Moving Monday
Well, you can’t say I didn’t warn you, although it did happen a little sooner than planned. After blogging here less than a year, I’m up and moving again. Actually, to be fair, I’m moving back to my original blog, kimbelina.ca.
I feel like over the past several years I’ve tried on a few different blogging themes/personalities and when it came right down to it, kimbelina fits me best. So rather than struggle to fit myself into the box I’ve created here, I’m leaving the box behind.
I still plan to blog about vegan eats, crafty endeavours and the ups and downs of parenting three kids while maintaining a somewhat overwhelming workload, but with a greater emphasis on how these things affect me personally (I’ve often felt somewhat detached from what I write, and I’m hoping that by starting over with a clean slate, I can inject more of myself into my posts).
If you’d like to continue to follow me, please update your bookmarks and feed readers to reflect my new (old?) home at kimbelina.ca.
That’s a Wrap! Thursday: Longshadows
After nearly four months of off-and-on knitting, I am finally finished Longshadows (project details on Ravelry)!
Ta da!
It’s simply gorgeous, if I do say so myself — I’m completely in love with the little points along the edges, though they were a huge pain to block, especially since Leah wanted to help me. And by help, I mean pull out all the pins I’d painstakingly put in place only to randomly stick them in the scarf or toss them on the floor. While she’s walking around with bare feet. Good times.
This is one of those projects that I’m very proud of finishing — knitting the two halves was cumbersome and grafting the edges together in the middle really tested my patience. I think it looks pretty good, though.
And it’s just the thing to add a little colour to my charcoal winter coat!
Mmm… Monday
As Todd and I approach our 10th wedding anniversary, many of the small appliances I received as shower gifts are dying. Left, right and centre, it seems. In the past year or so, we’ve replaced our food processor, microwave, toaster oven, coffee maker and kettle — seriously, rather than the traditional 10th anniversary gift of tin/aluminum, it seems more fitting to get replacements of all the things that have worn out since you’ve been married. The latest casualty was our blender, a middle-of-the-road Oster that we killed with our morning smoothie regimen.
Over the last nine years, our blender has really been put through the paces, but it’s started taking forever to blend anything and last week it started making weird grinding noises. Todd and I looked at each other and nodded: it was time to replace it.
I would have loved to get a VitaMix, but that is so far out of our price range it’s not funny. Instead, after reading countless reviews, I decided on a KitchenAid model (and was able to take advantage of a rebate program that’s currently running — yay for additional savings!). It arrived on Friday and I’m incredibly pleased with it.
It’s incredibly loud, but what it lacks in muffled sound, it makes up for in speed and size. Now it takes less than a minute to blend smoothies for four people (I usually make mine separately). I am ridiculously happy with it.
Another thing I’m ridiculously happy with? These Softly Spiced Nuts from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan (p. 67).
This is one of my favourite snacking nut recipes: perfect for parties or those times that I’m stuck in front of the computer for hours on end with no hope of tearing myself away long enough to make an actual meal.
But when I do have time to make a real meal, I’m looking for things that everyone will want to eat (this is no small feat with trying to account for allergies, a vegan, two committed meat-eaters and food preferences for five people). I’m also having to double recipes to ensure there is actually enough for dinner (three growing kids, you know!) plus enough left over to pack in Todd’s lunch the next day.
Thankfully, this chili pasta bake seems to fit the bill — I’ve tweaked this recipe to include more chili, more sauce, no “cheese” and I’ve topped it with bread crumbs (crumbled tortilla chips also work well).
It ends up being pretty filling and seemed to be enjoyed by all, which I consider a success.
Free-For-All Friday
Leah’s vocabulary seems to have exploded in the last two weeks — a lot of new-to-her words are popping up in conversation and she’s consistently stringing two and three words together.
We now get gems like “Where Daddy?”, “Me hit Adam”, “Lizzie come home”, “Ethan hurt face”, “Me no sleep” and, my personal favourite, “Mummy boss.” That’s right Leah: Mummy’s the boss. Don’t ever forget that.
She’s also started telling knock-knock jokes. Some of them don’t make a lot of sense, but this one routinely has me in stitches (apologies in advance to Todd’s mother — sorry, Linda):
Knock! Knock!
Who’s there?
Nana.
Nana who?
Nana burps! Ha ha ha ha ha!
And then she throws herself on the floor, giggling hysterically.
Leah goes for her next speech assessment on Monday — she’s currently on the waiting list for a spot at The Speech & Stuttering Institute but I’m hoping that she’ll receive some other help in the interim. (While her language has improved considerably, Leah is still fairly difficult to understand, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed that additional therapy will help with pronunciation.)
