Mego: Who are you rooting for?

Galen: I think I’m going for Green Bay, since they have two former Cal players on their team. You?

M: That makes sense. I don’t really care much about either of these teams, but as a person who has a hard time separating athletes’ personal lives from their professional lives, it’s really hard for me to root for any team involving Ben Roethlisberger.

G: Yeah.

M: In some horrible way, I wish people like him tried to mess with people like me instead of women who might be less likely to kick a guy in the nuts. I mean, if anyone ever tried to follow me into a bathroom, I’d pause for a second, say “Umm…. Excuse me?” and then, if he didn’t leave, elbow him in the face (so he was easier to identify later) and kick him in the junk (so he couldn’t make any more baby Roethlisbergers).

G: [pause.] Mini Roethlisbergers?

M: [thinking...] Sliders.

G: Roethlis-sliders.

[High five.]

[pause.]

M: We are such nerds.

1. Getting a song stuck in someone else‘s head.

2. Running out of interesting things to do to procrastinate.  Like boredom, but when there’s something you should be doing that you’re avoiding.

3. A person you’ve never met but know lots about because you follow their blog.  They aren’t a friend.  They aren’t an acquaintance.  But you know the names, faces and personalities of their significant other, children, and family pets.

Here we are, looking a little flushed in front of this awesome fire:

That brick in the middle of the flames is made of compressed sander dust from the mill where Galen works.  The sawdust is a byproduct of finishing the lumber, so they figured out a way to use it (instead of just throwing it away).  Galen brought a couple to Thanksgiving, since his uncle has a fireplace, and they work really well!

For some reason, I find these bricks totally awesome and fascinating.  First of all, it’s great that the company is trying to use all the bits and pieces of the trees they harvest.  Second, it’s neat to be able to actually use something they make… since I don’t usually have much use for wood chips or hardwood lumber.  I guess I don’t personally have a fireplace, either, but at least it’s a concept I can wrap my mind around.

Hope you all had fun and warm Thanksgivings, too!

• On hold with the insurance company on a phone that isn’t cordless, listening to bad Muzak.
• Sitting in traffic, moving about a car’s length every few minutes.
• Staring at their wrapped birthday presents, unable to touch or open them.
• Feeling like they need to sneeze, but can’t.
• Wishing their hair was long enough to put in a ponytail, but every time they try, it’s just barely too short.
• Waiting for a web page to load on a very slow Internet connection.

(Luckily, I am only currently doing the last two things on this list.)

I present, my first blog slideshow!  These photos are from Abby & Kyle’s visit to Portland this summer (These photos were not taken today.  We were not dressed like this in the snow).  A handful of us were BBQ-ing and watching the chickens over at Zach & Julia’s farm when we decided to take this silly series of photos.  Watching this makes me ridiculously happy.

From: Mom
Date: Wed, Nov 17, 2010 at 8:19 AM
Subject: From the newseum in DC
To: Me, Brother, Dad

Tiled into a wall in bathroom

My cousin Katie holding Reid behind Liam.

Liam being thug.  Or maybe singing Skidamarinkie-dinkie-dink.  Either way, Reid is fascinated by his hat.

Then there was another baby boom at the office, so I made hats for the two baby boys.  One of the new babies has two parents who are die-hard Oregon Duck fans, so I tried to make a pattern with duck feet in yellow and green.  The other hat has trains on it because, well, trains are awesome.

(You can see I’m still struggling with the sizing).

Then one of my coworkers asked if I’d make her a hat, which was a fun challenge!  A hat in a grown-up size!

In the end it was a little big, but I’m sure it’ll shrink in the wash.

Now I’m thinking I’ll try something different, besides a hat.  Any ideas?

It’s getting to be that season where the idea of hanging out at home and trying out a new recipe actually sounds somewhat interesting… even to those of us who are, um, culinarily-challenged.  Last year, my dad gave me a recipe for pumpkin bread that is delicious.  I even tweaked it a bit to make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.  I also made potatoes au gratin for the first time.  The year before I made cranberry sauce from scratch that was amazing.  In between there, I’ve picked up a few other good recipes, but I’m moving VERY s l o w l y . . .  so as not to overwhelm, of course.

Anyway, this brings me to a question.  Do you have a favorite recipe you’d like to pass along?  It can be for anything – a meal, a dessert, a side… you name it.  I’ll pick a favorite, make it sometime this month, and post the results.  Ready… GO!

Heart,

Mego

The past few years, I’ve taken part in National Blog Posting Month in November.  It’s basically just a challenge to post something every day for a month.  I’ve always had fun doing it and usually haven’t had too much trouble finding the time, but this year it will be even more difficult between classes, midterms and homework.  So get ready!  November starts Monday and I’ve got LOTS of stories to tell.

I promise I won’t just post my homework assignments and count them as blog posts.

First to knit sweaters for two white teddy bears to give to my baby cousins Molly:

And Eamon:

(Eamon is not actually a teddy bear. I gave his bear to his parents after he’d gone to bed, so I didn’t get a photo of him WITH the bear…)

This was the perfect first project, because it didn’t require unknown sizing. I had the teddy bears in my possession so I could make sure the sweaters fit. Knitting sweaters for the babies themselves would not have been so easy.

For my next project I decided to try out my sizing abilities and make hats for Galen’s niece and nephew:

I took photos of the hats beforehand because I had no idea if they were the right size or if Mateo and Natalia would even like them. When I did give them to the kids, Mateo seemed pretty excited about his hat, but Natalia didn’t seem wild about the idea of someone forcing her to wear something on her head. I didn’t mind at all (nor did I blame her) – I was happy Mateo liked his and VERY pleased that both hats fit.

Anyway, last week when I was visiting them, Mateo wanted to play pirates. Which required his pirate hat:

“ARRRRGH!”

“Please stop taking pictures of me.”

Not only did it fit… it was useful!

I’ve got a few other projects in the works right now… I’ll probably post ‘em on here when they’re done.