toys are good food

Playing Catch Up

All weekend I kept meaning to sit down at the computer and type up some articles. Really I did. But it just didn't happen. Things got in the way or I was tempted by the beauty of the interweb in it's other incarnations (re: blog reads).

So now I'm playing catch up because I do want to share with y'all, my faceless lurkers. (Um, not that you don't have a face. In fact, I'm sure you do. It's just that I'm guessing that I've never seen it. Except, of course, in the cases where I have. Like the SnB gals. And my hubby. And perhaps some other folks that I know, like my family. But hey - I'm getting off topic; and a little paranoid now.)

Just go to the 'read more' and ignore my crazy rant. please?

Well, the weekend started a bit earlier with a rogue knitting affair at the Half Price Books. Oh and what more joy could there be than friends, knitting, chai and cheap books! (Please don't answer. My life is sad enough without that particular list.)

This 'great' pic of me is while knitting the poncho for my niece at the bookstore. It's being knitting in the round, hence the peeping tom quality of the shot. Thanks for the pic, Pamelalala.

I picked out a whole mess of books, but I don't think the Bonez would've been so appreciative. So a few had to stay... for now. Of the books that I did leave with, two are knitting related for me and one is an origami book for Bonez. As part of his birthday week.

Yeah - you read me right. WEEK. In this household, birthdays are celebrated for a whole week. A week's worth of gifts. Special meals and treats all week. A little birthday love for each day of the week. Kind of like day of the week underwear, except we include Sunday and it's not quite as freaky.

We had some friends over on Saturday (hi, Skittermagoo and Brad!) for fun and games. Tasty white chicken chili and chocolate chip cheesecake dip was consumed. And there are now two more converts to the joy that is Settlers of Catan. You're welcome.

And finally the fun came to a crashing halt on Sunday when we began the journey that is d*#t. (Yes, that four-letter word is too evil to write out loud.) For the next two weeks, my moods may be erratic depending on the foodstuffs. But so far, so good. We're eating a lot, it's just a lot of cooking and preparing meals. Now I understand the magic that happened for mothers everywhere in the 70's with the introduction of Hamburger Helper® and other time savers.

Stuff

I like stuff. You like stuff. Everybody likes stuff. Right? Well, of course! And today's stuff is extra special.

Funny story. I decided that I'm finally ready for Denise needles, so I order them online. Not two hours later I'm talking to my Bonez and he mentions that he ordered me the same Denise needles that morning. Gha?! What a sweetheart. So's I cancel my order and patiently wait for my anniversary interchangeable needles.

Okay, so it might not be a funny story at all. But I got my needles today, so there! And they're pretty darn swell. I played around with 'em a bit and swatched for my niece's poncho on the 11's. [purrrrrrrr] Smooth action.

I'm using Berroco Lullaby in Willy Winky (a purple, blue and green blend that's v. soft and cuddly). The pattern that I'm looking at is the Harlot Poncho. But you see where I've made some yarn-over drops (the lacy, kind of open part)? Well, I kind of like that too and want to incorporate it in the design. Plus, I'm thinking of changing the neckline. So pattern-schmattern, it's only a suggestion.

Happy Birthday, Bonez!

Today is my sweetheart's birthday. Instead of a picture of him from his childhood (I'm too lazy/medicated to scan a pic), I give you what he would look like if he was a South Park character. Ta Da!

Matty Bonez, may all your PEZ dreams and wishes come true.

What? You want to make your S.P. character, too? Then go here.

Now what?! You want to see mine? Okay, here ya' go.

Help -- Movie Suggestions!

Have you seen a good movie? Drop us a comment.

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Thanks for all the great suggestions so far, keep 'em coming.

More inside...

Happy Mac --- and Matt

One of the items that came back from New Hampshire was a Macintosh SE. Manufactured in 1990, this little computer is made of hearty stock. It's my newest computer project.

This is the first Mac that I've encountered since college (Windows/Unix boy), so I am looking forward to figuring out what exactly to do with it!

I'll be updating this article as work progresses, so check back often.

When Bob asked if I would like an old Mac computer, my ears perked up. (Bob and his wife Jean are related to me through marriage in a confusing way. I prefer to think of them as honorary grandparents. - It's much easier to explain, too!) I had been looking for a new computer project for a while, so once Nancy agreed that I could have another computer (she was won over by it's cuteness), the Mac made the long journey back to Texas. In a moment of insanity, I figured that I would rather carry the Mac instead of shipping it. If you are ever presented with a similar situation, ship it. They get really heavy after a while.

