bag 'n' trash -- home of monster yarn

Chicken Wings and Other Things

the other day elisa posted about her guilty pleasures.  of particular note was her thing for saltines and coffee ... together.  i mocked, yes i did, but i can also understand how attached we become to foods we ate as children that take us back to a "happier" time.   please, elisa, enjoy your saltines and coffee.

anyway, she invited us all to share with her our guilty pleasures but at the time i couldn't think of anything.  i mean i like toast and butter and coffee, but so do a lot of people.  and i do have a thing for very bad greasy chinese food but again, if the crowds at the chinese buffet in town are any indication, i am not alone.  i did elicit some EWWWWS at lunch the other day when i explained that i love love love kraft mac n cheese with peas (canned) and tuna.  but another girl mentioned that she liked it that way too.  so i was at an impass.

then yesterday, i started thinking...i have become obsessed with chicken wings.  now that's not so much a guilty pleasure as defined by elisa -- something about a lifted eyebrow -- however, the mere fact that i actually found a recipe to make them myself and then proceeded to eat all 15 of them (whole wings -- the entire package) might qualify.  no?  no lifted eyebrows? 

hmmm.

i love hellman's mayonnaise (best food's to you California types) and would eat it with anything and everything if i had a metabolism that could support the consumption of vast amounts of mayonnaise.  my favorite?  lettuce and mayo sandwiches on whole wheat bread.  i like the lettuce for crunch. 

guilty pleasures -- entertainment

i've talked about my love for the movie Animal House -- but that love might have also been what boys found cool about me.  so only girls would give me the eyebrow lift.

in music, madonna and my all time favorite guilty pleasure, george michael, in and out of the closet. 

tv -- other than the two rounds of "average joe," "the apprentice," and "project runway (which i don't think counts)" i haven't been a fan of reality tv (do shows like "what not to wear"  or "trading spaces" count?) .  these shows tend to bring out the worse in people so they really depress me.  so it's not like i have a reality tv addiction i have to hide. i may raise an eyebrow because of this sitcom that valerie bertinelli was in in the early 90's -- Cafe Americain.  i may have been the only person who actually watched it and wouldn't miss an episode.  the premise spoke to me, and well it starred valerie bertinelli.  i dare any woman to deny going through puberty in the 70's and not want to be valerie bertinelli.  I DARE YOU... (and yes, i watched parts of the one day at a time reunion show the other night - i watched the show as a kid for the first couple of years it was on (we moved overseas in 1976) but the mom used to always bug me because she didn't wear a bra and her boobies shook ).

books -- um  nothing except among certain groups of friends i've had to hide anything that oprah has endorsed.

yarn -- i do have one guilty pleasure or two.  i love sugar-n-cream.  love it love it love it.  and not for the dishtowel either.  i've made afghans with it.  yessiree bob, and i'm currently making a knitted patchwork quilt inspired thingy with it.  mock away.  and ... i really like knitting with acrylic yarn ... even red heart ... on aluminum needles.  i knit so fast, i swear there are sparks.  (see cathi?  there's a reason why i'm a secret knitter).

well there you go.  maybe i'll make chicken wings tonight.

No, That's OK, I'll Do It, It'll Be Good For Me

i really hate it when i can't come up with anything clever or interesting to write about.  and it's not like nothing happened this weekend.  i mean, i did stuff, lots of stuff, but random, unrelated stuff so it's kind of hard to relate it all together into one post.  but i've got a driveway to shovel (because i'm a moron and told my neighbor that i could shovel my driveway, he didn't have to, thanks though.  one of these days i will learn that it's ok to let people do stuff for me).  and yes, it did snow again (for those of you who do not live in the area).

anyway -- saturday was a day of great excitement for me, because i got my hair cut.  i'd been talking about going short for months now, so i bit the bullet, and made an appointment at my local salon.  the last time i had had a haircut was almost a year ago (cutting my own bangs doesn't count) and i'd gone to the same place.  that time, the stylist  had not listened to me and had given to me some sort of lame-assed layered bob thing that i had not requested and that required way too much work to make presentable, let alone actually be flattering.  i blamed the haircut on poor communication between me and the stylist and thought, well as long as i get another stylist it shouldn't be a problem. 

me, saturday morning before "the cut" smiling

yes well, it appears we do have a problem.   i did get another stylist, and i showed her a photo and said, "i'd like it longer on the top with bangs, but shorter on the sides and in the back.  please cut it short, because i look like crap when my hair is in that between shoulders and chin length area."   i think that's pretty clear, but i guess not to her, because she proceeded to give me a layered bob an inch above my shoulders.  THE SAME DAMN HAIRCUT THAT I'D GOTTEN A YEAR AGO FROM ANOTHER STYLIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
because i don't care to get confrontational i think i may have said "um, well that will have to do." 

me, saturday afternoon, after "the cut" not smiling.

