Diabetic Lunches

So, in the month that I have not been blogging, a lot of.... stuff has happened. I got a very painful urinary tract infection that would not go away, so I found myself at the urgent care clinic. When I was there, they gave me medication for my infection, and told me that I was diabetic. Now, diabetes runs in my family, and my grandmother died of it. So, I knew it was just a matter of time before I was going to come up with it. I never thought I would get it so soon though. But now I have it, and there is no going back, I suppose. We literally spent the majority of that Monday at the clinic, being pushed from doctor, to nutritionist, to the financial department. It was a horrible experience. I was unemployed, with no money, so being diabetic, I know is going to cost a fortune. My next doctor's appointment, 2 weeks later, coast us over $200. When we went to the grocery store the next time, I cringed at the cost of healthier foods. Just getting whole wheat bread cost almost 75 cents more. It doesn't seem like much but you add it up on everything, it really amounts.

Luckily, the fiance seems to be understanding with my diabetic issues. He raises no issues with the cost, and even sacrifices some of the things he wants from the store, just so I could get my sugar-free necessities. It was hard, looking at all the labels of the food I enjoy, seeing how many carbs they have. I looked at a Sprite bottle, and it was 64 grams of carbs! A limit for an entire meal I can eat is only 60 carbs. It was an eye opener. I got as many sugar free things I could, but still tried to maintain the foods I love to eat. I still have a lot of work to do, but I have my successes. I have trouble saying no to fast food, Red Robin, and some things, but on the other hand, I have successfully cut out my sugary drinks, which was a HUGE thing for me. I would drink a 52 ounce soda in just four hours, which I could never do again. Instead, I found that diet soda does not taste all that bad, and unsweetened tea with Splenda isn't bad either. I've switched my coffee creamer to sugar free, and the sugar in my coffee to Splenda. So, I'm trying to work on it.

However, lunches. I recently started working full time, and the lure of vending machines and the food place on site look really good. I sit with co-workers who order burgers, hash browns, tuna melts, and I'm usually caught, staring longing at their food. I've been offered chocolate, cookies, candy, and I force myself to say no. So, I've been eating a small breakfast, and fixing my lunch before I leave home every morning. The night before, I will take my fruit (which for now, are usually raspberries, or strawberries), and put them in a cup. I save all the those little condiment cups I get from restaurant to-go orders and planned on using them for my African violets - but they are even more awesome for lunch packing, too! I'll then take out a can of diet soda, for now, I'm drinking diet 7-up, because it was cheapest at the store. Also, I'll mix up some tuna salad, and put it in bowl in the refrigerator. I'll gather up my vegetable, in this case, carrots, and put them in a container, and put some hummus in a condiment cup to dip my carrots in. Right before I go to bed, I get my coffee ready and put the water in the machine, so all I have to do is turn it on in the morning.

When I wake up the next morning, I'll bathe, dress and if I have time, eat a yogurt while my hair dries. If I don't, then I pack a granola bar into my bag and eat it at work. So, before I go out the door, I fix my coffee, put the tuna salad on some bread, pack everything in the lunch bag, and that's it. So much nicer than eating all those carbs at work.What is nice, is that where I'm working, I can have soda and my coffee at my desk, and I can have little snacks. So if I don't eat all my carrots at lunch, I can eat them at my desk later if I get hungry... instead of going to the vending machines and buying Doritos. My lunch is filling though, and I am usually good until dinnertime.

Moving to another subject, Yes! I finally got a job! I looked for a job for a while, and couldn't find one. When retail around here started hiring for the holidays, I jumped on it as soon as I could. I had a phone interview at one place, and a group interview at another. I was not good enough for either. I was depressed and stopped looking. After being told I was diabetic though, I knew I was going to need money for medical care, prescriptions, and healthier food, so I applied at one more place. The place I wasn't really excited about. I applied at the company Tyler worked at. I was hired on the spot, and was told I was "too good to be true". For the past couple weeks, I have been in crazy intensive training, and finally start the actual job on Monday. I am terrified, but kind of excited. They offer really good medical, dental, and vision plans, and they even provide a 401K.

A Few Finished Projects

So, usually I wake up, roll out of bed and turn on the computer. From there, I check email, then Twitter. I do my rounds on my favorite blogs and websites. Then I write my NaNoWriMo word count for the day while I chat with the fiance at work. Afterwards, I'm free to do whatever. Free to do housework, clean, watch some of my many television shows that I hoard onto the DVR. Lately, the fiance and I have been watching Doctor Who when he gets home. I'll fix dinner, and we will start an episode while we eat. After dinner, I work on knitting projects. So, today's blog post is kind of a finished project photo day. I have a couple that I have finished recently, and just got around to photographing.



These are socks that I made for Tyler for his birthday a couple weeks ago. I had tried a different pattern before this one. It was really fancy, with cables, ribbing, patterns, and even a toe-up, which had be stressing for almost a full day. I just could not understand the Judy's Magic Cast-on. But, I eventually did it, and it wasn't until I got a good 4 inches into the sock, that I realized it was going to be way too big for him. I took it out and realized I was going to be pressed for time to finish it, so I picked a less complicated pattern, which fit him much better. He had to show every single person at his birthday get-together, I think he was proud of my work, and wanted to show it off to everyone. He put them on immediately when we got home. I think they turned out nice, and they should be a good starter sock for him, to see if he likes them and will wear them. If he does, I'll probably make more for him.



This Henslowe Shawl I finished last month. It was a complete nightmare to block, and had both me and Tyler pinning it out (the poor fiance had no idea what he was doing, honestly, but I appreciated the help he did do). It was brutal, and I'm not sure I'll make another one of these. Which is sad because I rarely pay for patterns, and this was one of the only that I purchased. The instructions on picking up stitches were a little confusing, probably because I have never done Shetland lace construction before? I don't know, but I can't foresee myself doing another.



These miserable fingerless mitts. I first started them on double pointed needles, and kept taking them out for some reason or another. One day I thought they were too long, the next day too short, or, I didn't like how the picot edging looked. It was always something. After it sat for many weeks, I eventually just divided the yarn into two balls (with my cheap new kitchen scale, yay!), and cast on for two at a time. I was determined to finish them, and finally did. I am extremely pleased with them, and for the past 2 days, I've been wearing them everywhere.

NaNoWriMo Begins!

