Today I ventured into the wilds of Soth East Portland to visit Wendy and check out Yarnia.  Yarnia is a yarn shop just off of Division and SE 41st (for those of you who know Portland).  It is filled with thread of all different types and weights and the shop owner has a machine that will spin the different types of thread together to make yarn!  Well, actually the threads just get twisted together and then wound onto a spool with the same tension–they separate pretty easily if you tug at them. It was really fun to wander around and pick out colors and create my own “yarn” that I can now play with.  The store sells the yarn by the pound instead of by length and if you know anything about yarn, you know just how lightweight it is.  I bought a pound of my yarn (for only $29) and I should have enough to play around for quite a while!

It was also really fun to sit and chat with Wendy about stuff.  I haven’t gotten to hang out with her since Election Night and, before that, August! We sat and chatted for a few hours and will be meeting up again on Monday with our friend Katie (and potentially a couple other friends) to have a crafty hang out and chat afternoon.  I am really really really really really really really looking forward to it.

All in all, it was a pretty awesome day.

Also, I think that the train is quite possibly the most peaceful place in the world to read.  Does that make me weird?

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Today I attempted to recreate the unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks Olive Garden trio of heaven in my kitchen.  It was….eventful.  And took kind of a long time.  And I really shouldn’t stray from the recipe before I’ve made it a few times exactly as it says on the web page.

I attempted to make this potato soup recipe on Cooks.com.  Seems pretty simple right?  Except for me, potato soup is allllllllllllllll about the potatoes.  The potatoes in the yummy creamy soupy flavor.  The rest of the veggies and the soup part of the soup itself? Meh.  No joke.  I buy canned potato soup and fish all the potato chunks out and then give the rest to Will.   Will? Is not so much a fan of canned potato soup because all he ever seems to get is hot cream with some weird green stuff in it.

Anyway, because the potatoes are my favorite part, I had WELL OVER the suggested amount in the recipe.  I also added way more than 1/4 cup of onions and carrots and tossed in some chopped up celery too–and had so much stuff that the three cups of water did not cover my pile of yumminess.  So….I added a bunch more water.  And really, it was downhill from there.

For the record the soup actually turned out okay.  Will liked it enough to ask me to save some for him to heat up tomorrow (which is saying something because the dude just does not do leftovers unless its Thanksgiving or Christmas).  The salad was good (not hard since it came out of a bag) and seriously, it takes a talent bigger than mine to eff up brown-and-serve breadsticks.  Still though–I think I’ll try the recipe again sometime in January only this time I’ll stick to the three cups of water.  Will said we’ll ask his Dad to make potato soup while he is here.  Apparently it kicks all of the other potato soups’ asses.

Also? Why did no one tell me that fresh cilantro smells like a combination of bile and moldy ass? Seriously! Chopping that stuff almost did me in! Bleeggghhhh.

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Tomorrow it is back to the grindstone and the writing of things which is good.  The writing of things keeps me in potato chips and internet access.  Usually at about this time on the weekend I’m antsy for Monday to start.  I start thinking about work things and getting excited and thinking “this week I will be super productive! I’m going to do this and this and this and this and this!”  Then of course, the week hits and none of that gets done because my life is plan-allergic.

Tonight, however, I’m thinking “can’t we stretch this weekend just a little bit longer?”  This weekend Will and I rented movies (I’ll quickly review them below) and lounged on the couch and slept until eleven both mornings.  Honestly, I did not mean to sleep until eleven today… it just happened.  I’m pretty sure that if the “time to take the no baby pill” alarm hadn’t gone off on my cell phone we both would have slept for a lot longer.

I’m hoping that my not wanting to end this weekend is actually a good sign about my productivity for the rest of the week.

Before I forget, here are the movies we watched this weekend, in order:

Tropic Thunder: Pretty funny–it was co-written by Ben Stiller and I don’t always like his humor but this one was okay.  We rented it mainly to watch Robert Downey Jr say “I’m the dude that’s playing another dude disguised as another dude!” That moment did not disappoint–especially if you watch the out-takes of it and watch his face do these horrible stretches as he tries to stay in character and not laugh right in Ben Stiller’s face.

Leatherheads:  I will watch pretty much anything that George Clooney does because 95% of the time (Intolerable Cruelty is the exception that proves this rule) I like his stuff.  This movie was very cute and I liked what he was trying to do–the old “talkies” had a definite style and he was trying to recreate that with this movie.  I’m glad we didn’t spend the money to see it in the theater but it’s worth the price of a rental.

Hancock, the Unrated Version:  “Mountaintop.  Mountain top! MOUNT-AIN-TOP!” Probably my favorite line in the whole movie because I am five.  This movie was also really well done and I liked the twist they put on it.  There was some cheese of course, but I liked that I didn’t see the ending coming–at least not the exact ending.  Plus it has Jason Bateman! How can anybody not like Jason Bateman?

