I probably should have posted more in the past couple weeks, but seriously guys? Only 7 people have entered my contest?! Was it too hidden... being at the end of the post and all? or maybe too much thought to put into a response? Well you have until midnight tonight (22 hours from when I am am writing this) to enter the contest. I am also going to simplify the entry (thanks to all the cool comments that were already posted!) to make things a little easier. Just leave a comment on some cool cultural thing you've noticed in your hometown or a place you've travelled.
Or really, just leave a comment at all. I was trying to gauge how many people actively read my blog, and, honestly, this has disheartened me a little. I know blogging isn't just about how many comments you get, but if no one reads this, what's the point of me putting it out there (other than being able to participate in swaps and the like). I'm sure my hiatus while I was moving back to the States and then moving again and starting a new job made me lose readers, but, sigh, anyways. Hi to all you new readers out there. Hopefully I can post frequently enough to keep you coming back!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Coffe Swap Topic #5
You know with Spring the famous saying goes "April Showers, bring May flowers", please tell us what you like to do when those April Showers are pouring down on you. Do you like to curl up with your knitting, take in a movie or crawl back in bed?
All of the above?
I love to curl up under an afghan (typically the one knit by my grandma, but sometimes the one I am in the process of knitting :o)), put on a movie or the tv, knit, and most likely fall asleep while doing so. I absolutely love when it's raining though because it gives me an excuse to stay inside. Not that I hate outside, but I'm more of a "sit on the porch with a cup of coffee (or cocktail ;o)) and knit and/or read and/or just sit there" than a "go out and frolic in the sunshine and dig up plants" kind of gal. Good thing C is here to do all that, haha! We're talking about getting one of those screened in gazebo things and lawn furniture though so I can do just that! (We live next to a marsh and there are tons of mosquitoes/gnats/etc everywhere... I couldn't stand to be outside unless coated in bug spray (ewww) or in a screened in area.)
All of the above?
I love to curl up under an afghan (typically the one knit by my grandma, but sometimes the one I am in the process of knitting :o)), put on a movie or the tv, knit, and most likely fall asleep while doing so. I absolutely love when it's raining though because it gives me an excuse to stay inside. Not that I hate outside, but I'm more of a "sit on the porch with a cup of coffee (or cocktail ;o)) and knit and/or read and/or just sit there" than a "go out and frolic in the sunshine and dig up plants" kind of gal. Good thing C is here to do all that, haha! We're talking about getting one of those screened in gazebo things and lawn furniture though so I can do just that! (We live next to a marsh and there are tons of mosquitoes/gnats/etc everywhere... I couldn't stand to be outside unless coated in bug spray (ewww) or in a screened in area.)
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Coffee Swap Topic #4
Well, it's that time again. Time for a Coffee Swap topic of the week! This one is a very intriguing one:
Let's pretend for a minute we all live in the home of our dreams, have land, and don't have to work so time is unlimited! It's Spring planting season! What would you grow? A little veggie garden? A bed of bright spring blooms? Or is your thumb so far from green that the only thing you'd be planting is your tushy into a nice chair on the porch to get some knitting or crocheting done in the nice breeze?
Sigh, if only that were true. But on to the question. Honestly, I'm not the green thumb in the house. C is.
These are some of the seedlings he started in our basement so they would be ready for planting when the time comes. There's onions, leeks, broccoli, cabbage, romanesco, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, and I think that's all. The picture is from 2 weeks ago... everything is a lot bigger/greener now. If I were to plant things, it would likely be flowers. It would also be really cool to have a dyer's garden. I would likely just be sitting on a big porch with my knitting and coffee though :o). (I really wanted to do that the other morning... grab a coffee and some knitting and sit outside and watch the sunrise. Except I was just on my way home from work and I needed to get to bed. sigh. Night shift has its downsides.)
