Two New Year's Resolutions

My two New Year's resolutions:
1. (The one I don't really expect to keep) To use my exercise bike at least 3 times each week.
2. (The one I really do expect to keep) To bring my own tupperware to restaurants when I anticipate having leftovers.

So far, so good.  Yesterday, I brought plastic containers to Red Lobster and filled 'em with leftovers, and I spent 25 minutes on the bike.  WOO!

oh, right, my giveaway!

Yeesh, I've been so busy with this past weekend's craft show, I almost forgot to blog about my giveaway!

If you go to this website and follow the directions by tomorrow (eek!), Dec 6, you'll be entered to win this christmas stocking that I made!

It's a simple white knit stocking, with lots of texture.  It's a little smaller than most stockings I've seen: about 12" long from cuff to toe, and about 3" wide in the leg, when laid flat.  There's also a little crocheted hanging hook on the cuff.

This giveaway stocking is very similar to the one I have listed in my shop.  The only difference is the style of the cuff.

Happy Holidays, and Good Luck!

Eat Your Greens treasury

I love it when someone puts one of my items in a treasury!

Stuff I Have To Do

To do list:

Manage 3.5 simultaneous experiments

Learn and apply new techniques without making expensive mistakes

Keep writing my thesis

Finish my PhD by next summer

Revise a manuscript in a completely unrelated field

Continue science outreach at local elementary schools

Keep up with my church job (Christmas is coming!)

Prepare for a recital in less than a month

Prepare for a craft show also in less than a month

Find a job for next year

No wonder I never see my husband.

Another craft?

I may be in trouble.  See what I've done:

See Jude supervising in the background.

 I've exposed myself to a new craft.  I ordered a basketweaving kit from these people, and I've already woven one, with four more to go in the kit.

Jude takes credit for the basket.

I don't think I have the storage space in my teeny craft room for any more craft supplies.

I actually may not be in too great danger of getting addicted to basket weaving, though.  The way I think of it (and science-nerd-types will get this) is that the activation energy of basket weaving is too high.  You have to soak the reed for 20 minutes before you can even begin, not to mention all the measuring and cutting.  But mostly it's the soaking.  With knitting, I can just pick it up and start making stitches, no soaking required.  Still, I'm happy to know how to weave baskets, and where to get materials.  Because I love baskets.  I might even have a fetish.  And they're so darn expensive.  Way cheaper to make my own. :)

Garden Pizza

For the last week, I've had the cold that just won't die.  (Or rather, the cold that psyches you into thinking it died right away, but returns with a vengeance over the weekend.)  But on Sunday night, Evan and I did something fun.  Before the rain came pouring down, we went out to our humble little overgrown, horribly tangled garden and picked our first eggplant.

Half of it we breaded and fried and ate in strips dipped in tomato sauce.

The other half we chopped into little cubes and put on a pizza, along with our first garden green pepper, and a couple of our twenty-bazillion garden little tomatoes.  (Also cheese, onions, and pepperoni from the grocery store.)

Evan and I felt so proud to be cooking and eating food with stuff we had grown ourselves!  We've got more little (and big) tomatoes coming in all the time, and some really legit-looking peppers, and some more flowers on the eggplant plant, so looks like there will be some more garden pizzas in the future.

For now, I think my cold is dying its second death, and it looks like Evan is finally beginning to catch it.

Ionisation

Check it out: a video of the Eastman Percussion Ensemble performing at the Kennedy Center.  The first piece is very cool.  It's Ionisation by Edgard Varèse.  My little brother is just left of center, as you look at the stage.  I'm way proud of him.

http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/videos/?id=M4633