Cute, but Useless...

 Yeah, that covers a lot, doesn't it?? Well, in this case, I'm talking spatulas. 

The Cookie Baking Season has begun and is almost done here in my house. And I dug out a spatula that someone gave me a while ago. Honestly, it's too long ago - I could've bought it myself, thinking it would be a cute addition to my kitchen. 

Cute, yes. Useful? Nope. All style, no function. 

The snowflake design is adorable, but it's a pain in the butt to clean, and to be honest, the "tips" of the snowflake make it impossible to get a good grab on a cookie. I tried it. The cookies pushed themselves to the edge of the parchment, and the spatula had no grip, in spite of the pebbled surface. And the snowflake cut out? Yeah - not easy to clean. 

So back in the drawer it goes. And I go to my old standard - the GOLD standard, in my opinion. By the way, as always, I don't do "affiliate" things. Whatever I suggest here is just because I think it's a good thing. 

My absolute favorite spatula is the Wilton one. It's got a nice sharp edge. It can actually dig into the parchment paper, but it's a boon for the more delicate cookies. It can also stand up to the sturdier cookies, like slice & bake, chocolate brownies, etc. I got this at the local Michael's store when they had a decent selection of Wilton stuff. Now, lately, it's mostly their own stuff. Sorry - I'm a snob when it comes to some products, and I know that I'm lucky to have the ability to buy the things I buy. It's a good idea to always get the best item you can. It doesn't help if you skimp on some basics, because you just have to spend more to replace the cheap stuff. I think this spatula was maybe $10.00 and it's lasted me for years. 

We have a rule with scissors and spatulas. If I say they're my fabric scissors, and you cut something other than fabric? It's not going to end well for you. 

And if I tell you "This is the COOKIE SPATULA," then don't be using it to lift fish sticks off a baking pan. I will be very upset! 

Anyway, we're mostly done with the cookies except for the Pineapple Crescents, a/k/a God's Fiddliest Cookie. I'm doing the dough tomorrow; it will sit in the fridge all day and then Tuesday & Wednesday nights, I'll bake it all. My kitchen will be a wreck, and I'll be dead, but it'll be done. Actually, Hubby will help me do some of it. He's been a great help in keeping me balanced. 

In order to rehab this hip thing, I'm learning the balance between "pushing" and "don't push." I'm feeling better, and I have to work on the "don't push" thing. 

The Knitting...

Just moving right along...Knitting for about 18" now. I have 35" or so to complete. I'm loving the heft and squishy feel of this afghan. 

Barring any emergencies or injuries, I'm going to sail through this and move on to the other items in the layette. 

Honestly, with a project this big, the changes are pretty much invisible in pictures. But I can tell by the weight of it. This is the heaviest one I've made so far. The Encore yarn I usually use has a gorgeous loft, but this Softee Baby is HEAVY. 

I can feel when it's not quite right on my lap because the whole thing lists over. 

Now, I'm wondering if when I do the Baby Surprise, I ought to just do one strand. I was going to hold 2 strands together, like the blanket, but I'm thinking that's gonna be a COAT and not a sweater. So maybe I just use the 1 strand and work it that way. 

I can always cast on and see how it goes. 

Bad Book...

Back in the way-back, when I had a Kindle Gen 3, I was still unsure about how this "e-book" thing was gonna work. Much like farmers never thought a tractor would beat a horse. 

(sigh) Ok, call me converted. But there are still glitches that wouldn't happen in print. 

I bought a great Agatha Christie mystery and I was so eager to get into it. But...The upload sucked. I mean, there was code or gobbledy-gook on every page. I got to Chapter Two and my eyes wanted to vomit. 

I found out how to report it to Kindle, and then I went on Amazon. I thought, "Maybe it's just me..." and lo & behold -- MANY readers rated this gorgeous mystery as a 1-star because "the upload was crap and we can't read it!"

I mean - zoom in on that picture and you'll see what I was looking at. You can't read that. Your brain searches for the word stuck in all that crap, and your eyes are literally twitching. 

I hope that Kindle sees this stuff and updates the book. I went on to another mystery, but it makes me sad to see how bad this is. 

As an editor, I'm used to being the last set of eyes before a book goes to print. This stuff? It's unacceptable. 

Random Picture...

Well, we finally decanted the Mother Jar of vanilla. Hubby re-upped the vodka and we put it in the pantry till next year. He found a bottle that I think used to carry honey mead. I remember one of the kids got it for him for Christmas. 

He's not a mead drinker... But the bottle is cool. 

I knew it was down there, and I'm glad it's now holding our precious vanilla. I have my original -- I mean from like 2000 -- vanilla where I used Svedka. Hubby decided to get me Tanqueray Sterling Vodka. 

Honestly, when making vanilla, middle-shelf is fine. But I must say, this vanilla is quadruple-strength and it's smooooooooooooth! 

I have Indonesian beans coming. The vanilla comes from the POD, not the bean. So I've been scraping some of my beans to make cookies and frosting. Now, I'll add the Indonesian beans to my Ugandan beans; likely, I'll start another Mother jar, because this one should be split up. Too many beans in the jar. It'll be easier to make 2 jars, as long as we have enough vodka. 

