i need a phone call...

hello everyone, I'd like to introduce you to Dexter the Second.


(...say hi, Dexter)

Dexter is an eight year old Volkswagen Jetta Sedan. He is not just a normal Volkswagen Jetta, he is the limited time sport edition Jetta. (Way to be Dexter!). Dexter runs on diesel, which means he is very fuel conscious and able to get up to 50 miles per gallon. He is also equipped with many fancy little features, such as a sun-roof, CD player, and seat warmers. (Is there nothing he cannot do?). Dexter is also a manual Volkswagen, which means he is a tough little bugger. My father also insists that Dexter sports a trunk that could transport about five bodies: thus the name "Dexter" was born (--although there is also a slight relation to the beautiful Jim Sturgess's performance as Dexter in One Day.)

Dexter has agreed to transport me to work everyday. (Thanks Dexter!)
What a kind fellow.

---
Yes, we have finally purchased a new vehicle. Surprised? :) Our 17 year old fabulously committed Astro van, recently christened Gloria, finally will have an assistant. And Dexter is a little beauty, if you ask me. I'm fantastically stoked!
Dexter will be joining our family next week Thursday. We will be certain to come introduce you all officially quite soon.

------
and i get no answers..
i don't get no change
it's raining in Baltimore baby
but everything else is the same

there's things i remember
there's things i forget
i miss you
i guess that i should
three thousand five hundred miles away
and what would you change if you could

i need a phone call
maybe i should buy a new car...

heeeeyyy...wait!
(har, har)


updated To Do list:

-hear a little guitar
-put the top down
-i need a phone call
-i need a rain coat
-i really need a rain coat
-i really really need a rain coat
-i really really really really need a rain coat
-i really really need a rain coat

he will take you...

In the Middle

of a life that's as complicated as everyone else's
struggling for balance, juggling time.
The mantle clock that was my grandfather's
has stopped at 9:20; we haven't had time
to get it repaired. The brass pendulum is still,
the chimes don't ring. One day you look out the window,
green summer, the next, and the leaves have already fallen,
and a grey sky lowers the horizon. Our children almost grown,
Our parents gone, it happened so fast. Each day, we must learn
again how to love, between morning's quick coffee
and evening's slow return.Steam from a pot of soup rises,
mixing with the yeasty smell of baking bread. Our bodies
twine, and the big black dog pushes his great head between;
his tail is a metronome, 3/4 time. We'll never get there,
Time is always ahead of us, running down the beach, urging
us on faster, faster, but sometimes we take off our watches,
sometimes we lie in the hammock, caught between the mesh
of and the net of stars, suspended, tangled up
in love, running out of time.

-Barbara Crooker
-------------


He will take you. If you run,
He will chase you.
He will take you. If you run,
He will chase you

'cause He is the Lord.

I don't know what I knew before

We got a new television for Christmas. Which of course means breakfast lies neglected and rapidly cooling on the table, as half the family sits in the basement in stunned astonishment at the resolution quality of this new television.
My mother's enthusiastic voice floats up from the basement.
I am unimpressed.

I guess it was about time for a new T.V. Our old television was a 19 years old, 13-inch wedding gift of my parents. I loved it. It had mass amounts of character, and made for a cozy evening: sitting about a foot away from the tiny glowing box, on the ancient squishy couch, wrapped in a blanket.

Periodically it would burst into a screen of noisy static, but it was nothing that a few good whacks wouldn't fix.

Good-bye little television. You will be missed.

(i'm a hater of change and a clinger to what's past, but this was truly a lovely little t.v)

Three Stars

delivering signs and dustings from their eyes

Today I got to shower with a feminine smelling body wash, thanks to Jasmine's wonderful Christmas present. (Thanks Jasmine :) ) It was a lovely change, there is something disheartening about coming out of the shower smelling like Old Spice.

Today I smelled like Paris, or something french, and classy.

Today I cut my bangs as well. I was in the mood for a little freshin' up, they were about 5 inches long, and continuously neglected.

So after these two events I felt quite spirited and was all ready for a night on the town... but i guess a night at home with my knitting will be okay as well.

I'mmma loooossserrr.

Maybe I should go on a search for some friendly companions.

like em? :)

2 more days till Christmas can you believe it?

i wish it would snow slightly, snow is lovely....(right lisa?)

