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Nibbler
2006 (?) [adopted May 2006] – 12 July 2007

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Ok. Tea: a nice mug with a lid and a strainer-thingee (ok it’s late, be kind to my poor brain), black currant (which E is all excited about, I think I have to start hiding TEA as well as yarn stash), a yummy green tea sampler, and some great Numi.
Yummies: Gluten-free cholov yisrael “kit-kats” (i’m currently allotting myself one a day), Dagoba, roseberry (E ate most of it, but I got some today), Scharffen Berger, Mocha Pure Dark Chocolate (we’re trying to be good and hold off).
and then…
YARN! two skeins of yummy plymouth yarns suri merino !! and I actually now own some Noro — Shinano. I see a hat in my future.

Thank you Debi!

Ok. So it’s chol hamoed so there’s no knitting. Opinions differ, I’m disorganized so I use it to kick my butt for organization. I’ve started an inventory page to keep track of what I have. I know the CSS is horrid — I’ll clean that up eventually. I also sent a small box of stash off to Yvonne and Sarah today. I cleared up a small bit of space. :) Which is good because Rhinebeck is coming!!

And to distract you, some pictures of Nibi ! She tried to help us clean her cage this week, it was pretty funny. She had no desire to escape from her cage and she kept trying to get E to leave her dirty litter so she could burrow.
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no knitting pics, but please go check out the new mag knits. I’m working on Jodie’s Saturday market bag. :) I just wish I had a better color of Sugar n Cream to use (cool breeze ombre — i don’t like the white)

I just updated to wordpress 2.0.3 please let me know if there’s funkiness. as always, if the style sheet doesn’t load, please press control + refresh. *sigh*

The wonderful E finally upgraded his site. His pictures (and code) are awesome. I love his just sql program. :) We also went and bought him a digital camera body [Canon Rebel XT] ctoday. We played with Nibi for a while and he took this photo of her.

Lots of other stuff I’m working on. We’ll see what this week brings. My goal is to start my plan this week. Don’t hold your breath! :)

Sakura Matsuri

Last Sunday, we went to see the peak Cherry Blossoms. We had wanted to go the weekend before, right before peak, and hopefully avoid all the crowds, but I believe it poured. We had just picked up Nibbler and decided to let her get used to her cage without us doting over her. Parking was an adventure but we found a place, and there was a line (at 4pm) to get in. The crowds were amazing. We didn’t have as wonderful a chance to explore the cherry blossoms as we wanted because of the late hour and the crowds. Below are a two photo I enjoy.

Maryland’s Sheep and Wool Festival

Saturday night we loaded the car and began the drive to Baltimore. We found a nice hotel in Baltimore and in the morning drove to the Festival.

Wow.

The photographer at work. The sheep smiled nicely for him.

And sometimes they smiled nicely for me.

I really couldn’t get the shot I wanted, but I believe this is a shot of a spinning wheel waiting to be shown and judged. ;) I believe they are all winners!

And I bought 100 grams of Skacel Merino Lace (colourway 729) from Pleasant Woolen Company. It was so incredibly overwhelming all the yummy yarns and colours and wheels! I know nothing about spinning and E had to drag me away. I know I could probably buy this at home but E said it would be silly to walk away empty handed. I didn’t want to go too far over budget. E was very patient as we went back and forth and I pet and (a few times) sniffed [yes, I am a yarn sniffer] the yarns. I have yet to ever knit more than a few rows of lace so we’ll see. I really prefered the grey (#329) but this won. I’m debating exactly what to make with it. I have quite a few ideas but nothing has solidified. I did a bit of knitting (and frogging) in the car. I’ll try to post pictures later today.

B&O Rail Road Museum

E and I have decided that this was a great museum, but we’re jaded. There was a train trip we could have taken and the coordinator tried to impress us with “how often do you get to go through the main switch yard” (or something I really wasn’t paying attention). I looked at E and we left. I’m sure it was quite nice, but after Steam Town, Peru, and numerous other train wonders, riding on a commuter rail train just didn’t excite us enough. Finding a nice cold drink did.

