Where has the holiday gone?

Every year, the amount of trick or treaters dwindles. It's such a sad state of affairs, I tell you. I know we have kids around here..I hear them from sun up to sun down screaming outside my house. The one night of the year, when they are SUPPOSED to run rampant..they are quiet. *shakes my head* It's not fair. At least this year my nephew is here so I can pawn all this candy off on him! *grins evilly* This is one of my favorite nights of the year! Samhain and Ostre - nothing beats them at all. I've always loved these two holidays above all others for some reason.

My new knitting project is coming along nicely. I think the new sofa is finally happening this weekend? Or early next week. So, I wanted a new afghan for it. Every sofa needs a snuggly afghan on it. It's mandatory!.  It's kind of a log cabin type affair.  Here is square one.

I'm trying to use up all the scraps and bits and pieces I have laying around. You know, the odd skein off that you thought you needed but never used? As it looks, no two squares are going to look the same. I'm trying to be as varied as possible. Square #2 should be finished tonight or tomorrow. Not sure how many squares I will need, but this is a great project as it's fast, and very portable. Since it's straight garter stitch, it's going to be nice and squishy for snuggling with. 

NaNoWrMo starts up in 5 hours!!!!! OMG..I'm so not ready. I was ready three weeks ago..now I'm totally not ready. I have no idea.. I'm just going to sit down and start typing and hope something decent falls out!

And, I just gotta say.. I'm so in love with my phone that words can't describe it. Finally after so many years, I have what to me is the perfect phone. It's large enough to actually see stuff but thin enough to fit in a wallet.  I so <3 my phone! Just remember - phone perfection is the one thing besides beauty that is in the eye of the beholder.  Android/Windows/Apple...they all do the same thing, pretty much the same way. The joy of having the choices is that everyone gets what is perfect for them. 

Binging, it's a good thing.

The latest trend in television viewing is "binge watching" or "marathoning".  It's being bandied about as if it's a new thing. It's not really. Well, not if you're a reader!

How many of you have gotten a long awaited book and literally sat up to read the thing cover to cover? *coughs* Harry Potter? Twilight? *coughs*  We have all done it, might as well confess up to it.

The question is: Is it so bad? The talk now about the whole multi episode viewing thing is it's not good. I don't see the harm in it. Personally, I watched House of Cards on Netflix till I literally couldn't keep my eyes open. It was that good!   Did it harm me? No. Did I miss out on anything important? No. Two harmless days of tv watching did not end the world.

Personally, I see it as a way to get someone involved with a show. Take for instance Grimm. The thing is literally filmed in my city. You see them filming ALL OVER. I watched the first three episodes then forgot to program it in my tivo and poof...gone. I recently found it on Hulu and started over from episode 1..damn if I am not hooked on it now. The back to back to back caught my attention. I didn't have to wait a week or two or even a month in some cases to see the next episode. They were all right there..and on Hulu..they automatically start. It's like watching one long movie.  Will I now watch it on a weekly basis live on tv? Oh hell yes. Well..via tivo because truthfully, I rarely watch anything at it's alloted time slot.

The whole thing is...if you had to read a book like a serial, you might lose interest. Especially if they took hiatus's for long periods. For instance over the holidays. Some shows are off for a whole month! Way to loose someone's interest, there.  

Personally, I like my television like my books. In nice big chunks. I think that House of Cards was just the beginning on putting the whole season out at once. You could then watch one episode a week if you wanted...or watch them all at once.  Either way, the shows would be watched, advertisers would be happy and the viewer would be happy.

Speaking of advertising...Hulu shows ads during it's shows. Honestly, I rarely notice them. They don't detract from the whole binge thing at all. Gotta have a bathroom break after all, right?

Oh Sunday, How I love thee!

Today I had absolutely NOTHING I had to do. Yes! NOTHING!!!! It was simply put, amazing. I made homemade biscuits. I have the worlds simplest biscuit recipe. It was purloined from Pinterest. 2 Cups of Self Rising Flour, 1 cup heavy cream. Roll out, cut out, bake at 450 for 10 minutes. Voila. Biscuits that are so light and fluffy they all but levitate off your plate.  They were the featured course in tonight's dinner. I HAD planned on chicken and dumplings, but said chicken refused to defrost for me. Damn thing is still frozen on the inside. Somehow, my chicken must have mistaken itself for a turkey. Sorry, dude, you are NO where near that big.   So, for tomorrow, I have fixing chicken and dumplings.  Tonight I just had biscuits and gravy. Extremely simple but rather filling and very satisfying.