Today is November 1st, the beginning of National Novel Writing Month! I've heard a lot about NaNoWriMo throughout the years, and this year, I have decided to participate! I've been waiting for it for weeks, thinking of what I'm going to write, then making character profiles, and then just making general notes about what I want to happen. I have started my novel, and completed my first 1,667 words this morning. Yay! I'm excited. I told the fiance that I'll be spending November working on this, and he has been really supportive about it. Even today when I told him I was stuck, I don't know what to write, he tried his best to give me ideas, even when he had no idea about the direction of the story.

Anyway, I've been gathering resources for the past month, and I thought I'd write a blog post on some of the things that I've found helpful.



The single, most helpful thing I've found is StoryBox. It appears to be a program that you pay for, but the creator offers the full program with no trial, no restrictions. So, you can use this software completely free, forever. At first I didn't think I needed this program, it's filled wit SO many features that I didn't think I'd need. But, as I started to outline my characters, locations and plot, there are just so many things that I don't think I'd be able to live without now. I can upload photos of places, animals, layouts, floorplans, anything up into the file so that I don't forget about what places look like. I can completely list out everything about my characters. Especially helpful so I don't forget what side that scar is on. Left or right.  If you are participating in NaNoWriMo, you need this program. Or a similar one. I love it. (By the way, you can click on the photo to go to the Flickr page, where you can view in full size).

If you prefer an online based outline service, check out LitLift. You can create characters, settings, and items on there. The most useful thing for me is their character generator. I'm horrible at coming up with names, so I just tell the generator if I want a male or a female, and it pops out several names for me to choose from. I love this feature.

Also, for backup, I'm intending to upload to Dropbox. Through the years, I have lost many important files. Many that were hours, days or even weeks of work. For this novel which will require even more time than anything I've ever done before, I'm becoming a backup fiend. I have a little 4GB flash drive that I'll be using for this, as well as Dropbox. The cool thing about Dropbox is if you have multiple devices to work on, Dropbox syncs your work to all devices. I can work on my desktop computer, then leave the house and work where I left off at the mall from my phone.

Sourdough Bread Bowl with Clam Chowder

You ever have that food that just makes all your cares in the world disappear? I do. For me, it's clam chowder in a bread bowl. For years, my family and I would go down to the wharf in San Francisco, where we'd stop and eat clam chowder. Not just any clam chowder though, it just had to be in a sourdough bread bowl. It was amazing, Even if we couldn't get to San Francisco, we'd stop by at the local Boudin and get a sandwich and the chowder in a bread bowl. Now, in Iowa, I can't find another place like it. It's one of my favorite foods, and I can't even find any place to buy a single sourdough bread bowl. Therefore, I made my own!

I made the sourdough starter a couple days beforehand. It was teasing me all 3 days it sat on the counter. I wanted my sourdough bread then, I didn't want to wait. But I did. Sadly.



The bowl turned out okay. It wasn't sourdoughy enough, but after a few more feedings to the starter, I think it will turn out okay, once it really starts going. But, the bowl was the perfect size, the crust was nice and crispy, and the inside dough was perfect and dense. I was still pleased with it, I put some canned clam chowder in there, sprinkled with pepper and some chives. It was worth the wait, really.

Bedroom Violets

In addition to the African Violets in the sunroom, that I posted about a couple days ago, I also have a few in my bedroom. Our air conditioner does not cool off the house, at all in the summer. We have a portable air conditioner, that we would roll into the main living area in the morning, and roll it to the bedroom at night. Every day. It didn't cool off the main living areas in the apartment, so after a while of suffering in the heat (it would get up to 98 degrees, in the apartment), I got tired of it all. We moved the television, air conditioner, and everything I needed into the bedroom. For 3 solid months, this is where we lived. We never came out of the bedroom, because that is the only room that the air conditioner actually kept cool. We ate, slept, watched movies, and everything in there. Only recently, did we bring the TV back out to the living room, and use the bedroom for sleeping again.

Since we moved into the bedroom during this time, I was unable to see my  African Violets all the time, like I wanted. So, Tyler went out and bought me a cheap desk lamp, and a compact florescent light bulb for it, so that I can keep a few in the bedroom with me. I originally wanted to keep only one or 2, but the light covered a lot more space than I thought. I picked out 4 of my favorite violets, and put them in the bedroom with me.

My camera is kind of a drama queen with lighting. This photo was actually taken mid-day, with the light on, but somehow it makes it look like it was taken in the middle of the night in a dark room. Whatever, camera. Anyway, here are my 4 favorites. To those who are familiar with African Violets, they are (in clockwise direction): Ma's Ching Dynasty, Ma's Fuzzy Slippers, Ma's Hot Flash, and  Ma's Easter Parade.

Ma's Ching Dynasty even is sprouting a flower bud! It feels like this blossom is never going to open. I've been watching it for days and it's like agony. I want to see what you look like, little flower! Open open!

As for these 4 plants though, I think it's time to find them another place. Now that it's fall, I'm flinging open the bedroom windows at night, and it's been in the 30s and lower lately. I love sleeping in the cold I love the feeling of curling up in my comforter and blankets. Last winter, I would even keep the windows wide open while it snowed, and got into the negative degree temperatures. That said, the bedroom is now too cold for them. There's a bookshelf in the dining room which I think is going to be perfect for them during the fall and winter. I usually keep the radiators on when I need them in the front room and dining room, so it should stay quite warm for them out there.

Update on African Violets

It's been a while since I updated my blog on my precious African Violets, huh? Well, a lot has changed since my last (and only?) post on them. Shortly after that post, the fiance allowed me to go on a shopping spree and buy some more for a slightly early birthday gift. I headed over to The Violet Barn and ordered..... 11 more plants. yes, 11. And this does not include the ones I picked up from our local Lowes.



I've moved them from the windowsills, into the sunroom, under my florescent lighting. The large, full ones are from Lowes, the smaller ones are the babies that I received from The Violet Barn. They were so small then, and they've grown by leaps and bounds in the almost 2 months I've had them.



The ones I got from Lowes, are starting to flower! This was one of my first violets, of the Optimara variety. I'm not sure exactly what it's name is, but it's pretty. I fell in love with the ruffled edges, and hey, it's pink!



Another unknown Optimara variety from Lowes. This one isn't as attractive as the first one to me, but it's still special. When I was mad at the fiance one night, he came home with this for me. It's the thought that he went out and picked one for me is what makes it special. And yes, he was forgiven on the spot. Hah.



This Optimara is about to bloom. I'd forgotten which one this is, I can't wait until they open and I can see!