---

Sufjan Stevens Christmas album fills most of the corners of our house at the moment.

oh to grace how great a debtor

daily i'm constrained to be

except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair...

I have the feeling your gonna be seeing alot of these now.

sorry.

;)

(i'm not truly very sorry at all. rather excited actually)

what a beautiful goon.

and there's reason to believe...

Facebook Is Making Us Miserable - Daniel Gulati - Harvard Business Review




I think my mother wanted me to stumble upon this. It was left open beside a blog about woodcuts (which are beautiful also) when i came home from sorting out my situation with the financial office at Mac today, and returning my multitude of library books (sigh).

It seems quite truthful, I believe. But I'm sure Facebook is fine if you figure out how to moderate it.
I'm just not very skilled in the area of 'moderation when in the face of temptation'. But, being able to moderate is probably a good skill to acquire, in almost (almost) every area of life living.

It's been...2 and a half weeks since my Facebook demise. (only 2 and a half weeks? Oh time, it seems like a year at least) I can't say I really miss it.
Wooooo.


:)

----
..and talked a little while about the year,
i guess the winter makes you laugh a little slower
makes you talk a little lower...

It's about time Adam, graced the surface of my blog.

I realised, I haven't listened to
this song yet in december.
it seems like the perfect song to sing
just before new-year's day, in the hour
before all the celebrations.

and then as soon as
the new year rolls around....burst into
haapppy neeww year's baby.
Oh Adam, a song for every occasion.

and as i just figured out how to embed video's into my blog....here you go :)

A Long December Lyrics at elw

a technicality & cinnamon bisquits

Yesterday was a cinnamon biscuit, ginger molasses cookie, and skor bar rip-off baking day.

yum.

I'm gonna share with you the...cinnamon biscuit recipe. For some reason I keep wanting to spell biscuit with a "q". Looks more sophisticated
--bisquit.

Aha, never mind.

Anyways, these cinnamon biscuits are basically like mini-cinnamon buns. They are delicious, especially right after they come out of the oven (like everything :) ) or warmed up in microwave for days and days after. They are incredibly easy to make, and you don't have to wait for hours for the dough to rise. (That's why they are called biscuits, not fluffffy buns)

The original recipe is from something called "Grandma's Kitchen" I think we found it online somewhere. But "Grandma's Kitchen" seems like a pretty reliable source.

Cinnamon Biscuits:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbls baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

(1) Preheat oven to 400.
(2) Combine flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a medium sized bowl and mix well.
(3) Stir in vegetable oil
(4) Add buttermilk, stir until it is just combined (It doesn't matter if it still looks really crumbly, or not really well mixed, because you are going to be kneading it all together in a bit. It just shouldn't be obviously liquid-y)
(5) Dump out dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead it together until smooth.
(6) Grab a rolling pin, and roll your lump of dough into a 15x8 inch rectangle.
(7) Spread the softened butter evenly over the dough, like you are buttering a piece of bread.
(8)Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl, and sprinkle over the buttered dough
(9) Roll up the dough starting at the long side, to make a log. (Like a really long, homemade, pillsbury cookie roll)
(10) Cut into 1 1/2 inch slices, and place in a greased pan, (9-inch round pans work lovely)
(11) Bake till lightly browned for about 15-20 minutes.
(12) Remove from oven

Eat.


I should go get started on my day, i had great plans for this day. (Like usual ;) ). Mom got me a "Last-Minute Knitted Gifts" book out of the library.

Good thinking, Mom. :)

(wow! today I clicked the spell-check button and nothing lit up. Such an improvement, I'm usually a horrible speller. hmm, bisquit with a "q" didn't even light up. Maybe spell check is broken. Yup. It was broken.)

Have a lovely day, loveeyys.


------

that you were my first love
that's just dumb love
a technicality
you were the head of me
that you were my first love
that's just dumb dumb stupid love
a technicality
you will always be the head of me
tell me
why'd i have to practice on you
why'd i have to practice on your heart?


oh john :)

C&C

C&C: Downsizing a striped knit dress and excuse the mes...: I've basically been in (and currently am in) black sweatpants and an oversized WAZZU sweatshirt for the last two weeks - due to a lit...

This is the blog i was speaking about.
Cotton & Curls.

I'm in love

that you were my first love....

