had, practically, was foiled by something or other. Work or money or weather, or the lack of any suitable companionship having none of the aforementioned problems.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of??

Bitch. I did a lot of bitching last year.

20. How did you spend Christmas??

With family, and at work. It was nice.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007??

Not with anyone real. I may have fallen in love with a fictional character or two.

22. What was your favorite TV program??

Watched a bunch of JAG. Hey, it was on at an hour I could watch. I liked L&O: Criminal Intent… But really, my schedule at work gives me few TV options, and I don’t subscribe to any sort of television at home.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year??

No. Didn’t develop any new hates for people.

24. What was the best book you read??

So hard to choose. Harry Potter is an obvious one, so I’ll go beyond that and add The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, and Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and possibly The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. All of them were great.

As for nonfiction, I really liked The Circle Within by Diane Sylvan.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery??

Gosh, I don’t know. Daughtry, maybe.

26. What did you want and get??

Chickens!!!

27. What did you want and not get??

A spinning wheel, or even a drop spindle. Maybe this year.

28. What was your favorite film of this year??

Harry Potter? The Bourne Supremacy? Did that come out this year, even? I saw so few movies this year I can’t even remember them.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you??

I did practically nothing for my 25th birthday, which was a bigassed letdown, since I’d intended to take a vacation to The Big Big City with Mom or something, but Grandma got sick and ended up in the hospital and… yeah.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying??

A million dollars. Hey, it’s true. But honestly, my year was pretty darned good.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007??

Uh, practically nonexistent. *lol* I’ll call it “Walmart Style”.

32. What kept you sane??

Tea. Really. I needed it.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most??

None come to mind at the moment. I don’t, as a general rule, fancy celebs, except in that casual: “Wow, he’s hot” sort of way when I’m watching a movie. But they’re too distant to me to really fancy them at all.

34. What political issue stirred you the most??

Gugh. Which didn’t? Can we say that Everything Bush Does stirs me up? But I’ll say that lately, I cannot believe that in these modern, enlightened times, living in America where we, the good democratic people of the world, are supposedly so much “better” than our worldly peers, are actually debating over whether waterboarding is torture so we can determine whether or not it’s okay to use it on people we have declared enemy combatants so we don’t have to declare them prisoners of war and treat them fucking humanely as per the Geneva Convention. The fact that public polls on the subject are split fifty-fucking-fifity is even more outrageous than our politicians discussing this, and frankly, I am ashamed to be an American right now.

Ashamed.

35. Who did you miss??

All the friends I hardly ever see. :)

36. Who was the best new person you met??

B, my neighbor who moved in across the street from me, and who’s done so much to help me out.

Wow, is that the end of it? Well, here goes.

I stole this meme, and the cute title, from The Chaotic Crafter.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?

Wrapping paper! Gift bags are mostly a cop-out, in my opinion. They have their place, but honestly, they’re not as pretty, they’re not as mysterious, they’re not as fun to open… The only thing they’ve got going for them is that they make wrapping ‘easy’.

2. Real tree or artificial?

Artificial, baby. I’d love to have a real tree… in my fantasies. In reality, real trees suck. My fake trees, granted, aren’t the cream of the fake tree crop, but at least they don’t shed pine needles all over the place. Nor are they a huge fire hazard. Nor do they cost me an arm and a leg every single year. And most of all… real trees here are like, limbs off a tree, okay? They’re piddly, they’re weak-limbed, they’re total Charlie Brown trees. Pathetic in every way. I hate.

3. When do you put up the tree?

Usually get it up within the first week of December. I always want to get it up Thanksgiving weekend, but it never really happens.

4. When do you take the tree down?

Last year, mid-January. The year before, it ended up hanging around until nearly Valentine’s Day. *lol* I love my tree, what can I say?

5. Do you like eggnog?

I like it all right, if it’s spiced. Spiced, people. Not spiked.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?

The My Little Pony Palace. It was my dream for years. And I finally got it. And it was good.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?

I have one, but I didn’t put it up this year. It’s a Precious Moments nativity, and quite dainty and cute. Not my religion, but I can sort of, uh, mold the myth to fit my own thing. But this year… I just didn’t put it out. Nowhere to put it, really, and it just doesn’t fit with my theme all that much.

8. Hardest person to buy for?

My father. Or my brother. Either one is difficult as hell.

