Lovely Week End

I had a very nice week end. Nothing exciting happened. Just finished a few projects and learned how to make Pad Thai. Yes. More experiences in the kitchen.
I made a few toques!

This one is for my Mom to give to a neighbourhood boy who is helping my parents with a few things around their home.


This is one I am most proud of:

I look a bit like an elf there.

It is a Transformer Toque that I designed myself!

There will be a pattern to follow.

I had a craving for noodles yesterday. I searched online for an easy recipe. This one by Chez Pim was the most helpful.

I started out with these ingredients:

Noodles, a small Spanish onion, fish sauce, chili sauce, cilantro, lime, chicken, garlic power, brown sugar, vegetable oil and an egg. Sadly, I couldn't find tofu or tamarind. Next time, I'll make a special trip to find those ingredients. Grocery shopping for me is always like a treasure hunt. If you ever come across me, I'm the one muttering under my breath weird little chants.

You start by doing the prep work. You soak the noodles until they are flexible. As they are soaking, you start mixing up your sauce and heating up your wok really, really hot. By the time the fire alarm goes off, it's ready. Yes. I met my neighbours again. My sauce for this time around involved a generous pour of fish sauce, chili sauce, brown sugar, lime juice and 1/3 cup of water. I mixed that up so everything is all blended and the sugar is practically dissolved. Then I poured in my oil in three really generous tablespoons. I toss in my chopped onions. I don't really like a lot of onion, so they always go in before everything else so their flavour is in the oil. By the time the rest of the ingredients go in, they are barely there. Then I toss in my chopped up chicken with garlic powder and three tablespoons of the sauce. Once that is halfway cooked,I take the noodles out of the water and pat them dry. Then they get tossed in. I stir everything around and then move everything to the side. At this point, I cracked the egg and let it sit for a moment. Then I stir like mad again so everything is nice and blended. Last, I pour in the sauce. I keep stirring until everything is all meshed together.

The end result looks like this:

It tasted really awesome. This kitchen concept might not be so scary after all. Night everyone :)

I'm Kinda Lost

I've recently found myself in a bit of trouble with my little blog. I come on here just to babble on, vent about whatever is bothering me and share a thing or two. Well, I made some comments the other day about stuff going on at work. I have since discovered that those people I made comments about have read my little rant. I was approached by a supervisor to maybe apologize or explain the situation. I'm not sure how I feel about that. On one side, if it was me and I read those words, it would feel like a slap in the face. When put that way, yes, I would apologize. From my own perspective, I feel a little upset that I have to mix my work and personal life. I have been very careful about keeping those things separate. No one had a clue that I was going through a separation until I needed a form filled out and change of address. I do not really want to censor myself. The whole point for me was mentioned above. I just want to go all emo. Have it all expressed and then forget about it. It's selfish of me I know. I'll have to think about this some more.
Aw well. Tomorrow is another day. Happy Monday everyone.

I've Been Busy

I looked at my calendar today and realized I might need to get out more. I have marked on it all the premieres of shows I wanted to make sure I didn't miss. I take solace in the fact that I don't just sit and watch television. I actually work a fair bit on my little projects. Since I no longer have the hardcore cable and switched to basic, I watch a lot of my shows online. I believe I have mentioned this many times. What is sort of funny, not haha, but weird funny, is that I have only really had a computer for about five years. In the grand scheme of things, that is really not a terribly long time. It has become such a huge part of my life. I have to be very careful. In a heartbeat, I can easily become that crazy cat lady that never leaves her apartment. Since being on my own, I've decided to make a few changes to my lifestyle. It is shows too:


When I first moved in my little apartment, I purchased some new jeans. They were a size 34-35ish. I can't really remember and the little numbers have worn off. I weighed in at 170lbs. Now, my jeans are a 29-30 and I'm weighing in at 135lbs. I am thrilled.


