Stephieface

A while ago, I promised fyberduck pictures of the socks she made, had fondled by Terry Pratchett, and sent to me…. and long have I been uber lame in that department. At first, I had grand schemes of taking pictures with me doing “mischievious” things in the socks…. like sneaking the last piece of cake in the fridge, and cutting the tags off my matress. It was when I began this endeavor that I learned I can’t set up the timer on my camera (having long since lost the book).

So then I began trying to take pictures of my own feet while holding the camera, which either made my feet look impossibly tiny or my legs tremendously chunky…. or in a cruel twist of fate…… both. So I tried in alternating venues to get the pictures taken, and failed in those same alternating venues.

(You’d think at this point the Mister could help me, but let’s not get into that right now.)

However, in an effort to clear my slate before the new year dawns, I took the pictures I had been getting all along… and I kept them. I posed in front of the Christmas tree….. which had you been here my friends would have had you on your asses. The pictures first…..

Try to imagine that the last picture is not so washed out by the glaringness of my vampirely pale skin.

I could think of no better setting for the socks than with my favoritest Christmas present this year, my new shoes, bought for me by my father in law. The man pays attention to detail and totally locked on to the fact that I adore and prefer squared toed shoes all on his lonesome… I am hoping that some day the trait becomes inherited (;p). The shoes are Rocket Dog (women’s: Stoker) and are super comfy.

Now, why you would be laughing your ass off watching me take the pictures…. look at those pictures…. now try to imagine what I’d have to be doing to get them…… k….. you have an idea? We only have couches in our livingroom, neither of which I am inclined to move just to take pictures, so in these pictures I am sitting on my butt on the floor….. waggling my legs in the air trying to have them loom before the Christmas tree while also trying to take a picture and trying to stay still enough so the picture won’t be insanely blurry. Oh and I’m trying to hike up my pant leg so the socks can be seen. Ahhhhh, good times.

And these were the best of the best pics, folks…. try to imagine the not so best.

And the obligatory straight down at my feet pic…..

You would never guess that I have US 8-8.5 feet.

So a big thank you once again to fyberduck- I hope the pictures are okay…. at the very least you can get a good giggle at what I had to do to get them… I’ll try again after we move, maybe a new place will have better settings.

Something like a Christmas Hangover can actually be many things. First, of course, is the obvious… partaking too often of Yuletide libations- which I did not do. Second of course, it could be what you could call your belly after eating so many Christmastime goodies…. I have Baby Hangover, several Diaperini Birthday Hangovers, and Christmas Party Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding Hangover… so its hard to tell if its that. Thirdly, it could be just the run down ran over feeling you have after having wrapped presents until your skin  (and mouth) went dry, getting up at the crack ass of dawn with Seasonally overly cheerful children,  and having to clean up after all the festivities (which, if your kids are like mine, means they tore paper like mini rending beasties tossing the paper shrapnel like confetti into the air making sure to have as many little torn bits as possible). I’m pretty sure its the third one.

In addition to the madness of Christmas, we’re looking to move sometime in the next 4  months or so. I’ve been trying to pack up summer stuff, and things I hope will not be missed…. while simultaneously purge those things I don’t think should move along with us. The task seems  (probably) more daunting than it actually is because it looks like we have  an enormous amount of stuff…………. the actuality is we only have one and a half closets in the entirety of our apartment (which is 2 floors). If we were to move somewhere with slightly more closets than what we currently have, I bet it would look like we have no stuff at all. The biggest issue at hand currently is trying to find a 3 bedroom in our price range that is closer to the Mister’s work. The Mister driving 40 mile roundtrips daily to work and back is not gas budget friendly.

