I Heart the Howells

  
For some reason I agreed to sub at Amy's job today in the 2 year old class. I know, they look harmless enough. I can not believe I used to do this day after day for a thousand years. No wonder I'm slightly touched. My love and appreciation for the Howells increased exponentially. 

I didn't do much else except the taking care of other people's children for 12 straight hours today. I ate two sandwiches, a turkey & swiss and an eggplant parmesan.

Right now I'm enjoying a forgotten favorite-orange/vanilla swirl ice cream and a grown-up soda in my new church of cat mug. (thanks amy!) I think I'll try to get through another half episode of Mad Men before I fall asleep. It's pretty good, although it's hard to say since I'm only 1.5 episodes in.  I like the look of it, but am I to believe that everyone in the early 60's smoked every second of every day? Actually a cigarette doesn't sound half bad right about now...                                                                                                                    

                           

don't call it a comeback

Hey y'all! I've decided to dust off the ol' commentary and dissent and see if she still plays. I read through the archives and was struck by how few things have changed in my life since Nov.2007 (!) but how huge those few things are.

SAME:

Everlasting love for leechat

Occasionally completed crafts

Novelty lounge pants

Fervent loyalty to bad t.v. shows

Crazy for breakfast, beer, bill clinton

Striving to complete NYT crossword sunday

DIFFERENT:

New cat-Hubert Cumberdale, better known as "Notlee"

New computer-thanks, gov't knockup  bonus

New love-that's right, spinster cat lady got herself a man. Don't ask how or why, I don't know. I'll spare y'all the gory details, but I'll just say that after a year of trying to destroy me the universe has finally cut me some slack.

So 2008 wasn't without its high points. I had a super fun suicide prevention weekend (some people call this a birthday), Thanksgiving break was great for reasons I'm sure you'd rather not know about-except the part about the Conor Oberst show (eyes become cartoon hearts). I have a solid group of friends who go above and beyond the call of duty at every opportunity. I have a beautiful child, and the world's best cat. It was impossible to see it at the time, but now I understand that I had some lessons to (re)learn...blah, blah. 

Holy crap. I'm forgetting that the point of this blogging thing is to write about breakfast and crafts, not blather on about life lessons! Jeez!

Ok, let's jump right back in. Today's breakfast-bagel, juice, coffee. The crafting has kind of stalled out. You would not believe the amount of things I've been doing lately. And not once have I remembered to bring a camera with me. Stupid! Stupid! Luckily we live in the computer age so I can offer a few links for those of you with even more time on your hands.

The Buckhorn Museum

Smitty's 

Ponies

Bluebonnet Cafe

Luckenbach

Yesterday we drove out to Willow City and had a few lonestars at Harry's on the loop. Harry's is (so far) the best bar I've ever seen, and I can't find any pictures on these darn internet tubes to do it justice. Note to self: put camera in bag and leave it there! I'll just say poorly maintained taxidermy animals wearing various holiday adornments. Next time I'll have pictures, I promise. 

Saturday we went to see Adventureland, and it was pretty good. Sweet, not too gag-laden but funny. Thumbs up. Plus Martin Starr is in it. You may know him as Bill Haverchuck, my favorite character on Freaks and Geeks. Or, like some people I know you may have never seen Freaks and Geeks. You should. Soon. 

Hmm. Noon. Guess I should take a shower. Later!

craftacular

Happy Sunday. Today is a special day, not only for our nation's brave veterans, but for my mommy. Happy Birthday!! Your gift/card may have been slightly delayed in the mail...
Last night I went to what my friends have called my superbowl: Stitch! This year I went early for a treat bag. My favorite! Free junk! There was actually quite a bit of stuff. And the bag is an actual bag, not just a paper sack. Cool.
How was your week? Mine, not so fun. Thursday I went to a bar called Midnight Rodeo. I know, sounds fantastic, but it was a letdown. I think I was a bit too sober for full enjoyment. Here's the scene: "Hey, you got your nightclub in my honky tonk! You got your honky tonk in my nightclub!" Lots and lots of drunk twenty one year olds in cowboy hats. I know, but it was too ridiculous even for me.
This morning I was with my angel princess, and then came home to watch McLaughlin. I also watched a super cool episode of frontline (on the computer) about a small town undertaker. Check it out.
Oh yeah, in last week's excitement over resin I forgot to mention that something exciting happened to me- I have jeans I don't hate. They're from Old Navy. They're (annoyingly) called "The Flirt" but they fit! Amazing. Thanks, sweatshop kids! I would include a picture, but I've almost smashed my computer twice today waiting for pictures to upload. I'll try next week.