9. Easiest person to buy for?

A, usually. She likes tons of stuff, and needs tons, too.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?

My grandmother has given me some pretty awful gifts in the past, but the kicker was the cheap polka-dot purse with a pack of 8 crayons and some of those fluffy pony-tail-holder things. When I was 13 or 14. Wouldn’t have been quite so bad, but my brother scored a sleeping bag and a golf bag that same year. Wtf, anyone?

11. Mail or email Christmas cards?

Mail. But this year, I sent nothing. For reference, I HATE emailed cards, 99% of the time.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?

Ohh… that one about the reindeer that gets hurt and lost and the little girl cares for him. What the heck was that called? Prancer? Could be… In general, though, I’m not a fan of Christmas movies. Too sickeningly sweet.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?

November, usually. Sometimes I’ll make something in advance, or buy something in advance, but all the hardcore things get purchased in November or early December. But after last year’s post office snafu, where Denver got dumped on with like ten thousand feet of snow, and all the mail was stuck there for weeks on end, I try to shop early, since most of my shopping gets done online.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

I don’t recall anything specific, but probably.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

Cookies. And ham. Or whatever. I like to eat everything, all the time, really.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?

I’ve always used clear, my themes usually being red/white or blue/white, but someday, I’ll do a multi-colored tree, and probably will use colored lights then!

17. Favorite Christmas song?

My favorite song tends to be God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, in almost any flavor.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?

Stay home!! But only because all my family is right here, I imagine. I certainly wouldn’t travel to some vacation spot at Christmas, anyway. Not so cool, I don’t think. Christmas is a homey-time.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?

Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen; Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen! And do you recall the most famous reindeer of all? Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer! *sings it* The only way I can remember it, really.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?

Never liked angels on tree-tops. And I’m not too fond of most tree-topping stars, either. They’re so… gaudy most of the time. I have been using those giant tree-topping bows for a few years now, and I really like that!

A really disliked it the first year I used it. Too… materialistic and secular or something for her taste. Perfect for me, though!

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?

We generally open gifts Christmas Eve. In fact Christmas Eve is really our “Christmas Day”. Always has been. We had our family dinner that night, we visited relatives. The next day was our ‘relaxing’ day, and our second family dinner with the other half of the family. But we always open gifts Christmas Eve.

But honestly, when I have kids, I might make them wait till Christmas Day, except for maybe one gift… Well, we’ll see. Maybe, when I have kids, we’ll all open gifts on Yule instead. Hah.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?

Bellringers. Hands down.

23. What I love most about Christmas?

Everything. The weather (hopefully snow), the merry-making, the gift-giving and prettily wrapped packages perched under trees, the good-natured spirit, the festive lights, the decorated trees, the scent of cookies, the mystery of Santa Claus… I could go on for pages, but I won’t.

Speaking of Santa Claus… does anyone actually ever give their kids nothing or coal for Christmas from Santa if they’ve been bad?

Fill in the blank. No posts. No tarot. No finished knits. No sleep. No life.

Why haven’t I blogged? I’ve barely had enough of a life to stretch it 24 hours a day, let alone find something halfway interesting to write about and post here. Unlike A, whose life is one dramatic moment after another, always interesting (even if it is in a stab-my-eyes-out-please sort of way), mine is pretty much just flatlining.

I am pretty much flatlining. I have a stack of books to read. Haven’t. I have a trunkload of yarn to knit. Haven’t. I have a freezer full of things to cook. Haven’t. A list of things to do. Haven’t.

What have I been doing? Laying in bed, one day for eleven freaking hours. I take winter hibernation seriously around here, I guess - or I would, if I was actually sleeping all that time I’ve spent lounging around. The problem is that I’m not sleeping, actually, or at least, not slepeing well. Makes me pretty apathetic all around.

So last night, I got off my ass and cleaned up some (because my house is a wreck; no motivation to do laundry, let alone breathtaking things like switch my vacuum cleaner on…) and made a batch of chocolate chip cookies.

In case anyone out there doesn’t have a single chocolate chip recipe in the world, here’s my grandmother’s. I always double the recipe, because you can never have too many chocolate chip cookies, or even too much dough in the fridge to eat out of hand. But do what you want.

Rosemary’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1 C shortening (Crisco!)
1/2 C white sugar
1 C brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 C + 4 Tbsp flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
some chocolate chips

Cream shortening & white sugar. Add the other ingredients one at a time, mixing well in between. Stir in chocolate chips at the end. Warning: I always put in [way] too many chips. Don’t overload, or the dough may have trouble sticking together.

