I'm doing eight drawings in honour of Hanukkah. Granted, it probably would have meant more if I started posting on the first night of Hanukkah, but details, details. Click on the picture above to be taken to the site and read more of my ramblings.

1.) The Hanukkah Aardvark* was very good to me on the first night of Hanukkah. He brought me a netbook. Granted, the Hanukkah Aardvark had me stand in line outside of Best Buy on Black Friday to get one at an insanely low price, as is the spirit of the Hanukkah Aardvark. It don't matter. I love it and have named it Severus.


2.) Three words. Major. League. Dreidel.

http://www.majorleaguedreidel.com/







3.) Tomorrow, as our third night present, I'm taking Jonathan to see Avenue Q. I am so excited. I haven't seen it since it was in previews.






*The Hanukkah Aardvark was not my idea, but stolen from an episode of the television show, Friends. Ross, wanting his son to get excited over his Jewish roots, creates the Hanukkah Aardvark as a rival to Christmas' Santa.

1.) Monday's Shortpacked strip tells of the joy of working retail in December and the error of wishing someone a Happy Holiday instead of a Merry Christmas.

http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20091207.html

Originally only going to send this to myselftheliar but decided there might be a few other LJ friends who can relate to this scenario as well.

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2.)



Haters to the left, James Andrew is one fierce bitch. I hope that I am one tenth a GQMF as James Andrew is when I grow up.

Who is James Andrew? He is the ultimate dandy. Gatsby meets Gucci style. A GQMF. Below is a link to his blog where you can seen what he is doing, where he is doing it and what he is wearing while he does it.

http://www.whatisjameswearing.com/

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3.)Currently reading an alternate history, steampunk, zombie novel. It's called Boneshaker by Cherie Priest.

Currently listening to a lot of Tom Waits.

Currently obsessing over; amigurumi, almond milk, vegan pumpkin cranberry muffins, and Frank & Hilde.

I learned about the thinksport water bottle through the Green and Crunchy blog.

She does a better job of explaining the awesomness that is the thinksport bottle in this entry.


Why I want a thinksport water bottle.

1.) I am without water bottle right now. Technically, I have one, but it leaks like a sieve. I can only use it if it never moves from an upright position. Might as well just use a mug. Unfortunately, mugs don't do too well on the leak free front, whilst bouncing around in a messenger bag.

2.) It has a tiny mesh screen. I could make loose tea on the go and not worry about getting debris stuck in my teeth.

3.) It can keep contents hot or cold.

4.) It's free of lead, cadmium, bisphenol-a, phthalates, and PVC.

5.) You can pour through a tiny spout or a larger wide mouth opening.

6.) It's adorable.

7.) Um...tea?


Want to pick up one for yourself, or get more information? Go to thinksport's website.

http://www.thinksportbottles.com/products1a.htm

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I is set to be released theatrical November 19, 2010.

This gives me almost one year to knit up a house scarf for myself.

This is a big deal. I have yet to knit or crochet anything specifically for me and me alone.

So the question now is which scarf to knit up? It will be for the Slytherin house, if I go the route of a house scarf.



Year One and Two version? (aka the giant even block striped version.) (Off topic, this was the best example of a year one and two Slytherin scarf I could find. Of course it would be on the bane of my nightmares, a JBJD!)






Year Three and Four version? (aka the one with the tiny stripes amongst the bigger stripes.)





Hogwarts Unity scarf? (aka the black one with main colour stripe from each house.)




That weird Hip House Scarf from Charmed Knits?


I don't want to spend next fall speedily cranking this out in a rush for the film premiere. In a pinch I can crank one out in about three weeks, but I would rather not.

(Plus I like to keep my plate a bit open in case a non knitting or crocheting friend requests a scarf be made for them*.)

I hope to get this project started by January 2010. That'll give me ten months. Plenty of time, unless they release the movie earlier. And if they do, well, see three sentences back for how fast I can knit one up.


I have a crazy desire to make a house scarf using cashmere or alpaca yarn. Something really yummy and soft and indulgent. I'm pretty certain that much yarn would break the bank though. :(


*If you are one of these people, please let me know by July 2010.

I'm not a big pie person, so I made Mashed Potato Cupcakes and brought them to dinner on Thursday.


The idea is not an original, but stolen from the fine volume of cupcake ideas, Hello, Cupcake by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson.


If you enjoy making cupcakes I highly recommend this book. It's a great resource of how to hints for making adorable and quirky cupcakes.



It's a basic butter cake recipe with buttercream frosting for the mashed potato. The gravy is warmed caramel sauce and the pat of butter is a Pina Colada Starburst candy.

I expected this to be a case of "It's pretty but tastes awful". Not at all. The warm caramel sauce seeps into the butter cake cupcake and you end up with a Tres Leches cake taste. So yummy!

LUSH is coming to Tallahassee.

o_O

Before my other LUSH loving' Tallytown folks lose it too, LUSH Tampa is sponsoring a LUSH party in Tallahassee on Sunday, November 29 from 11am to 6pm at Aloft Downtown.

They're only bringing best sellers and holiday favourites. But if you call, you can place a presale order and won't have to pay until the party.

I am so frakkin' excited.

This is so random. I wonder if they are testing the waters to see if Tallytown is worth opening a LUSH store in.

I wonder if my monthly letter writing to LUSH HQ requesting a store is finally paying off?

I'll be over here, losing my shit now.

* French Press coffee maker

* Mr. Coffee Frappe Maker

* 4GB/8GB Sandisk Micro SDHC card

* Simply Knitting magazine subscription

*Tom Waits "Nighthawks At The Diner" album

* Battlestar Galactica The Complete Series

* Tracing paper

* Pedicure

* British chocolate (Yorkie Not for Girls bar, anything by Cadbury, basically.)

