Crazy Aunt Purl

March 18, 2010

Their favorite child

My parents have a favorite, he is covered in fur.

Posted by laurie at 09:35 AM | Comments (26)

March 17, 2010

The luck of the eye-rish

Ever have one of those weeks where you wake up each morning already feeling behind for the day? That's my week. And my shirt is blue, not green because I got dressed in the dark and fugue of my early morning brain and so I am celebrating St. Paddy's day in blue, the cousin of green. I'm not sure if I'll have much time to write this week, so I'll just skip to the important stuff:

1) The weather is really warm and summerlike and I realize I am having pre-traumatic stress disorder thinking of switching from winter's forgiving layers to summer clothes. Also, my legs are so white they are now made of marshmallows and mayo and I fear I may blind people if I try to wear a skirt.

2) Which brings me to self-tanner. Do you have a brand you use and like and can recommend? I have tried the Clarins stuff before which is good but kind of spendy. And is there a brand of self-tanner anywhere that doesn't have the weird telltale fake bake smell?

3) I'm not sure I get why the judges LOVE Siobhan and Paige on American Idol. But it could just be me.

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And finally, I hope to see you Sunday at The Knitter's Studio!

Rachael Herron and I will be doing a little reading/talking/signing thing together at the Knitter's Studio in Los Angeles this Sunday (March 21, 2010) from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The shop is located at 8118 West 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90048. I'm going to bring my knitting and hope you will join us for a fun afternoon of knitting and chatting and book-reading. Do not fear! I plan to wear long pants and boots and pretend it is still winter so you will not be blinded by my marshmallow legs.

Posted by laurie at 08:28 AM | Comments (62)

March 16, 2010

Rumble in the urban jungle

This morning we got shocked out of bed by a 4.4 earthquake (at 4:04 a.m. Creepy!) At first I wasn't sure if it was an earthquake or a Bobquake, since those can be fairly serious during the night, but then I felt the earth move under my feet, I felt the sky tumbling down ...

Usually I am awake at 4 a.m. but this wasn't the real 4 a.m., it was the fake 4 a.m. thanks to Daylight Savings Time which I am totally blaming for this earthquake. We definitely felt it in the valley what with our liquefaction and all, oh the words you learn, green eggs and ham.

This week is shaping up to be busy and freaky. I'm glad I was still in the fog of sleep with the quake hit so I couldn't spend too much time pondering if it was my fault for dreaming about earthquakes (in March, or May, my dream was an "M" month) and of course with all the world news lately about tectonic plates it does give you pause. Then I went back to sleep, until the real 4 a.m. came to pass.

Posted by laurie at 11:49 AM | Comments (23)

March 12, 2010

Cat Picture Friday

Some cuteness to offset the whackness that was this week:

I love how my new camera is so good it shows all the cat fur on the blanket. Ewww.

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What did you think of Idol results? I felt so bad for the guy with the mullet, the one with stage fright. That's the level of stage paralysis I myself have and I kept hollering at my TV set, "Get that boy some beta blockers and Xanax, stat!" but I guess drugging the contestants is not part of the American Idol master plan.

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Have a good weekend!

Posted by laurie at 09:36 AM | Comments (52)

March 11, 2010

Random tidbits on Thursday

After writing about my everything-but-the-kitchen-sink pasta sauce that I usually serve over corn pasta I got this email:

Do you like that corn pasta? I have celiac disease and I haven't tried corn pasta yet. I've tried the rice pasta (terrible!) but read somewhere else that the best pasta is made by Tinkyada. I pretty much gave up on pasta after the celiac diagnosis, and I love a good food adventure, but I sure don't like to spend major $$$ on gluten-free food unless I know for sure it's good!
Take care!
--Tania (rhymes with lasagna, which I can't eat, but maybe I should make it with zucchini, I hear it's pretty good that way.)

Hi Tania! In my opinion, the corn pasta is well worth the money. It's not exactly like wheat pasta but it's better than most gluten-free foods I have tried. The corn holds up well and with a good sauce you can barely tell the difference (or at least I can't but then again I am not a pasta connoisseur). I don't eat it very often but when I do I like it a lot!

It's not any more expensive than wheat pasta, at least not the DeBoles brand. It's on sale this week if you have a Whole Foods near you, I think I got a box last weekend for around $1.79.

The only caveat is that you must use a very large pot of boiling water (not a smaller pot) and when you put the pasta in to cook, stir it immediately and keep stirring it regularly during the first few minutes of cooking or it will clump together. I like it much better than the brown rice pasta, which I found doughy and spongy. I've heard you have to watch the rice pasta like a hawk to be sure you don't overcook it and I'm simply not that attentive in the kitchen. I need food that is less fussy about its cooktime, so the corn works better for me. It's a good alternative for people who want to eat less wheat or those who have a sensitivity to it.

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My favorite comment from yesterday by Three Good Rats:

I oppose the time change because it is confusing and gains us nothing. But I also think the US should adopt the metric system, so I am the queen of unpopular causes.

When Jen and Amber and Shannon and I went to Paris I turned to Shannon one night in our room, I think we were fairly intoxicated at this point, and said, "This wine is metric! So we can drink more of it, just like you can walk more kilometers than miles!" and this amused us to no end.

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I have my performance review later this morning. I am wearing my most conservative outfit, which is just my normal clothes with a boxy jacket on top of it all. I sort of look like a rectangle with a blonde head poking out.

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That's it. Today's a good Q&A day if you have any questions I'll try to answer. Oh, and no I haven't forgotten I promised to show how I sew on buttons but I just haven't done it yet. Whoops!

Posted by laurie at 08:42 AM | Comments (71)

March 10, 2010

Nothing to see here, move along!

Busy, busy day ahead. This morning in the shower I started stressing out about the time change coming up because I can't take losing an hour! No! I will not go quietly into the daylight savings!

I don't know why we still do this time change thing anyway. Why can't we have one time and keep it all year? I realize we have larger issues facing us as a planet and all, but I am very stuck on the weird time change rules. Everyone has a cause. Apparently this is mine.

I like this guy's cause: