Rain and SnB

SnB was last night and saw several new folks. Always cool. I brought z so that z's dad could pick him up when he got into the island. We had to park relatively far away (around the block), but z had a grand time w/ his yellow slicker and g'loshes. We found big puddles that he could jump in --so I also got a bit wetter than I would have liked, but he really liked it. We got to Julie's Teas and ordered a hot chocolate. z really liked the hot chocolate. And when z's dad showed up, he also really liked the hot chocolate.

I remembered I promised to make my nephew a red DNA scarf and brought the yarn to work on that. However, cabling is not the best at SnB. After 6 rows of pattern, realized that I'm going to have to rip or tink it...ah well...

It was great seeing everyone. I think that SnB is the reason that I keep motivated to knit. I'm still trying to be good and not spend additional $$ on yarn. Instead, I'm trying to do some stash bashing...wish me luck!

Other uses for Kool Aid

Instead of Black Friday shopping, z and I made play dough using Kool Aid. I had packs of Kool Aid from fiber dyeing and figured hey, I don't have any food coloring (what kind of mom am I that I don't have food coloring?!) I'll make the dough w/ Kool Aid.

Here's the recipe:
Kool-Aid® Play Dough

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 package unsweetened Kool-Aid
  
• 1/4 cup salt
  
• 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
  
• 1 cup water

Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar and Kool-Aid® in a medium pot. Add water and oil. Stir over medium heat 3 to 5 minutes. When mixture forms a ball in pot, remove. Knead until smooth. Put in a plastic bag and refrigerate.

I decided refrigeration is unnecessary. It turned out really well. We used Blueberry ('cause you know what z's fave color is) and followed directions.

All's I know is that I will likely never buy play dough again. This was way too easy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everyone!

Happy Turkey Day! Hope all gets lots of knitting done, turkey cooked (and eaten) and football watched.

Berta and Hilda

While in SD last week, one of the places on my list of food to eat was Berta's in Old Town. Now, you may be wondering, why there? sure, they're in Frommer's (but do I read that? no), so why go to SoCal and eat South American food (instead of Mexican which SD has a ton of). Well, I wanted to go to Berta's because it's owned by Hilda's sister (Berta). Now, you may not be aware of Hilda, but Hilda owned a wonderful South American restaurant in Eugene, OR. This would be the restaurant that we would pick for 'fancy schmancy' dinners like for birthdays, or if a guest speaker was coming into town.

Well, on a foggy night, z's dad, myself and z drove to Berta's and all was looking like it was maybe going to be okay when z decided he's had enough of this vacation stuff and decided to be a pill and have a major meltdown. We barely got through dinner. I ordered paella venezuela (my long-time fave) and z's dad got a chicken dish. And z? he had tortillas and that was it. He melted down. Fortunately, the place had emptied out a little and so as soon as z's dad was done eating, they went out to the car. The food? I thoroughly enjoyed mine. z's dad thought the chicken was overcooked.

The sad part was when I was talking w/ the waitress (Berta's daughter), and I mentioned that I came here because I used to go to Hilda's, I found out that Hilda closed down her restaurant over 5 yrs ago! Did I mention that an alternative to going to SoCal was to go to Oregon--but w/ the yucky weather (rain and cold in November), we opted to go to SoCal. But that would be one of the only reasons that I'd want to go back to Eugene--to eat at Hilda's.

Very very sad. But at least I got to eat really good SoAm food. If you're ever down in Old Town, I highly recommend Berta's.

Back from birthday vacation

Gone for a week in beautiful SoCal on holiday. And boy was it warm down there. I always forget about Santa Anas, as well as the coastal fog in San Diego...anyway, I had great intentions of knitting while on the drive south, but nope, knitting never came out of the bag. When you've got a 2 3/4 year old, you sorta need all hands and eyes ready to make sure there's no dashing into parking lots, streets, etc.

So, bottom line is that my knitting took a vacation with me.

It's my Birthday!

Wow! Can't believe I'm this old. sigh.

I did already get the happy birthday song from both z's dad (last night) and z (this morning). I'm just amazed that z, at 2 2/3 years old, can and does sing the happy birthday song, and insert the right name (momma) in the song. Maybe it's me, but you kinda think about how you don't really have memories of when you were 2, yet you have the cognitive abilities to memorize a song, and sing it, and alter it (in tune, sort of). Blows my mind.

We get to go do fun stuff today and this week, so I'll blog later.

Oakland yarn shop and food

Took a little trip to Oakland yarn shop yesterday, hoping for some creative knitting mojo...well, the good news is that I didn't purchase any yarn, but you know, I just wasn't that inspired...but I did stop at my favorite bakery Bake Sale Betty and finally got their fried chicken sandwich. Ohmyfriggingoodness, it's pretty darn good. Highly recommend. And the folks there are just so nice. I've gotten their super delicious scones from the Alameda Farmer's market, but they weren't there this week. sadness.

So, while I was in the Temescal area, went down to check out their brick and mortar store. The sample I got (they're super wonderful about giving out samples) was their lemon bar. If I can make lemon bars like that...my oh my.

Anyway, I did break down and get a pair of Addis of the right length for z's dad sweater. I'm hoping that the sweater will now knit itself.

Can you believe it? a post!

Well, I'm not sure when I'm going to get out of this knitting funk. But just because I haven't been knitting doesn't mean that I haven't been reading about knitting. Naw, not like knitting mags or books or anything like that (see, that would be constructive--seeing purty new things I could be knitting), nope. I've been reading knitting blogs. You know, marveling at how folks can crank out sweater after sweater after sock after sock. You all know that I still have that half finished sock in my basket...as well as z's dad sweater and z's two sweaters...(sigh)

But I was surfing a non-knitting site (cynical-c) and came across knitted zombies on flicker! How cool is that! The person that has the collection of knitted dawn of the dead characters also knitted Mr. Zippy, the monkey seen on craftster.org. (which I love and am planning on making uh, soon as I get my knitting mojo back). You know that the internet world is getting much smaller. Kinda like 6 degree of separation of Kevin Bacon, but in the 'e world'.

Me, I'm still working on the sweater...

Candy Coma

We went trick or treating and gave out candy...z got some good loot. Yummy. We haven't stolen any candy from him yet, but we shall...

We also had lots of kids come and trick or treat. Two interesting experiences. One was our first treater who ended up being an elderly asian lady not in costume w/ a bag asking for candy. How weird is that. She wasn't w/ anyone else (as in she didn't come to the door for a kid or anything). And she wasn't dressed up...yes, I know the difference between someone dressing up as an old lady verses an old lady. She didn't speak English, but when I offered candy, she nodded her head. Well, I gave her candy and wished her Happy Halloween.

My theory is that she didn't buy any candy and was going around collecting candy to give out at her house...what do you think?

The other experience was that we had a group of ~8 kids at the door and z was giving out candy and wishing everyone Happy Halloween (once in a while, he'd slip and say 'Trick or Treat'). Anyway, for whatever reason, z didn't give the girl in front of him any candy, and would give candy to the people next to her. As more and more kids came up the side and got candy, she gave a huff and left without any candy. She looked about 10 or so...hmmm...maybe she didn't like the selection. Oh, well.

It was all great fun. We carved pumpkins and put candles in them. We have seeds soaking right now for roasting today.

Knitting? well, didn't get around to doing any at all since I didn't want chocolate on my yarn!