I stumbled upon this beautiful blog.
I'll link to it after this, but it's this girl/lady/woman who refashions clothes. That might not sounds too interesting, but she is lovely, has this adorable son and husband, and the things she does are so neat!

So i dug my sewing machine out of the crawl space, incredibly found a space for it in my room, realised how much i love sewing, and proceeded to alter my closet.
(so far i've made my pants that always fall down smaller so that i can wear them worry-free, YUS)

I also headed to value village and proceeded to turn some X-Large men's t-shirts into some...longishshirt/ dresses things. Which i actually, somewhat love. I wish, again...for the 15th hundred time...that i had a camera to document. Soon, hopefully. If i continue to babysit two times a week, i should be there in no time.
I'm thinking of buying some woolen sweaters and taking in the sides a bit. Anyways i'm on a roll.
We'll see how long this passion last for.

while at value village, i stumbled upon these fantastic little boots, lace up and dark-brown-black, which where my size, and $8.00, so i bought them.
---

I've also been working on a design for this...God's house Open house program our church is going to be running. It's to encourage evangelism in our church, and to open the doors more to the neighbourhood. I've been doing a cover for a family devotional book they are making. Jasmine came over to help, and we decided bricks would be a lovely choice.
(mmmm...bricks)
It's still undergoing some tweaks. I'll post an image when it's done. In the meantime...


mmm, bricks.

oookayyy, time to get on with the day...clean my room. i should really go to school today, talk to the financial office, collect all my sculptures/drawings and steeled toed boots, return the huge lump of porcelain clay that has been sitting in the family fridge for the last two months, and play scrabble with len, and then...find a job

but today i feel like staying in bed, baking Christmas cookies, John Mayer, not venturing out into the outside world, especially not the Mac section of the outside world (which is only reached by a series of sometimes wet, and sometimes smelly, and sometimes crowded, buses.)

have a lovely day, all.

…and at once I knew I was not magnificent

i could see for miles, miles, miles

ohh, children; rejoice.

i watched the first harry potter movie again tonight, with some friends. pretty sure my constant adoring noises whenever mini hermione, harry, neville, draco and especially ron came onto the screen began to get on peoples nerves after a while.

eventually i just mouthed along with the words.

but ron is adorable. i was struck by how much more eloquent his speech was as a child. In the later movies he advances to a series of, somewhat still attractive, grunts.

much love. ohh children,

lift up your voice.

and then there is the all wonderful line of dumbledore:

"it does not do to dwell on dreams, harry,

and forget to live."

apparently some, take this quite seriously. i think it has a beautiful amount of truth to it.

me and my relentless obsession with what's past should take it to heart.

but sometimes reality seems so unstable.

goodnight all.

p.s finished my last exam today, maybe last university exam for a loooong time.

i'm not sure how it feels yet.

'tis the season

oh, and lisa... this is for you:

be brave, young lewis.

dreams about snow

today i made Christmas cards?

and snowflakes. lots and lots of snowflakes.
to make up for the absence of the real ones.

guess it's time to go study now.
gah.

...or make more snowflakes.

cookies, cake & ...paradise lost

i've been planning posts in my head all day today.

they always work out quite well in my head. i have a wonderful conversation to myself, describing events, ideas, and expanding on things. a lot of it has been revolving around food lately. i've been eating a lot of food lately. i baked this weekend, which...i have discovered is probably not a good thing to do, when you have little to occupy yourself with the following week but study for an exam. i write out one character profile, and contented with myself, head upstairs for one or two sweet and salty chocolate chip and walnut cookies, and then a small sliver of cranberry walnut coffee cake.

...which turns into another small sliver, and then an other, so that as i stand over the cake pan shoving it into my mouth, i might as well have just eaten a whole slice, politely with on a small plate with a fork.

my mother bought walnuts this weekend, which is why all the things i have been baking have walnuts in them. i can't say i mind all that much. roasted walnuts have the potential to be most delicious.

the cranberry sauce, in the coffee cake however, was left over from thanksgiving. and not being American, that means it was about two months old, which seemed slightly gross...until i decided to write it here. now it doesn't really seem that gross anymore, but it probably still is.

it smelled fine, and on the cake it still tastes delicious, i figure you keep jam in the fridge for months, why not cranberry sauce?