Even the ones I purchased from The Violet Barn are preparing to bloom as well. This one is Rob's Ooh Lala, a semiminiature variety. They will be gorgeous when they open, I can tell. It's really exciting, because almost all of the ones I purchased from The Violet Barn in August, are producing flower stalks. Yay!

Let me just say that, I've never been good with propagating these. But I keep trying. When I repotted all the Violet Barn violets (way back in August), I broke off two leaves from some semiminiature varieties. They were just too small to pot in their little containers, and my fingers are clearly too fat. The violets lost the battle between finger and container, and I cringed when I heard the little leaves go SNAP. I took a chance and attempted to propagate them anyway. I stuck them in some soil and just waited to see what happened.



They have been in this little pot for almost 2 months. As the fiance was playing his latest Playstation 3 game, I was tending to my violets, and literally shrieked when I seen that I had little baby plantlets poking up from the soil. I was screaming at him to come check it out. He did, but he didn't share my glee. Hmph. The smaller leaf in the photo has the baby plantlets (if you look closely at the base of the stem, you can see them), the bigger one is just now growing roots. It should hopefully sprout babies in a couple weeks.



This little yellow tray, is what I call my nursery. Mainly for leaves that I somehow manage to break off, or suckers that I'm hoping will root and make more plants.

Madelinetosh Lace

For the majority of my knitting time, I've been using Knit Picks yarn. It's a great value, and it creates beautiful objects. However, in looking through some pattern's projects, a lot of the things I want to make use this yarn called Madelinetosh. I don't have a yarn store around me, the nearest one is about 80 miles away, so I've never seen this yarn in person. I looked at ordering at online vendors, and bawked at the cost of a hank. I've never spent anything over $11 for a hank, and Madeline tosh was $26? For one hank??



I found this Vermillion colorway from a Ravelry member, for a slightly cheaper price. I think it was $23? Or something around there. It's only slightly cheaper than the online vendors, but hey, shipping was included on this deal. I got in in the mail, and it was love at first sight. It's gorgeous, squishy, and so soft. I've already started a project with this hank - the Rock Island Shawl. The finished project is really beautiful, but I'm 7 repeats into the edging and I'm bored already. So, I don't know.



I liked that one so much, I had to get another one. I found this Calligraphy colorway on sale at Jimmy Beans Wool. I have plans for this one too. This will become a Vostok Shawl. I loved that pattern when I seen it, and I can't wait to start it. I love Madelinetosh yarn, but honestly, I don't think I'll ever buy another hank unless I find it on sale.

Hiya Hiya Goodies

Last Monday, I finally decided it was time to purchase a set of interchangeable knitting needles. I started knitting a couple years ago, and didn't know if I was really going to like it. So, my needle case has been slowly filling up with cheap needles, ones purchased from chain craft stores. Last year, I got two sets of nickle-plated  double pointed needles from Knit Picks, but at this point in time, they are basically unusable. From them, I have discovered that my skin tarnishes nickel like crazy, so any more Knit Picks needles were out of the question for me.

Since my love for knitting is not going away, it was time to invest in some quality needles. I researched all the major brands now, Knit Picks, Addi, Hiya Hiya. After looking and looking, I decided on the Hiya Hiyas. I heard that the joins on the interchangeables were one of the best, they are made out of stainless steel (I'm assuming since my forks and spoons aren't tarnished, I won't tarnish these needles), and they since they are metal they will fit my knitting style really well. I don't like wooden or acrylic needles, at all.

I was all set to order from the Hiya Hiya website, but then I noticed that I couldn't choose what color of the Puppy Snips I wanted (cute little tiny scissors, perfect for dropping in my travel knitting bag). Getting the pink was kind of important to me, and that was when I placed my order somewhere else - The Yarn Grove.



Saying I was ecstatic when I saw this bag outside the door to my apartment was an understatement. After snapping this photo, I literally clawed through the packaging to get at my new interchangeable needle set. I've never had such umm.... expensive needles before. Well, they were expensive to me, at least. They are reasonable for the quality you get, but my fiance and I are on a budget. I'm really lucky he found it in the budget to get these for me.



The bottom is my interchangeable set. I got the Small Sharp set (sizes 2-8), because very rarely, do I need anything larger. I also got a size 1.5 fixed circular needle, with a 40 inch cable. I really want to learn magic loop, so this, I thought, would be my training needle. And, my Puppy Snips! I was shocked at the size of this, it is so small!



The interchangeable set. I can't even describe how much I love them. It came with the sizes 2-8, 4 cable lengths, little grippers to help tighten the cables, and a really fabulous case. As soon as I got them out of the wrapping, I immediately transferred my Henslowe shawl that I was knitting on some needles I got at Michaels, to my new Hiya Hiya's. I adore them. The tips are sharp, the joins are so smooth, and no longer to I need to boil cables to get them to flex! Love.

As for The Yarn Grove, I am so happy with them. All my needles were packaged so well, shipped really fast, and I adored the little handwritten note on my order receipt. It gave some kind of personality to ordering online. And, the prices were better (and, I got free shipping on these! Win!).

Fingerless Mitts

I had some yarn left over from my Haruni Shawl I made several months ago, and it's just been sitting for a while. I decided to use the yarn up on some project. I came across Susie Rogers' Reading Mitts. This, I decided was the project I'm going to make. The yarn I planned on using is beautiful, and probably the best color I'd ever seen. The project that went with this yarn had to be spectacular.



I'm still working on them, but I'm pretty happy with them so far. I've taken them out twice already, for various reasons. I decided to do the turn over hem differently the first time, then decide to make them shorter for the second time I ripped them out. But still, I persist in making them. Winter is coming, and I think these will come in handy. I don't like normal mittens or gloves because I like to mess around on my phone, and I can't really do that with my fingers covered, because of the touch screen. These should be good for that, I think. I've tried the gloves that have the special thread or something in the index finger of the glove... they just don't do it for me. They work, yes, but all the ones I've bought were really poorly constructed. Poorly enough that I think I'd be better without them.

Blackrose Socks

My mother's birthday was back in May. I knit her a shawl, but never got around to sending it. Either we didn't have the money to send it off (Geez, shipping can be expensive!), or we just couldn't get up to the post office for one reason or another. Well, anyway. Her shawl used about 1 and a quarter skeins of yarn, and I really did not like the colorway she chose. She loved it, but it's not my type. Too dark, dreary and depressing for me. So, in the time that we haven't gotten to shipping the shawl, I made her other goodies to go with it. I'd never, ever use this yarn, so I may as well use the rest of it on stuff she'd enjoy, right?