I crocheted a bit today, I knitted a bit today. I went over some patterns trying to decide my next knit.  Went through some yarn to see if any suited what I want to knit next. Watched some tv, got caught up on my Tivo shows. Vacuumed a bit, ran the dishwasher. Yeah..that was about it. It was weird. Usually my Sundays are havoc filled. This one was unnervingly peaceful. Kind of a spooky peaceful to boot.

I rather enjoyed today. The evening promises to be more of the same. Quiet, tv watching, reading and knitting. Yeah, now we all know why I like winter. It's a peaceful time of year.

Sunshine, Sweaters and The Usual Friday Traffic

It's a sunshiny day here, with intermittent cloud breaks. Just chilly enough for a sweater, but not enough for a full duty heavy duty hoodie. In other words, a perfect day. Except for:

The usual Friday traffic around here. I don't understand it. I have never understood it, nor will I ever get it. Monday through Thursday, traffic is normal. Heavier during rush hours and at noon, but normal outside those three periods. Except on Friday. For some reason, unknown to the laws of physics, it's bumper to bumper the whole day.

Is it a case of a really huge amount of people work a four day work week around here? Or for some odd reason a lot of people come here only on Friday? It's weird. I know the traffic lights don't have a Friday schedule. The roads don't narrow on Fridays. I really try to avoid leaving the house on Fridays because I know it's going to be an extra long trip and my traffic mouth will kick into high gear.

On the brighter side, it's the WEEKEND!!! Tomorrow is Ingress day. I'm going out to play for a good portion of the day. Then do some serious fall house cleaning. I want to air the house once more before the chilly weather really sets in. Clean the carpets and curtains and get the house winter proofed. I need to get the sewing machine set up so that I can make new curtains for the bedroom and some for the living room. It's time to put the summer stuff away. Booo...I liked my blue theme that I had going on, but winter needs a darker theme.

I know, it sounds strange that my house has seasonal wear. My grandmother had summer stuff and winter stuff. The summer stuff was lighter fabrics, colors and washable rugs. Winter was thicker fabrics, more snuggle fabrics and thicker rugs for the floor. Might just all be a psychological thing, but I swear it does work. Slowly, I'm developing the summer/winter thing. I've always had a summer arrangement and a winter arrangement for furniture, guess it's times for the textiles to join in.

I decided to go with Scrivener for my Nano Novel this year. I was going to use Yarny..but it ate my research snippets which freaked me out. In Yarny's defense, they did reappear after about four hours, but I don't think my heart could take it if that happened during Nano! I would panic like someone living in the path of an exploding volcano! I need my stuff to be here at all times. Noooo freakouts need apply.

I'm also hunting up a rug for my dining room. It just needs that little something extra to make it better. Yeah, rugs fix everything in my book *laughs*. I'm all about layering under my feet. Plus the dog likes it. And the cats.

Oh well, back to work...I have a project due at end of day.

Nano 2013, anyone?

Nano 2013 is quickly approaching!  I'm super excited this year. Not only do I have one plot bunny, I have THREE!!! That's right, three! *dances around* Usually, I'm hurting at this point for even one. For some reason this year, I'm over flowing with ideas. It's fantastic.

Maybe because I've not been actually writing anything as of late? Could be my plot bunny partner in crime is back? *grins* Well, it's more of my muse has returned. I'm super excited.  Soon as midterms are over, letting the writing commence.

I've decided to try out Scrivener this Nano. It's been highly recommended and it's time to graduate from google docs to something that can keep me more organized. Last year, I had notes in no less than thirty different folders and it felt so disjointed. This year, I'm all about being organized. I've flirted with it over the past few years, but always fell back on google docs at the last minute.  I will still use google docs as my backup location. But Scrivener will sync with dropbox so I can move between desktop to laptop. If I find I"m on the chromebook, I'll just work in docs and save to dropbox via web app.