I hope I look as good in 20 years

So, it came home. Along with the Mac came a full set of manuals, software disks and more. My first step was to clean it up. The case cleaned up easily with a mild detergent and an awful lot of paper towels and q-tips. I popped off all of the keys on the keyboard and gave them a full clean. I will say that the keyboard is very well made. Popping the keys off proved to be a formidable challenge.

Shiny, clean and ready to compute

So, now I have a clean computer. The first item of business is back up the files, and get the Mac up on our home network. This seems to be a bit of a catch-22. To install a network adapter, I will need to install software. Since this is the only Mac in the house, I am having to be creative about how to get the software onto the Mac. I haven't played with it too much, but I am playing with some different Windows apps that allow me to write to a Mac formatted disk.

I'm going to continue a running commentary as I learn and work on the computer. Check back for updates.

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Update: August 9, 2004

So I thought that I would update the entry with some more info. The Mac is labeled "Macintosh SE FDHD." The FDHD stands for "Floppy Drive Hard Drive" as this was kind of an upgrade. You know, a computer that had a floppy drive and a hard drive. Crazy.

Also, this Mac has a "SuperDrive" which is a floppy drive that uses those new-fangled 1.44 MB double-density disks. Right now I am having trouble with the drive. It's able to write to the disk, and I am trying some different translator softwares to read the diskette on an XP machine. So there's no data leaving or coming to the Mac yet. I still have sevral options to try yet.

Here are some of the stats frome the mac.
Built in Memory : 4,096K
Total Memory: 8,192K
Hard Drive: 43.1 MB
Created: Sun, June 20, 1993

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Update: August 20, 2004

I won an eBay auction yesterday for an Asante SCSI-Ethernet adapter. Hopefully, with the right drivers, the adapter will be my ticket to the worldwide web.... on a black and white 8-inch screen...

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Fly the Friendly Skies

We just got back from vacation.

Vacation was great. The only issues that we had were at the airports.

Nanc and I used to both travel for work. alot. But time passes, and things change especially the airlines.

This is an open letter to the airlines.

I had some crummy experiences on the airplanes with the vacation this year. Instead of sending mean letters to Delta and American, I thought that it would be more pleasing to send them a link to my open letter.

Crafturday 2: Electric Boogaloo

Yesterday was Crafturday. Crafturday is my favorite day of the week!

What is Crafturday? Well, my child, let me explain. Crafturday is when one gathers with their crafty friends on a Saturday and together they summon the power of the craft. For good, not evil. It's a CRAFTy satURDAY. CRAFTURDAY!

Want to know more? Only those pure of mind and spirit may continue...

Oh... um. Well it seems that they've lifted that restriction. My bad.

The first Crafturday was making beaded stitch markers, needle butts, and miscellany. This Crafturday was spent making unique dress forms with duct tape.

Yep, duct tape.

Following the instructions from here and here, the five of us, Petra, Pamelalala, Kathy, Chris and I, were ready to make some body doubles. First thing you should know if attempting this craft yourselves is that you had better trust, or like, your friends. 'Cause they're taping all over your torso. And that means... BOOBS! [he he... boobs!]

Credit goes to my four friends, because it takes some time to get three layers of duct tape fitted around the human torso. They each held their own during this trying time and didn't freak out during the cutting-out portion.

Note to others: if attempting this yourselves, cut off the t-shirt tag first - it's difficult to cut through. And since it's right at the end of the process, your friend inside the tape is pretty antsy to get out of the getup. Capisce?

Time was tight, so we were only able to make the shells of my friends. I hope that once they have their twins bound back up, hung and stuffed that they'll share. [ooh - sounds freaky] Pics, if not a photo op. Speaking of pics... okay, well there were solemn promises made that what happens in Crafturday, stays in Crafturday. Or some such slogan. All I can say is that it was tons of fun and silliness, good times, and strange chest armor.

Sadly, I did not make a body double of myself. It's not that I don't want a mini-nan about, but my coughing jags would've made it nigh impossible to tape me up. So next time. I promise.

And because I couldn't leave you with any visuals, here's my stash enhancement:

Sweet Tiki, Batman!

