Saturday Shopping

Look at that, I remembered to post ;)

The weather yesterday was quite lovely. When I went to the library with Dad, I only needed a light jacket. I really should have sat outside with a book yesterday, but I never did - although it did start to get very windy, so maybe it was a good idea that I stayed inside.

Today I went to Michaels with my parents. I didn't buy anything, but my mom bought some stuff. Afterwards, we went to PetSmart to buy new toys for the dogs to replace the smelly old rubber bone and a chewed-through ring toy, and then we went to Indigo, where I finally spent the $10.44 on Mom's Christmas gift card (she gave me the rest of the gift card). I bought City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, which I hear is an excellent book. I thought about buying Coraline by Neil Gaiman, but decided on City of Ember. Maybe if I get another gift card from Grandma and Grandpa for my birthday, I'll buy Coraline.

I feel like I've been abandoning my NaNoWriMo novel from last November. I looked at my draft the other day, and was a little annoyed with some parts of it - I want to work on it, but I want to edit it at the same time. But tomorrow, when Dad's watching his Nascar race, I'll probably work on it.

That's all - I have to go eat soon. Bye :)

Michaels Sale of Awesomeness!

Yesterday, I went to the Michaels sale I'd mentioned in my last post. It was 20% off your entire purchase, including sale items; but not including things like books, magazines, Christmas trees over a certain height, etc. And I got yarn!

I wound up getting up before my alarm. Somehow, I tend to do that; probably because I'm anticipating the alarm. I had set it for 7:00 and got up at around 6:15, so I had plenty of time to eat and get dressed. I had to get up early because the sale was only from 9:00 until noon (I think), and Mom wanted to get there early so that she could get the yarn she needed.

After helping Mom pick out some colours, I started looking for yarn for the patterns I'd brought with me - Ysolda Teague's Lace-Up Opera Gloves, and Jenny Dolan's Punk Rock Corset Gloves. I wasn't sure what colour to get for the opera gloves, so I picked two colours for the corset gloves instead - Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in 'Cranberry', and Loops & Threads Impeccable in 'True Gray' (I think that's the colourway!). I thought about making the gloves in black and another colour like red, but then I realized that black yarn can be tricky to work with, so I didn't want to plunge into applied i-cord using black yarn. I liked the idea of red and grey, so I went with that. I think they're gonna look great :D I'll still make the opera gloves, but I might use some worsted that I already had before going to Michaels.

I felt really tired that afternoon, probably because I was up so early; so I rested for a bit on the sofa, watching/listening to Robin Williams' HBO special (which, I should warn you, is R-rated). After that, I think we watched the news, and then the Tina Fey Mark Twain Prize special on PBS (which was really great).

That's pretty much it. I'm starting to love my novel for NaNoWriMo, but I feel like it isn't moving quick enough. But I'm excited to write tomorrow, because I have a really good scene in my head that I want to write :D

Christmas shopping woes

Sorry about the huge gap between posts. NaNoWriMo is eating my soul. I'm at something like 31,903 words, which is pretty great. My story hasn't plunged into adventure quite yet, but I'm working on it. I think I'll throw a curve ball in tomorrow to make things interesting.

So I'm having a minor dilemma with Christmas shopping. I know it's early yet, but I like to get my shopping done ahead of time so that I don't have to go to the mall more than I need to. I'll probably have to go to the mall to shop for my mom, but that'll be it, I think. I already have my dad's present (I won't say what it is, just in case he comes across my blog by accident), so that's one person down.

I've been trying to read Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins, but I'm still at the prologue :p My dogs seem to interrupt my reading, which is a bummer. I also want to try to get Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince finished, because I want to be able to see the second part of Deathly Hallows when it comes out. Finishing Half-Blood Prince and reading all of Deathly Hallows might be a bit of a stretch, but it's a challenge I'm willing to take. I think I'll make it a goal for the new year.

I'm getting up early tomorrow to go to the Michaels 20% off entire purchase sale tomorrow. I have to get up early because it's only a four-hour sale. I don't know if I'll get anything (I really don't need yarn :p), but I might look at the clearance yarns to see if there's anything I like. Or I could pick up some Vanna's Choice to make a hat or a pair of Ysolda Teague's Lace-Up Opera Gloves.