A few of my changes are to make sure I eat all my food groups. I'm not educated in the means of proteins, fats, cholesterol etc etc. All I know is that if I fail to eat all my food groups in a day, I am off balanced. So today for instance, I start with coffee. That does not really fit into a food group, but people's lives are saved if I'm caffeinated. I switch on my computer, (bit addicted yes I know), settle in with my knitting or drawing and watch some shows. Today I watched a few episodes of The United States of Tara. Wow. I love this program. When I start to feel snackish, I begin to think about breakfast. I has toast with peanut butter and fruit. I have never been a big breakfast person. It was always a fight to get anything into me before school. After my breakfast, I start to tidy up a bit. A few hours go by, I start to feel hungry again. I had a bowl of cereal. Depending on my mood it is either Lucky Charms or Cheerios. I can't help it. They are magically delicious. I went for a walk to pick up some groceries. The story is about 20 minutes away at a fairly brisk pace. For my lunch I made a toasted cheese, bacon and tomato sandwich. I finished my socks:


I am currently working on my pattern now. I'm stuck at the chart part. I have found a program online that helps, again with the computer. I just have to be patient and work through it methodically. Patience is not one of my main characteristics. Then I start thinking about my supper. Tonight I had angel hair pasta with some veggies tossed in, with some wine of course. I watch Criminal Minds and The Glades and worked on a toque for my mom. She would like one to give to one of the neighbourhood children who have been helping my parents with some outside tasks. When it is complete, I'll be sure to take a picture for you. I think it's rather cute.
If I get snacky, I help myself to a muffin, trail mix with dried fruit, popcorn, or whatever else I have on hand that I do not need to prepare. The only trick I can really offer is to just eat when you are hungry. You have to learn what your body asks. When you are hungry, eat. When you are full, stop. It sounds so simple but all these other emotions come into play. That bored phase. That one is the killer. Keep your mind active and it helps. That is why I have all my little projects on the go. My hands are constantly moving. If I'm not knitting, I am drawing or painting. I also read a lot. When I need more, I start playing my video games. Reading through what I did today, I realize that I'm not really that social. I do have a few friends. Sometimes I do wish I would go out more. I just have more things I need to work on. I do like how I am. I have lots of weird little quirks. I like those too. I have come to the realization that I shouldn't work from home. By going to work, allows me to go out and interact with people face to face. I am rather good at it. I enjoy reading people and trying to decipher what it is that they need. To be honest, I'm rarely wrong. That's probably why I like playing cards. To be a good card player, it is not the cards that win the game but the person holding them. Anyway, I'm rambling. The point I'm struggling to make is that I need my mind and body to be kept busy or I turn into veal.

Enough about food. Want to see my love seat?

All I have left to do is fasten it to the underside. Every time I went to do that this week end there was a fuzzy creature sleeping on the seat. With the full moon, the cats were absolutely insane this week end. When they finally went to sleep is when I just worked quietly.
I should get bonus points for level of difficulty enhanced by curious kitty:

I almost sewed him into the seat several times.

Napoleon has no fear of sharp objects if they are shiny.


We are quite pleased with ourselves!


In a very long nutshell, that is what I have been up to this week. I might not have made much sense during my little monologue. I have all these thoughts roaming around my head. I think faster than I can type. Sometimes I forget you can't read my brain. I leave details out. As long as I entertained. I do hope you all had a great week end. We will chat again soon. :)

So Much TV, So Little Time..

Not sure if it's sad or not, but on my calendar I have all the series premieres that I would like to watch marked down. I'm not sure when I turned into such a television junkie. There are worse vices I'm sure. I just finished watching the season finale of True Blood and last season's Weeds. Now there are all these new shows I want to check out, especially Lost Girl and a new version of Nikita.
While I'm watching all this television, I'm working on my sock pattern. I really like how it's been progressing:

I've started my second sock and hope to have the pattern up shortly.

Work has been weird. I don't really have another word for the situation.
I'm tuckered out. I'm going to slay monsters. I hope you are all enjoying your week ends.

