Hi everyone!

Remember how I said this update was a humongo update?
Well, I got all the pictures loaded.  I have been working on pictures alone all evening.  And I looked up and realized it was already nine and I am just now loading to Flickr.  So I decided to wait and do the actual update tomorrow night after work.
I will still be working on it tonight.... so I can be ready to go tomorrow - probably around 7pm or 8pm on Monday.
Just figured that would be easiest for everyone, myself included.
 

So, click here to go look at all the little pictures!  Decide what you love and come back tomorrow!



Isn't she a beauty??
There are three yarns, a hat, and about 65 bags of locks, roving and silk hankies!
Life is grand.
Thanks for being patient.
Holly

Craigslist wears me out!  Noone who asked about these stamps ever showed up.  I so want them gone!  I'm open to all offers, cash or trade.  Have one?

http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/art/829055911.html

we want to get a dog... small enough for an apartment, about the size of Fathead the cat (20 lbs), generally gets on well with cats, doesn't bark too much (or at least can be trained not to bark), trainable (!!!), good disposition, needs lots of walking exercise (hey if having a dog gets me off my ass.. yay!).

like, we don't want anything big so no lab's even though they fit into basically all the wants except size. and even though Steve really liked how tiny Sassy was (miniature pinscher), i'd like a slightly bigger dog since i was always afraid i'd break her. and no poodles cuz they're just fussy and prissy (for the most part) and neither of us are or will deal with that. i'd love love love a beagle (hello my parents are breeders!) but i think he doesn't want one. we haven't narrowed it down to breeds yet. or a Doxie.

any thoughts?

no clue when searching will begin. definitely after we move into a bigger place, but no harm in doing research now, right? and we'll be rescuing it (most likely) from a local place.

if you own a dog, what kind of dog do you have?
would you recommend that breed to us seeing as we own a cat?
pure bred or pound puppy?

Today I went to the farmer's market and bought my weekly supply of veggies.  I was talking to one of the farmers about her hot peppers, some of which had these brown lines all over it.  She said that on Tuesdays she does a market with a lot of Hispanic customers, and they always told her her green jalepenos were not right..."too shiny".  She said they informed her that they were best when they were red and had these brown lines.  Interesting!

You can see mine here is starting to turn red, but not quite all the way there yet.



Of course I came home and googled it.  It seems sine hot peppers have "corking", as its called, and some do not.  And while it doesn't NECESSARILY make them hotter, jalepenos with corking go for a higher price in hispanic markets.  I read the key to hot hot peppers is to let them turn red, and when they are mature plants, to hold back on the water a little, stressing them out.  This produced hotter peppers as well.

Interesting!  I can't wait to have a yard to try!

When we ever move into our home, which I hope works out and IS SOON b/c we are pretty much packed up and ready to go, and the landlord has already rented our apartment (!!!)...anyway...I really want to try to grow mushrooms.  Button and portabellos in particular.  Has anyone ever done this?

I also notice that no one at the farmer's market really sells herbs, except sometimes basil.  This is disappointing to me b/c I refuse to buy them at the grocery store where they are way overpriced and you can only get a huge bunch, or obscenely overpriced and dried.  Maybe this is my niche at next year's market!

All I can say is, I am so happy to be in a place where I can buy fresh, local nectarines.  Oh my my.

Local nectarines and two varities of local apples.



Happy Sunday everyone!

This is mostly of interest to folks who own homes or businesses, or for some other reason have a more-than-EZ-form tax return- I just posted on Craig's List doing some early (not really!) pimpage of my pre-tax-prep organization service, and since I'm a total LJ addict I wanted to post it here also - or at least a link to the posting over there.

I unofficially call it my "shoebox service" because it's for people who dump all their receipts in a shoebox (or file, or drawer) all year and don't look at them till it's time to do their taxes, then have to figure out where everything goes. It's never too early to get organized!

Thanks!

/self-pimpage

Hello y'all! I need your help yet again--please shed some light on this for me!

Okay, so I just moved to North Carolina from Georgia. I need to get my driver's license and tag stuff done before my birthday, which is Sept. 18 (nothing like leaving it till the last minute, I know).

However, I also need to get a NC title for my car--I'm guessing I need to surrender the GA one. And then there's the whole inspection thing--which ISN'T emissions? Or it is, but it's rolled up into a safety inspection?

The net of all this is, I need to figure out what I need to do, and in what order I need to do it. I THINK this is the right order:

--Driver's license
--Tag
--Emissions and/or safety inspection (it's a 2001 Toyota Corolla, if that matters)
--Title

(I have already gotten car insurance for NC, incidentally.)

