just maryse

Oh No! What Happened to Typepad!?

ok, i had a post planned and everything and then i opened up typepad, and my whole compose editor page has been changed!  i was warned about this.  i was told this was going to happen.  but hearing about it, doesn't prepare you for the actual change.  first flickr, then gmail, now typepad.  what's next? 

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day 216 -- heh. ooh you mean i might actually be able to center my photos now?  a girl can hope can't she.

Whatever I Want Wednesday

if finding this laugh out loud funny means that i am official old, then so be it.

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day 215 -- maybe i'll have some knitting to show tomorrow

Finally Feels Like November

the weather's been odd.  just a couple of weekends ago, i was wearing a short sleeved t-shirt OUTSIDE in new england.  saturday it was muggy and 70 degrees.  saturday night we had a tornado watch for the whole state. 

but today, it finally felt like the week before thanksgiving.

and it's finally looking like it too.

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day 214 -- work is kicking my ass

Early to Bed ...

I've got nothing today. 

Your result for "The Real You" Test...

Genuine Realist

   

Everyone has their quirks and flaws, but you're pretty well balanced for the most part. You're honest when it counts ... You care about yourself, but that doesn't stop you from caring about others, too ... and you know how to have fun without going overboard.

        Take "The Real You" Test at HelloQuizzy

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day 213 -- i worked late tonight, i have to go in early tomorrow.  j's away for the week.  i want my bed.

Second Half of the Weekend -- A Baking Experiment

this morning i decided that i would do a little baking.  the last time i baked was a success so i was feeling pretty brave.  i'm an experimental cook -- a little bit of this, a little bit of that -- and i'm not afraid of messing around with a recipe.  but baking i know can be a little hairy.  there's more chemistry involved and things have to be measured correctly, etc.

i had 2 really ripe bananas that needed to be used, which unfortunately was about 3 bananas short of making that banana bread from a couple of weeks ago.  and i had a can of pumpkin.  hmmm.  i googled "pumpkin banana bread" and found a few recipes but half of them required nuts or raisins, were stupidly complicated, were low fat (ha!) or required ingredients that i did not have in the house.  so i decided to take the original banana bread recipe and improvise.

so i replaced 1 1/3 cups of bananas with the can of pumpkin, added 2tsp of pumpkin spice, 1 tsp of vanilla extract, and replaced the 1tsp of baking soda with 2 tsp of baking powder* and hoped for the best.

it required a little more baking time -- 10 minutes more -- but it worked! 

*so i did a little research about the difference between baking soda and baking powder.  in brief, baking soda is a base that requires an acid (like yogurt, buttermilk, etc)  in the recipe to produce carbon dioxide when in the presence of a  liquid.  baking powder is a mixture of baking soda and cream of tarter (which is an acid) so that you don't need an acid for carbon dioxide to form.  so this got me wondering if baking soda was actually the right stuff for the original recipe.  are bananas acidic?  is pumpkin?  are eggs?  see, i don't know. how are we supposed to know these things without litmus paper?   anyway, baking powder worked fine and i do think the bread came out lighter than it did the first time.  and i'm seriously considering buying some litmus paper.  better living through science.

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day 212 -- i know i said there would be more pictures today, but i'm lazy.  and i also decided not to take pictures of adrian's november fiber until i'd given more people a chance to receive theirs.

First Half of the Weekend -- A List

1.  last night i met danielle, caro and my new BFF nancy aka pants.  (i hope i'm not being presumptuous.  please be my new BFF... ) the four of us got together for some beer (and salad/pizza so as not to appear like total booze hounds) before (and after) the bimonthly Common Cod Fiber Guild meeting.  the meeting was good and all, but the great thing was how well "pants" fit in with the rest of us.  good for us.  maybe not so good for her.  I KID!