B&O Logo

There is no way I can show the scale. We found these two in the shop and fell in love.

She arrived at B&O two days after Pearl Harbor. There is absolutely no way to capture the scale and beauty of this marvel. E had to pull me away.

The restoration of the beauty is magnificent… I stood drooling for a good 5 minutes. Then I sat down on one of the benches. ;)

The World to Come

I finally read Dara Horn‘s new masterpiece, The World to Come. I read In the Image several years ago and with her new work she has me won over. I don’t know what to say other than please, go read this.

She’s a difficult one to photograph! She likes to nibble… ME. (Her nickname will probably be nibi) Like most first homes, hers is way too small and when E returns we are going to do something about that (for her, we need a to wait a bit). In the meantime I’ll try to get her a larger wheel and fit it in her cage, her hind foot splays off and her fir starts to wrap along the center. We didn’t realize she’s a bit big. We just kinda read “ok for most hamsters” and went on our merry way. Who knows, maybe i’ll pick up a pair of dwarves and then all of this stuff will fit them perfectly.

In other news — E will be arriving home Friday afternoon. I’m still not happy about all of it, but it will be nice to have him home for shabbos. We might run away motzei but it depends how he feels, as he has to drive if we leave the state (no, I have not taken a road test yet).

Also, I finally cast on for the second sock. Already it’s easier (I am paying enough attention to rib properly) so we’ll see how it goes. I can’t wait to start working with prettier yarns. I think the remainder of this colorway might be used for some children’s mittens.

LASTLY no one knows yet if the phone company is coming today. Now I can go see if anyone in the building is around and ask. *sigh*

He’s leaving for a business trip Tuesday evening.

I am to stay home.

Despite having the ability to cash in some frequent flyer miles so the cost of the flight isn’t that bad, I’m still to stay home.

I’m (obviously) not happy with this — especially because the weather is now above freezing.

I’m now the proud mother of a teddy bear hamster. I have “mommied”* twice today. She was very very unhappy in the cardboard box the pet shop gave us to take her home in. (Once we bought a ball I put her in that and she seemed happier). E tried vacuuming a short bit ago and she freaked out. I’m still trying to calm her down but it’s taking a bit of doing. She’s now eating (which is good) but i have yet to see her drink.

oy, how cruel that sounds. i feel badly. i would not like for my mum to tell me when i was older that she had me b/c she was bribed…

HOWEVER, she needs a name. We have a few thoughts based on some books I’ve recently read, her colouring, and her recent antics, but suggestions are highly welcome. I’ll try to get some pics soon. (also new category for her coming soon, i’m debating what to name it as well)

update
* mommied = a term my mum came up with after i spent a weekend babysitting two different wonderful families.
Night one: 3 yo girl pukes up her lunch from 2 days prior and (thankfully) missed the carpet by “inches”. I put her to bed after a bath and some story and hugs and her 6 yo sister was very helpful and kind. They were really good girls and moved away the next year. I pretty much stopped babysitting once they moved.
Night two: (another) 3 yo girl has wonderful diarrhea all over her bed shortly after putting her there. her 7 yo sister was a pain and i shut her in her room and took away her American Girl doll (note: this was over 12 years ago) the very little younger brother was ok and asleep upstairs. I put the little girl in the shower as best I could and the sheets in the wash. I think I read her a few stories. She calmed down and went to sleep. I returned her sister her doll and was forgiven. I think this was the incident when their parents came home a bit tipsie at 3am and the designated driver drove me home and I left my keys there and then broke into my house for the next 6 months until they realized that set of keys on the counter were mine. For my birthday both sets of families gave me OODLES of keyrings so we knew which was mine.

My hamster didn’t puke or have diarrhea. I was, however, very wet when she was done. After I first posted this she finally drank some water and is now fast asleep. I guess the stress of earlier today wore her out.