Broken

So yesterday will not go down as one of my finest. It started off with Maggie sleeping in, and by sleeping in I mean 7:45. Usually she is awake around 6, which is why when I made an appointment to get a Tetanus shot at 8:30 in the morning, I assumed it would be no problem getting there on time. I hear you all out there, a Tetanus shot? What did you do, step on a nail or something? No. I was building this:



Not the doghouse part, just the wire part. Chicken wire is really sharp, and I being super smart was not wearing gloves and sliced the crap out of my hands more than once. While I was bleeding and stapling I thought, Hmmm I wonder when the last time I had a tetanus shot was? I called my doctor's office who informed me, not since high-school. They also informed me that I should come in and get one within the next 48 hours so I don't get lockjaw. I'm not really sure what lockjaw is, but it sounds painful and like it would seriously inhibit my ability to talk.

I'm not afraid of shots, I'm tough. Maggie was super excited to come with me to see Mama get a shot, which I thought would be good. Anyhow, she woke up late, so I woke up late and just had time to take a shower, get both of us dressed and run out the door. It is important to note that I did NOT consume either any food, or more importantly coffee before I left. Shot was uneventful. Though I will note, they also updated my Pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine, there has been a huge resurgence of the disease because people (in Maine especially) haven't been vaccinating their kids and so these diseases which aren't usually around are back, intermingling with us vaccinated people and making super bugs, so now they are re-vaccinating adults. Thanks Hippies!

After the appointment I really really needed coffee. I need coffee like a crack whore needs crack. In fact, the previous evening I was discussing coffee with my grandmother, who is, to be blunt, on her death bed. She is not allowed to have coffee for a number of reasons most of which would contribute to her dying much more quickly than she is. Anyhow I told her that I pretty much don't even want people to speak to me before I have coffee in the morning, which is not an exaggeration. I really don't. The one place in Wiscasset that is on the way back to my house which might have served coffee, and I made the mistake of telling Maggie also has huge cookies, doesn't open until 10. WTF! 10? They are missing out on a lot of angry people that need coffee and huge cookies. Maggie was promised a huge cookie because she has successfully filled in an entire row on her potty chart. I am some how adding this onto the 30 list, even though technically it's her accomplishment, it's a big fracking deal around here. No more diapers.

No coffee, no cookie, now add screaming kid because no cookie. Get home attempt to make coffee. Once about every six months or so, the coffee pot freaks out - I don't think it's human error since I make coffee successfully every other day so I attribute it to an act of god, or kitchen elves - and the coffee just spews everywhere but the pot. Grounds and water run everywhere. As you can guess that is what happened yesterday morning. So, I did this:



What is that you ask? Oh that's my cabinet door sans panel, because I kicked it and busted it out. Wow! I'm strong! No, not really I kicked it pretty lightly, ok moderately with the toe of my ugly dress shoes. Clearly my cabinets are not made of very strong stuff. Am I embarrassed I had a temper tantrum and kicked out the panel of my cabinet door? Yes indeed I am. I should be made of stronger stuff. Lack of coffee and a shot first thing in the morning should not send me off the rails, but it did, so there you have it.

Ok, but that's not all. In a cruel ironic twist - later on in the afternoon I was running across my living room barefoot. I don't recall why. However, I smashed my pinkie toe on our hearth which is made of huge rocks. I am quite sure it's broken. I'm quite sure there isn't much that can be done for a broken pinkie toe. I am quite sure this is going to put a major crimp in my jogging since it hurts so bad I can barely walk. It should be noted, my arm hurts like a bastard where I got the shot yesterday I can't even lift it over my head.

On to the actually 30list update: I knit this bag:




It just needs to have the button sewn on and it will be 100% done.

We disconnected Directv which contributes to a few categories: less tv watching, more movie watching, something I've been meaning to do, and reducing household expenses. Don't worry, we still have netflix - we aren't neanderthals for god sakes. But honestly, we were paying like $70 per month to watch Lost and Battle Star, and now since they are both over until January - goodbye TV!

