Detroit Diva

I must, I must

read more Bust. I've been hearing about this magazine for a while now because, of course, Deb Stoller, the author of Stitch N' Bitch is the editor of Bust. But, for some reason, when I would see the magazine on the newsstand, I just wasn't compelled to buy it. Until Friday that is. Why was this time different? Well, because there is an article about Librarians in this issue and as one - well, hey, we don't get written about very often and even less, in flattering terms. Plus, I loved the cover tagline for the artice - "Baby got book". So, I bought Bust, took it home and baby, I'm hooked! Ya gotta love a mag that covers everything from Tina Fey to Librarians to V.C. Andrews to Sex.

I don't get this whole leap year thing. What's the point? At the very least it should give us an extra day off of work or be a holiday or something. I love Google's logo today with the little frogs playing, what else, but leap frog. Check out their logo archives if it's no longer up.

It's better than valium

As I get older I'm finding that little quirks that I didn't have before, or at least I don't think I had before, are starting to crop up. Such as compulsiveness and worrying about stupid things. I've spent the last 2 weeks trying to decide if I should take some knitting to Spain with me. I've gone back and forth between "I'll be too busy sightseeing to knit" to "But there is that siesta thing not to mention lots of airport/airplane time". I kept looking at the projects I'm working on or want to work on and kept thinking they were too big to take with me and since the scarves are almost done, I didn't want to take them. I wanted something smallish but couldn't come up with the right project. Enter Libby at Creazativity. She's just done a Bucket O'Chic in cotton which reminded me that a. I have the pattern b. it can be done in cotton and c. here's the compulsiveness - I must now have one or, at least, I must now make one since I'm thinking of doing it with pink or blue cotton classic stash that I have, for my niece. My compulsive brain is telling me to go to the yarn shop and explore the possibilities. I must resist! Libby also has a thing for absinthe (scroll down on her site). I just read in one of my guidebooks about a bar in Barcelona that serves only absinthe and champagne. Not as a combination, I hope. Now Guiness and Champage, known as a Black Velvet, there's a combo. My friend Mary and I sucked down many of these at Fado in Chicago a few summers ago. Fado has cute Irish bartenders who ramble on about the state of National Theatre in Ireland. Weird, but with that accent who cares what their talking about. Anyway, I digress. If I get brave enough maybe I'll give the absinthe a try and let you know how it was.

I think I'll Pass

Well, I tried the Guacomole Doritos this past weekend. They are weird. They're spicy which I think is strange - I don't think I've ever had spicy guacomole. I don't know what I expected but spicy wasn't it and the green gunk left on your fingers is not an added bonus. Orange fingers after regular Doritos is something we're all used to so it comes as kind of a shock when you look at your fingers and see greenish-black, uh, cheese? What the hell is it? Let me know what you think if you try them.

I've been trying to get picture up on this page but it just gets more and more complicated. After messing around with my sisters camera, I gave up and bought my own. A Kodak (yes, I did find it at Target, but it was the only Kodak of the bunch and the cheapest. Go Kodak!)digital and I've got the software loaded, took some test pictures, transferred them from camera to computer - I was rocking. Tonight, trying to upload them to Typepad, I find in the really small print, that some Kodak Easy Share software doesn't have the upload to online capability. F**K!!!! So, I'm trying to find a work around. Stay tuned.

Talking about a Miracle

I saw the movie Miracle last night and it was very good. I was kind of surprised at how much I liked it. Knowing how it ends I kept thinking that it was going to be disappointing but it wasn't at all. The weird thing was to keep hearing them talk about Russian team member Viacheslav Fetisov. Fetisov played for the Detroit Red Wings for awhile and that's what I associate him with. How quickly things change -the 1980 Olympics and the USA Hockey team's win over Russia was such a big deal and here we are almost 25 years later and Russia isn't viewed as a threat in anything. Weird!

Speaking of miracles - Ralph Nader is going to need one to become President. Ralph - find something better to do then f**king up the election.

Whadda ya mean I have an accen?

Great article in The Detroit News today about Michiganders and our accent. If your from Michigan you know that we are always told that we don't have an accent and that TV people are actually taught to talk like us because of that. Not true my friends. According to the article we have flat, nasal accent highlighted by our tendency to drag out words (Mom becomes Maaaam), drop the g's and t's at the ends of words (accent becomes accen), run letters or words together (what do becomes whadda) or just change consonants in words such as my favorite Milk which we say like Melk. That explains why when I lived in North Carolina everyone told me I said Milk funny. My friend Cat pointed out to me that we also do things like end sentences with prepositions such as Where you going to? I'm sure some of these things aren't limited to Michiganders but are probably more of a Midwest thing. This former Michigan native has more linguistic fun so check it out.

So you know how intrigued I am by the Guacomole Doritos. I still haven't tried them yet but I keep eyeing them. For those of you who thought those sound gross comes this news from Not Martha. Nestle in some weird attempt to entice Europeans to buy more kitkat bars has come up with some new flavors such as Curry, Masala, Lemon Cheesecake, Liquorice, Saffron, and Passion Fruit. Nestle - one word - guacomole!