I knit her a pair of socks right before I left California, and she had told me that she loved them, and wore them all the time because her roommate never turned on the heater in the winter. So, I decided to knit her a pair of socks. I asked her to go through and pick out a pattern she liked, and I'd knit it for her. She picked the Blackrose Socks. I, myself, was eyeing this pattern as well. It's sophisticated, so I was happy she picked this one out. This way, I can see how the socks looked in person, to see if I wanted to knit a pair for myself.



In the end, I decided I didn't like them. She will most likely love them. But, for me, I didn't like how they turned out. The gussets are weird, the toe turned out weird too. I'm sure it's my fault, but I was using double pointed needles on this project that called for another method. So, I didn't understand what I was supposed to do and just made my own way up as I went along. They are still wearable though, and still look like socks.



The whole time while making those socks, I was afraid of running out of yarn. If I run out, what would I make then? As I knitted, I kept watching the ball of yarn get smaller and smaller. And when I finished grafting the toe of the second sock, I was stunned that I still had a little tiny ball left. I honestly did not believe that I was going to be able to finish these.



With the remainder of the yarn, I made her a little lip balm holder for her keychain. I put it on my keyring for the picture, but it's being sent off to her. This turned out kind of cute. I may make myself one out of some scrap yarn ball I have wandering around the apartment. Having my lip balm on my keyring would be very helpful, so I'm not digging around the bottom of the bag looking for it when I need it.

Busy Playing Guild Wars 2

You ever wonder if you have too many hobbies? I do. I knit a lot, I tend to my African Violets, other plants, maintain a household, listen to audiobooks, browse Ravelry (it's an addiction, really!) and I play games. A lot of games. Currently, I play World of Warcraft, Diablo III, Aion, Minecraft, and now... Guild Wars 2. I've been waiting for what seems like forever for Guild Wars 2, and when it came out, obviously, I was excited. However, it wasn't until Monday morning that we had the funds to purchase it. At $59.99, it needed to be budgeted into our finances. That said, for the past 2 days, I've been playing as much as I can. While I'm only level 9, this game appears like it will go on forever. I'm not even joking. 2 days of playing, and I'm not even out of the starting area. Which, I guess is a good thing, because I'll feel like I'm getting my $60 worth.



(I cropped a good portion off of the sides of the above picture, my screen resolution was too big, and made for some really small, bad blogging pictures). Made by NC Soft, the people who put on Aion, the world really reminds me of Aion. Guild Wars 2 has that beautiful, whimsical feel that I love. It's a MMO, but doesn't seem to be the traditional type (the go kill 12 worgs and come back to turn the quest in type, instead it has a general description of what needs to be done with a progress bar). It has events that you can team up with other members to help, customizable armor, and the character selection is fantastic. So far, I've only ran into one jerk in-game, which is pretty shocking, considering by level 9 in other games, I've had already come across many jerks. (And by saying jerks, I'm being nice.)



As for me, I chose to play a Ranger. Because who can resist having an exotic cat as a pet to fight for you? Not this girl! As stated above, currently only level 9, and having a great time leveling up. Also guildless for the time being, as a few people I know are still setting up the guild and deciding which server everyone is going to be on.

Bitten by the African Violet Bug

During the time I've been living here, I've been experimenting with different plants. I've grown lemon balm, herbs, random plants that in my heart, I knew would fail (like tomato plant, chamomile, and lavender). None really had me excited about them. However, I've recently been hit by an African Violet love. They can grow for years, their flowers are beautiful, they have the weirdest leaves. What's not to enjoy about them?

My first one was purchased at Home Depot, and it was the saddest little thing I'd ever seen. It was pretty sick when I got it, it wasn't blooming, and it had brown spots all over the leaves (apparently from top-watering). But, I got it anyway, I didn't realize it wasn't supposed to look like it did. At $2, I figure I couldn't go wrong with it. Even after I gingerly cared for it, trying to bring it back to life, leaf after leaf fell off, until it finally died. Afterwards, I ended up at Lowes, in search of another African violet. One look at their display, and I was shocked! I had no idea an African violet was supposed to look this awesome.



Oh yes, I found the most adorable pink Optimara variety plant, and it looked fantastic. Compared to my sad Home Depot one, this one was amazing. Sure, it's got a few scratches, and blemished leaves, but it was like pure gold in my eyes. And, it was blooming as well! I brought it home, and it wasn't long before I found myself back there, picking out another one. Now, every time we go to Lowes, I manage to come home with another violet. To make matters worse for my windowsills, when Tyler does something to get him into the doghouse, he knows that by bringing home one of these, all is forgiven (even if he does manage to find the most unattractive blooms).

My birthday is coming up soon, and I may or may not have spent $85 on 11 new violets from an online seller, that should be here middle of next week. Erk.

Ravellenic Games 2012

For those who don't know, Ravelry is a really fantastic site for knitters and crocheters. It is a community, store, pattern haven, and information portal for everything yarn-related. I love Ravelry, and much of my life really revolves around it. For every Olympics, they put on Ravellenic Games (formerly known as the Ravelympics). These games are where knitters and crocheters participate in our own Olympic-type games, starting a project at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, and going on a quest to finish that project by the time the closing ceremonies come around. It's a wonderful way to be motivated to finish a project, challenge yourself, and have a great completed object at the end. When you post your finished project into the finish line, you get a medal (an image to post to your profile, project page, or where ever you wish), as an added bonus.

I've been knitting for a few years now, have tried many different techniques, and knitted several different things. I was definitely confident to participate in these Ravellenic Games. And, I'm really glad I did. My choice of project was the Summer Flies shawl. In my past shawl knitting experiences, it takes me many weeks to finish. Mainly because I get frustrated when something goes wrong, then I put it down and don't come back to it for weeks later. I wanted to push myself to finish a shawl in a little over 2 weeks, with mistakes and all.

I started out, and was amazed at how fast it knitted up. I was on a roll with this shawl, and even finished a little earlier than I expected to. The games ended on the 12th, I finished knitting it on the 6th. It wasn't until the 11th that I did the finishing touches on it though (mainly blocking it, which took longer than I expected). I photographed it and posted it into the finish line just in time, however. Just barely. I have to give my fiance credit for helping me take the photo of it though. He stood there with the camera, taking many pictures as I looked at them saying "Yeah, I don't like that one, take another." The poor guy.