I finished a fantastic book: Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates, by Tom Robbins. For some reason it took me a long time to get into reading Tom Robbins, a lot of my friends read his stuff in high school, but I'm glad I'm discovering it now, I think it makes a lot more sense to me than if I was 18. Anyhow, what can be said about this book without giving too much away. It's about this guy named Switters who is an ex-CIA agent confined to a wheelchair and goes on some crazy adventures around the world. Um, I can't really say too much more than that. It's really hard to sum up a Robbins novel. Seriously, please check it, or anything else he's written, you will like it. Double Woot!

We watched Part 1 of Grind House - Planet Terror, the other night and I absolutely loved it. Grind House was that Double Feature homage to B-movies that Tarrantino and Rodriguez did a few years ago. Planet Terror is a super cheesy zombie movie. A lot of people didn't like these movies because of their cheese, but hello, it's mimicking these particular movies. It was hilarious, super gross but so over the top gross it was grosser than gross and so not that gross, if that makes any sense at all. If you like zombies and super cheese, you will love this movie. Double Woot.

Ok, that's enough for now. Practically a novel.

Victory is Mine!

Lots of great news to report so let's just dive right in shall we? First off, I got a job this morning with the Wiscasset Newspaper as a part-time reporter writing about such fascinating things as town meetings, school news, and transposing the police blotter! Although the pay is an astounding 7.50 per hour. Which I THINK is minimum wage, I will need to drag my reporter ass onto the website of some sort of state agency, I am so happy to have this job. This is the job that you have to learn how to be a reporter and write interesting things so that you can move on to bigger and better things. Also, I can totally do most of it from home or in the evenings with little disturbance to my schedule of watching Maggie! Yahoo!

Moving on to next sweet thing, I totally won the first round of Yarn Smackdown! Woot! It really came right down to the wire, my opponent and I were both mailing our hats literally within minutes of each other, she in Tennessee and me in Maine. Surprisingly the Maine USPS was faster! Actually, I might have won because our dinky little PO closes at noon on Saturdays so afternoon deliveries have to wait until Monday. As you can see, I sent her a pretty sweet hat! Actually you probably can't tell the sweetness just from the pic. but it has 6 inches of k2 p2 ribbing, which believe me is a pain to do simply because it's boring and 6 inches is a lot longer than you think. Er, that sounds kind of dirty. It also has cables and a sweet pattern on the top achieved by decreasing a certain way. I wish I had taken a better picture of it now. Oh well. Cest La Vie. So now I just wait to see who the other winners are, and the pattern will be released for round 2. Just so you know, I got the pattern for this hat at 5pm on Weds. and it was in the mail at 4pm on Thursday. That is ridiculously fast knitting.

I watched two movies this past week, and was surprised by both. I saw Notes on a Scandal which was totally creepy, and not in a good scary way but in a Judy Dench trying to seduce Cate Blanchette sort of way, to which I respond to by gagging and giving it a big old poop sandwich. From other reviews I thought I would really like this movie but no, no I did not. The second movie I watched was Match Point, a Woody Allen film starring Scarlett Johansen and a bunch of British people. This movie was fantastic, not Woody Allenish at all. You know how some Woody Allen movies are so obviously his that it just seems like all the parts are played by Woody Allen wearing costumes that look like other people? This was not like that at all and I give it a Woot!

I finished Dark Tort, a really light murder mystery by Diane Mott Davidson, which is part of a series of books which outline the adventures of a mystery solving caterer. They are about as heavy as Nancy Drew, so it was a nice touch after Kavalier and Clay. I also listened to an audio book by Stephen King, "The Man in the Black Suit" was pretty light for SK, a collection of kind of old timey stories. I just started another collection by him "Blood and Smoke" which is not light and quite gory. SK the man himself reads both of these collections and for some reason I find it to be a zillion times scarier. Probably because he reads it exactly the way he intended it to sound. I am "regular" as in not audio, reading Running With Scissors which is also really good and I can already tell will probably get a good review from me. Oh yeah, the ratings - Dark Tort gets a woot, and SK gets a Double Woot.

And last but not least, our bird feeder has been going crazy and I identified a bunch of new birds out here - Mourning Doves, Some sort of WoodPecker, I think a Cedar Waxwing and day before yesterday Mike and I saw 3 huge Turkey Vultures fly over so I'm counting them too. That's long enough for one post. Cya.

End Game.

