bekeeblog

i have a lot of packages arriving today; we'll just call it "stimulating the economy".

the yarn for my super awesome sweater is to arrive today, along with my new crock pot and green laser pointer for the dogs. amazon split my order into two packages, so ups and fedex will both be arriving today. i picture them dueling to get up to the door.

unfortunately, joann is where i had to order the needles for the super awesome sweater and it doesn't appear they've even left the warehouse.

in other news, i'm taking a friend to the apple store this afternoon to get an ipod touch and we're going to eat at the food court! that, combined with my recent rocky's trip, and a visit to mcdonald's next week for a shamrock shake, apparently, it's "reminisce about old foods" month.

i'll leave you with this awesome picture of nora:

Posted by bekee at 9:44 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i made a sandwich yesterday for lunch today... and had to throw it out because i couldn't eat it. it had gotten soggy and saturated with oil and salty from the olives and anchovies. i took two bites and got up to throw it away.

thankfully, the cafe at work was serving veggie burgers today.

Posted by bekee at 12:37 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i started working on lesson 7... each lesson reminds me of why i probably never finished my manuscript. it's a very persnickety language. lower sign contractions can't be used in conjunction with punctuation, except for the capital sign, etc, which means you can't use (en) for enough when it's written, "Enough!" because of the surrounding punctuation.

also, i bought yarn for the awesome reversible sweater; hopefully it arrives around the same time as the needles (i had to get those from a different online retailer).

yesterday marked six weeks of fresh air and better health.

Posted by bekee at 8:18 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

betz white recently blogged about an awesome scarf she came up with; showing the inspirational book from where she got the stitch pattern idea... which i promptly purchased because of the completely inside out and upside down! sweater.

unfortunately, the required yarn will cost me over $125 with shipping.

of course, there's always the possibility of substitution but there's no way it'll look as cool; there's a reason designers use the yarn they use, because it's usually pretty awesome yarn.

we get our bonus in two weeks, i think i can wait til then to order.

Posted by bekee at 8:21 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i had to run to the library over lunch to pick up a book that, if i had waited one more day, would be shipped back to the madison public library. on arrival, i was behind a red saab who was waiting for a short, dark-haired lady and her two little girls to cross the path of incoming vehicles. they cleared the way and stayed right, while i pulled in and parked one median past her honda pilot, or whatever it was.

on my way in, i was reminded of the simplicity of life by watching a boy show his father some snow that he had picked up. once inside the building, i found myself behind a (presumable) grandma and her granddaughter whom i had seen walking in as i was parking.

i quickly made my way to the reserved shelves, isolated the one self-checkout that was out of order, and caught the eye of a librarian to check me out.

on my way back to my car, i noticed that honda lady had not yet pulled out; i said to myself, "yea, i should never have children." i was out of the parking lot before she even got into reverse.

Posted by bekee at 12:58 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i'm treating myself to two new knitting books. one of them has a pattern for a sweater that can be worn right-side-up and upside-down! this amazes me.

i'm a little worried about how much the yarn will cost to make the sweater, cuz it looks like the sweater will cost about $300 for the yarn alone; i think i'll have to rekindle my relationship with elann to get an inexpensive alternative...

the other one is cuz i think it'll look cool to play with vertical color striping and thick-knits.

Posted by bekee at 8:29 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

we talk about some pretty weird things at lunch, but today i joked about a idea that i think might be really cool... a knitted braille poem for hanging display. i'd probably use hug o' war since i have an affinity for it.

Posted by bekee at 12:24 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

in my attempts to quit throwing money away (at takeout food), last night's adventure was to make something close to salmon with apricot couscous. since i have rice up to my ears, and an awesome rice cooker, i skipped the couscous and used basmati. i never realized how yummy it smelled while cooking!

i also didn't have green onions, so i just used some white onion and cucumber and mixed it with plain yogurt and added some cumin and herbamare. i also brought some frozen veggies into a boil and plated them. the result:

Posted by bekee at 8:43 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

friday night was girls' night out. it wasn't as awesome as in previous months, but i had a good enough time.

i finished stiff in two days. it was well written and entertaining. it may have changed my mind about what will happen to my body when the time comes. as of right now, i'm highly considering donating it to medical education. it beats making family pay $3k to incinerate me.

i didn't do any knitting... i finished my headband and couldn't think of another project to start.

we got our tax returns a week earlier than anticipated, so that's helpful since i seem to be spending more than i am bringing in.

edit: i totally forgot to brag because that's how often i think about it. four weeks smokeless. eff you phillip morris!

Posted by bekee at 8:42 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

in an attempt to save some franklins, i went and became a library card-carrying member of society this past tuesday. so, i used their online service to reserve two books by mary roach, stiff and bonk. thus affording me the opportunity to remove them from my amazon wishlist, and (theoretically) saving me $20.

now i have to commit to reading them.

Posted by bekee at 1:45 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

in an attempt to eat more dinners at home, i started last night by stopping at the jenifer st coop to get some supplies. i figure i might as well pen the recipe that i made up in case i want to make it when i'm 60:

chil'd orzo salad

ingredients:
1c orzo, cooked al dente
1 small bunch green onions, diced
12" celery, diced
2tsp garlic, minced
10-12 sun dried tomatoes in oil (the dried ones discolor the pasta overnight)
1pkg plain feta cheese
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
bragg's amino acids
herbamare, to taste
third ward seasoning (from penzey's—the best spice you could ever own ever. unfortunately, it is only available for purchase at their wauwatosa location. i always have my mom get me lots and i freeze it.)

method:
while the orzo is cookin', sautèe the garlic over medium heat with a little oil and herbamare. before it burns, add the onions and celery, keeping the heat medium-low. when the orzo has about 2 minutes left, add the tomatoes to the veggies and squirt a little balsamic and bragg's on it. sprinkle with a little more herbamare.

once orzo is done, drain in colander and rinse with cold water (this will stop the cooking and make the salad cooler). put in bowl and mix in veggies. break up the feta and stir in well. add third ward seasoning and chow down.

serves 4; or one of you 4 times.

Posted by bekee at 8:20 AM | permalink | licks (2) | tracks (0)

i accidentally bought myself a pair of boots. the winter boots i have now are almost on their last leg (hah!), and these were on sale...

my windbreaker should be arriving today. i probably won't get to use it until march, but that's ok. it'll be nice to have for biking around when the sun goes down.

it seems, with all this spending, that i might need to work on another commitment, which would be to knock off the eating out for dinner. :x

Posted by bekee at 8:19 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

the weekend went really quickly. i did a whole lot of knitting, not as much cooking as i wanted to, and not as much cleaning as i wanted to.

we're dog-sitting until saturday. sam's an almost-12-year-old australian shepherd and he gets a little cranky at some of the younger dogs' shenanigans.

here he is about two years ago:

p.s., 3 whole weeks not smoking.

Posted by bekee at 8:05 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)