Drop spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. I’ve never needed to grease mine, but do what makes you and your cookie sheets comfortable. Bake approximately 10-12 minutes or until golden on the bottoms. Let cook a few minutes before removing from the pan.

Makes good dunkers.

Cookies to be made:

Almond crescents (kiflins)
Cry Babies (soft frosted drops of molasses heaven)
Raisin Puffs (soft puffy raisin cookies)
Peanut Butter cookies? Maybe.
Something new?

I need to bake, anyway. I need to get rid of some of these EGGS.

I’m getting 14-16 a day these days. What the hell?

So, I was indirectly tagged by the Chaotic Crafter for this, a whole ten days ago. Indirectly, because she tagged everyone, so it almost counts! ;-) I didn’t steal this meme (like all the others), I swear, Ma!

Crazy 8’s

8 things I’m passionate about
~Writing
~Linux
~Knitting
~Civil Rights
~Child abuse
~Spirituality
~Books
~Yaoi (covers face in shame - is it bad to be passionate about that?)

8 things I say often
~Fuck (often? Try ‘way too much’)
~SEBASTIAN! GET DOWN! (yelled to cat)
~Hmm. (in a suspicious tone, usually directed at A.)
~*lol* (is it bad that I consider “say often” to mean “type often”?)
~What the fuck?! (online, and off)
~I got (insert number here) eggs today! (… farmgirl …)
~Stop biting yourself. (To… an unnamed person.)
~I’m not mad. I’m irritated. (*sheepish*)

8 books I’ve read recently
~Good Omens (Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman)
~A Lick of Frost (Laurell K. Hamilton)
~Julie of the Wolves (?)
~Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck)
~The Circle Within (Diane Sylvan)
~Naked in Death (J.D. Robb)
~Danse Macabre (Laurell K. Hamilton)
~Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (JK Rowling)

8 things I want to do before I die
~Go to Europe
~Go back to Japan
~Be a mom
~Live a lot more years
~Write a novel (that’s published, preferably)
~Own a house
~Have an orange and white kitty
~Have a job I love

8 songs I can listen to over and over again
~All These Lives (Daughtry)
~Photograph (Nickelback)
~Better Days (Goo Goo Dolls)
~Stay With You (Goo Goo Dolls)
~Can’t Not (Alanis Morisette)
~Further on up the Road (Bruce Springsteen)
~Unwell (Matchbox Twenty)
~Wake Up Call (Maroon 5)

8 things that attract me to my friends
~Sense of humor
~Shared Interests
~Creativity
~Intelligence
~Shortness (Seriously, most of my pals are under 5′4″… Coincidence?)
~Geekiness
~Social-misfit-ism (Why are the vast majority of my friends complete social outcasts? Or at least, were complete social outcasts at the time of my befriending them?)
~Honesty

8 things I’ve learned in the past year
~All about chickens.
~That time goes by faster every year.
~That our government’s justification for the war in Iraq was partly based on misinformation gained through the illegal use of torture.
~How to knit socks, for real.
~That I am one suckass gardener.
~That my grandmother has Alzheimer’s.
~That yes, bad things (psychos shooting up the town, for example) can happen here, too.
~Where Scorpio (the constellation) is.

8 people to tag
I don’t even know eight people! *hides face* Anyone who’s reading this is officially tagged!

Tsuki says: “What do you think you’re lookin’ at?”

Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder Treason and Plot
I see no reason that Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

It’s November again, and the 5th, no less. A toast to Guy Fawkes today, please. I see no reason for the spirit he showed to be forgotten either. We live in a mad world these days, and sometimes, I think a plot to blow up parliament (or congress, as it may be here in the states) is a marvelous idea.

But I’m a bit radically leftist, I suppose. Or would that be rightist? Or perhaps I’m just a bit of an all around anarchist at heart.

Speaking of rebellion and the like, I rebelled against my own promise not to buy yarn until the socks and the shawl were both done, and in fact, I failed to complete either before I broke down and went insane enrolled myself in Sundara’s Season’s Yarn Club, which is way too friggin expensive for my budget, and way too pretty and mysterious and lovely to pass up. I chose winter for my season, and every month for the next six months, I’ll be getting gorgeous hand dyed yarn from Sundara herself in a wintery theme. This includes 3 skeins of sock yarn, one skein of silk lace (*droooooool*) and a couple other yarns, too. So yay. Yay for the yarn stash, anyway. Big fat nay for the wallet, which is curled up sobbing in the corner of my purse right now.