I am unbelievably pleased with it. I finished on time, it looks fabulous, and when fall comes around, I'm going to wear it everywhere. Oh yes, I am. It will also look fantastic over my cold weather pea coat. Also, it was with this project that I gathered courage to attend my first knitting group. I do have a lot of social anxiety, so attending the knitting group was huge for me. It was at a residence which raised my social red flags (I kind of feel better meeting on neutral grounds, like a coffee shop), but I went anyway, and am really glad I did. The women I met there were really great, they didn't make me feel uncomfortable or awkward in their home, and I left there feeling really excited for the next meeting.

Anyway, I'm still hoping and waiting for my medal for finishing my Summer Flies, it's obscene how many times I refresh the forums to see my name listed among the other Ravletes. But it should come soon. After participating during these games, I can't wait for the next one, I had such a fun experience, and it really boosted my love for knitting even more than I thought possible.

No Children, But I Have Coleus Plants

This is going to be a partial post about birth control, and a experience I had with them recently. So, if you aren't one to want to read about them... stop now. I was put on the pill over 2 and a half years ago, and have been on them since. When my insurance from California ran out, I went in to the local clinic for some more. Well, I have high blood pressure. I know this, and no matter what I do, it won't go down. There was a period in my life where I ate really healthy, cut out sugars, salts, and everything I loved from my diet. I ran every other night. but yet, the blood pressure never went down. As a person with no health insurance, seeing a doctor about it is not in the question at all. After seeing that my efforts were not going anywhere, I resumed my original diet. My philosophy now is: Life is too short to eat foods I don't like. Anyway, when I went into the clinic for birth control, I told them about my problem with blood pressure, and after she took it, she was baffled why I was given them in the first place. Then refused to give me anything with estrogen. My only option was either, the depo provera injection, or a pill form of it.

I had researched the depo shot. Weight gain, mood swings, not being able to have kids until years after stopping it, this was NOT what I wanted. I can deal with the weight gain, mood swings, but... not being able to have children when I want them? That's the hardest for me. The sad thing, was that the night before this happened, the fiance and I had talked about having children. We decided on the month we were going to start trying for a child, and talked about our near future. Now, however, we have to look at the possibility that it won't happen in the next few years. He was upset about this when I told him in the car, I came home and cried in bed for hours. I was heartbroken, and still to an extent, I still am.

So now, after sobbing about it probably much more than was necessary, I plan to put my nurturing need into something else. Fiance and I have decided to get a plot at the local community garden. Well, actually... I decided, he's just going along with it. My windowsill plants have pretty much been my life since I came here to live in Iowa, so I'm excited to actaully be able to plant real fruit bearing plants in the ground. And being able to cook with something that I've grown myself. Hopefully, this is what I need until I get over the depo ordeal. I plan to throw myself completely into gardening for the fall season. Then I'll decide what to do from there.

That said, today, I woke up early and gathered all the seeds I have, and I found several that I can plant for this fall. I have already started some carrot seeds, as well as some basil indoors, under my grow lights. Once they sprout, I should have my garden plot, weeded it, and should be able to plant them in the ground.  After I plant them, I'll start growing lettuce, and other cool season vegetables under my lights to transplant later in the season. So, it should be good.



As for the indoor plants, I have some really beautiful coleus plants lately! The seeds came in a mix of everything, so I really wasn't sure what color leaves I was going to get. I keep getting surprised! The leaves on most of them are absolutely gorgeous, I love them. They are definitely grown for their foliage, that's for sure.



I'm not sure what kind of coleus they are, if I go through my seed catalog again, I can probably figure it out. But I don't really mind what kind they are, they look pretty, and that's all that matters to me.



Dear coleus plants, why must you make me love you so much? When I bought them, I honestly wasn't sure I was going to like them. I don't like buying mixes of plants, because I like to know what I'm planting and what it's going to look like. But I have to admit, I'm really loving the surprise I get when I see the leaves pop with a different color than I was expecting. I only planted about 10 of the seeds (I think I have over 50), so now I'm contemplating just planting them all. I love surrounding myself with beautiful plants.

Rooted Cuttings

Remember my pink polka dot cuttings I blogged about last time? They have been on a roller coaster the past 2 weeks. They perk up, then wilt a little. My life has been obsessing about these little cuttings, spritzing them with water several times a day to stop them from wilting, checking on them, and seeing if they have rooted yet. A few days ago - I was gently tugging on them to check for roots, and finally... I noticed some resistance in them! Which means: they started to root! I was so excited, that all my work babying these little guys, finally was paying off. Today, I finally took them out of their little toilet paper roll pots, to check out what's going on under the soil.



Woo! Check out that little root ball! There really is no better feeling than seeing something you worked hard for actually be a success. I'm sure it's easy for some people, but hey, I've never done this before, and had no idea what I was doing half the time... so this was hard work for me! That said, I re-potted three of the four cuttings that I took into terracotta pots (that I picked up at Menards for only 58 cents!). They are kind of wilting again now though, so I'll just keep on spritzing them until they get established again. The fourth cutting I took, still hasn't rooted yet - I think it's not going to root, but I'm probably going to just leave it for a little while and see what happens.

The downside is... most of my plants are on windowsills throughout the apartment, and I'm running out of windowsill space. I've started stacking boxes up in front of windows to expand my space a bit more. Hah.

Recipe Cards

Pink Polka Dot Cuttings

I have this really beautiful houseplant called a Pink Polka Dot Plant. It's one of my favorite plants I own. I thought about buying another one, but don't really have the money. They are like $5 up at the local nursery, and I haven't been able to find them anywhere else. That said, I got the brilliant idea to take a cutting from it, a couple weeks ago. I had no idea what I was doing, so I snipped off a stem from it, and dunked it in a container full of soil. The funny thing, is that it hasn't even wilted, and it's not sprouting any new roots like I thought it would. It's been several weeks since, and the mother plant is just flourishing and growing like crazy. So, I thought I'd try again, this time - doing a little research.

Apparently, there is a special root hormone mixture that you are supposed to use for plant cuttings. I did not know this. A trip to check out how much this root hormone cost, proved disappointing. The hormone cost more than what I'd pay to buy a new plant, so that idea was out. A little more research later, I found a free alternative to root hormones - willow tea! You make this by taking leaves and branches from a willow tree, chopping them up and brewing them as you would normal tea to drink.

One problem with this: I don't have a willow tree. My intention was to walk around a park down the street, which had a small lake area and find a willow, cut a few branches off, and run away. Tyler and I walked ALL the way around the lake, which was definitely more than a few miles (probably?), and couldn't find a single willow. Disappointed, and driving home, we spotted a willow tree in someone's backyard... only a couple blocks away. The awesome thing was that this willow was drooping over their fence, and out past the sidewalk. Hey, it's over the property line, it's free taking, right? Well, we waited until the middle of the night, walked the couple blocks with scissors in hand, and snipped off several branches.