Let's pretend for a minute we all live in the home of our dreams, have land, and don't have to work so time is unlimited! It's Spring planting season! What would you grow? A little veggie garden? A bed of bright spring blooms? Or is your thumb so far from green that the only thing you'd be planting is your tushy into a nice chair on the porch to get some knitting or crocheting done in the nice breeze?
Sigh, if only that were true. But on to the question. Honestly, I'm not the green thumb in the house. C is.
These are some of the seedlings he started in our basement so they would be ready for planting when the time comes. There's onions, leeks, broccoli, cabbage, romanesco, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, and I think that's all. The picture is from 2 weeks ago... everything is a lot bigger/greener now. If I were to plant things, it would likely be flowers. It would also be really cool to have a dyer's garden. I would likely just be sitting on a big porch with my knitting and coffee though :o). (I really wanted to do that the other morning... grab a coffee and some knitting and sit outside and watch the sunrise. Except I was just on my way home from work and I needed to get to bed. sigh. Night shift has its downsides.)
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Potpourri -- Part 1 and a Contest!
Well folks, I've had a myriad of blog post topics swirling around in my mind, so I decided to talk about them all. This will be a long post, so grab some popcorn (or other snack of choice) and hunker down for a long read (I've decided to split it into a couple posts, but it's still pretty long...).
First, in case you were wondering about the title of the post, I got to go to a taping of Jeopardy last Saturday (Potpourri is the "random" "multi topic" category on the show)! I know, exciting! We were way in the back, but still, how often do you get to see Alex Trebek (even if he does seem half an inch tall)?! Unfortunately, cameras were not allowed inside, but I have a picture of the ticket:
And I know who wins the college championship this year, but I'm not telling (you can watch May 15th and 16th :o)).
Second thing that's been muddling around in my mind is how I miss Germany. I've kind of compiled a list of the things I miss about Germany and the stuff that is good about the US (Madison to be specific). Hopefully this html coding will work... hahah...
This list leads into my Blogoversary Contest (I bolded that so those skimming would notice :o)). A year ago I was living in Germany. It was interesting trying to live and integrate myself into a new culture, especially since I knew in the back of my mind that it was temporary. But I learned to love certain things about life there, and miss certain things about life here. So my question to you is about your travels/moving around. Is there something that you miss about where you lived before? Something you love about where you are now? Leave your response in the comments and you will be entered to win 2 skeins of yarn... one bought here in the States, and one bought in Germany! If you post about this on your blog you will get a second entry in the drawing (leave a comment say you posted about it) and one entry for anyone who comes and says they saw it on your blog! Anyone may enter... I will ship anywhere in the world :o). Here's what you could win:
(Click for larger Picture. It's a skein of Jitterbug in the Blue Parrot colorway, and some ONLine sock yarn. Both have been in a cat friendly home... we can work something out if this is an issue and you win)
I look forward to hearing about your memories! Deadline is midnight CDT Wednesday April 30th!
First, in case you were wondering about the title of the post, I got to go to a taping of Jeopardy last Saturday (Potpourri is the "random" "multi topic" category on the show)! I know, exciting! We were way in the back, but still, how often do you get to see Alex Trebek (even if he does seem half an inch tall)?! Unfortunately, cameras were not allowed inside, but I have a picture of the ticket:
And I know who wins the college championship this year, but I'm not telling (you can watch May 15th and 16th :o)).
Second thing that's been muddling around in my mind is how I miss Germany. I've kind of compiled a list of the things I miss about Germany and the stuff that is good about the US (Madison to be specific). Hopefully this html coding will work... hahah...
