I should not be writing this post

This morning at 5:30 a.m. when in the grips of an insomnia so irritating as to actually get me out of my warm bed, I decided that I would swear off the internet forever.  I was going to delete every vestige of all my online accounts, and erase every bit of me in the ether!

I think it goes without saying that I am not very at all rational in the early morning before noon. I’m still not really sure why I thought this was a good idea, other than that I was exhausted, grumpy and needed a nice hot shower and a cuppa joe.

I’m not yet over conference-malaise, and I should just go to bed, and that’s not really too far off.  I just want to go to bed late enough that I can sleep for a good 11 hours tonight straight through.

So in this week’s now-typical style, I present various things running through my head:

1)  Remember that picture I showed you of the woman knitting socks in the SXSW panel? Well, I posted that picture to Flickr, and lo and behold she left a comment!  It’s Julia aka Yarn Maven from Bastrop, Texas.  I didn’t get a chance to get her name in the panel because I got caught up talking to the two founders of BurdaStyle, but I’m so glad to meet her.

2)  I do yammer on sometimes about advocating buying handmade stuff.  But it’s only because I really like it.  Fun thing about buying things I might make myself - still useful, but this way I get to enjoy others’ design aesthetics as well.  Here’s my latest purchases.

On the left is the orange Bouquet wall clock for Jeff’s study from Decoy Lab.  He’s been on an orange thing recently, looking for accessories.  Orange is a great accent.  As seen on February’s Poppytalk selections.

On the right is a sewing case I bought for taking embroidery stuff along with me.  It’s from Blue Banana Shop in Singapore, whose stuff is very bright and cheery.

Pay no attention to my strange collection of books there.  I just realized what those were.  This is part of my collection of academic books on the old Testament.  The one on the far left, Paul the Convert, was written by a professor for whom I was a teaching assistant, my favorite professor from grad school, the inimitable Alan Segal.

Coffee Talk

I had to take some time off from The Blog last week … I’ve been pretty busy with stuff that doesn’t go here - either it’s not ready for posting or it’s totally irrelevant. Mostly, I’ve been in a weird mood and didn’t feel much like talking.

But what the heck. Might as well talk about it, right? While I ramble, these pictures are from a stack of old crafting stuff my mom brought me, and from today’s ramble. Meanwhile listening to some old music. In a Gadda Da Vida, baby. Jeez that song is long.

My mom brought me a bunch of supplies from her days crafting this weekend. Look at the seventies colors! Acrylic yarn has improved a lot in 30 years.

Remember that post where I said I’ve lived a lot of places? That happens because I get restless and twitchy if I don’t switch things up in my life. I’m not very good at things staying the same. When I was younger I would make major life changes every six months. These days I’ve lengthened the time period, but I still get very restless. I’m trying to figure out what to do about it this time. I’d really like to not up and move to Maine or somewhere without warning, maybe even stay in this apartment more than a year.

An old receipt. Anyone remember this store besides me?

It’s not something that I tell people often - it makes coworkers and family nervous. Jeff thought it might mean I’d like to leave him for a while. It’s not easy to explain, either - stability is something that’s highly rewarded in this western culture of ours. Gypsy or migratory behavior is not prized. Most people refer to my behavior as “crazy” or roll their eyes or laugh. But I just can’t seem to want to stay still …

The pin in the receipt had to be snapped into 3 pieces to remove. Metal snapping like paste! It was that corroded. But then, it’s over 30 years old.

Besides the restlessness, I’ve been a bit on edge. Some awful crap a friend is going through resembles some kind of awful crap I went through, and it brings back memories I’d rather die a swift death. It’s so silly - it’s not as though it’s happening to me, but it’s still giving me nightmares (yeah, bad memories). Besides, I feel bad for him - it’s one of those things where you can practically see the unhappiness even while they try to be stoic.

