Out of the Desert

Hmm. Quite a bit has happened since my last post but the best item on the list is moving to My Love's hometown :)

The temperature change has thankfully summoned my knitting needles. I'm almost done with the last project i started in Phoenix - felted slippers for My Love. I had started them as a Christmas gift but locked them up in February when the desert summer reminded me it was just around the corner. Blech. Who wants slippers in the desert anyway? Now, a year and a half later, some wonderful husband wants slippers again. Here they come! ...hopefully. I'm using a pattern from my mom and the cuff instructions are missing. Oops. I didn't realize that until I was at the cuff of the first slipper. Par for course. So, we'll see in the next couple weeks when I finish and get around to felting. (I didn't say I had a lot of extra time. I still have my job and a now almost three year old!)

Oh! I have two, yes TWO yarn stores within WALKING distance!!! Both are incredible. One I've frequented on past trips to Encinitas, Common Threads. But the other I kind of dismissed in the past - Black Sheep. I mistakenly judged a book by its cover. Tsk tsk. The sign was (gulp) boring and it said "beads." I just assumed it would be more of a mixed media type store and I'm not really into much else but yarn right now. As you can tell, big mistake. The store is gorgeous! Two amazing yarn stores within a couple blocks on Coast Hwy. Who knew!? I thought their Noro section was nice until she pointed out I was only looking at the new stuff. More? A whole darn corner of the store! Ahhh heaven :)

Bicycling with little g, learning to surf, cooking on a gas stove (I never knew that was so awesome for lack of a better word), traveling to race tracks with my family .... plenty of fun stuff to come :)

I'm going to assume you're genuinely interested

... is what I wrote to my sister when she asked about my grocery spreadsheet.

For a few months now I've been keeping a spreadsheet of our expenditures - grocery and household mostly. This all started because I was tired of wondering how much we were spending, on what, where was the better deal and so on and so on. Here's what I've developed thus far although I feel some tweaks in the future.

*push glasses up bridge of nose*

In my spreadsheet, size is almost always in ounces except for with green onions, peppers, diapers, etc. For us I also put tortillas in eaches because we only buy the same kinds ever - one for G, spelt or rice for me. I also made a "calculator" I drag down the side with my work. Produce and deli are almost always measured in pounds and I just needed to make it easy for me. The other tool I use is a digital kitchen scale. Last weekend we bought onions at Grocery Outlet, 4 in an unmarked green mesh bag for a fixed price. However, since onions usually go by the pound I weighed them for a true comparison. (Only Super Nerds have digital kitchen scales.) One thing to keep in mind - the weight of some deli items are only marked on the sticker attached to the item itself, no other details on the receipt.

Example:

Purchased Item	Size	Price	Store	Date	Cost per ounce
Almond breeze	64	$ 2.99	Albertson's	8/9/2009	$ 0.047

Cost per Ounce is the only actual formula in the spreadsheet = Price/Size.
My handy calculator mentioned above is rudimentary: Pounds x 16 = Ounces Change the value in the pounds field and the equals field calculates the equivalent.

POUNDS	OZ	EQUALS
1.82	16	29.12

My handy spreadsheet helped verify that we're getting the best price on formula. Similac Iron Shield or something was on sale at Amazon, 19.79 for 24oz (forget the actual size). I plugged in the data and compared it to Costco - Similac was about twice as expensive. I know, Similac Iron Fist is primo baby formula but g isn't picky thankfully.

The other important organizational tip is to enter items as noun, adjective adjective. This way all the onions get sorted together when you go to compare data.

Examples:

Spice, Onion dehyd
Soup, Cream of Chicken
Sausage, ground Johnsonvlle
Pineapple, cut fresh
tomatoes, diced Del Monte

Also, instead of getting up from my computer to go check weight on each item, I finally got even smarter (is that possible?) and started writing on the receipt then entering it all at once. After a while it's fun (for nerds) to go and sort the sheet by purchased item and compare where we get the best deals. It's just ridiculous to see something we bought at Costco or Grocery Outlet for HALF the price per ounce of Albertson's. For produce though, taste is a factor. G doesn't really care for the flavor often found lacking in Grocery Outlet/Dollar Store produce. I understand his position but ... I really like the deal. Now if I could just get G to go to Grocery Outlet *before* the regular grocery store we'd be saving even more.

g is almost 1! We're spending his birthday in Seattle with family. Prior to my mom's most recent round of chemo they had planned on coming down here to celebrate. With the latest diagnosis our plans changed. And quite honestly for the better. All the aunts and uncles are up there. G and I are our own family down here - we'll make the trip to see the clan. I'll have pics when we return!

(WIP made the photo - argyle baby blanket for g's cousin-to-be)

Socks: Then and Now

Wow - what a difference 10 years makes!

Blue sock: My very first sock (whoa check out that shaping). Scratchy, self-patterning yarn, slouchy, sloppy pattern. It was fun to knit at the time.

Pink sock: The beginning of a sock resurgence. Soft, soft warm cozy socks. They could use a less complicated pattern to showcase the beautiful colors but I'm not going to be picky.