Moving couldn’t come any sooner though, in my opinion, just last night my neighbors called the cops because there have been these two pitbulls roaming our neighborhood. Previously the pits bullied their way in through my neighbors open screen door into her home and tried to kill her dog. Last night, she let her dog out to “go” and the pits tried to jump him from my yard, then once again tried to bully their way into her home. She doesn’t have a wee dog, she has a lab mix….. a lab mix which is roughly the same size as my children. This makes me nervous in general. This is of course after another neighbor tried to sic his pitbull on Zach, and that same pitbull attacked the little boy across the street sending him to the hospital. I love dogs, mind you, and one of the nicest dogs I’ve known was a pitbull mix that belonged to the grandmother of a friend of mine….. however, I’m not down for living in an area where there are Pitbull gangs…..

Kind of like West Side Story, but with dogs.

We have an amazing friend, Ben, who is just awesome. This would be the Ben from the comments of my last post (he writes emails to the Mister [like I do] which the Mister never reads [like with mine] because the Mister never checks his email). Recently he gave the Clan our Christmas Saturnarius presents. First, he floored me with what he got for Zach (that Zach still has yet to see and open) which was a Nintendo DS and a game- which Zach will no doubt love love love to his very dear little 11-year-old boy core (partly because the Mister and I don’t get videogames or videogame systems for our kids…. we tend to buy toys the Flying Diaperinis have to make move themselves).

For the Mister and I, he bought a computer game (the same one for each of us)…. which I am assured by the Mister is very fun. The reason I haven’t tried it yet is because its missing the CD Key (a little multi digit number than you totally need to enter during installation of the CD or it won’t install) inside the box. This is nothing against Ben, by the way, he just ordered it- I am very thankful of the thought. However, if you have purchased Hellgate London for your little Hellions (or your big Hellion) and you too are missing the CD key, this is what will happen to save you the trouble of having to discover it on your own…..

You will open the box, and look at the manual, reading that the CD key you require is printed on the back cover.

Like a Hallmark card commercial, you will turn the manual over only to discover a blank box where the CD key is supposed to be.

You will look through the booklet searching for who to call about this, and will find no phone number- but a web address.

You will go to the web address to search through the site trying to divine where you can get help, only to discover that if you want to get help online you have to make an online account….. of which requires the CD key. If you search their site to get the toll free phone number to call Hellgate London’s customer service about not having a CD key, you first have to get an online account that requires the CD key to do so, so that you can access the part of the website to get the number to call the place about not having a CD key.

Finding yourself in a bit of a tizzy, you call your friend Ben who does have a Hellgate London account and has access to the site and can get you the number. By the way, Hellgate London’s Customer Support phone number is 1-800-346-3425 its open M-F 8am-5pm PST.

Victorious you call said number, choosing technical support.

You get technical support, but they say its not their department and you have to call accounts and billing…. oh, and they won’t transfer you, you have to hang up and call the other option yourself.

You hang up and call again choosing the accounts and billing option. You get a rep who says that there is nothing they can do for you. They say that although, yes, they manufactured the game……. and, yes, they placed the manual (with no CD key printed on it) in the box….. and, yes, they sealed it and shipped it off to Amazon to sell….. its not their problem that there is no CD key in the game and that I have to now call Amazon to get the CD key….. because, you know, that’s what Amazon does right? They then hang up.

Flustered, you try to call Amazon Customer Service. Now, Amazon is awesome and tetchy and the same time. You get to use this awesome hit-a-website-button-and-they-call-your-house-immediately thingy….. but it can be hard to locate. First, go to the Help page, on the right there is a section called “Contact Us”, click that button then choose either email or call us… choosing “call us” brings up a pop up window that you enter in your phone number and hit submit. Keep that wee little pop up window open until the end of your phone call. Your phone will start ringing immediately, pick it up- most likely you will have an automated voice telling you to hang on while it transfers you to a real live person.

When you get to real live person find out that the person who gave you the gift has to call in since they bought it on their account, and try to resolve this.

Right about this point you start debating whether you should start smoking again or maybe you should crack open that lone wine cooler that’s been in your fridge since the last time Bob and Eva came to visit when the football season just started. Then you start thinking how lucky it was that you got the cracked out manual and not your Mister (who’s name was on the tag but it didn’t matter who got which box since it was the same thing) who would no doubt be probably banning the game from the house at that very moment…. oh and there would be box throwing probably, maybe a couple choice cuss words.