mmm, and speaking about food, tonight for supper i made a tomato, onion and feta frittata. i am amazed constantly at how absolutely delicious eggs are as a component in almost anything.

almost anything. i'm sure they could be quite gross in something....i'm wracking my brain for an example of something that eggs would taste quite gross with:

peanut butter, is what comes to mind.

but i'm sure...you make peanut butter cookies with eggs in them sometimes.

if i had a camera i would post pictures, and i was thinking about posting the recipes up here too, but i'm not sure how interesting that would be. i probably will start eventually. maybe next time i bake i'll feel the urge. or if anyone is actually very interested, feel free to contact me. i will probably be in the sharing mood.

probably.

anyways. i'm thinking eventually i'll post some of my art work up here, and maybe rant about the ideas of art and concept, and the title of artist in itself.(yuss, exciting!) maybe i'll attempt to explain my slight dislike for school, and my hopeful future plans. i'm hoping eventually i'll start reading books again without feeling guilty that i should be studying, (accursed stifling exams!) and then i'll find some fantastic interesting quotes for you.

aha, today i sat down with Paradise Lost by John Milton, a book i've always been meaning to read, and after trying to read a page, decided to go back to studying. Guess i wasn't in the epic sort of mood.

well, that's the last of the contents in my head that i can organize into slightly functioning paragraphs at moment. i'm going to go crochet a random square and watch a few episodes of America's next top model.

be proud?

:)

the waves wave, the waves wave

i just realised you can comment anonymously on your own blog.
maybe i'll start surprising myself with encouragement, pleas, and witty comments.

and books?

we went exploring the old sanatorium yesterday. funny thing is i've actually been right beside it many times, without knowing it. it's down this little path off scenic road. there is a little overhang/clearing there with a bench overlooking the downtown, where we used to watch fire works. it's like...a thinking spot, somewhere Winnie the Pooh would go.

but just a little bit farther down the same path, you emerge out of the woods, right in front of the old sanatorium. G, who had been there before, showed us how to shimmy up the wall, so we could break into a second story window.

it felt pretty illegal. rather cool, but pretty illegal.
anyways, we ran sneakily across the roof, and pried back a loose board and entered into the gloom. apparinatly jas and i were much braver then the boys were the first time they came, they stepped through the window, freaked out, and left. but we also had them to protect us, and to place the blame on if we got caught ;)

the interior of the building is quite new, but it's absolutely destroyed. there was graffiti everywhere, and broken glass, and beer bottles. it seems like the cool place to be.

we had to make it back home in time for 3:30 church, so our exploring time was somewhat limited, and by the time the boys forced us down into the basement and started knocking over ladders, jas and i were ready to leave.

but i headed home with these in my bag:

1946/1947 books from the national conference of social work, there were a variety of oldish books scattered around the floor. the covers of these two were somewhat beautiful. i figured they'd make a good souvenir
---

i realised people have actually started reading this, which makes it about.....seventeen-million times more difficult to write in these things. so much pressure. aah, i'll get used to it.

...like dorian gray

p.s newest plan for the future, formulated about two minutes ago:

go rob the dumpster behind the library.

sounds like a tomorrow sort of task to me.
anyone in?
:)

my mind is filled with silvery stars...

i settled on a sweater. it's nothing too special but it has the potential to be quite lovely.
if you're very curious, this is what it looks like:


now i just have to go out and buy 11 or so balls of wool and get started.

i wrote my art history exam today, and it was a breeze, which is always a wonderful feeling. filled with the adrenaline and enthusiasm of completion, i decided to walk home from school.
i was actually just walking to pass the time while waiting for a bus to come, but when the bus finally came, i wasn't quite done walking yet.

so i kept walking.

there was this lovely bit of snow falling, and my rubber boots were plodding along quite nicely.
and at the end of it all, i arrived home in an hour, only 20 minutes more then it takes by the bus

the wonderful things about walking home from school:
(i) on Aberdeen i saw Trevor Malda walking down the other side of the street, i smiled at him and waved slightly, but he seemed very unsure about my identity, so i decided not to do anything else too embarrassing.
(ii) i got to walk past all the beautiful old houses, on Aberdeen and Dundurn, and dream about living in them, and sitting in the window seats, and standing on the balconies.
(iii) i swear i caught a snowflake on my eyelash
(iv) i saw the old TB sanatorium sitting in it's boarded up loneliness way up on the escarpment, and remembered that i must go explore it before they tear it down.