I came home, coarsely chopped the leaves, and some of the branches, boiled water, and made my willow tea (yes, those are sour cream containers, and a pasta sauce jar - we are too cheap to buy plastic-ware, so we reuse containers food comes in). It's suggested to steep them for 24 hours, so that's what I did. I put the lids on after the 24 hours were up, and put them in the fridge. Good thing is that the tea will be good for 2 months in the refrigerator, so I won't have to worry about stealing more willow for the next couple months.

This morning, I got up early, and started to get things ready for taking cuttings. I put some of the tea in a little measuring cup I have, and intended to only cut one piece off the plant. But once I really looked at it, I thought I'd trim it up a little bit more. It's been growing really well, and was in need of a little trimming, anyway.



I ended up with 4 cuttings. I dropped them in the tea, with the intent to leave them soaking for 24 hours, as my research suggested. I went off and watched TV for a few hours, and came back to check on them. They were already starting to wilt! I made a mad dash to make up a couple seedling pots out of toilet paper rolls, and planted them. A little spritz of water with the spray bottle seemed to help them perk back up once potted. I'm hoping that they root, and I'll have 4 more little polka dot plants!

Pumpkin Spice Bread

When I first got my bread machine, I really wanted to make pumpkin spice bread. However, I couldn't find many recipes that I can make in the bread maker. So, I tried to concoct my own version, and I thought I'd share.

• 3/4 cup of milk


• 1 egg


• 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin puree


• 2 tablespoons of butter, softened (I put my butter in the microwave for about 10 seconds)


• 3 and 1 half tablespoons of brown sugar


• 1 teaspoon of salt


• 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice


• 3 cups of flour


• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of quick rising yeast

My bread machine requires that wet ingredients go in first, then dry ingredients, and the yeast last. It's best to check your instruction manual for what it suggests. Then, I turned my machine on the "Basic" cycle, and  "Light" crust.

Kitchen Appliances

Back in California, I had a dishwasher. The area I lived in did not have any older homes, so dishwashers were in every home, and I thought they were standard across the United States. Well, I was wrong. When I moved here to Iowa, I was baffled and shocked that the apartment I now live in, did not have a dishwasher. I despised rinsing off my dishes before putting them in the machine, now I have to wash dishes? By hand?! I have done it for about 6 months now, and had reached my breaking point. Standing in front of a sink for 1 hour or more every night... is miserable to me. I hate it. I wish to cook more, but never want to because I hate doing the dishes.

On the ride from the train station back in December, the fiance's mother offered her portable dishwasher to us. But, she didn't have a truck, or large enough car to transport it to us. So, it continued to sit, unused, in her house. After complaining about dishes for months, fiance finally rented a truck on Monday, and we brought it home. We were rushed, because UPS was delivering a package that day, and Tyler had to get to work by 2 in the afternoon. But luckily, we were completely done by 9am. We had a dolly to help us bring it up 3 flights of stairs to our apartment, and Tyler did the majority of the work, by literally pulling it up each stair. I just stood under it and pushed it up a little. Just doing that though, my arms were so sore later that night. I need to work out, maybe?



We got it into the kitchen, I loaded it up for the first time, and tried to hook it to the faucet. Problem one arose. The hose isn't long enough, and we have a tiny kitchen. Every time I want to use it, I have to move it to the walkway, blocking the back door, the stove, and the garbage can. And, once I move it, I literally have to climb on top of it to get out of the nook it creates. My chubby body can barely squeeze around it. Then, problem two arose. The faucet has the wrong adapter piece. So, we ran up to the Home Depot and were directed to a $6 piece, that was apparently made just for portable dishwashers, and clothes washers. Ran home, screwed it on, and presto! Dishwasher!

It's a lot of work setting it up to wash dishes, but really, would I prefer 10 minutes to set up an appliance, or over an hour hand washing? Yep, the 10 minute option, please.



I had also ordered a bread machine on Friday, and expected it on Tuesday. It came Monday evening, which was exciting! I immediately got out my bread making ingredients and made my first bread. It was fantastic, I stood in the kitchen and ate almost the whole loaf by myself. Late last night, I also made pumpkin bread, of which I'll be posting the recipe, probably within the next few days. Also, my cute little coffee pot. It's a little 5 cup machine, just perfect for me, since the fiance doesn't like coffee.

Our kitchen is extremely small, and our counter space is limited, but I just keep adding more crap to them. Soon, I don't think there will be any place to cook or move around in. Appliance hoarders, maybe?

Orange Chicken

Moving to Iowa from California is a little hard because many places I love to eat does not exist here. I miss In-n-Out Burger, Krispy Creme, The Habit, and Panda Express. We've been experimenting with places that seem similar to those in California, but it's not working well. For Panda Express, we've been trying all different kinds of Chinese food restaurants (I think I've eaten orange chicken from every Chinese food place in Sioux City), but none have that particular orange chicken flavor that I love. So, I attempted to try an orange chicken recipe in my Crock-pot.

It took quite a while to brown the chicken in the skillet, I think. But, I'm lazy and I honestly don't like to stand over the stove and watch chicken brown. But I did it anyway, with the hopeful promise of having a good Panda Express like orange chicken. After it was done cooking in the slow cooker, it looked really good, I was excited and couldn't wait to shovel it all into my mouth. But instead, I cooked up some rice and steamed some vegetables.



It definitely didn't taste as I expected. It was good, but didn't taste at all like Panda Express. The recipe I followed got the orange flavoring from frozen orange concentrate, so if I make it again, I may cut back the orange concentrate by half. It was way too orangey for me. It made for a really fabulous photo though, on my newest fabulous plate.

Is It Next Week Yet?

Ugh, it's been a pretty bad week for me. I thought I was getting a dishwasher, but that fell through because it wouldn't fit in a car. The pumpkin spice lattes and the bacon, cheddar and chive scones that I was excited to make, turned out horribly. We haven't had enough money to do laundry, so I've been washing clothes in the bathtub. I've been stuck with polyester sheets that are SO horrible, and am losing sleep with them. There's nothing worse than uncomfortable sheets, that pop off the corners of the mattress every time I move, then having to get out of bed and fix them. Needless to say, I hand washed my Egyptian cotton sheets this morning. I hope they will be done drying in time for bedtime.