| Things I miss about Germany | Things I like the US |
| Paprika Pringles | A full size kitchen! |
| Haribo Happy Cherries | Driving to the grocery store |
| Markets | Large washing machines/dryers |
| The Old World feel | Cream of ____ soups |
| Being able to go on short trips to really cool places | Bisquick |
| Sidewalk Cafes | Being closer to family |
| Döner Kebap | Readily available hand-dyed yarn |
| Trains | Free refills on drinks! |
| Cheap (good!!!) beer/chocolate/Nutella | Stuff is open on Sunday! And after 3pm on Saturdays! |
| Hasselinos/Käse Spätzle/all the other food that would make this list really long | I'm running out of ideas ;o) |
| Beer Festivals | Really... ummm... |
| The money (different sizes and colors) | ... |
This list leads into my Blogoversary Contest (I bolded that so those skimming would notice :o)). A year ago I was living in Germany. It was interesting trying to live and integrate myself into a new culture, especially since I knew in the back of my mind that it was temporary. But I learned to love certain things about life there, and miss certain things about life here. So my question to you is about your travels/moving around. Is there something that you miss about where you lived before? Something you love about where you are now? Leave your response in the comments and you will be entered to win 2 skeins of yarn... one bought here in the States, and one bought in Germany! If you post about this on your blog you will get a second entry in the drawing (leave a comment say you posted about it) and one entry for anyone who comes and says they saw it on your blog! Anyone may enter... I will ship anywhere in the world :o). Here's what you could win:
(Click for larger Picture. It's a skein of Jitterbug in the Blue Parrot colorway, and some ONLine sock yarn. Both have been in a cat friendly home... we can work something out if this is an issue and you win)
I look forward to hearing about your memories! Deadline is midnight CDT Wednesday April 30th!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Coffee Swap Topic #3
So I was so late on getting to the last topic, that it is now time for a new topic of the week in the Coffee and Yarn Swap! I promise, that big post is still in the works, it's just really... big. Maybe I'll split it up more so that it doesn't take so long to read/write. Anyways, this week's topic is:
Tell us how you started drinking coffee. Were you in high school or college and making it through all nighters? Did you get it from a family member? What drives your love of the bean?
I started drinking coffee in high school, though all I really drank were the fancy lattes and mochas and such. My parents don't really drink coffee (my mom hates it and my dad only drinks it with company), so I never really had it around the house. I started drinking more traditional coffees when I went to Europe because they don't really have the Starbuck's style of cappuccino most places... it's a real espresso and foam cappuccino! It kind of threw me at first, but then it began to grow on me (though I still preferred the Jacob's Milka "cappuccino" mixes to straight up coffee over there ;o) ). Believe it or not, it really has been in the last 6 months that I started drinking just plain coffee. I had made espresso for myself and had choked down the swill they call coffee here at work, but never really had had a cup of "plain" coffee that I liked (except for on a mission trip in Costa Rica where we drank black coffee in the 90 degree weather of the afternoon after laboring away building a house because it was THAT good). When my boyfriend's mom came down for Thanksgiving, we warned her to bring her own coffee maker unless she wanted the thicker "Italian coffee" my stove top percolator puts out (it's yummy though!). So she brought hers down along with some of her own coffee. She made some and I decided to try it. Amazingly, it did not taste burnt or super bitter like other plain coffee I had tried! She very kindly said that the coffee maker was her "travel" one and left it here for us. I still prefer the flavored coffee to straight up dark black coffee, but who knows where this coffee maker will take me!
Tell us how you started drinking coffee. Were you in high school or college and making it through all nighters? Did you get it from a family member? What drives your love of the bean?
