Knit In With Your Bad Self

On Friday night, I joined a huge group of knitters at the Capitol for a knit-in...

We just want to knegotiate, yo!

Stolen from Kate's blog: knittas stick together!

The Plan

I've always been a big planner. Huge. I love plans. But sometimes, like right now, we don't know what is going to happen, and beyond doing our little parts (which add up to a not-so-little whole, mind you), the outcome (eventual and immediate) is out of our hands. I was encouraged by this passage in the book I just finished:


"What's the plan?" he asked.
"The plan?" said Benjamin. "What could be more boring than a plan? How can we plan when the outcome is unknown? How can we plan for the impossible, the outrageous, the unspeakable?"


Here's hoping that the outrageous, impossible, unspeakable outcome to our current situation is a stand-up-and-cheer-for-hours sort of surprise.

This week... in three photos

Lunch yesterday; You know you're in Wisconsin when milk is on the bar menu; At the rallies with friends from my Go-Go dance group (photo stolen from Anna, sign idea-- "Hey Walker, Let's NeGo-GoTiate!"-- stolen from Nichole)

Back tonight for a Knit-In! 2nd floor, North wing... see you there!

I've always loved slumber parties.

This is what I saw when I woke up this morning:

That's the rotunda dome in the Capitol.


This is where I brushed my teeth last night:

The bathrooms in the Capitol are gorgeous. If you like marble, that is.

This is where I slept last night, surrounded by 500 other people, including my wonderful husband:

Here's a closer look at his blanket:

This morning, we got up early and testified in front of a group of Representatives. I've never done anything like that before. But I've never seen anything like what's going on in Wisconsin before either.

On Wisconsin!

Right now, I make $1,000 less than I did in 2009 (same job). If this bill goes through, I'll take a 5.8% pay cut in April. I've called, I've sent emails, I've signed petitions. There is only one more thing I can do...

Valentine's Day: Home Edition

I love my Valentine! He's so adorable... Too bad I'm the world's worst photographer, so every picture I take of him ends up looking goofy (he really is handsome... you'll just have to believe me).

He picked me up last night after work and we headed out for sushi at our favorite little place.

I love it because you can watch the chef preparing the sushi. It's always fun to guess which one he's working on.

After dinner, we went home to finish watching Star Wars (I've never seen the whole thing before, and it is taking a long time because I have to ask one million questions). Karl had set out a bottle of wine and wine glasses on the mantel. I went to pour the wine and found that one of the glasses had a piece of string tied to it... look closely and you can see it...

The string was attached to a letter. Karl recently applied for a one-year accelerated nursing program, which we've been hoping and hoping and hoping he gets into. The letter was his acceptance into the program! I could not believe it. They only take 20 people each year. I'm so proud.

It may have been the best present ever.

Valentine's Day: Work Edition

It doesn't get much more fun than Valentine's Day at the library! To celebrate, we hosted a Babymouse ♥ Captain Underpants party. This was not an original idea; I stole it from some unsuspecting creative librarian who probably wrote about it on a blog or something.


We decorated cupcakes, made capes and crowns, and played games, including Felicia Furrypaws bowling. I love the pin with that headless giraffe on it.

The most popular, however, was the Toilet Toss. Kids had three chances to toss a roll of TP into this seat.

The best was watching kids wearing crowns and capes tossing toilet paper around the room. Isn't that what most people do at the library?

Overheard

One Super Mario Brothers shirt-wearing boy to another, disgustedly:

I hate origami. It's so peaceful and relaxing. I just want to hear the sound of little mushrooms getting squashed.

Ten on Ten :: February

A super-sweet birthday gift :: Story of my life (the blue blob is my long underwear) :: On the bus :: Making a poster at work :: a Valentine from a storytimer :: My bulletin board :: Having trouble keeping up with 2011 :: An overlook near our house (ignore the dirty snow, please) :: At pottery class :: My beautiful new niece, McKinley, wearing a hat I made for her! I was so happy to see this picture on Facebook tonight. I quickly snapped it up for my ten on ten... I hope that's allowed!

Heartwarming

During our after-school knitting club yesterday, one girl said, "This is the best part of my day so far." Suddenly, it was the best part of my day, too.

We were making these. Just in time for the big day!

Hutch and Such

Karl and I have been looking for a hutch ever since we moved into our house in 2009. We had to be picky with dimensions because our house is small. Turns out there are a lot of humongous hutches out there. After scouring antiques stores, Craigslist, thrift stores, flea markets and rummage sales, we finally found our hutch. It's super simple, from the 1940's, and it fits perfectly in our space. The price was right, too... thank you, Craigslist!

Next up: new curtains. Can't wait to say goodbye to those blinds!

SnowRamaLamaDingDong

We had a huge blizzard on Tuesday night. Karl and I sat in front of the fire and watched the trees outside blowing like crazy late into the night. It was all very cozy... until the next morning, when we had to deal with all of the snow. On Wednesday, the library was closed and Karl's classes were cancelled, so we had all day. Thankfully.





My husband really, truly is the best ever. I went on a nice long cross-country ski around town (he insisted!), and he did a lot of this:


The best was the way the woodland critters in our neighborhood dealt with the weather. Here you can see the hole (at the very bottom of the picture) where one industrious little creature dug its way through the snow. I wonder if it ever reached the tree...

Sneak Peeks

On my needles... a subtly-cabled hat with a fun loop at the top

In our driveway...

In our trash can... Sad, isn't it? I'm organizing all of my photos (huge job; definitely not a one-day project as I had imagined!), and this is the cover of my old college photo album from freshman year. It was full of dark, blurry, backs-of-heads photos. I was able to throw a lot of them away and just keep the best ones. Sadly, the album has seen its day. Happily, though, most of the girls under the contact paper on the front cover are still some of my best friends, so I'm confident that we'll have many more photo opportunities in the future!

Pressure Cooker Portobello Barley Soup

I dug this recipe out of a discarded library book (unfortunately I can't tell you which one because I tore the page out and the book's title isn't listed on the page)... it has quickly become a favorite!

Ingredients:
3 T olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 t minced garlic
1 bay leaf
1-2 portobello mushroom caps, chopped (I use two-- the more the merrier!)
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms of any type, sliced
1/2 cup pearl barley
6 cups water (or use chicken stock for a richer taste)
2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
Fresh parsley for garnish

• Heat the oil in the pressure cooker; saute the onion until soft (about five minutes), then add celery, carrot, garlic, and bay leaf. Cook for ten minutes or until onion begins to turn golden, stirring often.
• Add all of the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, until the mushrooms release their moisture. Stir in barley, water, salt and pepper.
• Lock the lid and cook on low for 20 minutes.
• Remove from heat and allow the pressure to drop naturally.
• Ditch the bay leaf and serve garnished with fresh parsley.