* MP3 player speakers

* Bicycle

* Working sewing machine not possessed by the devil

Threadless sells t-shirts. A while back, a contest began called ThreadCakes. Contestants made cakes of the Threadless designs.

Now, there is ThreadKnits. That's right, contestants can knit or crochet their favourite Threadless t-shirts.

I am entering.

Below are the t-shirts I am contemplating knitting up.




The Gaming Revolution






Milk Moustache





Celestial Summer Camp





Camouflage





Revenge of the Sushi


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Threadless has so many awesome designs that would be a great challenge to knit or crochet up.

I am having trouble deciding which one to focus on as my entry.

Dear readers, which design do you think I should focus on? Either of the ones listed above, or something else you found on the site.

* Improve the Yaakov the Jewish Yeti sketch. Turn into amigurumi pattern? Possible Hannukah card this year?

* Remember, a bad day of painting is better than a good day at the office.

* Drink more tea.

Click the picture to read more on random Frank and Hilde information.

I think I have found the style of wig I will use for the Tom Servo costume for Dragon*Con 2010. A bouffant.

I found a wig on Ebay that fits my vision. Unfortunately, it's in black and not white or platinum blonde. Also, it's out of my price range.

I found a cheaper version. It's a little longer than I like, but will do as a back up.



It's a little bit too long. I like the volume, but I want it to be at chin length, maximum. Depending on the quality of the hair, I could give it a trim and restyle if needed.

So I am on the look out for a bubble bouffant wig in platinum or white that will fit my giant Irish cranium. Tallahassee has a ridiculously large amount of wig shops, which is good. I'll be hitting those over the next eight months as I slowly piece together the Sexy Tom Servo costume.

Click picture for today's strip, "Frank & Hilde Announcement".

Torrid is having a 50% off of clearance sale right now. I've been drooling over these shoes since they first went up a few months ago. But being a cheap bastard, didn't want to buy them. Now that they are marked down to $15 I bought them along with a few other items, including this dress.

They arrived today, and I spent this afternoon prancing around the apartment and humming the score to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

It's been awhile since I've worn heels. I missed them. When I was in high school, I used to play my best games of basketball when I wore four inch or larger heels.

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Haters are going to hate, but I love Lady Gaga. That bitch is crazy and fierce. I'm looking forward to her next album being released at the end of November and this video release for her song, Bad Romance only increases my love for her.

I have to ask though, am I the only one who feels those costumes they are wearing when they crawl out of the coffins look like what would happen if Max from Where the Wild Things Are grew up and developed a latex fetish?


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Things that Happen that I Probably Should Write Up as Script for Every Sad Story Needs Nuns But Don't:

Random Woman at Michael's: Excuse me, but is that your real hair?

Me: Yes.

RWaM: All of it?

Me: Indeed.

RWaM: Good genes.

Me: Thanks, I was a drag queen in a past life.


(I can understand why she thought my hair was a wig. Tallahassee was receiving massive amounts of rain courtesy of Ida, and the humidity made my two and a half feet of hair especially drag queeny yesterday.)

Click on the picture for today's strip, "Confessions, Part One".

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1.) I am such a dorky fibre art fan girl. I emailed Alan Dart, the knitting pattern designer, and asked him if the Tales of Yore, aka Medieval Mice, pattern would become available on his site. I expected an assistant to send me a form response. Alan Dart actually emailed me back. I squealed like a fan girl. Ridiculous. Oh, and yes, the patterns should go up sometime next summer.

2.) Today I start drawing the first chapter of Frank & Hilde. I am pretty pleased with the script for the first chapter. I wrote a story I want to read. Hopefully other people will feel the same way.




3.) NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month is going along pretty smoothly. It helps that I am focused on writing a 50,000 word novel, and not a good 50,000 word novel. Allowing myself to be a shitty writer helps the words to come out.

Click on the pic for today's strip: "Phantom of the Opera headache".





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http://www.alandart.co.uk/products/product/28    Meet Hannukah Hiram!




I learned that the awesome medieval mice patterns from Simply Knitting are courtesy of knit designer, Alan Dart.

He has a website, that does not offer the medieval mice patterns for purchase.

Unfortunately, it offers some other fantastic knit patterns.

Like Hannukah Hiram, whose pattern is now safely stowed on my computer and in various emails in case of  blue screen of death.  Yes, I purchased it.  (You can't tell from the picture, but he is wearing a yarmulke. Pardon me, I'll be over here dying from the cute.)

and these guys:



Dickensian Party Mice!
http://www.alandart.co.uk/products/product/26

I would post more, but I am dying from the cute. Go to his website for more awesome cuteness.

http://www.alandart.co.uk/
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More patterns are being posted in December. Mayhaps the Medieval Mice?

During my search for another knitting pattern, I stumbled upon this picture;



I immediately halted my first search and began a second search to track down the pattern(s) for these adorable mice.

Which lead me to learn that the patterns are in a UK knitting magazine called Simply Knitting. Specifically issues 53 (April 2009) and 54 (May 2009).

I managed to track down their main site, with information on acquiring back issues. Only to learn that the oldest back issue available at this time is for June 2009.


Cruel Fate, Why Must you Mock ME!?!

So my quest continues, someday I will have issues 53 and 54 of Simply Knitting.

And right now, I am seriously considering purchasing a subscription. Looking through their "latest magazine blog entries" I have yet to find an issue with a pattern I don't want to knit up.

Damn you, UK!