Wanted:  This is also known around the world as “the curvy bullet movie.”  All I can say is God Bless Morgan Freeman.  He makes the idea of “The Loom of Fate” sound almost like something not ridiculous.  He also manages to make the use of “motherfucker” sound far too intelligent a word for mere mortals to use.  If you liked Fight Club and you liked the First Matrix you’ll probably like this movie.  For me it was kind of over at “The Loom of Fate” but… well that’s just me.

Get Smart:  This is my favorite of all of the movies we rented this weekend.  Steve Carell is almost too perfect an actor.  Even the five year old humor plays well in this movie.  And? Now I 100% want to watch the spin-off with Bruce and Lloyd.

Finally, in unrelated news: I think I am becoming a crochet-buff.  I spent some of Friday night looking up yarn shops in the PDX area and now there are a couple that I totally want to visit.  I was thinking about making gifts for Will’s sisters and Dad and then I realized that I’d have to then make gifts for his sisters’ husbands and kids as well and, um, no.  I don’t have the time.  But I am still going to visit a couple of these yarn shops.  I even checked a couple of books out of the library on crochet.  Maybe I’ll try knitting…though I’m super afraid I’ll just end up stabbing myself repeatedly.  And am I the only crocheter/knitter who thinks that the last bit of a yarn ball just takes FOREVER to work through?  I swear the ball has not shrunk in days. DAYS.  And my scarf is almost done!

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I just go ahead and cross them when my brain decides to cross them–usually well in advance of them actually occurring.  This leads me to getting twelve hundred percent worked up about stuff that, in all likelihood, will never happen.  Of course, knowing that does not stop me from standing in the middle of my living room (or the shower) and railing at the person who most likely won’t (but also very well might) piss me off to the point of tears.

Do I even need to tell you that I’m starting to stress out about the holidays?

I was raised in a kind of…repressed…environment.  My family believes strongly in company manners.  Strict company manners.  For those of you not raised with this, let me explain.  In my family, no matter what is going on between you and someone else in your family–when you are in public, or at someone’s house, or having someone over, you are the happiest getting alongingest family in the world.  You do not share or show any antagonism you and other family members might be feeling toward each other.  Ever.  Even if all you want to do is rip the other person’s face off, you smile and get along while there are other people nearby.  It’s sort of like the extreme version of Don’t Air Your Dirty Laundry in Public.

Will’s family is not like that.  In fact, they are the polar opposite of that.  They make the Jerry Springer Show look like Quaker Church.  Sometimes I think they are actually happiest when they are tearing each other apart. And that’s fine if that is what you are used to dealing with.  If that’s how you communicate best–through confrontation and fighting, then hey–I am not judging you.

I’m just saying that it is hard for people like me to deal with.  I believe in picking my battles, not being right at all costs.  I don’t care about winning an argument–I don’t want the argument to start in the first place.  If I get sucked into one, I’m more of a “pull every shred of evidence I have on my side out and use it” than a “say every hurtful thing I can think of whether its true or not” arguer.

This year Will and I are hosting Christmas.  This year our little two bedroom apartment will have twelve people shoved into it.  That’s close quarters and irritatey no matter what your communication style or temperament.

In all likelihood everything will be fine.  The logical part of me says that everyone will behave and that Christmas will actually turn out to be pretty fun.  The illogical part of me, well…. there’s the whole getting worked up in advance thing I already talked about…

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These are just a few of the things I’ve said to the cat today:

“Wow… I’m…I’m pretty sure I didn’t want you to eat whatever that was.”

“Don’t look at me like that! I just wanted you to stop licking the metal thingie!”

“You’re so cute, you’re such a good ki-Eulgghh.  At least aim it away from my face!”

“Are you comfortable goofy butt? Because you’re kind of hurting my toes.”

“Poppy, I need to hug some–at least let me finish the sentence you furry craphead!”

“This isn’t kitty food.  Retract paw.  Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaact paw. Good kitty. Now get your tail out of my nose.”

“Knock it off. Off. Knock it. Knock it off! Stop! Stop it! Stooooooooooooop! Knock it off kitty!” [CRASH] “That is not what I meant.”

“Perhaps…if you’re going to eat something that makes you….do that, you could……do that in the other room?”

“Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Poppy why do you only love on me when loving on me hurts?”

“hahahahahahaha owwww.  Thank you, but that sucked.”

“My boob is not a step stool!”

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You may or may not know that Will has been cut down to four hours at work–two hours on Tuesday and two hours on Thursday.  I am not exactly sure how legal this is (I thought that all shifts had to be at least four hours, but I could be wrong).  For the purposes of this post I actually do not care how legal this is.  The point is that this means that Will is home.  A Lot.  He has no classes on Mondays.  He has one hour long class on Wednesdays.  On Fridays he is home at three.  (for the next couple of weeks anyway, then the term is over) Obviously he is home all day on Saturday and Sunday.

I love my fiance.  I really do.  Or else, you know, he wouldn’t be my fiance.  I enjoy spending time with Will and thanks to his piece of shit damn it all to hell I hate it sooooo baaaaaaaaaaaaad alternate reality game I don’t think we get to spend nearly enough time together.  Honestly.

It’s just that…um, well, could somebody hire him?  For something fun for maybe 20ish hours a week?