Don't worry it's not end game for the list. It's end game with the plow guy. I'm totally over it but thought you might like an update. So at last posting he had come and sanded my nearly bare driveway. That was Monday. On Weds. I get an invoice from him with a little note - and I wish I had it I would just post it here - that said something like, "I received your voice mail and came to sand your driveway as a courtesy for you. The 75.00 for plowing we agreed upon did not include sanding, I had been sanding it as a favor. Please note that for next year 2008-09 I will not be plowing in (my town) and you will need to make other arrangements." Um. Ok guy. So what about the time when we hired someone else to sand and were on the verge of firing you and you said "no no, I can come sand" plus, if someone is paying you 75 for plowing that takes you about 20 minutes, is sanding their driveway so that they can pass safely up and down really a courtesy? Blargh. 900 bucks we have given this guy this winter. Anyhow I called him and very nicely told him that his check was in the mail and don't bother coming back this winter, I will make other arrangements. We should just buy a crappy truck for like $1500 bucks and also use it to go to the dump. I think we would be ahead of the game in less than a year. Ok, enough of that.

It should also be noted I am turning into a super bird nerd. We put out a new feeder for thistle last night and this morning it is swarmed with gold finches. I actually squealed with glee. I'm planning a super awesome bird garden this summer with feeders and plants that birds enjoy. So dork rating status: bird watcher, knitter, audio book and NPR podcast consumer, reader, and trivia fiend. I would say bird/nerd meter is at about 40%.

I think I am going to count applying for writing jobs as submissions. Because I do have to send a sample of writing, and it is just as awesome to not hear/get rejected over and over and over. Even if it's not for a regular magazine it still sucks balls. It's still a big "yeah your writing is not good enough to contribute to our crappy website". Whatev, my ego is big enough so may times I can go check out the site and say, "Oh, I get it - my writing was too good, I scared them away. They probably don't think they can't afford me." The thing is I probably charge far less than the plow guy. Hmm maybe I should give up writing in favor of plowing driveways....

Last night I watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, starring Val Kilmer and Robert Downy Jr. It should be noted that I would probably watch a movie of Robert Downy Jr. doing a crossword puzzle and give it a Woot! Drug problems aside, he is a fantastic actor and plays everything with an infectious sketchy intensity. Yes, I heart Robert Downy Jr. Moving on..The movie was basically the same old formula for a who done it murder in Hollywood. The great thing was the narration - RDJ - who actually acknowledges the cheesiness of the movie. Also, the dialog/humor in the film was fantastic. A lot was made in the media of the fact that Val Kilmer plays a gay detective in this movie, but aside from a few really good jokes, there was only one place where it played an important role. They avoided the whole "Friend pretends to be gay to get the girl" story line which I feared was going to be the case early on. Anyhow this was a great fun movie, a snarky version of a classic story line. It gets a Woot!

I'm still working on Kavalier and Clay, which is still really good. My afternoon nap has been eliminated, and I used to read a lot during that time, so I have been reading a bit less. I have a super fun knitting project going on right now, but it's a gift so I will share it after it's been given.
Oh, and I decided not to try out for Gilgamesh, not because I am a chicken, but because there was "creative movement" mentioned on the casting sheet. Which means - creative dancing- which means - I'll pass.

You may have noticed a huge jump in my local foods bar - that's because we purchased 1/4 of a cow and paid for 1/2 of our CSA share this year. CSA = Community Supported Agriculture which basically means you pay a certain amount to a farm in the spring and then each week in the summer you get a bag of super fresh veggies. I highly recommend joining one near you. I'm super excited about the cow too, especially with the huge beef recall last week. Hopefully we will be purchasing 1/2 a pig as well. Which is a lot of meat but will be saving us money over all next winter.

I also made up a new recipe last night - a super healthy banana bread with dark chocolate chips. The thing is it didn't really bake correctly it took well over an hour, maybe closer to two. This could be because my oven sucks - which it does - OR that it was just too dense for a bread pan and should have ve been cooked in a cake pan. I will try another version soon and report back. That's it. I'm out.

Oy Vey!