I'm really hoping next week will be better. We have plans to rent a truck to bring the dishwasher home on Monday. I'm looking into getting a breadmaker, and a coffee pot (which should make my pumpkin spice lattes better, the instant coffee I used the first time was really, really, bad). I'll be getting much needed curtains and other household items in the mail. We'll be doing all of the laundry. And, the farmer's market starts up next week. I'm hoping to score some tomatoes, oranges, strawberries, lettuce, and onions.



I did make some stuffed bell peppers that turned out pretty good though. I've always loved stuffed bell peppers. I followed the recipe pretty well, though I used beef instead of turkey, I added more garlic, and I used a different cheese. I ate half that night, and saved the other half for lunch the next day.

Something too look forward to - A blog I read frequently informed me that I can make tea out of fresh lemon balm leaves. I have this fabulous lemon balm plant growing on my windowsill that's getting a little out of control. I'm thinking that tonight, I'm going to snip off some leaves and brew myself some tea.

Tamagotchi

Ok, this may be a little weird. I am 26 years old. An adult. And, I now own a Tamagotchi. Yep. As a child, I grew up with Tamagotchi's, Gigipets, and all the like. I was actually pretty obsessed with them, I probably had at least 10 on a single keyring, and spent all day taking care of each of them. I don't really remember what happened to them, or where they went to, but a few weeks ago, I was thinking about them again. And sadly, I kept thinking about them more and more. So I bought one.



It's pink, I love it. It's silly to admit, but I think this is the most amusing thing ever. I can sit and feed it, check on it, play with it, for hours on end, just as I did as a child. I wonder if I just never grew up? Hah. But seriously, the changes that Tamagotchi has been through is crazy. I remember them being small, taking little circular batteries, and the screen just being black and white. Now, its bigger than a large egg, you're able to play online with your Tamagotchi, it has interchangeable characters and face plates, you can play with friends, and now, they take 2 AAA batteries (I mean, really?).



Mine came with a Kuchipatchi character, which includes like a "catch the coin" type game, which is pretty amusing.

Chili and Cornbread

Every Thursday, I fix dinner for only myself. There's a lot of food that I enjoy, that the fiance doesn't like, so I take these days to make those foods for myself. I recently purchased a slow cooker, and am having so much fun making food that I love in it. There's nothing like dropping a bunch of stuff in a slow cooker and just letting it do the work for you. Last night, I had chili and cornbread, both made in my crockpot.



First, I made the cornbread. I used a box of Krusteaz Honey Cornbread and Muffin Mix, prepared the way it said on the box (I used the butter option instead of the vegetable oil, because I love butter), then just put the batter it in the crockpot (well greased, of course), instead of a pan to cook in the oven. I cooked it on high for about an hour. It was kind of a pain to get out of the stoneware insert in one piece, though. Like 75% of mine came out in one piece, the other 25% came out in crumbles. I actually gathered the crumbles in a bowl and ate them then, while I waited for my chili to cook. Hah.

After I cooked the cornbread, I washed the slow cooker, and started dumping ingredients for my chili in. I kind of modified this recipe to make mine. Instead of using bagged beans, I used cans of rinsed black beans, garbanzo beans, and white kidney beans. I also didn't use Tabasco sauce. It cooked for about 6 hours on low, and it tasted fantastic. The cornbread came out perfect as well.

That said, there is so much leftovers! I love that my crockpot makes so much food that I can refrigerate or freeze, but I only have so many containers! I made taco soup a couple nights ago, so, between the soup and this chili, I have absolutely no more plastic containers to store my leftovers. It's amazing that I can spend about $5, and have meals for a whole week is pretty amazing to me. Fiance won't eat chili or taco soup, so... more for me!

Gardening Indoors

This morning, I woke up early, intending on playing a little bit of Aion before the fiance woke up. However, that didn't happen. I got the idea in my head to finally fix my RSS feed for the blog. It has apparently been broken for a little while, I'm not sure what is wrong with it. It's still not entirely fixed, but at least it works on RSS readers. I spent all morning, and into the afternoon working on it. It's almost 9pm now, and I still have not even opened up Aion.

Spring is here, and I love flowers, plants, veggies, and herbs. However, I have no garden, patio, deck or balcony. Instead, I have a small room filled with west facing windows. When I first came here, we went out and purchased a lighting system, so I could grow some plants. I started out with planting a lot of seeds in little newspaper pots. I planted broccoli, herbs, roma tomato, peppers, and much more. But sadly, quite a few contracted something called downy mildew, and were slowly dying. I pruned infected leaves, as much as I could, but in the end, I had to toss out several, because they had died. I did save a few though, some asparagus ferns, lavender, chamomile, and a sage. Now, my lighting system has two levels, the top for seedlings, and the lower level for large plants, such as an Easter Lily the fiance bought for me a few days ago. I've never kept a lily indoors under artificial lighting, so hopefully it works out. Yet another plant experiment I have going.



Growing up, I never really lived with anyone who really gardened. The most gardening experience I had, was watching family members bring in houseplants, then watching them slowly wither away from neglect. So, my knowledge of plants and gardening is very limited. But I am learning by the day. I have had some success though. Shortly after Christmas, I planted a few basil seeds, and a few weeks ago, I got to harvest some leaves off of the basil plant. And now, I am harvesting at least 30 leaves off of it every Sunday. It's fantastic having fresh basil, from my own plant when I need it.



That said, I will not give up! I'm starting to plant seeds once again, with new strategies. Instead of using newspaper pots, I'm trying out toilet paper rolls, which is much easier to control where the water goes, smaller, and it seems to be easier, in general. Here in this photo, I'm growing some Yolo Wonder bell peppers, and some dimorphotheca flowers. I had dimorphotheca sprouting before, but it was yet another seedling to fall victim to the downy mildew plague that swept through my apartment. Hopefully this one will be better, I think I eliminated the problems that caused it.



I also planted more basil. I couldn't help it. I love my basil plant, I want a continuous stream of herbs coming through to my kitchen. I have taken a liking to freezing my basil leaves. After I harvest from my plant, I rinse off the leaves, and pat them dry. Then, I fill up an ice cube tray halfway, drop about 5 leaves into each ice cup, and put in the freezer. When those are completely frozen, I fill up the ice cube try completely and freeze again. Then, I take the cubes out, and put them in a ziploc bag. To put in spaghetti, or any other pasta dish, I just drop the ice cube in the pan with my pasta sauce, the ice will melt in it, and the excess water will evaporate, leaving me with the basil. I'd imagine this will work with any herb as well. I'm going to try it. The taller seedling is cilantro - I lost my last cilantro to spider mites (I had no idea they even existed until I googled them. By then it was too late for the plant). This one will do better, I have a counter measure in place when those evil spider mites come back.