* * *
After yesterday’s snowfall, both Adam and Leah were eager to help clear our tiny driveway and sidewalk. Unfortunately, with their assistance, it took about three times as long as it would have if I did it by myself.
I took several deep breaths and tried to remember that we weren’t on a deadline (aside from risk of frostbite if we stayed out too long), and that it didn’t really matter if it took an hour (or more) to shovel out the space.
Several more deep breaths were taken when the kids decided to shovel the snow off the grass and make giant piles of it on the sidewalk. Big sigh. At least they were working together, right?
Eventually our next-door neighbour took pity on me and offered to clear away any newly-formed piles of snow so that I could get pink-cheeked Adam and Leah indoors. Thanks, Rohan!
* * *
As per everyone’s advice, I’ve given up on attempting to potty train Leah for the time being. You guys were right: she’s clearly not ready and my desire to have her out of diapers isn’t going to hurry her up. And really, as long as she’s trained by the time kindergarten begins, we’re all okay.
* * *
I really need to pull my juicer out of hibernation and get back to incorporating fresh juice into my mornings. It had been packed up before Christmas to make room for the myriad other appliances that needed space on the counter and then I kind of forgot about it. Oops. Time to get back to my crazy vegetable and fruit concoctions, beginning tomorrow!
I’ve also had a really hard time getting into the headspace necessary to exercise with any kind of frequency — I don’t know what’s going on but I’m finding it exceptionally difficult to force myself to get up and work out. I think I’m going to add exercise sessions to my calendar — perhaps if I look at dates with my elliptical trainer as appointments that need to be kept, I’ll be less likely to skip them.
That’s a Wrap! Thursday: Pei
Last month Lorajean (of Knitted Wit) put out a call for sample knitters and I responded immediately, excited for the chance to knit with some previously-untried yarn.
The yarn arrived last week and, despite my commitment to the Valentine’s Basket Dash, I wound it and cast on right away for Pei.
What a fun knit! The cowl is long enough to wrap around my neck twice and the yarn is a joy to knit with: slightly rustic and creates a wonderfully drapey fabric. It’s going to be hard to part with this.
Especially once Leah saw it.
And showed off (what has come to be) her signature pose.
So, Lorajean, I’ll pack up Pei and mail it to you, but know that it’s quite the sacrifice for Leah to let it out of her sight.
WIP Wednesday
So far, I’ve been very good at knitting only items in my basket for my Valentine’s Basket Dash. Mostly.
I’ve made progress on Lizzie’s Gryffindor House Scarf — only eight more stripes to go (at 36 rounds per stripe, with 100 stitches per round, that’s only 28,800 stitches left to knit).
The knitting is ridiculously boring so it’s perfect for working on while watching Downton Abbey. Is anyone else addicted to this show? I love period dramas and the costumes in this series are such eye candy. And I’m a sucker for Anna and Bates.
I also dug out a scarf that I started in October 2010, knit a bunch and then cast aside for no particularly good reason. Well, it’s back into my project rotation now.
Oooh… The colour isn’t actually quite this intense in real life! The pattern (Gothik Scarf) is fun and I love how the fabric is all dimpled right now — once it’s finished and blocked it will most certainly lay flat.
And I’ve only had one extra skein of yarn jump into my knitting basket: a lovely turquoise rustic wool from LoraJean at Knitted Wit. I’m knitting a sample for her and it has a deadline, so I don’t feel too badly about this (very slight) cheating.
In fact, this very cute cowl (Pei) hardly counts as cheating because it’s already off my needles and blocking (and will be ready for modeled shots tomorrow). At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.
Mmm… Monday
While I’ve been making efforts to keep our diet fairly healthy (especially once the holiday sugar binge was over), this past weekend was a junk food-filled couple of days.
Lizzie had a friend sleep over on Friday (though I quickly realized that sleepover is merely a euphemism to trick unsuspecting adults into letting kids dance, sing and giggle long into the night) and I’m a firm believer in good snacks when friends are here.
I turned to my go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies.
Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar never lets me down. Between the six of us, these cookies were devoured in no time flat. Mmm…
Breakfast the next morning was also a super-sweet treat: Overnight Monkey Bread
I did serve it with a big platter of grapes so that I could at least pretend it was kind of healthy. Okay, not healthy at all, but gooey and delicious and I love that most of the prep work is done the night before.
And then Saturday night (since the chocolate chip cookies were long gone), I decided to make Cowboy Cookies (also from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, p. 48).
