Six Questions, Four Answers

I'm exhausted so I'll post my answers to an email that's been floating around my family and call it an entry.

1. Four places that I go to over and over:
Work, Grocery store, Internet, Crazy-LOL

2. Four people who e-mail me (regularly):
Mom, Bonnie, Knitting Group, SPAM,

3. Four favorite smells:
Coffee, Fresh cut grass, Lilacs, Clean sheets

4. Four places I would rather be right now:
On a beach, In front of a fireplace with snow falling outside, Traveling in Europe, Snuggled with my hubby

5. Four people I think will respond:
nobody responds, but I bet they read it!

6. Four current TV shows I watch:
The Office, Project Runway, Top chef, Gilmore Girls reruns

Dueling Cups

My caffeine fix gets addressed in a variety of ways, sometimes I make my coffee at home, sometimes I'll splurge and go to Starbucks, and sometimes I'll stop at McDonald's. This morning was a McDonalds coffee morning and I had to giggle when I received my coffee in one of their snazzy holiday cups.
Evidentally Starbucks isn't the only one coming out with seasonal red cups.

Have they always had their own red-holiday cups? Now I can get my festive cup at 2 places! Maybe I should buy a red mug to stay with the theme for my coffee at home! Pretty soon McD's will come out with seasonal drinks too! I guess imitation is the best form of flattery.

Knitting Content!

I figured since this is supposed to be a knitting blog, I'd better post some knitting content. I'm currently working on a second Sister Scarf using Alp Premier Novelty yarn. I made one for my younger sister and gave it to her last year and when my older sister saw it declared repeatedly she wanted one too. I'm slowly but surely finishing a second scarf. Luckily she doesn't know I'm making it for her so time isn't much of an issue although I'm ready to be done with it.

I also recently received the latest yarn club shipment from Scout's Swag and love it! It's called Mums Lite and I think it might want to become some Nutkin socks.



Finally, I've been going through a gray phase and couldn't resist buying some Frosted Ice wool from Giffordables. I really need to get back to spindling one of these days!

Return of my Scarf!

Last year (end of September 2008), I decided to join in on a Traveling Scarf project on Ravelry. The basics were to start a scarf in a fiber of your choice and pass it around a "circle" with each person in the group adding 3 - 4 inches in a yarn/stitch of their choice until it comes back to you (in about 5-6 months). Our group had 14 teachers in it from all over the country with a two week "turn around" time frame.

This was my starter section:

About 13 months (and some group drama) later my scarf finally made its way home to me.
I love it! And to know it was worked on by fellow knitters who teach makes it even better!

A closer look at the different sections:

Shopping Green

Today I decided to check out a new grocery store, Green Fields Market. DH and I watched King Corn a few days ago and I have to admit that several of the messages the movie made still haunt me. I was determined to look for/buy grass-fed beef and sodas not sweetened with high fructose corn syrup at least for 1 week.

Pros:

• Clean/Open set up
• Small (great for folks who don't want to navigate through 40 aisles to buy milk)
• Friendly, Knowledgeable staff-Great service!!
  
• Great bin collection (coffee, grains, candy, etc)
  
• Great collection of organic, Texas/USA products
• Environmentally friendly from the lighting to the lack of plastic bags; there is a definite effort to be as Green as possible.
  

Cons:

• Location (its a bit far for me to make part of my normal routine; I'd go back if I were in the area though)
• Small (not much of a selection compared to the stores I normally shop, although I was able to take care of my grocery shopping for the week).
• I spent a bit more than I normally would for groceries for the week (It was worth it to check it out and support them, but not on a regular basis-which is my reality)
• As much as I loved seeing the huge barrels of coffee beans, is it good for them to be so exposed to the light, air and other peoples hands?
  

I wish:

• Bigger bakery area-more items
• More ready to eat/heat type items (deli-type area: sandwiches, salads, soups, entrees)
• Coffee/Beverage bar-I was really thirsty and would have bought something to drink
  

It was a positive experience but not one with my current lifestyle I'd make as my Go To grocery store. DH and I will definitely enjoy our grass-fed beef (including an Akaushi beef steak), organic fruits and veggies along with our sodas sans high fructose corn syrup. I will go back and spend more time checking out all the goodies in their bins though-perhaps over Thanksgiving or Christmas vacation!