I started drinking coffee in high school, though all I really drank were the fancy lattes and mochas and such. My parents don't really drink coffee (my mom hates it and my dad only drinks it with company), so I never really had it around the house. I started drinking more traditional coffees when I went to Europe because they don't really have the Starbuck's style of cappuccino most places... it's a real espresso and foam cappuccino! It kind of threw me at first, but then it began to grow on me (though I still preferred the Jacob's Milka "cappuccino" mixes to straight up coffee over there ;o) ). Believe it or not, it really has been in the last 6 months that I started drinking just plain coffee. I had made espresso for myself and had choked down the swill they call coffee here at work, but never really had had a cup of "plain" coffee that I liked (except for on a mission trip in Costa Rica where we drank black coffee in the 90 degree weather of the afternoon after laboring away building a house because it was THAT good). When my boyfriend's mom came down for Thanksgiving, we warned her to bring her own coffee maker unless she wanted the thicker "Italian coffee" my stove top percolator puts out (it's yummy though!). So she brought hers down along with some of her own coffee. She made some and I decided to try it. Amazingly, it did not taste burnt or super bitter like other plain coffee I had tried! She very kindly said that the coffee maker was her "travel" one and left it here for us. I still prefer the flavored coffee to straight up dark black coffee, but who knows where this coffee maker will take me!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Coffee Swap Topic #2
A quick little post while I am busy compiling a beast of one. Here's my response to Topic #2 from the Coffee and Yarn Swap! This week's topic:
Since some of us is beginning to see glimpse of Spring, while others are still getting snow have you change what projects are working on? Have you put away the hats, scarfs and mittens, and brought out the cute tank top sweater projects and lacy wraps? Have you change yarn to something more lighter and cooler, not so heavy and bulky?
Well, we're still kind of getting snow (and rain, and water in the basement... but that's another story that I won't get into on here). But either way, I don't think that weather has too big of an effect on my knitting. Socks are the main thing I knit, and they're good in both hot and cold weather. I may tend to gravitate towards lighter, springier colors, and avoid the big heavy afghan unless the air conditioning is on, but in my mind there isn't a set point where I put away one set of projects and drag out another. I have enough on the needles to keep me occupied no matter the weather :o).
Since some of us is beginning to see glimpse of Spring, while others are still getting snow have you change what projects are working on? Have you put away the hats, scarfs and mittens, and brought out the cute tank top sweater projects and lacy wraps? Have you change yarn to something more lighter and cooler, not so heavy and bulky?
Well, we're still kind of getting snow (and rain, and water in the basement... but that's another story that I won't get into on here). But either way, I don't think that weather has too big of an effect on my knitting. Socks are the main thing I knit, and they're good in both hot and cold weather. I may tend to gravitate towards lighter, springier colors, and avoid the big heavy afghan unless the air conditioning is on, but in my mind there isn't a set point where I put away one set of projects and drag out another. I have enough on the needles to keep me occupied no matter the weather :o).
Saturday, April 5, 2008
I Give Up...
on SM2. There are already 17/20 people finished in my division, and I'm not even to the heel on sock #1. Plus I have to work 3 12.5 hour shifts this weekend. It just isn't going to happen and I'm not going to kill myself trying to do it. The pattern this round is turning out very nice, I just don't have a desire to knit on socks right now. I'll tag along on the coming patterns though... and maybe do a little more cheering from the sidelines since I won't be competing too!
I have a couple projects OTN for my coffee swap pal, since I'm not in the mood for socks. Can't tell you what they are quite yet, though I'll be sure to take pictures so I can post about it later! (On the otherhand, since there's only one package in the swap I suppose it doesn't really matter if I blog about it. It's not like they'll go searching through blogs later to find the pictures in order to figure out who I am. By the time they see the items they'll already know!) I love swaps though. I haven't participated in many, but I always love trying to find little unique things that my pal will really enjoy. I found something quite unique already... I hope she'll like it!
Work is kind of sucking right now. I switched to a new (to both me and the company) shift a couple months ago. I still haven't quite resolved how to most effectively use my time, nor how best to communicate with coworkers on other shifts so that I can get my work done. These long weekends aren't much help. Here's to the weekend going REALLY fast...
Happy Knitting
I have a couple projects OTN for my coffee swap pal, since I'm not in the mood for socks. Can't tell you what they are quite yet, though I'll be sure to take pictures so I can post about it later! (On the otherhand, since there's only one package in the swap I suppose it doesn't really matter if I blog about it. It's not like they'll go searching through blogs later to find the pictures in order to figure out who I am. By the time they see the items they'll already know!) I love swaps though. I haven't participated in many, but I always love trying to find little unique things that my pal will really enjoy. I found something quite unique already... I hope she'll like it!