I wonder about transferring the vanilla out of the Svedka jar. I just love it because it's my "vanilla history." It's something think about. 

Chinese Menu Syndrome...

...no, that's not offensive. It's "proofreader slang" for the innate ability to spot a typo about a million miles away. Oh, and a grammatical error, too. 

This is important for a number of reasons. 

First,it drives everyone around you absolutely bonkers if you can't keep the error to yourself. And of course you can't. You're compelled to expound on the errors you see. 

Second, it actually drives you nuts as well. Here's the thing. My friend S gave me a book for Christmas, by a local author. The book has a nice slick cover, it's from a decent publisher, and the author graciously thanks everyone from her cats to her proofreaders. 

Ahem. 

Not so fast with the thanks. You have a lot of work to do with your own writing (of which I'm not overly critical because it's your first novel). And your proofreaders?

"Mute point." Really?? Really??? That's the one that almost made me toss the book across the room. There were others. Too many, even for a debutante writer. I'm nearly tempted to e-mail her and ask if I can be her proofreader. 

So I'm in the running for an apprenticeship at elephantjournal. This is a big deal. This e-zine/website platform is a large presence in the yoga/meditation/lifestyle arena. After the apprenticeship, if you all like each other, you're offered a position as Associate Editor - which basically means they will then PAY you to write for them. 

The Job Front...

Nothing. Well, sort of something, but not what I had expected. Which is how it usually goes. 

Nothing came of the "anchor" position which the president if the university spoke to me about. However, there's a Board of Trustees meeting in February, which is usually a big deal. I mean, the planet stops moving till after the BoT meets. Then earth resumes her normal activities. 

So maybe the anchor has yet to be launched off the boat. 

I'm networked with freelance gigs, thanks to my friend Nat. I'm working the voice-over thing, though I have yet to hear anything positive from the editor I'm working for. I know he's championing me. It's up to the client. 

And I do have a phone interview; for a job I really don't think I want. Because something else interesting has dropped into my lap.

The potential to run a yoga studio. 

Yes. Stop laughing. It's an opportunity that doesn't usually fall into someone's lap. Will it make buckets of money? No. Is it sustainable? Yes. It pays its bills. I've been its part-time manager when the owner is away. I'm teaching there 3 nights a week. We have a good core group of teachers, and a pretty good following. 

The thing is this: I'm now 57 years old. I have education up to my eyeballs. And I've always worked for someone else. I talked this over with my brother, who's owned his own business for almost 30 years. He suggests I go for it, because I have enough other irons in the fire. 

Hubby wants me to actually get the "anchor" position, if it's ever posted, and work the other things, just having one source of consistent income. And I get that. But I can't shake the feeling that I really, really, REALLY want to do this. And I think I can make it work. 

I know I can make it work. 

Knitting...

My Year in Socks

So the Knit from Stash thing is off to a rocky start. I couldn't get the Strong Heel instructions to make sense. I was supposed to go to the LYS to get some help, but I have a ton of things to do, so that's delayed to sometime next week. 

This is what I'm knitting instead, and yeah, I won't get them done in January. But I think what I'm going to do is just knit the pair, not having to face the potential of TWELVE single socks... So if I complete SIX pair of socks, then I'll consider that a success. Twelve would truly have been a miracle. 

And I can't totally stop buying yarn. This is a colorway that simply fascinated me. It's called Unicorn Farts. And the base yarn has gold sparkles in it. 

Unicorn Farts

Because of course Unicorns fart with gold sparkles. Who doesn't know that? I don't know what pattern this will be, but it's entirely squishable and I can't wait to knit it up. Heck, I almost can't wait to get it on the winder to make a cake. 

It's from Purple Goddess Designs. Check her out. Awesome yarn, fantastic customer service and a lovely Etsy site. 

Necessity...

...Is truly the mother of invention. While I've been home, I've done more housework - which you can do when you're not away at a desk... 

I was looking for my handle for the dusting sheets. I couldn't find it, and I needed to dust the fax machine because I had to send out a fax. 

So I pulled out my size 10 needles. And did what you do when you don't have the handle to your duster sheet...

Did it work? For the most part. Of course 2 days later, I found the handle. Which is now in the box with the duster sheets. 

But hey - the fax machine is now clean. 

Random Picture...

Once again, I question my wisdom. I really wanted a La-Z-Boy recliner that could be my knitting chair. 

I have the recliner. But for the most part, I don't recline it. 

Nap time

Why, you ask? Well. It's either Quinn with her head under the back of it. 

Or Tippi hiding under it when I do manage to recline it, thereby rendering me stuck in my chair till she decides to move.

Or Raisa. Who is part cat. Because she can get almost 100% of her considerable husky body under the chair. 

This was yesterday, before I had to put her in her crate because I was leaving the house. I'm still not ready to leave her roaming with the other two dogs. She's at that age where she thinks she's Big Dog. 

And she's not. But as with most huskies, particularly those going through adolescent phases, they're rather oblivious. 

I'm ok as long as she doesn't decide to stand straight up. She could. And I'd be toast.