Can anyone tell me if this is the right order? If it's not, can someone enlighten me as to what the right order to get all this stuff done in is? This is pretty confusing to me. :/

Any help you can provide me would be much appreciated! I thank you muchly in advance!

Christine

Each new visit to my father brings another painful reality now. Last week it was the hospital bed in the living room. This week, even greater loss of his mobility. For some time he's had weakness on the affected side, i.e. the side of his body opposite the tumor (his left). But now his right leg is growing weaker too. Soon even the simple transfer from recliner to bed will be too much to manage.

I'm not in denial (although I've heard it's lovely this time of year). This road has been too long and the grim truth of stage IV brain cancer too stark for that. The progression is inexorable; it has been from the start. We've only been buying time.

I read symptoms like tea leaves now, wondering, predicting, revising the predictions as new symptoms appear. Last week I thought, "Two months, maybe three." This week I think that might've been optimistic. When not sleeping Dad seemed far away, as though everyday matters had lost interest for him. He's turning inward now. Somehow it doesn't feel like rejection of us, though. It just feels like he's got more important things to do. Which indeed he does, I suppose.

In all honesty and pained bewilderment, I must admit...I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I'm just making it up as I go along, and none too well. Being there feels urgent and important but when I'm there I feel helpless, useless. I can bring groceries and medicines, but not peace. I can produce a Kleenex or a cup on cue, but no comfort. I can only hope that me being there helps in some small way, if not for Dad then for my stepmom, who bears the greatest burden in his care.

It's heartbreaking to watch him slowly dying but worse to contemplate not being there. My greatest fear is that I'll misread the signs, that I'll hold off too long on taking a leave from work and be hours away when it happens.

I don't wish for the impossible: for cures, for miracles. Only to be there to hold his hand.

i'm... really impressed with ECU right now. that was a great game against a highly ranked team. Go Pirates! keep kicking ass and taking names and let's see where y'all end up at the end of the season. Appalachain State of '08?

and now to wait [im]patiently for the Gator- canes game... w00t w00t w00t!!

Gotta love holidays!  Yes, remember last weekend was a holiday!  So I get an extra day of work!
That means I have a monster update this weekend.
WOWSER.  I bet it will be late tomorrow night.  Just sayin'.  I will try to get it done as early as possible.... but yeah, there is a ton.




And some dancin' feet previews....

 

ummm.. and my favorite new/old colorway - Moss Roses

Moss Roses Silk Hankies!

Seems like I keep dyeing it over and over again!  Oh well, I love it.
Happy Saturday!
I am headin' to the beach for a bit.  FINALLY!
Holly

There's a certain amount of cognitive dissonance in going from weather like this:



to an afternoon that's sunny and dry enough for me to hang up the laundry.

I was listening to excerpts of Joe Biden's speech about the Republican convention. One phrase he used made me think of the phrase you were hoping to see used about the Republicans:

What do you talk about when you have nothing to say? What do you talk about when you cannot explain the last eight years of failure?

Joe Biden takes on the traditional role of a vice-presidential candidate:

I missed that my yarn was also reviewed on about.com here as well for handspun. (I was interviewed by the super awesome Sarah earlier this year too. It was part of a look at eco friendly yarn production.)

Posted to F_F, but I'll post here too:


This is just a tiny skein, spun from plastic fiber from bottles and natural brown wool locks.

Sorry for missing last week, still recovering from having to uninstall and reinstall all computery things here :)

Topics for the next couple weeks are:
(today)September 5thOrganic- naturally colored, organic, recycled…

September 12th Awash in fabric-a crochet rug, pieced bag, and yarn galore all in one and one for all.

September 19 Paperbound- scrapbooking and yarn all in one? Spinning Shredded newspaper? You betcha!

September 26th Campy- vintage and a little bit retro? Park themed?

How do people like having the topics posted in advance? Good/bad? I know some communities only do it a week out or so, but I know many people commented here they don't have time to do something in a week (I know I don't, my mordanting process is twice that, ha!).

Anyways, if you have ideas for F_F topics, let me know here in comments or email (through my site, whatever). Thanks :)

[Press Release I just wrote - hope to see you there!]

Critically acclaimed singer/soungwriter Bill Mallonee is no stranger to North Carolina. The former Vigilantes of Love frontman recored with the now-defunct Awaking Records in Chapel Hill, and makes regular stops in NC during his tours. On September 20, one of those stops is the SoulJourn Living Earth Music Fest in Pittsboro.