Work is kind of sucking right now. I switched to a new (to both me and the company) shift a couple months ago. I still haven't quite resolved how to most effectively use my time, nor how best to communicate with coworkers on other shifts so that I can get my work done. These long weekends aren't much help. Here's to the weekend going REALLY fast...
Happy Knitting
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Cofee Swap Topic #1 and a little more
I was treating myself to some of the Jacob's Milka Hazelnut Cappuccino mix I brought back from Germany (must savor....) and realized I hadn't posted about the topic of the week for the coffee swap yet!
This Week's Topic:
Browse around some of the other blogs of participants, and find one person who enjoys a similar roast coffee to you - share something interesting about them that you find on THEIR blog, and tell us what you've been working on knitting or crochet-wise this week!
I was suprised how few people actually liked the coffee like I do! But I found someone who matched me almost exactly. Nichole B. is a fan of "light to medium roasts" and loves flavored coffee just like me! She definitely loves her puppies :o). She also just opened an Etsy Shop! Go check out her stitch markers! She's also gotten more snow since "spring" has begun, so I can definitely comiserate.
Knitting-wise I haven't done too much this week. I brought some socks with me when C and I went up north, but didn't get too much done on them. The second round pattern for SM2 also came out Monday. I'm only through the ribbing on Sock #1. The plan tonight though is to knit knit knit!
I'm not usually a meme kind of person, but this one happened to catch my eye. You're supposed to "tag" people, but I always hate doing that, so if you feel like doing it feel free!
Middle Initial Meme
1. What is the first letter of your middle name? E
2. A Famous Artist/Band/Musician the Eagles
3. A Four Letter Word east... haha
4. A US State There isn't one!
5. A Boy's Name Elijah
6. A Girl's Name Emma
7. An Animal Emu
8. Something in the Kitchen Eating Utensils
9. Reason for Being Late Elephants What? See here.
10. A Body Part Eardrum
11. A Drink Erdinger!... oh I miss Germany
12. Something You Shout Egad!
13. Something You Eat Egg Salad.. mmmm..
14. A Movie You've Seen Empire Records
OK, that's all for now! Happy Knitting!
This Week's Topic:
Browse around some of the other blogs of participants, and find one person who enjoys a similar roast coffee to you - share something interesting about them that you find on THEIR blog, and tell us what you've been working on knitting or crochet-wise this week!
I was suprised how few people actually liked the coffee like I do! But I found someone who matched me almost exactly. Nichole B. is a fan of "light to medium roasts" and loves flavored coffee just like me! She definitely loves her puppies :o). She also just opened an Etsy Shop! Go check out her stitch markers! She's also gotten more snow since "spring" has begun, so I can definitely comiserate.
Knitting-wise I haven't done too much this week. I brought some socks with me when C and I went up north, but didn't get too much done on them. The second round pattern for SM2 also came out Monday. I'm only through the ribbing on Sock #1. The plan tonight though is to knit knit knit!
I'm not usually a meme kind of person, but this one happened to catch my eye. You're supposed to "tag" people, but I always hate doing that, so if you feel like doing it feel free!
Middle Initial Meme
1. What is the first letter of your middle name? E
2. A Famous Artist/Band/Musician the Eagles
3. A Four Letter Word east... haha
4. A US State There isn't one!
5. A Boy's Name Elijah
6. A Girl's Name Emma
7. An Animal Emu
8. Something in the Kitchen Eating Utensils
9. Reason for Being Late Elephants What? See here.
10. A Body Part Eardrum
11. A Drink Erdinger!... oh I miss Germany
12. Something You Shout Egad!
13. Something You Eat Egg Salad.. mmmm..
14. A Movie You've Seen Empire Records
OK, that's all for now! Happy Knitting!
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