I may or may not have mentioned before that I have no money. Now I have even less. Congratulations, Katia, welcome to welfare!

Moving on, moving on…. You want to know about the socks. Right? Well, here they are.

Lovely, ne? I agree. I liked them so much that I broke my promise a second time in the same freaking week and bought this:

Yes, oh yes, that is more sock yarn. Where did I buy this? Pam’s Knit and Stitch, in Great Falls, where I shopped myself down to the pennies a couple days ago with Mom, who was also inspired to take up cross-stitching again while we were there. (This shop, fyi, has the most awesome ever cross stitch patterns and kits.) So, I had Mom pick out some sock yarn (the dark Regia Galaxy yarn there - surprise! I never would’ve picked that out for her in a billion years!) and I picked out some for myself (The Tofutsies, which is gorgeous and soft - SOFT, I tell you) and picked up the Interweave Crochet Summer 2006 issue, which has that Babette blanket in it that I so badly want to learn to crochet in it. Grand total? Too. Much. Money.

But that’s life as a knitter, I suppose.

The shawl is also moving along. I am midway through the 4th of 5 repeats and going strong. Good news: it will be finished before my first shipment from Sundara ever arrives, which makes me warm and fuzzy inside, like I almost-maybe-kinda didn’t break my promise after all, except for that blasted sock yarn splurge at Pam’s Knit and Stitch. Rawr. Anyway, I’d take a picture of that (the shawl) but it really doesn’t look any different than it used to, except bigger, so what’s the point? See this if you’d like a reminder shot.

Also? I’ve begun a Christmasy dishcloth for my neighbor, Barb, who deserves some knitted goodness after all the help she’s been. But gods, I hate this yarn. It’s gorgeous, but it’s got this silvery strand of something EVIL in it, and it makes my fingers raw.

I’m using the DW Dishcloth pattern, by Rhonda White, which is gorgeous, easy, and perfect for yarn like this. What yarn is it? Lily’s Sugar and Cream Christmas something or other. I don’t have the ballband anymore.

I needed something simple and easy to knit tonight. So that was it.

My list of things to finish by Christmas:

So there you are. Christmas gifts and Christmas stuff to be done. Also, need to get a gift list together and start on that - will probably do baked goods/gifts in jars for most people again. Huzzah.

Halloween came upon me too quickly this year. I vow not to let Christmas do the same!

Wow. Three months since a real post. Been a strange summer. Things that have happened since July:

1) Bought a new dining set.
2) And a new mattress.
3) And a new couch, good god.
4) Chickens have laid approximately 212 eggs. That’s nearly 18 dozen. That’s way more eggs than I know what to do with.
5) A has nearly sworn off eggs for life. It came to the front of her mind just where “nature’s perfect package” came from: a chicken’s feathered butt.
6) My garden grew 4 foot tall weeds, and I lost the onions.
7) I did, however, get three nice pumpkins.
8) The potatoes are still hunkered down in the soil, waiting to be dug.
9) I’ve knitted. And knitted. And knitted. Hurrah!

Some finished objects:

A pumpkin and my Lacy Kerchief Scarf! Woot. Also finished: Rowan’s Christmas gift, three washcloths, and a cat toy, none of which have pictures. No, that’s a lie. I just won’t put photos of the Rowan’s gift here, and I can’t find what I did with the ballband dishcloth photos. Oh well!

And gosh. I’m now on Ravelry - at last. Name’s katiad there, so if you’re on, add me as a friend!

Soon, I’ll have an actual post. It’s been a long time. I’ve been sick. Miserably sick with allergies and a cold that turned into sinus infection that turned into bronchitis when the meds didn’t work… and on top of it all, I have to have an ultrasound on my thyroid. Can we say ‘fun’? No. I didn’t think so.

Makeover coming soon too. I need it.

No knitting has happened in a little while. Been too busy bitching and moaning. And reading a bit. Harry Potter, Anita Blake, and some random stuff, too.

But there will be knitting soon, too. Gotta be.

And one more thing. The chickens? They’re starting to lay! Eggs up!