2.  i made it to the gym today.  and that makes today a productive day.  i got plenty of other things done:  went to the supermarket, made some of my cards, went to the post office and mailed off some packages.  but none of that mattered.  i made it to the gym.  and if that's all i do on any given day, then i've had a productive day. 

3.  the past two days have been great mail days.  yesterday i got one package (another lens, it was on sale. i couldn't help myself.  it's awesome, i can practically take pictures in the dark).  and today, i got three:  a box of yarn and more dyes for dying (yeah i keep on collecting dyes and stuff but still no dyeing), some fiber club fiber from adrian (it's gorgeous!), and the latest issue of marie clair idees from my dad.  every 3 months he sends me the latest issue.  i know i could subscribe and get it sent directly to me, but i think my dad really enjoys doing this for me. the owner of his local bookstore saves him a copy.  sometimes, my dad is so cute.

so all in all, my weekend has started out to be a pretty good weekend.  i hope yours has too.

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day 211 -- yes, yes, there will be pictures tomorrow.

Eye Candy Friday

this is called stained glass. it's 4oz of a mohair, superwash wool, and nylon blend (i think.  i'm too lazy to check).  pumpkin mama made it and i bought it from her shop.  i think you need to check her stuff out.

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day 210 -- to hoard or to spin, that is the question.

Random Thursday

just a few things to cover today.  things that have nothing at all to do with each other, hence the title of this post "Random" Thursday.

1.  first things first.  Carrie  of  Funky Carolina fame (please go visit her shop)  recently broke her ankle and because she doesn't have health insurance she's got a big ass hospital bill to pay for.  So she's doing something that's breaking my hoarding, little heart ... she's DESTASHING!.  she's got a few books left and some sewing notions such as buttons and things.  so go shop! 

2.  i wouldn't say i'm obsessed with my blog stats or anything.  i check them every now and again especially since in typepad it's super easy.  and i get a healthy number of hits.  i've been doing this blogging thing for a long time. but i can always tell when the yarn harlot has linked to me (oh i'm not going to link to her, you all know who she is.  sheesh) because the number of daily hits goes a little insane.  she linked yesterday.  cracks me up.

3.  i work in a pretty incestuous field here in boston.  which kind of blows because you can't really burn your bridges without making a total career change.  but it's pretty cool when you run into old friends.  last week i ran into two friends from way back, who after spending some time in houston are back in town working in the same building as me.   good times with those two, including an introduction to retsina and ouzo that resulted in one of the worse hangovers of my entire life.  i just got shivers. 

4.  sometimes though i run into people that i'm not so happy to run into. when i first moved to boston, i worked as a tech in a lab and one of the post-doctoral fellows was this miserable little woman who tortured me and just made my life hell.  anyway, i saw her on the T this morning ... and i pretended i didn't recognize her.  ha!  she's just as miserable looking now as she was 20 years ago. shivers again!

and that's all i've got for today.  i'm finishing up some socks, but other than that, i don't have any projects on the horizon.  weird.

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day 209 -- god, i hate ouzo.

Whatever I Want Wednesday

i don't like to jump the gun too much when it comes to holidays.  i don't do my christmas shopping months in advance and i don't listen to christmas music until after thanksgiving. 

but as much as i'd like to take my time and savor each holiday properly, i still have to play by the rules now and again.

so i'm playing.

i just updated my etsy shop with some holiday themed cards.  i have 6 designs available.  i think they're super cute and colorful.

you can buy them individually or as a set.

they're great for presenting a gift card or gift certificate to the yarn/fiber enthusiast in your life (you know, other than yourself), for tucking into a stocking, or for sending to someone special. 

i like 'em.

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day 208 -- more self-promotion.

 

Lazy Day Off

i'm ashamed to say that all i did today was knit and watch tv (2 episodes of true blood and 6 episodes of dexter).

i'm pathetic.  ;)

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day 207 -- thanks for the encouragement yesterday!  whenever i'm thinking that i can't do it, i'll go back and read your comments.