This isn’t really a money thing, though having the extra money would alleviate some of the stress around here.  This is more of a “oh my god the sounds of his game and his radio station and sometimes his breathing are driving me up the wall.”

Again–I love Will.  Soooo Much.  My life is better with him in it.

But damnit I need to get some work done!  I don’t get a lot done when there are people in my house.  This is the main reason why I am not going to even try to get work done when his Dad visits in a couple of weeks (hold me).  When Will is home I’m more likely to stay up later, sleep in later, spend more time lounging in the morning and getting my brain together and wandering into the other room to see what he’s doing.  I am more likely to get talked into going for lunch or watching an episode of something on DVD.

In short–I need my day back!  I love my fiance too much to have him here all the time! (Yes, that sounds better than the annoyance.  Let’s stick with that)

Again–I love Will.  I can’t wait to marry him.  I appreciate every single second that we spend together.  So much so that when he is home getting work done is almost impossible because of….because my love for him won’t let me concentrate on my work. (shut up, I have to say this stuff or I’ll go to hell)

Alternatively: Does anybody have an office with electricity, heat and cable internet that they want to let me use for free?

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It is so much more fun to write blog posts when doing so is something I am choosing and not something I feel forced to do because my dumb ass went and signed myself up for a posting commitment.

Today I did something that I have not done in a very long time.  I sat down and read a book from start to finish.  A real book, not the weekly Coupon pamphlet.  Normally this is something that I would NOT let myself do, but I’ve been having Trojan Horse problems lately (there are so many jokes to tell here that part of my brain just exploded trying to pick one) so I spent half the day waiting for one of a variety of virus scans and malware scans and fixer programs to do their thing.  Then I spent the other half of my self-imposed work day schedule waiting for a client to e-mail me back about a project–the only project I had on the calendar for today.  Thankfully this is a good client and doesn’t mind pushing the deadline back a day.  Believe me when I tell you that there are clients out there who will not care that they waited until 6:30PM to answer your Very Important Question, you said you’d have their 5,000 words done by 7PM and they want it done by 7PM or they’re not paying for it!  Thankfully those clients are few and far between.  And, no, I’m not dishing dirt on who they are because I might be unprofessional enough to admit that they are out there but I’m not so unprofessional that I’d list their names or businesses or websites…though sometimes I will admit to wanting to do that.

So, yeah, I read Chasing (harry) Winston from start to finish today.  This is something that I have been waiting for a chance to do for weeks and I feel immensely satisfied at finally getting to read it.  I am also very excited to go to the library tomorrow and pick up my copy of the latest Queen of Babble.  My reading tastes are not what one would call refined, but they make me happy.  I am also kind of excited that the crocheting book I requested is waiting for me as well.  God bless the occupational therapy that is crochet.  And God bless my deciding to learn how to make something besides a scarf.

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Today is the first of December and I am already way ahead of schedule–in personal life land.  I have already run in the Christmas season with Love Actually.  We have finished most of the Thanksgiving leftovers (am I the only one who suddenly gets repulsed by most of the leftovers on Monday morning?) and I rearranged the furniture in the dining room and our bedroom so that we can start making space for the in-law invasion of Winter 2009 (as opposed to the in-law invasion of Summer 2009).

Will’s father is supposed to get here some time within the next three weeks and he will be staying until sometime around the first of the year.  This is all we know because Will refuses to ask his Dad to hammer down any finite plans.  I? Have decided that to keep my sanity I want some plans in place so I’ll probably call the Elder Farley Alpha Male tomorrow while Will is at school and work (plus that way we can make plans for Will’s Birthday which is now only nineteen days away).  To keep my sanity during this winter holiday company fest I have declared a politics and world events embargo on my house.  We can talk about just about anything else–even RELIGION–but not politics, the election or major world events.  This is my rule and I am going to do my damn-est to stick to it.

Today when I rearranged the furniture I also set up my makeshift office in the dining room.  It’s pretty easy to convert back into a dining room when the company gets here (using one of the dining room tables as a desk really helps with this) and I’m hoping that having a designated work area will help focus my concentration on earning two months of income in three weeks.  So far? I am still sitting on the couch.

Last night I also managed to get almost eight hours of sleep.  Seriously? I fell asleep thinking about Tom Cruise’s many wives.  Don’t ask me why I was so concerned about them all, but that’s what I was thinking about when I started to drift off.  I remember thinking “ohhh, so getting to sleep quickly is all about thinking about stupid shit.”

And this has been your very first post-NaBloPoMo-I-didn’t-have-to-post-but-decided-to-anyway post.

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Today is the last day of November which means that it is the last day of NaBloPoMo and I am very proud to say that this entry (this one right here) means that I completed the whole month.  I know that in the scheme of things like achieving world peace and solving the energy crisis completing NaBloPoMo is relatively minor.  In the world of blogging, however, it is kind of a cool thing to do.

So, um, go me!

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Okay, I know the commercials have been airing for weeks already but now that Thanksgiving is done and I have watched Love Actually for the billionth time I think that the Christmas season can officially begin!

Is it even possible to have a holiday season without at least one viewing of Love Actually?

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