In addition to my little sunroom container garden, I also have plants scattered throughout the windowsills in the apartment. I have these 4 behind the couch. The first one is apparently a polka dot plant. It was a mystery plant I fell in love with at the nursery (hey, I can't pass up a pink plant!), I asked a worker what kind of plant it was, and she told me... but by the time I walked out of the door with it, I had forgotten. So I googled, and google told me what it was. It's a little unruly with the flower spikes, and I think it needs a trimming... really soon. The second plant is my lemon balm that I nursed from seeds. I LOVE this plant. I don't know why. I think the leaves are gorgeous and I love the shape of them. When you rub a leaf and smell it, it smells just like lemons. And, people make teas out of lemon balm as well. The last two... planted in a Panera and a McDonald's cup, are Asparagus ferns. They aren't the most attractive plants I've seen, but they add greenery and pretty into the apartment.

I seem to have knitted washclothes under every plant. It's funny because while I was on Amtrack, moving here, I made tons and I had no idea what I was going to do with 8 washcloths. Now, I have at least 20, and am constantly running out. I always have to rummage through my yarn to find more cotton to knit up some more.

Easter Eggs

I enjoy holiday traditions. I can't imagine a Christmas without a tree, New Years without fireworks, or Easter without eggs. I'd imagine that these things might seem silly to do, considering we don't have children to keep these traditions for, but I think it's fun, it keeps the Easter spirit for me, and who can argue with that?

I tried to get the fiance to help with eggs, and at first, he seemed pretty excited about it. However, after writing on an egg, he got bored and went to find something else to do. So, I dyed the remaining 10 eggs. I had actually started with 12 when I hard boiled them last night, but when draining the water out of the pot, one fell out and cracked. I got a nice, unexpected snack last night because of it. It worked out well for me.



And those are my little batch of eggs. They will be made into deviled eggs (and possibly egg sandwiches) tomorrow night! Now, off I go to get my hamburger patties ready to be put in the slow cooker for our dinner tonight.

New Ring

The fiance got me a ring, a long time ago. Since then, it has snapped on the band at the most delicate part of it. It's been superglued, and taped, the cost of repairing - it would be cheaper just to buy a new one. I've been without a ring for...over a year? Well, several weeks ago, the fiance bought me a new one. He set me loose and told me to pick a ring I want. My choice was to shop on Etsy. Handcrafted rings? Yes, please!

I'm not a huge jewelry wearer, but over the course of the past few years, I've discovered that I am allergic to certain metals, and tarnish others like crazy. Something with having very acidic skin makes metals tarnish faster? I can't really even use nickel plated knitting needles, they are almost completely tarnished by the end of a project. Anyway! Because of this, choosing jewelry is a bit difficult. So, I settled on a titanium metal. From what I understand, it is tarnish proof, and harder than traditional metals.

Simplicity was my next requirement. I'm not a person who likes a bunch of diamonds, or a really expensive ring. I'm known to lose jewelry, and I am really rough on my fingers. I've always been a fan of the simplicity of men's rings, but I wanted one to still look feminine.



This was my choice. It's a simple 3mm titanium band, purchased from an Etsy seller. It wasn't too expensive, I believe it was about $30? I like to call it my custom engagement ring, because after all, it was made custom for my size and width I wanted, right?



It's a good size on my finger too, thin enough to look feminine, yet large enough to know it's there. The seller, RenaissanceJewelry, did a fantastic job on the ring though. It is polished, as requested, comfortable to wear, and I honestly couldn't ask for a better ring.

The Apartment - Dining and Living

There really isn't a way to break these two rooms into different posts, so this blog will probably be a bit longer. As I said before, we do live in a rather old building. It has the older building charm, and beautiful dark woodwork that I love. I was actually really impressed when I first walked in the apartment, because it holds so much potential, and is actaully really nice. If you pay attention, you will notice the many flaws, but just don't look up or open closet doors. We have leaks from the ceiling in closets, and somehow, some previous tenant got something that looks like pasta sauce all over the ceiling. Shortly after moving in, I took a mop to the sauce. That was awkward.



The room has really fantastic south-facing windows, and I am excited to start filling up the whole apartment with plants one day. I tell the fiance all the time the the apartment is going to be so filled, its going to look like a jungle in here. Unfortunately, my plants aren't growing as fast as I'd hoped. Anyway, the best feature in this area, I think is the really great built in shelving. I'm not sure really what they are made for, but I've been attempting to fill them up with photos and picture frames. It's kind of sad how little photos we have of us, I need to be more motivated to get more pictures.



This is the sofa that we bought together. I wanted some kind of sofa chaise look, but our space between the sunroom door and the radiator is so small, there's not much space to do much of anything. A furniture store sent out an ad in the paper, which was $699 for this. I loved it right away, and we went to get it. It fits perfectly in the space - although we can't move the sunroom door, it's a perfect fit. The ottoman, was from a chair we previously had in the living room (which now sits unattractively in the sunroom), and doesn't match at all. I want to get a coffee table, but the fiance needs some convincing to get rid of the ottoman. For now, I try to hide it with folded up blankets.



Dining room is a bit cluttered, isn't it? It's a bit awkward, especially when one of us is on the computer, and the other needs to walk by, we have to go all the way around the table, but meh. It works. I'm not sure where else we could have placed the desk, this seemed like the only logical solution aside from investing in a laptop.



In addition to the dining room table, and the desk, we also have a bookshelf and a fishtank in there. These photos were taken a little while ago,we mounted a hanging lighting unit to the ceiling since this photo was taken. It's a powerful light, and really blue. We really don't even need to turn on the overhead light when we eat dinner because the fishtank light is so bright. We also started to spackle in this room, getting it ready to paint. We decided on Valspar's Green Tea Leaves for the color in both the dining room, and the living room.



I love fresh flowers. Tyler regularly goes out to the local grocery store and picks up a cheap little bouquet of flowers for the table. I just use an old glass pasta sauce container for the vase. Why go out and buy something fancy when the flowers are fancy enough? There's something about how fresh flowers on the table makes one feel, it feels a little happier, I think. Sometimes when he buys a new flower bouquet, there are still a few live existing flowers in the glass jar. I like to take a smaller glass jar (usually one that once held jelly in it), and put them on the computer desk.