Get Yer Greens

They sound gross, they look gross, yet I am really drawn to the new guacomole flavored Doritos. Every time I see the commercial I think "Oooh gross, must try them." Must be my inner kid or maybe it's the fact that I'm on a diet and am now compelled to obsess over anything that I shouldn't be eating. But hey, guacomole has veggies in it right?

Stop the Stupidity

From US magazine comes the stupid quote of the week from Paris Hilton, which for some reason I hear in a valley girl voice: "[Kabbalah] helps you confront your fears. Like if a girl borrowed my clothes and never gave them back, and I saw her wearing them months later, I would confront her." Wow! No wonder all the celebrities are flocking to Kabbalah. With fears like that, it's good to have some place to turn, doncha think? Kabbalah, by the way, is the religion (similar to Buddhism, I think)that Madonna, Demi Moore and Britney Spears are supposedly involved in. I don't know anything about it but it just seems like the celebrity trend du jour.

I finally got the digital camera software installed and plugged the whole thing in, all ready to download pictures. No pictures cuz no batteries. Don't know what's happened to them but now I have to get batteries. Of course the camera needs AAA's and who the hell ever uses those for anything? We're getting closer anyway.

I watched Shanghai Knights the other knight. Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan. Owen Wilson. Owen Wilson. Owen Wilson. That is all you need to know. I just saw another preview for Starsky & Hutch with Owen and Ben Stiller. I know the movie is probably going to be stupid but I start to laugh whenever I see the two of them as S & H.

Happy Valentine's Day

Wow, I just realized that I haven't posted since Tuesday. Yesterday was knitting circle and I continued working on the baguette. I think I'm a slow knitter or maybe it's that all the crocheters in the group keep finishing projects and make me feel like I'm going slow. Yeah, I think that's what it is. I'm almost done with the baguette and I'm pretty sure I'll have it done this week and then it's a matter of putting it together and felting it. Well, I think we know how I am when it comes to putting something together. My new goal is to get the bag finished and complete the seaming of Kris' tank by the time I go to Spain so that gives me three weeks. I also promised myself I would finish the skully sweater so I could wear it this winter so I want to cast on the back and get a good chunk of that done in the next 3 weeks, as well. Stay tuned for progress and pictures (soon, I promise).

In the meantime, check out Fred Flare and get yourself the Action Heroine's Handbook cuz you never know when you might just have to choke a man with your bare thighs. The graphics are very funny.

Kids these days

I called my sister to wish her a Happy Birthday, which was yesterday. HAPPY 38TH BIRTHDAY, KRIS!!! Love you! Any way, after talking for a little while she said she had to go because she had to do the vegetable tray that my niece is taking to school tomorrow for Valentine's Day. I said, "Vegetable tray!" She said, "Yes, some of the kids are bringing cheese trays as well." What?? What?? I'm all for healthy eating but these are 5th graders - what happened to cupcakes? I think it's too cute. What's even cuter is that my niece told my sister that the kids had requested lots of cucumbers because they looooveed the cukes. How great is that?

I've made a pact with myself. I will NOT order or purchase any more yarn until April 1st. Alright, quit laughing. I'm serious. I have way too much stash and am working on way too many projects and I need to exercise some control. The control thing is very hard because everytime I look at Rob's blog, I want yarn. Stop posting those beautiful pictures of yarn! I've got to have money for next month's trip to Spain. Mmmm, wonder where the yarn shops are in Madrid. Hope there's money left over for souvenirs.

I think I need a cold shower

I finished Laurell K. Hamilton's book A Caress of Twilight this morning and well, all I can say is:verrry interesting. This is the second in the Princess Meredith series. Meredith is a private investigator and a faerie princess who is next in line to be Queen. Oh yes, that faerie princess/private investigator combo. The catch is that in order to inherit the throne she must get pregenant but in faerie land they have sex with as many men as possible, in this case her bodyguards, and marry whichever one gets her pregnant. Supposedly they do this so that you don't end up with someone who can't help you produce a heir. Always thinking, those faeries. So basically, the P.I. stuff gets thrown out the window because the Princess is too busy with her bodyguards and I mean, graphically detailed, ain't your mama's harlequin, lot's of sex, busy. So, if you like steamy and next to no plot, and who doesn't occassionally- this is the series for you. Laurell Hamilton also has a Vampire series as well and something tells me there's a lot of biting happening there. Check out Ms. Hamilton's website for more info.

Speaking of books, I'm about to start The Lady & the Unicorn by Tracey Chevalier and there has been zero interest in the read-along. So I'll post comments when I finish the book.

On the knitting front, I'm about half way through the bottom of the baguette. I hoped to get the entire thing done this weekend but the weekend turned out to be busier then I expected. I haven't had a chance to hook up the digital camera to my computer yet but hopefully it'll happen sometime this week.