Crewel embroidery pattern & leftover yarn. This once hung in the house. I like it, I might make one myself. Maybe a slightly less olive green background …

My co-worker Abby dropped by my blog not long ago. She figured I would “know” by my stats that she had visited, but no, I’m not that into my stats, and I’m not sure how I’d know her IP address anyway. I find that occasionally people think my technical skills are more magical than they truly are. I am a wizard! So how does Abby resolve said problem, and tell me she stopped by? Comments! I knew they were there for some reason! (Hi Abby! Um, no I’m not quitting.)

Love pillow, which uses altogether too much magenta for the heart, IMHO. Another project I remember in the house.

My mom stayed with me this weekend. I’m a crazy mix of my mom and dad and as a result I’m the most left-brained right-brain person I know. One thing I get from my mom - activism. My mother is currently running for VP of the Texas State Teacher’s Association. She’s already president of her local and regional chapters. She spends a lot of her time advocating on behalf of teachers in her district. Gee, now how did I ever end up wanting to do things for others?

Obligatory kitten picture, this time chewing on things. Do you remember God’s eyes? I had to make them in church camp. This was a large one my mom was making 30 years ago. Clearly, the craft did not appeal to her, eh?

Austin is a singular place, appealing and irritating simultaneously. I had a waiter with a mohawk this morning at a lovely local watering hole that often sells me local beer. I saw multiple odd bike-cars, like a two-seater. The weather was a balmy 80 degrees today, so it was a great day for opening up the house and eating brunch on a cliff-top patio (I did both). I also visited one of our dozens of coffeeshops this afternoon. It was that last that killed me.

Sometimes, when you live in a place people think is “cool” like Austin, the hipsters that appear are … well, you can practically smell the trendiness. And condescension. And you can certainly hear their overly-loud, I’m-too-sexy-for-this-shirt conversations. I guess I’m just getting too old. Or at least, the one girl that I happen to know from college used to tell me I looked old in class, which was kind, no? I left in irritation after 20 minutes of non-stop jabbering.

So that’s been my week. All in one lump. With pictures! Here’s to another week, perhaps this one with a little less internal drama, please?

Traditions Holiday Swap 2007

I can’t show you what my swap partner, Vickie, sent to me yet, but I thought I’d show you what I sent to her. I went a little nuts (gee, how unusual for me!) and made a booklet and things. It’s fun getting to know someone this way. Vickie lives in California, and is married with a year-old daughter names Lani (so cute!).

So here’s my package:

I sent a tradition from my husband and I, our favorite holiday music: Vincent Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas CD. Vickie sent me Harry Connick, Jr., which is awesome, and made me want to watch Will & Grace. Also a couple of books that are timeless Christmas tales for children, from my own childhood: The Night Before Christmas and the Twelve Days of Christmas.

I sent two tree ornaments I made myself - a crocheted snowflake and an embroidered felt tree. These were both much fun to make!

The little brown wooden square is an Edelweiss cookie press for Springerle cookies. Springerle are traditional German cookies dating back to the 14th century (I’m from the “Hasenclever” family maternally - can you get more German?). I’ll give more information about these later. I gave Vickie my family’s recipe for them.

Finally, I made a booklet with recipes and information for her:

Front and back covers there. The front is a holiday card cut in half with a piece of paper adhered to the back. Same for the back. Tied with ribbon, because I don’t know how else to bind a book at the moment.

A greeting on page 2, then on page 4 a rundown of a traditional holiday dinner - one I made in 2006, in fact. The portabello bisque listed there has a long story.

Pages 5-8. That’s my tree from 2006, then three pages to explain and give the springerle recipe. With pictures!

Pages 9-12. There’s some info about my maternal “hometown” and on the right my maternal grandmother’s Chocolate Crinkle cookie recipe.

Pages 13-16. Finally, my paternal grandmother’s sage noodle recipe. Very good recipe. haven’t heard of too many families with a holiday noodle recipe.

So that’s all there is. It was a fun project to undertake. I’ve decided I need to learn more binding methods, make a few more little books like that. I don’t know what for, but I can certainly build them anyway!