As predicted I finished The Yiddish Policeman's Union a couple of days ago, and it was a great book. The premise is kind of weird as it's a detective story set in Sitka Alaska which happens to be a city of 3 million Jewish refugees who moved there after WW 2 instead of going to Israel. So, it's kind of an alternate reality, as in the city and premise for it are all fake, but it doesn't have that new-agey feel that most alt. reality books have, it just happens to take place in a made up city, in a world that had a much different outcome after WW 2. Michael Chabon is a genius. I don't know why I haven't read any of his stuff before, well actually I do, he won a Pulitzer for his book Kavalier and Klay and I usually stay away from award winning books since they are usually boring as hell. For example- James Joyce -can I get an amen? While Chabon is pretty wordy and overly descriptive its' in a way that isn't boring. In fact I liked his writing so much that I went right back to the library and got Kavalier and Klay - the Pulitzer winner - and it's great! I also picked up All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, I have developed a real liking for his work as well after I read The Road - which I also highly recommend but be warned, it's really disturbing. And when I say disturbing I mean it - this is from a rabid SK fan, this book actually made me nauseas and I had to actually put it down and walk away from it for a few hours, but then I picked it right back up and finished it in less than 2 days....so yes, I'm a sicko but it's a great book.

I also finished a slipper/sock made out of the fab. super bulky I got for my birthday. These things knit up quick since it's on #10 needles and the yarn is all huge. I would probably be done with both of them if I hadn't had to rip out about half of the first one after I finished it and restart it. But now #1 is finished and #2 will be going on the needles today. It should be noted that the pattern for these socks really blew goats. That is one of the really annoying things about knitting patterns, there is really no standard. For example in this pattern, you knit around with 4 dbl pointed needles, then you drop 2 for awhile and then it says "pick up stitches and knit " it doesn't say - pick up stitches with your other 2 dbl points and knit around. Which was confusing. Anyway, now I know, and sock 2 should go much more quickly. All you knitters should check out the gusset in the pattern linked above just so you can say "ohhh, I see - Lame"

Last night we went to Lowe's while the rest of the country was watching the Superbowl - it was awesome! That place was deserted, it was like shopping on x-mas day! I mention this because I think it's weird that a sporting event basically cleans out major shopping centers like Lowe's - and Wal-Mart where we ventured afterwards. Anyhow, we purchased a bunch of stuff that is definitely going to help the little house project bar move. Hooks for the backs of all the doors, as well as 2 jars of sample paint for my kitchen and living room. Whoever decided to start selling those little cans of sample paint is a damn genius. Because custom paint colors - meaning - anything not white is expensive for the good stuff, and you should get the good stuff, it's about 28 bucks per gallon, and it's not returnable. So for my kitchen I was totally inspired by a couple friends of mine each with fabulous red kitchens, and I got Barn Door Red. For my living room I got Pinecone, which is a medium brownish color. What?! Red and Brown? Your house is going to look crazy dark! Actually I get a ton of light in this house so I can do darkish colors, also my house is sort of open concept so the colors will be right next to each other and fairly complementary. It should be noted that this is Martha Stewart paint, you could probably guess by the names, and yes I love Martha. She's kinda bitchy but she does things right. Which leads me to my next thing to tackle.

On my list of things I've been meaning to do, or maybe it can count as kindness, I haven't decided yet, I'm going write 3 pieces of fan mail. A long time ago I read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (oh and yes I am a Dale Carnegie class graduate! Google it) and it talked about recognizing people who are inspiring to you. More recently I read My Life In France which is sort of an autobiography of Julia Child, I saw sort of because it was completed after she died by her nephew who used transcripts and letters etc. It is one of my favorite books ever, and you should put it on your list as well. Anyhow, she talked about how she had framed photos of people she found inspiring, generally other chefs, her cooking school instructor etc. on her wall. THEN just the other night I was watching Conan O'Brien and noticed he too has framed pics of people he finds inspiring on the wall of his studio as well. So, since two of my great inspirations, Julia Child, and Ken Kesey are dead and I highly regret not writing to them to tell them how much I have been inspired and motivated by their works, I am going to write actual letters, not e- mail, to Stephen King, Martha Stewart and Anthony Bourdain. Yeah it may seem like cheesy people to be inspired by, but they are my people I'm sure you have yours. I may eventually write even more, like to Joss Whedon, and Barbara Kingsolver, but right now I'm gonna write to my top 3. Wish me luck.