I also want to make a Doctor Who scarf (you know, the one Tom Baker wore), but I have to do my research on what yarn to use. I think that'll be another goal for 2011: knit a Doctor Who scarf.

So that's what's going on right now. I will try to post sometime soon, but it may be a long break between posts while I'm doing NaNo. Later!

Went to Michaels today...

...But I didn't buy anything.

It was kind of disappointing. I had $10 to spend, and nothing really jumped out at me and screamed "BUY ME!" Maybe I'll try the other Michaels.

We went to the British imports shop, too, and bought some more kebab-flavoured Pot Noodle cups. They're highly addictive :) Mom and Dad bought some chocolate for me (I can't remember what they're called, but they're chocolate-mint balls, like the Aero Bubbles), Dad got some Walkers crisps and biscuits, and Mom picked up some tea (we were running out) and Custard Cream biscuits (which I love :D).

I watched the pilot of The Big C, which I had missed when Super Channel first ran it - fortunately, they were having a marathon; so I wound up watching the first three episodes before the soccer game came on.

The soccer game was a shambles... Toronto lost to Seattle. It was a 3-2 win, which isn't too horrible, but Toronto won't make the playoffs now.

I can't remember if I already mentioned this, but I finished my Calorimetry. Now I'm focusing on my Ravenclaw scarf.

I need to post more often...

Hi there. Sorry for not posting for nearly a week, lol. I just keep forgetting.

I went to Michaels on Saturday, and... I actually got yarn! There was a skein of Red Heart Collage in the 'Rust' colourway in the clearance shelves, so I grabbed it. They had more Collage in another colour, but I wanted to only get one skein in case I didn't like it much. I think I'll like knitting with it, though - I might make a hat.

I saw a rabbit in the backyard the other day, and I got scared when Smiles started chasing it. It got away, though. I had seen the rabbit (I think it was the same one, anyway) in the garden before, a few months ago I think. I think I may have seen two, even.

That's all, I think. I try and come up with a slightly more original post next time.

Bored on a Sunday afternoon

I'm bored. I was going to start watching Mad Men, but Dad's on his computer, and he wanted to watch the series. Oh well.

Hmm. I don't have much to post about. Uh, I read a bit of Stewart Copeland's autobiography last night, but I didn't read much of it because my head and teeth were aching from the weather.

And we went to Michaels, but I didn't get any yarn. I did get a couple of pendant beads, though. They're both glass beads. One of them is blue and rectangular with what looks like yellow flowers (so it looks like a vase), and the other one is a set of two, actually - a black one with a white flower thing and a streak of brown (it looks like a Japanese painting), and the other is a silvery grey. I should probably take photos of them, because I'm not describing them well :p

We went into Indigo, too, but we only got the Spring/Summer issue of Knit Simple. Then we went to visit Grandma. She had her TV on the Food Network, and there was a program on called The Supersizers Go..., where Giles Coren (a food critic from the UK who often appears of Gordon Ramsay's program The F Word) and Sue Perkins try out diets from different time periods, and then undergo medical tests to see what kind of impact the diets have on them. The episode we saw was about the Restoration period in the 17th century, and they were cooking things like eel pie and lobster. It reminded me of when Jonathan Ross was on The F Word and they were cooking eel, and Jonathan was freaking out :p It was pretty entertaining.

It actually snowed on Friday. It was odd. It wasn't a lot of snow - just a few flakes. But it was still pretty unusual. It's lovely and warm today, though. I actually changed into shorts because I was too warm in my jeans.

edited for spelling and clarity

A trip to Michaels

And once again, I didn't buy yarn.

I did get some beads, though. I got these blue teardrop-shaped glass beads with yellow-green accents in them, some small amber-coloured beads (I can't remember if they're glass or not), these cool metal charms - I think two of them were teapots, two were cups, and one was this cameo thing, and... I can't remember what the other one was - and a pack of findings and wire. I haven't started beading yet, but I'm gonna keep hitting the clearance racks and the sales.

I was going to get yarn, but Mom kinda steered us back to the beads :( Apparently, I can just knit from HER stash to make the punk fingerless gloves I want to make. Even though the pattern says to use Red Heart and Caron. Argh.

