Latest Crochet Amigurumi Creations

I wanted to make a couple of toys for my nephew Noah. This is one of them. You will note that he is a penguin and very adorable.

Braces, Fair, etc.

Yesterday I got my braces on (purple). I would like them if they didn't hurt so much. I woke up last night in excruciating pain when I had to take Mia out and was forced to toddle off to bed knowing that despite the fact it would hurt less if I was coordinated and awake enough to ingest ibuprofin, unfortunately, I was not coordinated and awake enough to ingest ibuprofin.

I got them on yesterday morning at 7:45(!) and we promptly left to go to the fair. We looked at all of the animals, went on rides, etc, and had a Bloomin' Onion, which would have been SO much more enjoyable, not that it wasn't already-- if I had remembered that I was almost certainly going to be in pain and needed to bring something for it. Why do you hear kids whining about how much they hate the way their braces look? They never mention how much they hurt!

I listened to Obama's speech last night-- I don't agree with everything he says, but I like him, which has to count for something. It's not that I like what he does or how he speaks... I guess I like the way he acts in old photographs of him, the things that logically couldn't be staged. He also has a powerful way of speaking and modulates his tone perfectly, so its not as much his speech that was good, but his intonation. The fact that he held it in a stadium was interesting, and the fireworks were kind of funny. His youngest daughter is cute.

In other news, Writers' Journal is having a contest for my favorite genre with a deadline of November 30th. They pay well and it's a new contest, so will probably have less applicants than it might have otherwise. I just have to figure out what I would want to submit!

Orientdoll So Ye - Penny

I finally got time to properly photo the little ball-jointed doll I have. Or rather, I finally figured out how. She's an adorable little thing, so she got a photo shoot while it was nice outside, in between the weird bursts of rain. Her cuteness is unparalleled.

College and Bento

Officially accepted at, signed up at, and registered for classes at TC3. I will be taking Cultural Anthropology, Approaches to Literature, Introduction to Poetry, Beginning Algebra, and Principles of Biology. Hopefully the workload isn't too difficult. Now I have a blessed amount of NOTHING to do, which is awesome, and Elizabeth has vacation for the next week-- we're going to Seabreeze Amusement Park in Rochester!!!

I made a bento a couple of days ago too: you'll note the heart sandwiches and the bunny deviled egg-- though the picture came out a bit blurry. The entire bento was a hummus and pepper jack cheese sandwich, some cherry tomatoes, a deviled egg, and on the level not shown vanilla yogurt and applesauce with extra cinnamon. This has been the first bento that I've been able to take a picture of, so I'm very pleased.

Peach-Marinated Tofu

I made dinner for Elizabeth and Aaron (and me!) tonight. I made a very good Confetti Rice from the Vegetarian Times and also made a marinated tofu, whose recipe I invented and made as follows:

Peach Marinade (for Tofu)

1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3 tbs peach jam

Heat maple syrup and rice vinegar in microwave for about thirty seconds or until warm. Stir in peach jam.


Peach-Marinated Tofu

Slice tofu horizontally, then vertically into several slices. Place in a large baking pan and pour half of glaze (see above) over tofu. Refrigerate for at least an hour, preferably more, turning occasionally.

When ready to cook, add a tablespoon of olive oil into a pan and the rest of the glaze. Heat for five minutes, then add tofu to the pan. Cook for 10-20 minutes as desired, stirring often.

Lauren's Present

I finished Lauren's present-- she might be getting the cupcake purse for Christmas; it was taking forever, so I gave up. I figure that perhaps it will actually be done by Christmas. It certainly wasn't going to be done by her birthday.

I made her a mauve-colored kitten. It's about as big as my hand, so roughly four inches. I think that it is very cute and it has pretty blue eyes. The pattern is from Ana Paula Rimoli's book on amigurumi. And was moderately easy to make-- it only took one night vs. the 5+ weeks it was taking me on the cupcake purse. Now, what to make next...

Mr Raccoon; AKA Tanuki-san

I saw a raccoon today, or yesterday, considering it's a couple of minutes after midnight. This completes my collection of well-loved shapeshifters-- in Japanese mythology, raccoons (actually, their Japanese cousins, the tanuki) and foxes are both shapeshifters. It was a funny little thing.

In other news, the readership of the story I'm posting online at the moment jumped from around 4300 to around 6700 in five-six months. Go me!

Still working on Lauren's cupcake purse; major pain in the butt, and I need to get mine in gear while we're talking of such things. Lauren's b-day is coming up fast. I also need to get a story finished in time for June 20th, which most likely isn't going to happen unless I write all of it tomorrow. It would've been awesome, too. Le sigh.

I've Been Salmoned

I've been salmoned! Go here for details.

Foxy Foxy

FOXES! Cute, adorable foxes that stared at Mia and I while we were walking through with HUGE ears and FLUFFY tails and soooooo adorable!

Ahem. Now that I've got that out of my system, in other news: I'm fairly sure I got into TC3. Not that I had any doubts; I am an exemplary student, after all. They could have made a fuss about my less-than-traditional education, though. They sent me financial aid stuff to fill out and their was a student ID number on the letter, so I assume that I am indeed accepted. One department ahead of the other maybe? So I spent an hour or so going over class schedules and such. Apparently, there's an extension in Cortland only 4 minutes away from Elizabeth's work! Yay! Walking distance! Maybe. Biking distance? 1.4 miles; takes me about 15-30 minutes to walk that when there are hills. So definitely walking distance. So if all the classes I stared at would work out, that would mean three days a week in Cortland and the rest of the time online. Sounds decent, ne?

Current crocheting projects have lead me to form a blister on my hook-steadying finger. It's especially difficult since I am trying to make this for my niece Lauren. However, if it doesn't hurry up with the making, it's probably going to be for Christmas. Or the next niece's birthday (sorry Lauren!).

Video

This is the video that I made for my sister Becky (number three) a couple of weeks ago, when my visit first began. It's a slideshow type, full of pictures and such, and is mainly of her daughter, with some pictures of her, and of her fiancé. It took about four hours; it's the third video I've done, and so far is my favorite. 'Course, one of those videos isn't done yet, so... The song is Better Days, sung by the Goo Goo Dolls.