By the way, Ben did call Amazon I believe and it would take 2 weeks to get everything solved… he said just buy another copy and he’d repay the cost.

Then, as you wait for everything to work itself out… you read Sam and TJ their gifts from Ben……

…..And take immense joy in the fact that you’ll get to list these on their reading lists for Pre-K. Take that Everybody Poops!

Edited To Add: I forgot to mention… the bread pudding…. I took it to the party and there was nothing left to bring home- it was eaten up completely! Some things worth mentioning:

If you are going to use one of those disposable aluminum pans, be careful- this turns out very freaking heavy. You will have to carry the pan of bread pudding on a thick piece of carboard or a cookie sheet, because if you try to just pick up the sides and go…. the whole thing will bend in half- it is that heavy. I had to use a cookie sheet to get it in and out of the oven, after it cooled down I tied a thick piece of cardboard to the bottom of the pan to help carry it to the party.

The middle may turn out runny. With bread puddings you either get a runny middle and a golden brown top, or a burnt top and a non runny middle. I opted for runny.

It turns out very rich, but very good.

It was a success though! Yay!

A few days ago I pondered on what I should make for the Christmas Party that the Stephieface Clan will be attending tomorrow, and for a while I toyed with the idea of Twinkie Bread Pudding. The glitch in that idea at the end was that your average box of Twinkies has (I think) 10 cakes, and each box of 10 costs about $3.79ish- the recipe calls for 24 Twinkies, so that would be a little over $11 for one ingredient, I’d still have more to go. There is a thrifty part of me that screamed, “What the hell are you thinking?! You aren’t dating these people!”…. so I opted for something else instead.

There was another recipe that caught my eye called Almond Croissant Bread Pudding. If you can’t tell, I lean towards slightly nontraditional foods. So I decided to go with that….. that is until I went shopping for the ingredients. In the original recipe it called for almond paste. I had no idea what almond paste was. When I found it in the store, the thrifty part of me screamed again- for a tiny 8oz can of Almond paste costs $5.99. I then began to ponder why I attend festivities where you are asked to bring something. Yes, I am that stingy. So I decided to just do whatever I wanted, tired of high falootin ingredient recipes. In the end I made this:

I call it….. Nuthouse Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding (Nuthouse being where I would be sent were I to follow through with any of my earlier bread pudding plans). I used the Almond Croissant recipe with a few changes:

1. Instead of 6 large croissants I used 2 thingies of mini croissants from Walmart. I have no idea what to call the thingies, its the plastic cake packages turned upsidedown and filled with minis that state they hold 1 oz of minis (and have about dozen or so inside).

2. I opted for milk chocolate chips instead of the almond slivers, because chocolate is just awesomer than nuts (in more ways than just cooking).

3. I also substituted some nut filling stuff for the almond paste, the stuff was called Baker brand fine dessert nut filling in a wee jar. That was on sale for $2.

I followed the recipe pretty much as written except for the substitutions, and then only adding a fine thin layer of chips between the little rounds of croissants and the big ones (not alot, just like 25 chips or so). I have no idea how it tastes, but I should find out tomorrow- wish me luck!

A week or two ago, I caught a post on Ravelry linking to a blog post that had something very interesting. The blog post was a tutorial on how to make your own DPN holder using pencil toppers/finger puppets. Here is the post….. and here are mine:

I used wee little rubber penguin finger puppets that I got from Papermart on Greentree Rd. The finger puppets were located on a 3 sided display right at the front of the store. There was a limited supply in choices, but a good many of them. Aside from the baby penguins were adult penguins, horse heads, aliens, pirates, and baby Elmo/Cookie Monster. The baby penguins are 12 to a package, costing $2.49 (the others ranged from $1.49 a bag, on up). The elastic I got at the Bridgeville Walmart for $0.97. Save yourself the trouble looking for pencil toppers and finger puppets at places like Walmart, Target, Staples, Office Depot, etc…. alot of people are having trouble finding them in these places (I know I did). Try instead party supply stores, and dollar stores….. or even Oriental Trading Company or Archie McPhee online.