this is a picture of me after she proceeded to try and fix what she'd done by cutting an additional  3 inches off.  yes, it's closer to what i wanted, but i don't think i ever told her that i wanted to look like dorothy hamill circa 1976.  what you can't see is the step-like layering she did in back.  something like i would do but then again,  I'M NOT A TRAINED PROFESSIONAL!!!! 

in any event, i've since messed around with the 'do and have gotten used to seeing myself look like a 70's icon but that's the last time i try to support the local salon economy.   newbury street or bust from now on baby.

in totally unrelated news, i'm 2 blocks away from being done with the baby blanket.

well, being done with the knitting of the blocks.  then i have to sew them together and finish it off.  but at least i'm almost done with the blocks.

ok, i'm out of here. i have to shovel a driveway.   (I didn't have to shovel, after all.  when i went out, another neighbor came over with his snow blower and cleaned up everything for me.  my neighbors rock).

happy president's day.

20,000

1.  as of now, 4:19pm ET, i am 15 hits away from 20,000.  pretty cool, huh

2.  lots of bloggers have been gushing about valentine's day.  J surprised me with flowers, a card, and a valentine's day cake (yes cake, not chocolates, a cake) so it's not like i'm all whiny or anything.  but deep down, i'm a snarky and angry person (but not so much a whiner just so you know), so i have to say i really really enjoyed this site.  thanks rabbitch for sharing it. 

3.  thanks to all who commented on my little shower card.  it was a success.  although i kind of felt like a big dork when it was passed around to everyone in the room.  one of these days i'll learn to accept praise graciously without feeling like a big dork. 

4.  my blog only looks different to me, further confirming the fact that not only do i feel like a big dork...i am in fact a big dork.  when i first "saved" it looked really crappy.  i've been trying to piece it together and although close, it's not exactly right.  don't worry if you can't tell the difference.  it really doesn't matter.

Well Enough Alone

a few weeks i upgraded my typepad account but had yet to really play with any of the design options  that i'm now privy to.  although i wasn't planning on changing anything -- just playing around -- i fucked up and "saved" when i should have just "previewed."  so now i hate the way my blog looks.  it's not like i loved it the way it was before, but i felt right.  this just feels and looks wrong.   

anyway, whatever. 

hey look at the yarn kerstin sent me!  and to think i thought it was navy.  i must have been smoking crack.  isn't it pretty?

until i find something to make with it, i'll just throw it on the rest of my yarn pile.

clearly, the cat doesn't seem to mind.

Scattered Showers

tomorrow i have a baby shower to go to.    and i am not ready. 

this is how far i've gotten on the baby blanket i'm supposed to have finished.  pathetic, i know.  (fyi, the patterns for the squares are from 100 afghan squares to knit.)

maybe she won't notice that i'm not bringing her a present when she sees the little card i made.

i have to admit, i kind of think it's pretty cute. 

Mini Knits

as always, when i feel that the contents of my post might be a little thin, i post the results of a quiz (from the queen of lint).

You scored as Visual/Spatial. You probably feel at home with the visual arts, maps, charts, and diagrams. You tend to think in images and pictures. You learn best by looking at pictures and slides, watching videos or movies, and visualizing. People like you include sculptors, painters, surgeons and engineers. Visual/Spatial 86% Verbal/Linguistic 75% Logical/Mathematical 71% Interpersonal 64% Intrapersonal 43% Bodily/Kinesthetic 43% Musical/Rhythmic 18% The Rogers Indicator of Multiple Intelligences created with QuizFarm.com

i am not at all surprised by the outcome.  i'm very visual (if i see something written down i'll remember it, if i just hear it -- like a phone number, or a person's name -- poof it's gone) and i became the family car trip navigator at the age of 9 when my father figured out that i could in fact read a map and my mother could not.  (i did not get to sit in the front seat however.)

by the way, lint queen is a fellow knitter who drives a mini.  she and i are both members of the new ring called "mini knits" (check out the link under "clutter") created by purlingswine  for people who drive minis and knit, hopefully not at the same time, although i have knitted while driving but in my defense i was sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on the mass pike.  i was not actually moving. 

hmmm other news.  i joined netflix.  i told j he could order some dvds upon occasion.  maybe 1 for every one of my 3.  i started off with season 1 of the gilmore girls.  someone had suggested that i might like it.  and they were correct.  very cute.  thank you whoever you are. 

finally, although it's almost 50 degrees today and the birds are chirping and it actually feels like spring could be coming, it's supposed to fucking snow tomorrow.  i'm ok with snow in january...but in february ... and then MARCH (because it will snow in march) i'm not quite so excited.  when i lived in the city, i did not hate snow.  i swear it.