resin d'etre

Hey Y'ALL, I've got a new craftastic passion: resin casting. If you know me at all you know I LOVE things embedded in resin. It gives me that feeling without words. And now, I can give myself that feeling whenever I want thanks to my new hobby. Why has it taken me so long to do this? I guess I thought it was harder than it is. Or could be that pervasive laziness I'm so prone to. Anyway, I shouldn't get too excited, because I just poured the stuff into the molds this afternoon and it takes 24-72 hours to cure. It might not work. But if it does, this is all I want to do with my time. Everything I can get my hands on will be trapped in a plasticy grave. I even did an obligatory bottle cap. Yes, those are real candy sprinkles (clapping hands)!!
Thanks go out to s.j.c. for buying me this book to get started. Also to the chick on etsy.com that I borrowed the sprinkle idea from. And as always to the Howell family for providing me with my disposable income. Lucky fans may receive something trapped in plastic for Christmas this year!!
In other haven't-posted-for-weeks (again) news: Hmmm, Halloween was a bust, I went to bed early. Yucky week in general. Nothing fun going on, no good movies, no new food discoveries or anything. I did finish the sweater completely, but so far it's been too hot to wear it. There's a "cold front" moving in for Tuesday with temps in the 60's, so maybe I'll wear it out that night. Better find somewhere to go I guess.
Well, I'm off to the store to get the things I forgot to get yesterday...Then it's another Sunday evening visit with my beautiful angel princess. Later! p.s. why don't you email me sometime?

blog shmog

Now I'm remembering why I abandoned the old excruciating minutiae blog. Blogging sucks. It takes forever to get the pictures to be in the right spot, and I don't really do anything to write about in the first place. But, on we go.
I tried (and failed) to post this picture of the g.d. tilted duster last Sunday, but in order to save my computer from a violent death, I had to take a break. What have I been up to these past eleven days or so? Not much. Last Sunday I did the usual: knitting, watching my shows, being grumpy about the weekend being over...I did go to the movies last weekend. I saw Eastern Promises with Naomi Watts and the lord of the rings guy. It opened with a graphic throat cutting, so I enjoyed it. Every time I see a Naomi Watts movie, I want to cut my hair. Luckily in this one it shows her blow drying, which reminds me that, no, I do not want to cut my hair after all.
The work week was filled with the normal hating my job, going out for buckets of beer, babysitting and the like. I did get some cute new "business" cards from moo.com (they came in the "post" from the u.k.! "Par Avion"!) but I need to be more careful about who to give them to. Not everyone you meet should get your phone number.
Today is cooking show day on our pbs station, so I've been watching people cook weird stuff while I tidy up the house. Right now someone is showing me how to make easy meals with things I already have in the pantry. You mean you're supposed to keep food in the house all the time? oops.
Speaking of food, I just noticed that I'm starving. Oh yeah, that's because it's three in the afternoon and I haven't eaten anything. Better go to the store.

puzzling

You would think after seven full days without a post, I would have something to report. You would be wrong. How was my weekend? Relaxing would be a polite word for it. I didn't do anything. I watched my sunday shows, but they were weak. I worked on my sweater, but I'm doing the long, repetitive ribbing on the back. One row takes about eight minutes. Snore. It will be done soon though, I promise. I watched Knocked Up, and while it wasn't bad, it wasn't as funny as I wanted it to be. Plus it worked out a bit too nicely for my taste. I went to the HEB, caught up on G.A., bor-ing. Tonight I spent an exasperating half hour or so looking for my favorite shirt (the black one with the knot in the middle) to wear to this fundraising thing I have to go to tomorrow. Maybe something exciting will happen there. On the plus side, I did go to the water tank, my favorite local dive bar, yesterday and had more than my fair share of $2 drinks. I've also restarted my obsession with the nyt crossword. I did Monday just fine but couldn't finish today. Pathetic. I used to be smart. Really! Didn't I?

october? it's 90 degrees out

Why do I love the grocery store so much? The solitude? The free samples? The cute young bag boys? ("HEB hotties") I don't know, but it's my favorite.
Speaking of favorites, while I was at the grocery, I got some Sunshine Wheat. Mmm. Then I came home to find my new netflix: Freaks and Geeks! What a super afternoon.
As for the knitting, I'm still rockin on the duster but it is b o r i n g. Maybe I'll pick up on the many many other projects that are burying my sewing machine table. Or organize the closet, or do laundry, or shave my legs, or get my life together...