So far I have the one holding the eldest’s stocking on its DPNs and the other is holding all the DPNs and crochet hooks I keep in my notions box that I use them most often. It didn’t take long at all to make them, the hardest part was pushing the needle through the finger puppet and trying to make sure the holes were even.

So, if you need one its super easy to make- if you don’t need one but know knitters who may, its a sweet little inexpensive super dee awesome gift you can give this season, regardless of whichever holiday you celebrate.

After reading a few blogs today, I realized that there are alot of people out there in the blogosphere who are knocked up. Congratulations are in order!

As well, my SIL just (just as in as of 4:30 this very morning) had her baby boy today, Rylan who weighed in the same as TJ did when he was born at 9lbs 1oz.

Tons of babies everywhere!

My little babies are growing up too fast, for me anyways. Danny is trying to crawl, even though he can’t sit up or roll himself over from back to front. TJ is trying to potty train.

Alot of people believe that I retarded TJ’s overall developement by not forcing the whole potty business on him when he was 1 or 2. I got chastised a little bit by his teachers when they learned that at 3 he was still wearing pull ups and had no interest in peeing in a potty. After the whole potty training debacle with Sam (where he broke the toilet, causing our bathroom to flood, and daddy to yell- thus having him fear the potty more than any monster) I swore I wasn’t going to push my next kid. As the person in charge of training, I saw what pushing had done…. it had made us both (Sam and I) miserable and frustrated. Even without pushing, TJ is still doing his business earlier than Sam did- I just got Sam trained last year and he turned 5 in October.

Nonetheless, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t abhor having to handle poopy clothing. This is why I am hesitant to get a dog…. its just one more thing with bodily functions that I’d have to concern myself with.

But, at least I have this video to help out. As strange and freaky as it is to me, the kids love it…. I really was surprised to find it on You Tube. Go ahead and watch, groove along to such hits as “Wipe Wipe Wipe Yourself, Always Front To Back” and “Super Dooper Pooper”.

Super Dopper Pooper WILL get stuck in your head, explain that to your spouse or coworkers.

I read a lot of blogs…. a lot…. and although I may not always comment, I do read a fair bit (even more than what is listed on the sidebar). Mainly this has to do with the manner of comments I usually leave.

My comments usually fall into 4 categories:

1. Smart Assery

2. Abject Silliness

3. Down Right Dirty Mindedness

4. Attempts At Funnysitude

Only once in a while do I make serious comments, and because of this I usually end up not leaving a comment when something from the above list would be grossly inappropriate.  Yes, even I have standards….. as terribly low as they may be.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

So, a lot is happening right now. I have holiday parties to ready for, and stockings to knit. However, I (unsurprisingly) have issues. Feel free to advise or whatever if you like…..

Firstly: The Family Christmas party on the 15th….. you have to bring an edible something. Last year I made a cheese and onion dip that tasted wonderful, but looked so god awful that no one touched it (because the oil in the cheese seperated in the car and the dip was literally awash in a pool of greasy eeew).  This year I asked my MIL what we were low on, and who was bringing what…. you kind of have to ask this because last year we had 9 people bring taco dip and ended up with 25 pies of assorted flavors, usually pumpkin and apple.

Now, I have yet to make something that is requested (like my MIL’s baked beans or her pasta salad), so I sought her advice. She said no mains (like turkey or ham), no pies (since she is assuming we’ll get a pie haul like last year), no cakes. We need side dishes, and desserts (that aren’t pies and/or cake). Personally I have a raging sweet tooth, so I start thinking of desserts, and she starts aiming toward cookies.  I don’t want to make cookies. I am certain someone will show up with a cookie tray of some sort (its Pittsburgh, we have cookie trays with everything…. we have so many cookies that they get their own table…. a wedding isn’t a wedding unless you have a kitted out cookie table)- so no cookies. What does this leave me then?