Eh... I'll just wait for when Red Heart Super Saver goes on sale. Or I can use the dark green and tan Red Heart that I have... blah... I think that the next time I make a birthday list for Grandpa, I'll put a Michaels gift card on it ;)

I went to Michaels and didn't buy yarn

But there were beads on sale, so I got a pair of large bird beads :)

I think I'll string one on some black satin cord I have leftover from a beaded key chain kit that Patti got me for Christmas once. Or maybe it was my birthday. I don't know. All I know is that it was a late gift, and my brother had to leave a message on her answering machine to actually get our presents.

After Michaels, we went to PetSmart because we had to get cat litter, and this dog with curly black fur (don't know what breed it was) came up to us and said hello. And a little dog saw Dad and started dancing happily. It was really cute. And another guy had a spaniel of some kind and was looking at the Kong toys, and Dad recommended these orange street hockey balls that we got for our dogs.

And then we went to Indigo. I didn't really get anything, but me and Mom are gonna share the 25 Cushions to Knit book that we got. Mom got a couple other books, too.

So, I reserved the book Home for the Holidays from the library. It's a book of short stories that has the one short story that the movie Home for the Holidays was based on.

I think I'm gonna read more of Blood and Chocolate today, and try and work on finishing it. And I have to read more of the GED book to keep Mom from bitching me out.

Do homeschoolers need late notes?

In a sense, I was late to biology yesterday morning :p

Actually, my study schedule is working well, even though I had a killer headache yesterday (probably from the weather). Here's what I did yesterday:

1. For biology, I read some of the text pages in my Human 3D computer program, looked at some pictures of bones and cartilage, and looked at some animations.

2. For world history, I read a timeline of North American history, using the world history program on my DVD-ROM. I'd like to find some good world history books, though, because while the program is good, it's only a brief and somewhat eclectic collection of timelines and such.

3. For Japanese, I watched Let's Learn Japanese on YouTube.

4. After lunch, I did half a page of polynomials.

5. For English, I read a bit of I Am Rembrandt's Daughter, but only a couple of pages.

6. Art - started making a garter stitch square, which I will turn into a rabbit. Part of a KAL :)

7. Creative Writing - worked on one of my stories, but I didn't get that much done :(

Today hasn't been as productive. So far, I've worked on one story and mucked about in Photoshop. Mind you, I did go on a 'field trip' to Michaels :D I didn't get any yarn, but mom got some yarn for a project she has in mind. Next time, I'll make a list of what I need, because there's a baby blanket I want to try making, and it calls for Lion Brand Vanna's Choice Solid.

So, I'm going to a knitting meet-up tonight at Second Cup :) Only problem is, the only project that I can take with me without lugging a pattern around is my soon-to-be shawl, which is just a garter stitch triangle. I'm gonna look like a total noob. I'd love to take my Opera Glove with me, but then I'd have to take the pattern with me, and probably my knitting pouch with my tape measure in it. And the baby cardigan is a bit much to take with me, because I have to take the pattern and some stitch holders with me. I'd rather finish that cardigan at home. So I guess I'll take the giant triangle, and hope to God/Goddess that no one's knitting lace at Second Cup!

I'm really bored.

...And I'm listening to Q107 via the internet. They're playing Pink Floyd.

So I went to the library today to pick up a book on Australia, a book on the history of airplanes, a book called I Am Rembrandt's Daughter and two U2 CDs - Achtung Baby and The Unforgettable Fire. Mom had nothing to pick up, which is a shocker, because she almost always has a pile of books and DVDs to pick up.

Then it was off to Michaels, where I got the new issue of Knit.1 and mom got some Bernat Handicrafter Cotton that was on sale. That location, which is the new one, has pretty much the same yarns as the one in Ancaster, but the aisles are roomier at the new location. Then we went to Indigo to get calendars. My calendar is an Artwork of John Lennon one, which is awesome. I can't remember which calendar Mom got. Dad didn't get a calendar, but he did get a coffee at Starbucks.

So I put some of the CDs I got for Christmas on my computer. I still have more to add to my iTunes library, but I put Maximum Cowbell, Planet Pop 80s, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Coldplay and Elton John on iTunes. Sweet :)

Also, with help from Mom, I got my left speaker to kick back on!