Someone Hand me a Paper Bag Before I Hyperventilate!

Our friend Lisa was here last week. She knits just as much as I do and she recommended this website called Knit Picks. However, when she mentioned it she was talking about the knitting needles they have on there. I went and scoped it out but knitting needles don't really do anything for me. For some reason I wound up on that site again this morning and glanced at their yarn. This is where the heart palpitations and erratic breathing come in.

THEY'RE PRACTICALLY GIVING IT AWAY!

Now, I know I get excited about little things. Like buttons. Or cupcakes. But really, this is fantastic. I ordered a boxful of 100% wool yarn hand woven by poor Andean folk for $3 each. And a book. Ok, I'm exaggerating a little. I ordered four skeins of really REALLY nice yarn and my favorite knitting book Vintage Knits (found that for pennies as well). Have you ever seen that Austin Powers movie where the femme bots' heads explode? Well, if you have then you could draw a pretty good parallel between Powers' mojo = Yarn and Femme Bot exploding head = Hannah exploding cranium.

Oh, and on top of that I got the two knitting patterns from Hansigurumi on Etsy that I'd ordered around Christmas!The Garden Snail

The Jackalope

Star, I wish you were here. I think you'd understand the magnitude of this amazingness. All that's missing is some fresh baked cupcake to make this day coma-inducingly good.

But wait, there's more! My Grandmother Joyce was here last night for a New Year's Eve dinner and she recommended this site called paperbackswap.com. You list any paperback books you don't particularly want on their and people can request them. So you pay for the shipping out and for every book you send you get one credit and you can then order any book you want and receive it for free. Each regular book costs 1 credit to order, audio books are 2. By listing ten books when you sign up you get 2 credits to play with. I did that last night and I ordered the Forsyte Saga. I just got an e-mail telling me that my request had been filled and I'll be getting an e-mail in a couple of days saying the book has been shipped! I'm pretty excited.

Cooking in '08

I've been busy cooking for the last couple months of good, old 2008. I more or less promised myself not to show anyone these recipes because they make me look like a god in the kitchen, but then I figured that most of you don't live with me and I can still wow them folks with these. I've tried all of these without any messups and with really great end results. Plus, all of them are on the internets so I don't have to mess with a cook book that won't stay open. Anywho, enjoy these during the whole new year thing.

Baked Pasta Casserole

(one of the ultimates of ultimates lately)

Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sparkled Ginger Cookies

(I got Jessie to eat almost a whole batch even after she knew they were vegan... which says something about how awesome these are.)

Classic Apple Pie

(I made that for Not-so-Turkey-Turkeyday and it turned out beautimous, I did use my own pie crust recipe, so I'm not vouching for theirs.)

Pumpkin Scones

(I can't stress how mind blowingly good these are. I gave the recipe to Star and I think she made at least two batches within the first week.)

Apple Crostada

(very tasty, very buttery)

Honey Mousse with Pomegranate

(This is another one of those foods that make you want to roll your eyes back and ask "If this isn't some sort of religious experience, what is?" So good. Mine turned out a tad more yellow than the picture but that's because I used local, happy eggs with happy egg yolks.)

Swedish Walnut Tea Ring

(My first success with yeast, and a tasty success to boot!)

Gingerbread Cake

(this was tasty as heck however I decided to do something silly. I tossed it right out of the pan onto a rack after it had cooled, instead of treating it like brownies and cutting it up while it was still in the pan. Oops. I lost a good chunk out of the middle but that just meant I got to munch on that before everyone showed up.)

Country Crust Bread

(This is my new favorite bread and also the only bread I've gotten to actually turn out like it's supposed to. Ohhh new bread... you smell so good!)

And yes Star, I do know that I haven't put up pictures of those cupcakes I made, but Jessie got into them like a fox in a hen house and before I knew it they were gone. I guess I'll just have to make some more, now won't I? I have my eye on those hi-hats in that book...

Toms Again

I posted about TOMS shoes awhile ago and promptly got a response from TOMS themselves about my blog post! This afternoon I ripped open a package with a documentary about TOMS and the amazing work they've done in Argentina. There were a couple of times when my "ohhhhhh noooo's" brought my parents over to watch the children crowding around the boxes of shoes. At the end of the movie I knew I wanted to get a pair of shoes and, at some point, volunteer. Right now, I need to get a job which will in turn give me money which will also in turn fund a trip to help out. Turns out it takes monies to help people in need. As do rabbit rescues. Anyway, here are some
Things you can do:
Go on a shoe drop either in the US or in Argentina (heyo, I'm really considering doing this so if anyone wants to go in together... hint hint).
Style your Sole party (you can style a pair of TOMS shoes yourself and wear them whenever you feel like it!)

Join the TOMS team (college and high school internships).
Buy a pair!

I also just realized that Olio United, the same place that I bought my beloved rubbery Melissa shoes, carries TOMS! So does a surprising variety of shops in Portland, you can search for a place near you here.

And yes, I was referencing this youtube video in my first TOMS post.