Yes, the socks are short. I happen to like shorter socks seeing as how I live in the desert. However, I was more worried about making it through both socks with enough yarn. I think I'm going to work on toe up socks from now on.

I'm not particularly fond of the dark diagonal stripe and the dark big toe.
If I don't focus on it I don't see it.

Just the right length for warmer socks.
My next pair will probably hit just below the ankle bone.

My favorite part - plain old stripes :)

g matched the big sock so well I slipped it on his entire leg. Of course the over-the-knee design hindered his crawling. It didn't last long but I managed a pic.

With as big as it looks in comparison to the pink sock you'd think it would fit like a paper bag. Funny how it looks a little full but mostly normal. REALLY funny that I washed both socks over the weekend and the blue sock *doubled* in size. If we stay in town this weekend I'll try to shrink it with some hot water and maybe an extra hot tumble dry. Incredible.

Here's the famous Chair Pusher at work!

He's been taking a few steps here and there. Usually three steps, four today. Soon enough. I'm going to put down "Hi" as his first word. Sounds more like Ha or just H but in conjunction with the wave I think it's official. Less than 2 weeks for until our Seattle trip! Hopefully we get a San Diego trip here real soon, too.

In the Kitchen

A few weeks ago I received my 35lb bag of spelt flour from Azure Standard and I've been baking and cooking ever since. To kick off the nearly gluten-free baking were M&M cookies. Since then it's been loaves of bread, cake and pancakes. I pre-made a big batch of mix.

The M&Ms were a cheap find at Grocery Outlet so naturally I put them to good use. Spelt flour doesn't have as much of the gluten as most recipes count on so to make up for that I added arrowroot flour. They turned out like real cookies!

Here's little g about a month ago. His hair looks short now with as much as it has grown! He'll turn 1 at the end of the month. He is so cute to watch ... learning, exploring, problem solving ... crawling in circles chasing after the dogs ... waving hi to *everything* ... tentatively shaking his head no ... trying new foods with only an initial shudder of surprise ... So cute!

As for the food for g though he started reacting to the jarred foods. Bananas fine, bananas in a jar not fine, rash. I have no problem making up his food - steam, food processor, spoon into ice cube trays. I get all that taken care of on the weekends and we're good for the week.

Yummy yummy fresh raspberry lemonade. My sister found perfect ice cube trays in a clearance bin - they make perfectly square ice cubes - and so thought of me. Not exactly sure why but I love them so she was right on :) The yarn here has been mostly used up in the Argyle Felted Pillow (rav). Finished last week and ready to go with me to Seattle to felt. Two more weeks!

Goodies

Again, it has been too long since my last post. Just last weekend (or maybe the one prior) I was considering a blog "schedule" to follow. I like writing but I never liked journaling, never had a diary. But I like blogging, it's different. The pictures probably have the most impact, the possible audience makes this writing seem more purposeful and the bonus is the web friends. And so I'm back to ... how to blog more regularly. Wait a second...

Yep. Tomorrow this blog turns 2! Woo hoo! Two years - time sure flies. All right now, back to the issue at hand. Blog schedule. Well, to be honest, that's just not going to happen. I certainly don't want to make blogging a chore. Sooo I think I'll just focus on the pics and posts will follow. No more hiding my camera from myself (found in its second home on the kitchen counter). Don't "lose" the USB cable for my camera (G "found" it in its usual place). Stop leaving the camera on after transferring the pics (killing the batteries).

On to the goodies: Look what's come in the mail for me!

Korres sent me a bunch of samples to try out. Okay, I ordered the jar of cream in the middle and the sunscreen on the left. The rest is bonus! Not to mention I got 20% off through MyPoints, free shipping and I'm not sure, but I think they sent me extra samples on accident. The cute little boxes in the back row were all in the cute bag in the very back. Hmmm maybe the extra samples came because I'm now a facebook fan. Probably.

This awesome coffee cup arrived from KM as a surprise prize after the wristwarmer KAL back in February. (Jeez I'm sloooow. Here's my entry, yes they are a Christmas 08 gift for my sis.) Every morning G and I have coffee, catch up on email and do the crossword puzzle. This awesome mug shoved the former #1 mug off the table to take it's place and hasn't looked back since. Thank you KM!

Horrible picture, I know. I knew it when I took the pic but I did it anyway. I knew that I wasn't really on top of my game and if I didn't take it I'd miss out altogether. The magnets are cutely holding up coupons/papers/recipes on the fridge. Can you tell that they're the Ravelry set? So cute! Werther's - already gone. Mmmmmdelicious. One of these days I'll catch a pic of g with his fish rattle. It's one of the small emergency toys in his diaper bag that at the moment is performing its job - at some point g needed a distraction and voila! Fish rattle to the rescue! Thanks again KM! Great KAL - thanks for hosting! Maybe when we all get some more time we can do another :)

Look at the budding fiber kid! No, I don't push my fiber love on to others. The bin of yarn actually took the place of a cake of wool I had just wound. Yes, I was protecting my knitting yarn by allowing him to play in the bin of stuffing yarn. I've collected the yarn I hate, too short leftovers and gnarled skeins that aren't worth the time to untangle - all of that stuff goes into the stuffed animals. Waste yarn put to good use.

