Knitting Night Image

Here's something silly to celebrate Wednesday night on a short week. I had Monday off and have Friday off for the holiday. I love these long weekends. But tonight I don't have a ton of time. So you get a picture. I have absolutely no idea what he's doing. I've never seen a squirrel lay like this.

How to Train Your Dragon

It's rare when Jeff buys a movie just so I can see it. He had gone to the theater on the cruise ship to see How To Train Your Dragon and I hadn't gone. So when it finally came out on DVD, Jeff practically ran to the store and bought it. He made me watch it the first night. Halfway through the movie, I loudly announced

"If anything happens to harm this dragon, you are so in trouble."

It took me less than forty minutes and I was already completely enchanted by the dragon. I'm an animal lover by nature and tend to anthropomorphize anyway but the way the animators imbued him with cat-like sweetness, put me over the edge. I loved Toothless. I worried about Toothless. While I loved Hiccup's character, it was Toothless that stole the show for me. I'm always amazed by what animators can do with just the movement of an ear. With just the movement of Toothless's ears, they could make him angry or curious or happy. Without saying a word the creature spoke volumes. I'm in awe of that.

The whole film was both funny and sweet. I loved Craig Ferguson's character. So much of the dialogue and narration was clever. With lines like "This is Berk. It snows nine months out of the year, and hails the other three. What little food grows here is tough and tasteless. The people that grow here, even more so," you can't help but laugh. The relationship between Hiccup and pretty much everyone was interesting. I loved the banter between him and Astrid. But it was touching too. I'll even admit that when Stoick thanked Toothless for bringing Hiccup down to earth safely, I shed more than a few tears. But it was the animation that made me love the film. The emotion on one dragon's face made it all worth it. Such a great movie. I'm awfully glad that Jeff made me watch it.

Merry Christmas All!

I know it's a day late but I'm finally getting around to wishing you all a very Merry Christmas. Heck, I'm finally getting around to actually posting something. It's been two and a half weeks since I said I was taking a break. I didn't expect it to go this long. But I forget how much I stress over the Christmas season. With Christmas cards and shopping and visiting and baking, I simply ran out of time...and/or brainpower. Yesterday was honestly the first day I've thought about posting. It was the first day where I felt like I had enough time.

Of course I have had time. It doesn't take long to post. I used to write up most of my posts during my lunch hour at work. So I know how quickly I can write something up. What stopped me this time was my new favorite distraction...Netflix. Jeff and I decided that our Christmas gift would be a subscription to Netflix. We signed up for it the day we got home from St. Louis (last Sunday). And since then I've spent most of my evenings in front of the TV. It's dangerous, I tell you.

A friend of ours got us started on a British comedy called Coupling so we've been working our way quickly through the episodes. Great writing, fun characters, and open and honest dialogue about relationships and sex. It's a wonderful series. I've also been watching the original Psych episodes that I'd missed. Jeff found the old Cartoon Network series Danny Phantom and we've been plowing our way through the seasons. It's incredibly addictive to be able to turn on the TV and see whatever programming we want. I've watched five movies this week, which is about five times more than I see in a typical week. And that doesn't even count the TV series viewing.

I'm going to work on finding a balance between the TV and...well the rest of my life. I have books that are waiting to be read, knitting projects that clearly aren't going to be done for Christmas, and stories that I should be writing. Plus keeping up with any of my blogs. So I think I'm going to start setting a limit on my TV, like parents do with kids. An hour a day should be enough. And with Netflix, that hour can go a long way.

Losing Track of Time

This is a post of apology. I have been preparing for my weekend company and dealing with a busy workload. I'll be back next week. I have so much to tell you about. Museum visits, stage shows, new movies, a plenty of other things. Until Monday, you'll have to make do with this. These are two of my favorite photos from a family trip to Turks and Caicos. As we head into winter I need to be reminded about beaches and warmth. Enjoy and I'm sorry.

Lion Around

I've always wanted a lion. Like Patience and Fortitude (the New York Public Library Lions) I love the idea of having a lion guard the front door of my house. So for the last couple of years I've been looking at lawn ornaments to find just the right lion.

A couple months ago I went out to Created in Johnston, a local place where each statue is hand cast and custom painted. And I bought my own lion. He's beautiful. He was cast just for me and painted with my specified color. He's Victorian Rust, a purple-ish tinge that makes me incredibly happy although it doesn't quite match the red brick. They did a beautiful job. He's heavy and durable and will last a long time. I feel like he's now an enduring part of the house.

The cat is terrified of him. Every time she goes out she has to spend a huge amount of time smelling him to make sure he's not real. But I adore him. I love the idea of him guarding the house. And doesn't he look regal among the leaves? Next year I'm excited to see what plantings will look best surrounding him. I'm hoping for a jungle look. Perhaps he'll get me into gardening.

Right now I'm ready to name him. And I want your help. Any ideas? I kept thinking of something regal but I'm open to any suggestion.

Knitting Night

Wednesday's are knitting nights so I don't have a ton of time to post. I have so many knitting projects going right now that they're taking up most of my free time. I have a couple projects that I'm working on for Christmas or right after so I've been a bit rushed. But I'm not complaining. I've been a knitting fool recently and loving it.

And I'm incredibly excited to announce that I have a new niece or nephew coming. Congrats guys! So I'll have a baby project to work on as well. But that's not until June. I'm thinking a hat and booties might be out at that time of year. Baby swimwear anyone? :-)

But I figured I'd share my winter weather gear since the below zero temps today made sure I brought it out. About a year and a half ago I ended up out at this amazing yarn store and picked up some gorgeous blue merino wool. It was the nicest wool I had bought for myself at the time. I decided to celebrate by knitting myself mittens. My first pair of mittens to be exact. They came out...strange. Kind of wonky and odd, but they are warm and soft and I still wear them. I took the leftover yarn and knit myself a hat. It's a bit big but I love it. And when I still had most of a ball leftover I knit a lacy little scarf. The pattern doesn't come out perfectly in the picture but it's a great (and easy) pattern. That's the great part about knitting. Even if the pattern seems hard, most of the time with a little patience, you can learn anything.