These cookies are yummy, what with the combination of chocolate, oats, coconut and pecans and all. And they’re huge. Not that that stopped any of us from eating just one.
But look! Today I made something really healthy: fruit salad!
I signed up to help with the snacks at my church’s Monday night children’s program and today’s menu called for fruit salad (I was pleasantly surprised to see a large number of healthyish snacks on the menu this year). Unfortunately, I completely underestimated how long it would take to prep fruit salad for 30 people and I spent the better part of an hour washing, peeling and chopping cantaloupe, honeydew, grapes, apples, mandarin oranges and kiwi fruit. Oh, well, it looks yummy and I was sad that I had to send it away rather than eating it all myself!
* * *
Why, yes, I did take all of these photos with my new iPhone! While I won’t be using this as a replacement for either of my cameras, it was fun to see what kind of pictures I could get (and Instagram is so much fun!) — not too shabby, if I do say so myself.
Free-For-All Friday
Winter has finally arrived! For the first time all season, we have a blanket of snow in our yard.
After weeks of grey and dreary days filled with rain, the snow is a welcome change — I can feel my mood improving exponentially with each additional centimetre of snow. And, of course, it’s much more fun to play in the snow than in the rain!
* * *
I’ve been a loyal BlackBerry user for years, but this week (after months of frustration with my Torch) I crossed over to the dark side and got an iPhone. So far I really miss the notification LED light and the tactile keyboard… but it is nice to have my various applications work seamlessly across all my devices.
* * *
Todd and I have had to revise our budget this year to reflect the changes to my workload — for the first time in 12 years, I will no longer have any annual contracts. This is a big change for me, as I won’t have any dependable income (but I’m really looking forward to the increased flexibility and less feeling so incredibly stretched between work and home). Of course, the downside to not having any contracts is that our budget needs to mirror our new financial reality — so I’m evaluating our current spending habits and hoping to cultivate some new ones (no more evening Starbucks runs, that’s for sure!).
* * *
And despite the necessary budget trimming, I would pay just about anything for somebody else to potty train Leah. This is the singularly most frustrating experience ever. For her. And for me. Is there some sort of potty training service out there? Because, truly, I’ve about had it. “They” say that girls are easier to train than boys, but compared to Leah, training Adam was a breeze. Leah will sit on the potty, adamant that she does not have to go, then stand up and pee on the floor. Or wait till she has pulled up her undies and then pee. Sigh. At this rate, Leah’s going to be in diapers forever because I am still trying to work during the day and can’t constantly run around behind her, cleaning up. Any suggestions? Anyone?
That’s a Wrap! Thursday: Longjohn Socks
Binding off these socks and weaving in the ends has made me ridiculously happy: they are my first finished object of 2012.
I think these Longjohn Socks might be the most comfortable pair of socks I own — the stitch pattern is stretchy and the yarn is squooshy: a perfect combination! Truly, Three Irish Girls’ Adorn yarn is my go-to option for my socks; the merino mixed with nylon makes for a long-wearing sock and Sharon’s colourways are fabulous (this one is Maura and I love the shades of blue and green).
And now that I have them on, it’s going to take a lot of will power to pull these socks off my feet tonight.
WIP Wednesday
I’m on Day 11 of the Valentine’s Basket Dash and I’m rather pleased with myself thus far. It’s been quite the challenge knitting only from my basket when there are so many pretty yarn and pattern combinations calling my name but I’ve been able to resist the temptation.
One of the items in my basket is the Koigu Linen Stitch Scarf, which I started back in September, knit a couple rows, got frustrated with the easily-tangled ends and put it aside. I dug out the project on the weekend and — much to my delight — no longer found the scarf at all frustrating.
The scarf is knit end to end, so each row is 450 stitches long and takes almost forever to complete. That being said, the scarf is also only five inches wide so I’m nearly a third of the way done!
I love the way the stitch pattern blends the three distinct colourways together. Now that I’ve got the ends under control, this has become a really enjoyable project.
And I’m continuing to make progress on the Longshadows scarf — I’ve knit seven-and-a-half pattern repeats of the nine required.
Ha! Looking at this photo, it hardly looks as though the scarf has grown at all, but trust me, it’s getting longer. Unfortunately, I took a look at the suspiciously tiny ball of remaining yarn today and I’m beginning to doubt that I’m going to have enough yarn to eke out another repeat and a half.
The wise knitter would weigh the remaining yarn to calculate just how much more can be knit… but I like to live dangerously and so I’m going to plough through the next repeat (hopefully with yarn to spare) and then decide what to do. Hopefully I can finish the scarf as written but I can improvise if necessary.