We stopped at Yarn Heaven on the way to Petra's house. I picked up some yarn bras* and, well... you guessed it: yarn. The Berroco Lullaby in Willie Winky (4304) is for a poncho for my niece. The other two mondo skeins are Ironstone Yarns New Wool in grape/teak (10) and what I'm calling 'hyperlime' (111). These will be used to make a large felted bag for moi.

And aren't those awesome tiki lights?!

* A "yarn bra" would normally be a bad thing in TX, but this time I'm referring to the four mesh tubes that keep slipery yarns tangle-free.

Where has all the knitting gone?

It's been a long while, but I do have knitting updates for you.

A little bit here, a tad more there... nothing too exciting, but enough to share with y'all.

July was a long knitting dry-spell. I traveled for most of the month and a little knitting came on these trips. In both Honduras and New Hampshire, knitting provided me with a way to wash myself. (Yeah. You read that right: wash myself.) After my washcloth had gone missing from the line, I was able to knit up another to use the next day. (phew!) Luckily, the first washcloth was recovered and returned home to a happy Matt (it was his Badtz-Maru cloth). And in NH, I knit a quick, little [travel-sized] soap sack for us. I was also able to knit a mock-up/water bottle poncho as a model of what my niece can expect for her birthday present.

Pamelalala gave me a sweet [belated, but that's okay] birthday card and some buttons. On the card is a beaded dragonfly - which rocks! And the buttons couldn't be more perfect: two lucky cat buttons and two Smurf buttons, one of which is Angry Smurf. See how perfect these buttons are? They are typical items in my house. Yay!

I've made decent progress on Tricot, spending my days knitting while trying to expel this darn cough. I've got the back and both sleeves completed, and am almost to the last increase in the front. Then it will be on to blocking, sewing, and making that final decision about the zipper. (To zipper, or not to zipper. That is the question.)

And finally because I needed an FO and Tricot was being allusive, I knit an egg roll for my kitties. A quick and easy pattern from the archives of knitty.com, the egg roll is stuffed with batting and, of course, catnip. And it is indeed meaty enough for our ample cats!

Click on 'em. Aren't my kitties cute.

Tomorrow is Crafturday and I'm so excited that I might have peed a little.

Lurve me tender, baby

It's hard to believe that a mere four years ago, Matty and I stood in front of (an) Elvis in Vegas and got married. Yep, Viva Las Vegas indeed!

It's been great and we're trying to keep our vows to not step on the other's blue suede shoes, be together on Christmas so that it's not blue, and to be each other's teddy bears. U-huh. [visualize the lip curl]

Now give us a little suga', baby.

For those that just need to know... No. We are not huge Elvis fans. In fact, I'm not an Elvis fan at all, really. I don't flinch at his music, but neither do I own any albums/CDs.

Why Elvis then? The fun of it. Oh, and Matty had always 'dreamed' about getting married this way. (Okay, 'dreamed' might be too strong of a word, but he had a better concept than I did.) And it was a hoot!

The location was right: we were in Vegas for a work meeting (we worked together then). The reaction was right: very few people knew that we were dating, let alone thinking about marriage. He he - our coworker's expressions were priceless!

Oh, and because we were in love. (And still are, Thank You v. much.) More than that, we really like each other, too. And we are firm believers that to make a relationship work, you should like (and respect) your partner. Love is flighty, but like is solid.

Simply stated, Matt and I "get" each other. AND still like each other. It's all good.

Thanks, pard'ner.

Sickness

Don't fret, Nancy will be updating soon. She's been out with a cold for a few days and hasn't been feeling like writing anything. In case you were wondering, her throat hurts, she has a fever, and she coughs an awful lot. Sick, sick, sick. She is eating chicken noodle soup, juice and cough drops. I expect that she will be up and around very soon.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

General Housekeeping

We're back from our vacation in New England, and had lots of fun, and even more cool stuff to write about in the coming weeks.

You should look forward to a range of stories/entries/articles (whatever) about black bears on scooters, grabbing the brass ring, airline travel and more.

On an unrelated note, when we got home, there were approximately 300 comments on various articles which normally would be cool, but most of them were from the evil porno spambots (from the planet concubine!). At any rate, when you leave comments now, you need to also key in a security code that is displayed in the comment area. This ensures that the messages are left by people and not bots.

Look for new content as early as--- umm... well, soon!