I guess that's it because this morning Maggie's tolerance for me writing is 0% and my tolerance for listening to her whine is also 0%.

Superbad is well....superbad

Another movie down. I watched Superbad last night, and it was super boring. In fact while I was watching it I schemed up a new Kate rating system for movies. A movie can receive one of four ratings - A Double Woot! (like V for Vendetta) - A single Woot! (Knocked Up) - 1/2 a poop sandwich (Superbad) - or a whole poop sandwich (luckily have yet to see one yet for the list, but an example would be Lost In Translation.Don't e-mail me about this movie. It sucked. You're not going to change my mind.) Superbad receives 1/2 a poop sandwich because it sucked, yet I did not turn it off, fall asleep, OR end up pissed off for wasting my time watching it. Plus I would say it had about 15 minutes of actually funny material. I have a special place in my heart for the coming of age high school movie. Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Breakfast Club, Clueless, Mean Girls, and of course Dazed and Confused all are in my top favorite movies. These movies kind of get it right, they have a realness and are actually funny. This movie was just a bunch of kids swearing and saying very bad words. OOOOOO. They said Vagina like 90 times. I'm shocked! Look, I have a two year old that has said worse words than vagina. I myself descend from a family of pirates that - especially my dad - have made up some of the most fantastic swearwords of all times. I'm trying to keep this blog "clean" but if you e-mail me I will treat you to my favorites. Anyhow, this movie was trying too hard to be funny and gross. OOO Teens drinking and having sex - wow controversial! In an effort to counteract this negative review (I'm trying to be more positive) I highly recommend The Point. It gets a Double Woot! of the highest order. Yeah, it's a kids movie, but probably one of the best ones ever made. You all need to watch it. First off, it's narrated by Ringo. Secondly, you will probably cry because it's about finding "The Point." anyway just take my word for it. SO to sum up - Superbad - 1/2 a poop sandwich. The Point = Double Woot!

I identified 2 more bird species - Cedar Waxwing and Grossbeak. I identified these at my parent's house. I have given up on the illusion that I will identify 30 different species at my feeder. I'm gonna make a list on this site with all my birdies. Can I just say that Grossbeaks are so cool - it's the closest thing Maine has to a parrot. They are either bright red or bright yellow and green, and they have those cute parrot beaks.

I tried a new thing yesterday but, I don't really want to say what it is because it's kind of embarrassing. No it doesn't involve sex. Anyway take my word for it.

I'm in the middle of a series of books, but they are really long so I think I'm going to take a break and read Trading Up by Candace Bushnell, because it's basically the mental equivalent of cotton candy.

Mittens are kind of at a standstill, mostly because I'm at that point where I'm too far along to rip it out and start over, but not super excited about the pattern, mostly because they are knit back and forth on two needles instead of in the round on dbl points. Now if you don't knit this is probably a lot of blah blahing to you, but you should know because in my opinion everyone should knit, the world would be a better place if we were all marching around sporting our own hand knit hats. There's a certain satisfaction in knowing that knitting is so simple - tying knots with sticks, and there are only two stitches in different combinations - knitting and purling - and either adding or subtracting either that make such cool patterns. Anyhow, I have been intimidated for a long time by knitting on double pointed needles, which is basically splitting your stitches between 3 or 4 needles and knitting in the round. It takes a while to get used to all the needles, I usually use circular needles which also makes things in the round, but you are limited to how small you can go. Long story long, it's much easier to knit mittens in the round on dbl pts. in one nice tube than it is to knit them flat and stitch them up. That's the other thing about knitting, you really are just knitting tubes all the time because really, our bodies are just a series of long skinny pieces that are covered up by tubes . Ok, after all this I think I might rip them out anyway....

And Finally, I have a bunch of new words I've learned - Thank you Scrabble! That I will be posting later. I'm out.

Just some stuff

Ahh...the bars are moving. The list continues! I recently completed a book - AND a knitting project (pics soon - of the knitted thing, not the book) which are big fun things. On to the next book - which is the next in the Otherland series, and my next knitting project which is a pair of mittens.

