All A-Glow...

Every once in a while, you get a compliment - I mean an honest-to-God, out-of-the-blue compliment. And if you're very lucky, it comes when you most need it. 

Last Monday, as I was preparing for my Basic Yoga class, one of the students, an older lady, relatively new to my class, stopped me in the prop room. She said, "I just love you. And I love your class. I'm so happy that my friend nagged me into coming here. You are the best!"

Well. Gosh. I smiled, because I really felt the sincerity in her comment and I really, REALLY needed a good lift. I almost discounted it as "Oh, I'm not really the best." But luckily, it didn't occur to me to do so. 

But why in the world SHOULD it occur to me to do so? Perhaps because I've been feeling down lately. Perhaps because we're so often told, even in this day and age of selfies, self-promotion and all that, to "hide our light" - or in the immortal words of Lady Gaga, "dim your shine." 

I don't know. All I know is that I was walking about 3 feet off my mat the whole evening. 

I mean, really. I'm all about teaching my students that affirming your own self-worth is important. "Be careful how you talk about yourself, because you are listening" is an oft-used quote in my class. 

So why is it so hard to think that -- hey -- my students just may actually LIKE me?? 

Anyway, that was the icing on the cake of a very weird Monday, and I so appreciate when things like that happen. 

Food, etc...

Chilly-day chili

Today was a chilly day, so a good day to pull something random out of the freezer. Have you ever cooked up a batch of something, frozen a bunch of it "for later" and then completely forgotten about it? C'mon, 'fess up. 

Well, this is what ended up in my lunch bowl today. Chili. And I know it's mine because Hubby doesn't use black beans. I did have to add some salt to it; and a dash of some probably ancient hot sauce. But it was warming, and good. 

And this is my new favorite "Pumpkin Spice Chai." You all know that all the "pumpkin" stuff around this time of year has -ZERO- pumpkin in it, right? Zip. Nada. None. It's mostly chemical. Blaaaaaggggghhhhh. Anyway, I love pumpkin spice combos. So I found this in the Target the other day. 

I must say - it's VERY good. I use 2 bags for a 12-oz cup, and I like that it's something where I control the sugar. I'm a hopeless Starbuck's Chai addict. But I really, REALLY need to cut out the sugar. This helps. 

Today, it seems to be all about comfort, so I used honey. I have to cut out all the sugar, but like I said... This is one of those days where you want to hang out with a bowl of mac & cheese (yes, the Kraft stuff you grew up on) and just vegetate. 

I had a hankering and Hubby indulged me, though he had a lot of trouble with the crust... I wanted pie. Perhaps it was one of my Facebook friends who posted a (ghastly) picture of apple-and-bacon pie. Urgh, no thanks. Yes, apples + pork = goodness. But not sweet and not with a crust. It just didn't do anything for me. But the idea of "pie" did... 


So here you have apples, a pear, candied ginger, dried cranberries and golden raisins. I hope it turns out ok. The crust is a bit thicker than I like it, but we're just gonna roll with it (ha). It's not like we're exhibiting at the State Fair. Hubby went to further indulge what I will most likely regret, and we have a good vanilla ice cream to go with this. 

I've honestly (mostly) been good with the sweets. Hubby bought Halloween candy and I have not touched it. I usually buy stuff I won't eat. He buys stuff he WILL eat. And luckily for me, one of them is something I particularly dislike: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. 

You want a good peanut butter cup, you hustle yourself over to the local health food store and buy a Justin's peanut butter cup. Much better peanut butter - more creamy than the grainy stuff I've tasted with Reese's. 

And I didn't feel like running out, so there you go. Speaking of running out -- the other day, I had a meeting at one of the local restaurants (name withheld to protect the fact that it's a decent spot, though I think I dislike their politics)... And this is what I found in the waiting area. I actually found 2 things, but this has to do directly with the restaurant...

Yeah, one of the duck dudes. Gag me. 

But otherwise, our meeting went well, the food was good and the location was decent. 

I just have to ignore the jerk in the lobby... Hopefully, in this mostly-Democratic town, (we're actually mostly purple) this won't impact the success of the place.

Lucky for us, several younger folks (I'm talking 20-30 year olds) are opening up food spots in our downtown area. A cheesecake place is coming, and there's this place, plus one more. I'm happy to see the youngsters come and liven up the place. 

Knitting...

So I just got my copy of Creative Knitting - the Winter 2014 edition. And I fell in love with this shawl. I thought I'd like to do it in the yarn they specified. 

I couldn't find it at my old reliable, Jimmy Beans, so I did a search on it. Only to find that the COLOR here, bright orchid, is now discontinued. 

Really? Ok, I know - realistically, publishing a magazine is at least a 3-month prospect. And yarns come and go. Luckily, I was able to find the yarn. And I found this color in the "discount" bin, so I actually got it for 50% off. Normally, I'm willing to experiment, and have been trying to branch out. But truly, I didn't like any of the "regular priced" colors. That was before I hit the "clearance" button. The other color on clearance was a rather odd-looking peach. And I don't even like to wear a NICE peach tone. 

So, the baby sweater continues apace. I'm almost done with the last bit of the front. I bind off and then pick up stitches for the button band. I'm seriously considering making I-cords and skipping the button band/collar combo. I have enough yarn. 

Actually, I will likely make a washcloth out of the yarn I have left, since this is a substitute pattern from the original. I didn't like the fact that the original was quite futzy. I believe baby sweaters should be as easy as possible. Babies are chunky, in the main, and they don't require a crap-load of shaping. This is a rectangle with sleeves, and I like it. The sleeves are a bit more tapered than my usual sweater, and thanks - I did find the pattern book.

And I made about 4 copies of that pattern so that I could stash it... 

Anyway, I'm going to finish it (at least the body) tonight, probably deciding then if I want to work the button band. It's an NCIS night, so I'm looking forward to the veg-time. 

Random Picture...

It's a comic this time. I couldn't resist. I'm constantly looking at menus, and in the editing biz, we call it "Chinese Menu Syndrome." 

You know: Like this one. I am so sorry, but Victoria's secretions don't really interest me. And no thanks on the "crunchy avocado." 

We can't help ourselves. We proofread. All the time. And I'm sorry to admit: we laugh. Yes, we do judge you by your ability to spell and your comprehension of sentence structure. 

Even if the food is good, like the one local restaurant which has a "Friday Night Codd Special." What? Cod is more pricey with the added "d" there?

And this one - you're kidding me, right? Fried rice, rice not included?? Or does a house really come with the "House Fried Rice" item?

Anyway, I saw this comic and I thought of what I go through. I was at a lovely tea shop recently, and only the fact that the waitresses hover kept me from taking a picture of the menu. The misspellings were rather funny. And it's a tea shop. They don't even have the benefit (?) of not speaking English! It wasn't even a word or words commonly messed up. It was simple stuff, much like the "Friday Night Codd Special."

They do, however, make a killer egg salad. But the Red Velvet Cheesecake? I could've done without that. 


Anyway - for your enjoyment...

I will tell you that a table of English majors and/or copy editors can be a total hoot. At least we think so. We trade these kinds of faux pas as kids trade baseball cards. 

It's funny even if you are not an English major.