Bill Mallonee, who ranked 65 in the top 100 Living Songwriters Poll by Paste Music Magazine, began his career in the alt-rock scene of Athens, GA with the band Vigilantes of Love. His lyrical style and throaty voice became one of the band's signatures. After 24 records over 16 years of touring with Vigilantes of Love, Bill was drawn back towards his roots in folk and county. Drawing on his early influences of the likes of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, and Johnny Cash, Bill began writing and touring as a solo artist. His solo material struck a chord with longtime fans and new listeners alike. Why? In Bill's own words, "If i can reach into those parts of what makes me a human and describe it passionately, then it's my hope that it will resonate (horribly over-used word!) with others who are walking in the same skin."

Also appearing is Chapel Hill's Fescue 911. "Responding to Bluegrass Emergencies" in the Triangle since 1993, Fescue 911 blends bluegrass and country, old standards and new songs, focusing on new and exciting vocal arrangements. Vocalist Janet Ray, guitarist Rick Fannin, and bassist Darl Pothoven founded Fescue 911 in 1993, mostly for fun. The addition of banjoist David Tate and mandolin player David Crabtree, completed Fescue 911, and they quickly gathered a strong local following. Influenced by the fathers of modern bluegrass - the Stanly Brothers, Flatt and Scruggs, and Bill Monroe - Fescue 911 also includes favorites by modern bluegrass artists like Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch.

Bill Mallonee and Fescue 911 will be appearing at the Souljourn Living Earth Music Fest at the Pittsboro Central Carolina Community College Campus on September 20, 2008, starting at 6 p.m. t For the past three years, the SoulJourn Music Fest has benefited Chatham County, his year benefiting the new Biofuels Degree Program at CCCC.

Now in it's 6th year, the Sustainable Energy Program at CCCC has been building community partnerships in Chatham County, including working with the North Carolina Biofuels Center to build a production facility on campus to be used not just for education, but also for fueling the campus vehicles and equipment.

Information about the SoulJourn Music Fest can be found online at www.souljournmedia.com. More information about Bill Mallonee is at his website www.billmallonee.net. Information about Fescue 911 is available at www.fescue911bluegrass.com.

Does anyone know of a place that can recycle (in some capacity) old trophies? I have a bunch of them and I hate to throw them away, but I can't find anyone who will take them. Specifically, they're martial arts trophies, painted plastic with marble bases.

Can anyone recommend a place in the Raleigh area to get a watch engraved?

Thanks!

I know some of you have heard about the ongoing adventures of making things for my super awesome pregnant friend (she's into the whole handmade thing, I figured I HAD to make stuff).

I used this pattern and tutorial to make some bibs out of scraps laying around. The photo is kind of big, so click the cut to check them out!

( Read more... )

I've wanted to swim in the ocean for about 10 years now. More precisely, I wanted to be flown in a helicopter out in the middle of the ocean, be dropped out far enough that I can't see the land, then I want to swim to shore. I figure it should take about two years.

I had read all the books about what to do, what to take, and how to do it. I have my shark repellent, my space sticks energy sticks, and even a flare for if it gets really bad. I practiced every day in the swimming pool, gearing up for this moment. I was totally pumped. I'd even read first hand accounts of people who had done precisely this same thing. I was prepared. I even knew what emotions I would likely be feeling and how to deal with them.

Everything was ready. I was ready. Completely.

They flew me in a helicopter, told me exactly what to do if I needed help, then I made the leap into that huge ocean. I watched the helicopter fly away, and I started to swim. I was feeling strong and awesome. Everything was going according to plan.

Then I started to get a little tired, and I felt something bump my foot. I realized that as much as I had prepared, NOTHING could have prepared me for that feeling of being in the middle of the ocean all alone and not being able to see shore. I started to feel overwhelmed by all the water around me and how alone I felt, but I pushed it off, knowing I couldn't feel this way because I had prepared. But what I hadn't prepared for was my very own emotional reaction to everything. As much as my brain was ready, my emotions weren't, and after much pushing down, the emotions overwhelmed me.

It finally passed and I pressed on. The dream and the realization of that dream driving me further. Most of the time I'm fine and I hardly ever get overwhelmed, but every now and then, the vastness of the sea gets to me.

---

This is a metaphor I specifically wrote about culture shock, NOT about Peace Corps or the Peace Corps experience

(though sometimes life on the Reference Desk has reminiscent moments): http://copperbadge.livejournal.com/1729811.html

In other news, here comes Tropical Storm Hanna, followed by her stronger cousins, Ike and Josephine. (Please don't let any of them get ideas about imitating Fran. Or Floyd. At least none of them start with F.)

In other other news, I hope to have a prescription in my hand next Tuesday for an antidepressant. For certain values of hope.

(Edited for clarity: I have no idea if my current writing style is influenced by watching Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, even though I paused it because it triggered my embarrassment squick. No, it wasn't the drag queens that did it; it was the start of what looked to be a horribly earnest and misguided conversation.)