We Won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yes of course, i mean the patriots!!  YAY PATRIOTS!!!  honestly, as if there was any doubt.  sorry eagles fans, but the patriots are the better team.  (although i'll admit that i could not watch the last two minutes of the game -- gotta love rodney harrison).

but that's not all!  yesterday, kerstin had a little contest ... we were to guess the number of calories she burned while warming up on her precor during thunder road.  i did a few calculations in my head and came up with a number.  the only reason i checked back to see the results was because of the sudden influx of visitors from her site.  ha!  i can't believe i won!

actually i kind of can...i dreamed about winning...

Kool-Aid Acid Test

so i was only kidding when i said that cathi sent me black and gold funfur....

this is what she sent me... 2 wonderful coordinating skeins of noro in 115 and 92.

which i used to make the rainbow scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.   since i had to go to minneapolis for a day this week, i was able to do most of my knitting during the plane ride (my boss and i had been dreading going to minneapolis  in february because we were afraid it would be bone-chilling cold.  well it was 50 degrees!  a good 20 degrees warmer than home.  it felt like summer). 

(by the way, can someone recommend photo editing software that isn't outrageously expensive and relatively easy to learn?  these pictures look like ass.)

and finally,  here are the balls of yarn that i dyed a couple of weeks ago.  i'm not sure how i feel about them.  i've tried to knit them up and have ended up frogging because i'm just not all that inspired.  oh well.   

Fat Dumb and Drunk ...

Animal House is one of my all time favorite movies.  i saw it for the first time my senior year in highschool in one of those theatres on the Champs Elysees in v.o (or version orignale).  i don't know why i love it so much.    i just know that if during channel surfing i come across the movie on tv,  i have to finish watching it.  i've even seen otis day and the knights play at the now defunct cambridge, house of blues.

anyway, dean wormer died today.  rest in peace dean wormer.

The Spoils

about 10 days ago, cathi and i were engaged in a little wager ... well she paid up.  look what she sent me...she said she would...and i didn't believe her.

STEELER FUN FUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ha!  i'm only kidding.  i'll show you what she sent later on when i'm not quite so lazy and feel up to taking a picture.

cathi also tagged me.  thank god for that because i was having flashbacks from 7th grade (oh please cool girls... pick me....).  anyway, cathi was hoping for some fun french music.  i do have some old patrick bruel, julien clerc,  but other than that i haven't listened or paid attention to what those crazy french kids are listening to in years.

Total amount of music files on your computer:    Approximately 1.5GB   mostly what i nabbed on napster.  yeah, i know that's stealing but i really did end up buying more CDs, especially of artists that i wouldn't have normally gone for.  so there metallica.  happy?  i might have bought some of your music...but now forget it.  never going to happen.

The last CD you bought was:  Beyond the Sea -- the soundtrack from the movie of the same name starring kevin spacey.  kevin spacey sings all of music in this movie too.  and sounds great.

What is the song you last listened to before reading this message? Mack the Knife from Beyond the Sea, while cruising home in the mini.   this retro swinging stuff sounds really great in the mini, and i can't help but dance.  yeah, i dance in my car, don't you?  i listen to a lot of music from the 60's and 70's in this car.  it seems to fit. 

The 5 songs you often listen to or mean a lot to you:  the songs i'm going to list aren't necessarily ones that i listen to a lot, but they are ones that take me to  particular time and/or place when i hear them.

1.  Super Freak by Rick James -- fall of my freshman year ... i was young, vulnerable, and scared shitless.  i bonded with the girls on my floor to this song.  MC Hammer can't touch this.

2.  West End Girls by the Pet Shop Boys -- i don't particularly care for this song but whenever i hear it i'm taken right back to the spring of 1986 when i moved to boston.  i spent several weeks looking for a permanent place to live and spent a lot of time hoofing it through JP with this song playing on my walkman.  it got a  lot of radio air play that spring.

3.  Piano Man by Billy Joel -- i dare anyone not to start swaying to and fro when you hear this song.

4.  Let's Groove Tonight by Earth Wind and Fire -- i love dancing to this song.  that's my reason for putting this song on the list. 

5. Pride and Joy by Stevie Ray Vaughn - when j and i were dating, he would quote lines from this song to me.  we danced our last dance at our wedding to this song.    i do not remember what we danced to for our first song.  i had asked the dj to pick something from frank sinatra.

Yeah, I love my baby, heart and soul
Love like ours won't never grow old
She's my sweet little thing
She's my pride and joy
She's my sweet little baby, I'm her little lover boy

Who are you going to pass this stick to, and why?  I'm going international...

anna -- because maybe she's got an "in" on what those crazy french kids are listening to these days.

kim -- because maybe she's got an "in" on what those crazy canadian kids are listening to these days (she's got a new issue of crochetme up by the way, check it out).

and more locally ...

elisa -- i can't tell if you've been tagged ... so if you have already, then you don't have to do it again.  well you don't really have to do it at all....

ooh and amy from seattle.  just because i like her blog and she's new around here (and she drives a mini too)..

and anyone else who wants to play ... just throw me a comment ...