Then I was inspired to make bread pudding. Its not a cake or a pie ( or a cookie), so I started looking into that. Remember now, this will be served at a large party…. so I started looking into things that could serve a large amount of people. Then I found it… and this is where you come in…… I found a recipe for something I had never seen before and serves (without doubling or tripling) 18……….

Twinkie Bread Pudding.

The bread in this bread pudding is twinkies, it has some chocoloate chips, and cinnamon too….. if you saw this at a party would you eat it (with or without a card that states what it is)? I am asking because if it sounds atrocious, I’ll save myself the $10 in twinkies. Opinions?

Secondly: With the writers strike occurring in Hollywood, all the shows I watch at night while I knit are now on hiatus…. any suggestions on movies I could watch that will tide me over until 2008?

Well, it wasn’t  really a snow day. Had I four wheel drive and the power of flight it would have been a school day like any other. Yesterday though there were reports that alot of snow would be hitting our city today- possibly 1-2 inches. The reports were on every station last night, so that when I woke up this morning I left with more than adequate time to get to their school.

However, let’s ignore that we had already had 2 inches by 8am. We left at 8:15, and by 9:30 I still hadn’t made it halfway to the school. There was gridlock everywhere, no one was moving at all. The roads were still crap -the early warning from the day before apparently was overlooked and ignored by the snow plow people who I didn’t see hide nor hair of until 9:45.  After almost getting stuck, almost getting hit, and sliding all over creation I gave up and came home with the boys. Turning around to come home ended in me arriving home at 10:30, and I never hit the halfway mark.

To add insult to now snow day injury, I couldn’t get up my street as it is designated as a secondary street (maybe even tertiary) and was still untouched by salt or plow- meaning I slide backwards if I try to drive it. I parked at the bottom and marched the boys (and myself carrying the baby) up the hill back home.

I do love the weather preparedness of this city sometimes.

 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

I’m currently making stockings of all sizes. Using the International Sock of Doom pattern (minus the rib of doom, doing k2p2 rib for 5 rows and the rest in stockinette) on size 8 needles for the boys’ stockings, and the North Country Cotton Baby sock pattern for ornaments (do the same, 3 or so rows of k2p2 rib and the rest in stockinette). This is what they end up looking like:

Especially when the kids get to choose their own colors and such. The big stockings take about a day give or take, and the little ones a few hours (this is of course if you have no obligations or responsibilities of any type).

I’m making the little ones for my friends Bob and and Eva who are having a Christmas Tree party this Saturday. Until I received the invitation I had never ever heard of a Christmas Tree party. Its a party where you invite your friends and family to come bearing ornaments for your nekkid Christmas tree, so that your tree will not be so nekkid anymore. Kind of like a Christmas Tree Shower, but without having games. Here is a prestocking…

The colors are not that dark, my camera is still misbehaving and I can find no reason for its insoloence… so imagine them brighter.  Like with TJ’s finished stocking I plan to duplicate stitch initials on them, one each for Bob and Eva and one each for their dogs. I like making things like this to sneak an extra wee present on the tree, tree presents rock just slightly a little more than under tree presents. Mainly they rock because they’re wee and hidden, and after you’ve grown up its nice to still have surprise and wonder on Christmas morning.

For a Terry Pratchett swap I once made a mitten ornament, its intended purpose was to be passed back and forth between my partner and her husband year after year… with one person putting a special tiny gift in there and hiding it in the tree where the second person must find it, where the next year its the second person’s turn to fill and hide. My partner’s favorite character was DEATH who speaks in all caps, so my partner received a wee black mitten with a big white “HO.” on it. Only after it was sent did it occur to me that I should warn her, lest she think I was insulting her.