----
....total side, but very relevant, note: i was looking for pictures of the sanatorium and if found the COOLEST website ever:
http://ontarioabandonedplaces.com/upload/wiki.asp?entry=2459

goodness, someday i'm gonna go exploring. wanna come?
i love abandoned things.
when enough funds are raised for a camera i will be able to document such excursions.
anyways...
----
wonderful things cont'd...
(v) i also got to look over the whole of icy cold Hamilton--the skyscrapers scraping together, the masses of cars and buses and flashing lights--while i caught my breath on each landing of the Garth stairs. (those are STEEP stairs, i couldn't help think how muscular i'd be if i walked to school everyday)

(vi) and then there was hot soup and beverages at my return home, and i was filled with the sudden urge to knit an afghan.

(this is the afghan...not knitted by me. i wish i was that fast at knitting afghans. mine would be a much funner color though)


it's strange how when you finally have free time, you forget all the seven million things you so desperately wanted to do when you didn't have time too.

anyways, sleep well little ones.

p.s
this is the sanatorium:
really old image


i can't get a now-a-days picture to copy, you can look it up on the ontarioabandonedplaces website, if you are very interested.

sweatersss

i've decided my next knitting attempt will be at a sweater. this will be quite the step from the variety of random squares, hats and scarfs that have occupied my time so far. i'll be entering into the terrain of circular needles.

eventually, i'm hoping to get a camera. this way i'll be able to document things that reside around me in the world, and eventually to share such things with the blog. if it so desires. i have a questionable obsession with documenting things. anyways, there is an empty captain morgans rum bottle ever so slowly being filled with any extra funds i can gather for the camera cause.
donations?

if i could, i'd offer to grow a beard, to both incite you and offer you humor and entertainment.
alas.

these are a few of the patterns i've been looking at: (oh, if you want to donate to the 'provide wool for a poor univeristy student' fund, these offerings would be greately appreciated aswell, or you could provide for me to knit you a sweater, or socks. socks are fun)

this one is from http://www.pickles.no/, it's a pretty freakin' lovely site. they have these lovely patterns for blankets:

someday i'm going to have to have a child to knit them one of these, or i guess it could just be someone elses child.
or for myself for that matter.

aha! and check this one out, it's based off Neville's sweater from the Deathly Hallows. fantastic? i think so.
now, i'll have to find myself a man as well.


...or i could just wear it, or make it for my lovely friend, lisa.
lisa would wear it.

anyways, i really must get on to studying and drink my tea which is getting quite cold in the teapot.

doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles,

there is something quite frightening about posting on a blog. hmm. maybe it's just the word
'blog' itself.

blog.

i'll work on getting over this fear for a while. introduce my dear blog to a few of my favourite things, and then...go study for my art history exam tomorrow. wooo!

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

(actually, i can say i most enjoy almost all of those things.)

Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings

the way words sound

is one of my favorite things.
& the images that the combining of words create in a mind.

oh simple words.

that's what a paper sunset is. it's just a lovely image, disappearing flames and fragile moments.

paper is quite a fragile thing, you know.

:)

it struck me suddenly--as i sat scrolling down my Facebook homepage-- that i was absolutely and horrifically unable to live without Facebook. in fact my mind began imploding in on itself at the very idea of attempting such a thing. without Facebook, i wouldn't have a past anymore, let alone a future, my social life would dwindle, i'd stop getting invited to gatherings, i wouldn't get my daily laugh at a comment gone wrong or absorb my daily necessity of sentimentality and compliments. i could no longer occupy hours of free time creepily stalking strangers, their lives clearily documented in photographs.

after some careful minutes of consideration, i searched for the deactivation option.
(*note deactivation, not deletion. Facebook reassured me that if desperation strikes, i can sneakily re-appear for a few moments, get my fill of the Facebook land and quietly deactivate again.)

after letting me know how much all my friends would miss me, and offering me tips on how to deal with my Facebook addiction, they let me go.

and here i am now, feeling the pangs of withdrawal. i'm not sure how long i am going to be able to do this, even with my friends filling me in on the most interesting tidbits of the day. i guess now, is the time i start pursuing the things i actually love.

we'll see how this goes.
aha. only time will tell.