Other happy news, I've discovered the perfect fast food meal. Although, it's filled with the dreaded "unknown chicken parts" *laughs*. Yes, I'm talking the mighty kids chicken mcnugget meal at McDonald's. Upsize the coke to a large and it's perfect. Six nuggets, small fry, apple slice and a soda. Not too much, not too little. It's perfect. It's also only 5.15 with the upgrade. Bonus part, I toss the toy aside for the nephew. I'm building up a bag of stuff to occupy him while he's in my car.  Hey, it works.

Lately, I'm all about the crochet. For some reason, I'm on a basket kick? I have no idea. It's coming in handy that's for sure. I could use some catch all baskets around the casa. Another project I want to make is some type of rug? Maybe a crocheted one? Not sure, but I think it would work nicely for the kitchen. The tile floor gets a wee bit chilly in the wintertime.

Totally forgot Wonderland was on tonight, thank gods for Hulu! I'm going to have to catch it there tomorrow night. Did find a Grimm book on iTunes today. It's like a companion for the show. I was all over that, that's for sure. Love that show. I'm a late comer to it. Now hooked though, can't miss it.

Right now, it's Elementary time. I do love that show as well.

I must be crazy!

Once again, I have been tempted by the gods to do NaNoWriMo. I totally blame Rilana for starting this way back on '02! She convinced me to attempt it and I've not been able to NOT participate. Once I knitted a sweater during it! I'm such a glutton for punishment, I swear.

Thing is...I had an entire story pop into my mind in about ten minutes yesterday! The characters are ready to go...a somewhat story line is done. Yeah..took all of two hours? I'm taking that as a sign. I only decided to do this yesterday. Like I said, glutton for punishment.

Had a busy weekend. Family dinner, massive train ride to play Ingress, shopping, cleaning, rearranging, I made a king size comforter. Yeah..it was eventful. The comforter? Well, let's say I'm probably the world's most frugal person as of late. A good all season king-size comforter goes for 120 and above. However, Ikea had comforters on sale last month. The king-size, was the 120.00. Usually a king size comforter really isn't a king size. It usually barely covers the top of the mattress. I hate that. I'm a snuggler, I ball the damned thing up at night around me.

My answer? Make my own. I bought two twin size comforters, sat my butt on the floor and hand stitched them together lengthwise. For all of 29.99! Let me tell you, that's A LOT of comforter! It's HUGE! *grins* It does cover the bed, as in it hands half way to the floor on the sides and plenty to tuck in at the bottom. It's huge, fluffy and my bed is now like being inside a cloud. I'm seriously considering moving into it till like May or something?
All that's left is the cover for it and pillow shams for the pillows.

I love winter, pure and simple. It's the most wonderful time of year. Not hot, not overly blindingly sunny, tons of nice dark. *sighs* It's just perfect! I'll even not bitch about no snow. Just give me some cold and dark and I'm a happy camper. I still say I need to move into an igloo..although they are pretty bright if caught out in sunshine. Like living inside a skylight! Ugh!

Another great thing from recently-Google Play Music. I love it! I've discovered so much new music on it, it's obscene! It's quickly becoming the soundtrack to my life!  Love Love Love it!

Drats, forgot to put the chicken into marinade. Crap..off to do that.

Family fun time

It's family fun time today. We took the kid to Safari Sam's to play, It's one of those indoor gym things with bounce houses and huge slides in it. He's enjoying himself and I have wifi. If it was later in the day, I would also have a beer sitting next to me. *laughs*

Got my pre-calc out of the way today. I left the computer at the house churning out reports. The best part, I can remote into my computer and check on stuffs. I love technology some days.  It's nice to NOT be stuck at a desk.

I'm really pissed off at Congress. I'm so tired of them posturing around and me having to pay for it. Our congress reminds me of the House of Lords that existed back in English History. They only thought of themselves and no one else.  I wish we could fire all the congressmen that are acting like 4 year olds and just replace them with people that give a crap about the everyday person.

In happier news, the sun has returned to PDX. It's still chilly but not as rainy. The monsoon has passed, it seems. Supposedly, it will be around 70 this weekend? Boo. I need to make some weekend plans, I want to go do something...but what? Hmmmm

I got a new book today..the new JR Ward book. YAY. That is what I'm doing later today. READING!!!!! I always slack off on her book release dates.  *sighs* I love her writing style. It just rocks.

Okay...apparently we are now off to Target! Sweet!!!! I needed to go by there as it was.