BBQ Master-Blech!

This is the fabric of the most detested piece of clothing in my husband's wardrobe. They are flannel "comfy" pants that tend to make their appearance with the onset of cooler weather. He states how comfortable they are but, they just annoy they heck out of me. Maybe it's the "colorful" hamburgers and hotdogs all over his legs/butt. I'm always tempted to have them meet an unfortunate incident doing laundry but just haven't had the nerve yet.

He knew I was going to write about them and in the interest of fair and balanced blogging. He dislikes some white cotton shirts I have. LOL

They're BACK!

The red cups are here! The red cups are here! One of my favorite beginnings of the holiday season is the release of the Starbucks red cups-along with their seasonal drinks! Eggnog Latte, Peppermint Mocha, Gingerbread latte and a new drink to be released in a few weeks-so festive! I went for a non-fat Gingerbread latte this morning and as yummy as it was, one a season is enough for me! I'll definitely try the Peppermint Mocha, but will probably pass on the Eggnog latte. I can hardly wait to find out their new drink although it will be hard to top last year's Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate (no longer available).

FOAMy Wednesdays

I figured if I'm going to do this writing a post everyday in November, I needed to have a few built-in topics. Enter FOAMy Wednesdays which were inspired from this blog.

Food: My latest favorite salad: Broccoli slaw with rice vinegar. Had it tonight with a baked potato and some oven fried chicken.

Outside: Purple plants on our deck.

Abstract: Fabric from one of my notions bags.

Me: My Minx nails that have lasted since August 29th!

Summoned

Today I reported for my 3rd stint of jury duty, all in Texas. Part of me doesn't mind jury duty since it does give me a break from work, but the other part gets annoyed with all the waiting.
Today there was a lot of waiting.
It all began ok, I drove down early to ensure the getting of a parking spot in the cheapest garage.

Things moved along fairly quickly. I knew ahead of time no knitting needles and confirmed once I got there that they didn't even allow bamboo or plastic. Forgot to ask about crochet hooks.

I had thought I brought enough reading material between the magazine, new cookbook, kindle book and audio book, plus being able to access email, Facebook, internet, etc. on my iphone. What I forgot to do was take my phone charger so it didn't take long before I was getting the low battery light of doom on the phone which held all these apps.

This made for a long...long...afternoon.

I never did get called to even get put on a panel so at 2:45 p.m. was released for the day and don't have to serve for another 3 years.

The highpoint of the day was running into a former teaching colleague I hadn't seen in over 6 years. We were able to get caught up early on, but she was one of the first ones picked for a panel. I also enjoyed seeing all the different books people brought and the range of colorful characters comprising the jury pool. Too bad I couldn't get more pics!

My view for most of the day.

Snuggie FAIL

Well, it looks like I'm going to go ahead and try to do NaBloPoMo..Here we go for Day 2:

After the laughing and eye rolling I did with the original Snuggie, I can't believe I got sucked in and bought one for my dog. It was $9.95 at the local H.E.B. and figured it was worth it so I wouldn't have to knit her another sweater. According to the box, by weight I should have bought a Large..which I did. That was too big.




I exchanged it for a medium.
A much better fit, but based on the growling, barking and the trying to take it away from me when I pull it out, she's not much of a fan.

Falling Back

Not much candy left!

Helloooooo November!
Last night was Halloween and I am the official Passer Out Of Candy in the house. I'd say we had an average amount of Trick or Treaters, not as many as last year when I had to resort to handing out my granola bars but busier than some years. I also noticed far fewer store-bought costumes with official trick or treat themed buckets and more homemade/minimalist costumes with plastic grocery sacks for candy. With the economy the way it is, seems like the smart way to go!

Last night was also time to Fall Back. I still got up at my normal time and went grocery shopping (loved the empty store) and chose to spend the extra hour snuggled with Sophie under my favorite quilt listening to the audio version of The Help once I got back.


I did fall off the crockpot cooking wagon. I was trying to cook in the crockpot every weekend during football season, but last weekend both DH and I were still suffering from the after effects of the cold/flu, this weekend it just didn't sound good to either of us. Hopefully next weekend will put us back on track.