It's Friday

It was much too long a week for me. There is just way too much serious stuff going on in my life at the moment. Someone disappointed me. I was told that such and such would happen, and the other person did not follow through. It makes me quite relieved to be on my own. I'm responsible for my own actions.
Work was a bit hectic. It amazes how many small children can be placed on wrong vehicles. If the adults in charge would just listen to what the young person had to say, a lot of chaos would have been avoided.
I also have to give credit to parents for teaching their young ones the golden rules of growing up. Specifically, the no talking to strangers. These children were taught so well, that they even refused to tell the bus drivers where they live. That code proved quite challenging to overcome.
While I was waiting to drivers to report they were clear this afternoon, I started a new project, or rather, I ripped apart what i was working on and started fresh:

I like the direction this is going in way better!

My truck is still sick. It is not a cool sick like the kids say either. I just have to wait and save up a little to fix it properly. Hopefully by the end of next month, things will be back in the black.

To sidetrack myself I stumbled across this little gem:


Geek and Gamer Girls Song - Watch more Funny Videos
It has Stan "The Man" Lee. Well, it made me smile.

Tomorrow is another day. I am going to be domestic and maybe work on my painting. See you all later. :D

Weather Is Not Great.........

.......but I get my vampire hours have returned. The sad bit is I have a cold. I've been quite good this year in the health department. So, I'm just going to suck it up and deal with this little hiccup. I'm not sure if the cats are sneezing in sympathy or if I have somehow managed to share my disease with them, but they are sneezing as well. We all had a great nap today. Well, they had a great nap.

There really wasn't much room left on the bed for me.

I finally get my "regular" hours back tomorrow. School is back in session. I will no longer need to wake up at the ungodly hour of 06h51. I can't wake up on the hour. I always set my alarm to be off by a minute. Weird, yes; but very effective.

At least with the weather being being icky, I was able to make some progress on a few projects. I'm working on a pattern for a toque with my design partner:


I also started working on a concept for a pair of socks:


The variegated yarn doesn't bode well for showing off the pattern, so I tried again with a solid:

We shall see what becomes of my little adventure.

Then my brain was all tuckered out, so I just vegged and played video games.


Regardless of the weather, I hope you all had a fantastic labour day week end.

Was a Busy Day

Well not really. I cooked, painted and watched television.
There really isn't much noticeable progress on my painting. I just went in and cleaned it up a little.

The cooking thing is far more interesting.

This is what I started with:

As you can see, we have some white wine(some for the sauce, more for me), Cremini mushrooms, sugar snap peas, scallops in that little baggie, Parmesan cheese, fettuccine, Alfredo sauce, and garlic.

First I put a gob of margarine in my wok. I don't have that many pans. I make do with what is in my cupboard. Once that was melted, I tossed in my chopped up garlic. I waited for that to brown, took it out, then added my peas. I waited a little more, then tossed in the scallops and mushrooms and added some wine.
It looked a little like this:

While that is doing its thing, I cooked up my pasta and heated the sauce. By this time I start grating my Parmesan. By the time I'm done that little task, my pasta is just about complete.
I remove everything and put it in a bowl.
It might not look that pretty, but it was very tasty.


While I was out running errands yesterday, I noticed a very scary thing. The leaves are changing on the trees.

It caught me off guard. I was under the impression I had a few more weeks before that happened.

On a sad note; that little light is on in my dash. The mechanic that looked at my truck was a little emotional by the time I arrived there to collect my beast.
The problem was not the catalytic converters. The temperature going in is the same as going out. This is good. Those are expensive. The oxygen sensors seem to working as they should. Again, this is good money wise. The muffler was replaced. I knew this needed to be done. I couldn't sneak up on anyone if I was paid. Although I did sound rather bad ass. The scary part. The mechanic is not 100% sure what the problem is. It could be the main computer module (the brains of the operation if you will) that tells the engine and all its components what to do. This is the one I'm routing for. It is a tangible thing that can be replaced within reasonable price. The other idea is it is wiring. This would be very, very bad. I believe his suggestion was, if it is wiring, set it on fire and walk away. D: I could never do this. This truck has lasted longer than a marriage and I'm rather fond of it. It is one of the few things I actually own out right. As soon as I learn what the problem is, I will let you all know.

I hope you had a great week end. I'm off to the balcony with the fuzzy gremlins.