Seattle with Little G

A few weekends ago Little G (g) and I made our very first plane trip to Seattle. I was nervous. VERY nervous. Was he going to scream, be inconsolable, have a poopie diaper on the plane? He's a really good baby so he should be fine. What if this is the thing that finally gets under his little skin. How about all the stuff I needed to lug through the airport ... all by myself?

Well there was nothing to worry about. He was perfect. He fell asleep for both take-offs. Little fuss but no crying. Made goo-goo eyes at the little girls (which, I hesitate to say, but it made them stop crying). g even earned compliments from the other passengers. But all that entertaining made him one tired little monkey.

g fell asleep in the Combi - I love this carrier! I didn't already mention, but the stroller in the airport drove me nuts. I cried. Seriously. I couldn't get it down, up, or even to push in a straight line. It did not help that I forgot how to collapse it while at the front of the security line. I was that Mom holding up the line. A nice older couple helped even though I couldn't tell them how to work the thing. Because I forgot! Ugh. Never again. Baby carrier from here on out.

g in the sweater Grandma knit, with cousin C and Grandma

We were in town for my nephew's 2nd birthday. Grandma wrangled the two cousins for a quick photo - 9mos and 2 yrs. Fifteen months apart - the same age difference as sister F and I. No idea at all how my mom managed. C usually gets free reign of the toy room but with g there he had to *gasp* share. It wasn't easy shielding g from flying objects but we managed. Grandma has a massive play area for C with tons of toys and lots of open space to play. I called home to run the idea by G and now g has a miniature version.

The Mayonnaise Smile

g's cousin LOVES mayonnaise. Sister J spread some mayo on a tomato, C would lick it off and smile ... every time. It was so cute!

g in the arms of Sister F

It turned out to be a very short long weekend. g was less than 2 months when he met an aunt and Grandma and Grandpa. With three sisters, uncles, family friends etc., it was a bit overwhelming for him. It wasn't until the last day that he was okay with me out of his sight and stopped being so clingy. I'm trying to schedule another quick weekend before G, g and I go up to celebrate his first birthday with the family. Just 2 months away so we'll see. He made traveling easy so it's pending my work schedule. Orlando this weekend and Indianapolis in August.

Knitting: YES there's knitting going on! No! There's no pictures! I'm using Misti Alpaca on the Cable Twist socks, fingerweight so I've been adjusting the pattern here and there. I missed Grumperina's mod for sock yarn - woulda been nice. This is my second pair of socks, the first pair was over 10 years ago (loose, sloppy, mismatched). I'm learning them all over again ... and I kinda like socks now! That's tentative. I don't often wear socks here in the hottest place on earth. And I'll need to beef up my sock yarn stash....

Puerto Rico

Back in April I went to Puerto Rico for work. (I told you I've been busy!) This was my first trip and an all-around good trip. It would have been nice to have company but it was a work trip after all. One full day of flying with 2 layovers. Seriously, by the last flight I didn't even know what city I was leaving. The plane landed well after dark, short taxi to the Hilton and.... Uh, are we at the right hotel? It says Xanadu behind the check-in desk. There are THRONGS of people in the lobby. Something is going on...

Yes, I walked right into a movie set - Johnny Depp's new movie. No, I didn't disturb the filming. There were ropes, "Shhh!" signs, security personnel and a LOT of JD fans. I finally got to my room and promptly ordered room service before they closed. I hadn't eaten most of the day. My nerves really got to me - all that running to my flights in unfamiliar airports with just 45 minute layovers. So I calorie splurged with chicken wings and nachos. The wings were okay but the nachos were not nachos. Chips and liquid cheese. Ugh.

The next day was an unintentional free day for me. Yes, it was nice to enjoy the tropical island, but I saved the company money by leaving a day early *including* the cost of an extra night at the hotel. To get myself out of the room in the morning (remember, I'm alone and would have been perfectly happy staying in my room) I picked up Starbucks in the lobby and walked around with my camera.

Nice, family-friendly beach but not overly so. I didn't hear screaming, splashing kids. None of them tried to run me over or get tangled underfoot. But they were having fun. Lots of activities and play areas kept them entertained. Although my little guy wasn't with me, I was keeping an eye out for ways to travel more extensively with the little guy. The only kid thing I can't speak for is food. Banquets were included in the trade show and the only meal I ate otherwise was at Morton's.

The hotel wasn't all beach; there was a meditation garden area. Lots of tropical wildlife like the peacock here. Hmm, I don't remember significant bugs... not bad! After my photographic tour of the hotel I stopped at the pool cafe/bar for lunch. Some sort of burger with a stellar mojito. Yum! (Had to sample the rum.)

The work stuff turned out great. Speaking half Spanish made my brain hurt but I sold product! My next trip is in a few weeks but it's Orlando this time and most of my industry friends will be there.