You may have noticed that I changed the list entry "random acts of kindness" to just "acts of kindness" there seems to be a lot of stickiness around the whole random thing. Like, first of all if you have a goal of 30 random acts of kindness in essence they aren't random because they are planned. See what I mean? What if I knit something and give it to someone all sneaky style. Is it random? Apparently not if I had that particular person in mind when knitting them the item. Anyway it's taking up too much of my brain space and besides I have done anything particularly nice for anyone lately so it's not really that big of a deal. I will make sure that they are still good ones though, no weak acts of kindness for sure.

Additionally I may have mentioned this before, but there will definitely be crossovers. For example, I have been meaning to get involved with this program called F.A.R.M.S. (Focus on Agriculture in Rural Maine Schools, I know...cute right?) for a long time. So volunteering for an event with them would count as 1. something I've wanted to do for a long time (duh) and 2. volunteering.

I gotta say, I am really liking the list. I have had some sort of revelations about myself lately and I don't know if it's just me being philosophical or me paying such close attention to what I am up to because of the list, or me just being all retrospective because of the whole lame 30 thing. One thing that I have come to realize is that I have not been very nice to myself at all for the past oh 16 years. Basically since I have been in charge of myself I have chosen to not take care of my body at all and put shitty food into it, barely maintain it and am pretty mean to it. If I treated a kid like I treat myself, I would totally be taken away from me(does that make sense?) Of course I would never treat Maggie that way, I make sure she eats great food and has fun things to do and is encouraged and praised even for her smallest accomplishments and is living in a nurturing and loving environment, shouldn't I do the same for myself? I think the list has helped me to sort of praise myself for small accomplishments, and realize that some things I do/don't do are pretty silly - why is it I can't squeeze in enough water or exercise? Also I think that I am really filling up my time with more positive things, things that will help me grow as a person instead of stagnate. Yes the list is pretty self centered but I think that overall I am working towards being closer to the person I want to be instead of fighting the universe to turn into someone I am not, and because of that it is making me a much more conscientious parent. Anyhow, that's a lot of revelations for only a week in. I'll be interested to see what I have to say in 6 months.

Pictures of knitted item to come soon!
Oh also I had another new recipe - this one is a Kate invention. A big piece of pork - about 3lbs. in crockpot with diced tomatoes, celery, onions, salt, pepper and 1/2 cup of water. Cook on Low for 7 hours. Serve over brown rice. Day 2. Buy small focaccia, cut in half, fill with pork. Eat. Exclaim how it's the best thing you've eaten in weeks. See, really it's 2 recipes, but I only counted it as one. I'm crazy like that.

Rules Shmules

After discussing the LIST with some of you, I am starting to realize I better set up some rules, and also do some quick explaining about my SWEET new progress bars you see over here --->
First off the progress bars may look like they are moving very slowly and it might appear as though I'm slacking or taking my sweet time doing things, which I very well may be, however for a lot of the bars, the total I am looking for as cumulative over the year. So, even though I have been cleaning for 30 mins per day, my ultimate goal is 10920 mins. of cleaning for the year. Which sadly I will probably exceed but right now is only showing 1%.

So the rules. There was some discussion around the knitting goal - mainly this: does a pair of knitted socks or mittens count as 2 knitted items? I say yes, but many of you say no. I'm still considering this. Especially since many of the naysayers are non-knitters. Say that 3X fast - naysaying non-knitters! Secondly, I'm going to have to figure out the randomness of my random acts of kindness, does anyone have any thoughts on this? Do random acts of kindness have to 1. Involve strangers and 2. Be all sneaky and unnoticed? Also, what's the difference between kindness and good manners? For example, is holding the door open for someone good manners or an act of kindness? However, it was established that telling a girl in the bathroom at Gritty's that you like her dress is not an act of kindness. And finally: if I am running out of time at the end of the year, can I go nuts and say feed 30 meters and counts those as individual acts of kindness? Technically it affects 30 different people right? Sorry to dwell on this one, it's kind of an interesting topic for sure.

I plan on making this blog really fun, with lots of entries, photos, graphs (duh) and I hope you have a fun time reading about my journey. This project really speaks to the anal retentive, competitive, OCD side of my personality. Which is to say - my personality.