Good consumption - aka a proper post

Books: My husband and I perused (note the true definition, not the common usage of the word) this book for quite some time the other night. It was a truly fascinating eye opening couple of hours. I just picked up another book, Material World: A Global Family Portrait by the same author, and it's just as amazing. I look forward to his other, Women in the Material World Do check these out at a bookstore or at your public library. You won't be sorry.

Movies:
An Inconvenient Truth
Babette's Feast
March of the Penguins
Goodbye Lenin

Recipes: Cream of Pablano Soup
Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwiches

Spiritual wayfaring: Self Building

Crafting: Yarnstorm Blog

BTW

The chemotherapy package turned out very nice. She loved it. In a frenzy and desire to get it to her before her current dose of chemo, i rushed on it and this is what it had:

*The best hat I've ever made - everyone said how "professional" and perfect it was and it truly was...because i truly cared about making it for her. But in my rush, I forgot to take a picture. Arghhhh. And i did the pattern freeform....just increasing a circle and going with how it was turning out. It looked great. I'm going to make another i think sometime soon. The colors were happy colors...varigated boucle yarn...red, purple, green, orange and some fusions of these.
*Along with that, i put in very soft fancy purple sock slippers,
*the poem Warning: I Shall Wear Purple by making a bookmark with the poem picture on purple card stock.

I should have taken a picture of the package, or at least the hat (looks great on her too), but i saw her on the way into the neighborhood and wanted her to have it so rushed to write the card and get it to her. I did explain that i didn't think she was old but liked the sentiment of the poem. She did too. I was hoping to make her two hats but just didn't get time with family here and so much going on.

Commercial break

That was a long break eh? Just busy with the inlaws...they left and now I am getting ready for the semi-vacation....Puerto Rico here I come. Can't wait for blue sky, silver sand and tropical warmth. Looking forward to just relaxing, reading, watching LD explore new surroundings and also seeing the rain forest.

I haven't been up to much. Making some changes at home to help the environment...more on that later. Did my first sewing project too...cloth napkins to replace paper ones. More environmentally friendly and good practice with sewing.

My computer has been really moody lately too. I guess it's a good time for spring cleaning.

Update

I bought a sewing machine over the weekend and am very excited about it. This is what I have become. Suzy Homemaker. And my husband thinks it's cute. I've gotten all crafty lately. It's sort of nice. I am seriously happy about the sewing machine though even if it makes me uncool. I can't wait to make this Tunic Pattern I found on another blog (whose blog is password protected so can't share). I always have a hard time finding shirts that fit me in length because i'm tall. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to the store and bought long shirts, tried to not dry them so they wouldn't shrink, but then i shrink them anyway because i forget about them after fluffing them. I hate crunchy air dry shirts...they seem to stand up on their own. I just need to remember how to sew.

I'm also working on the contents of that chemotherapy basket. I saw her husband walking the other day and asked if he thought she'd like a hat and he said that she would love it so now i'm not at all afraid to give her a basket so am making her a few hats, throwing in a few hijabs, teas, a book and a cd.

I also have a few scarves requested of me from friends and relatives. Not much else happening over here. Domesticity is at a peak. Inlaws are still here too. They liked their homemade valentines day cards from the Little Dude this morning. Hubby and I are going on what just may be our first real date tonight. We met in person for the first time 3 years ago today. A semi-vacation (work for my hubby, vacation for me) is coming up too. Warm sand here I come. Can't wait to see LD in the water. He'll love playing in the sand.

Cupcakes

A big thanks to my cupcake swap partner! I love my package. Will be emailing you (if you read my blog) soon insh'Allah.

It got me in the mood to make red velvet cupcakes with buttercream frosting, decorated with red sugar sprinkles and candy hearts. Now I need to make Valentines cards...that's what I'm doing with the next half hour of LD's naptime.

Knitted Dishcloth

So I finally finished knitting something. This is the first thing I've done. I had to keep taking out rows because I can't figure out how to fix my mistakes. :-/ Frustrating. Now I'm working on the seed stitch and making baby washcloths with different stitches.

Here it is (front and back) - I did crochet the edges with single crochet.

Packages

I have always loved getting mail. My mother and I used to exchange letters when I was a kid and I was always happy when I got a letter from her. I'd take it to my room, read it and cherish it. I kept all of her letters for many years. I still have a box of letters that my mom sent my dad when they were first dating through the birth of their first child, my brother. My dad kept these and passed them onto me some years ago.

I don't know what it is but I love getting mail and when I am expecting a package I get so excited and will keep checking the mail compulsively. In general, I like collecting the mail everyday, just for the possibility of getting a personal card/letter/package or magazine. My husband makes fun of me for it because i do tend to treat as the highlight of my day. Pathetic, i realize, now that i type it. I miss the days when there was more personal mail than bills and junk (pre-email days) though...when letters and postcards came.

This week, I know there are a few packages coming. I'm going crazy looking out the door for a package on my step. How pathetic am i?

***update - package from al-khoei came and I'm so excited that I get to begin reading this book from beginning to end. I've read portions online but now i get to focus on it. After all, it's about my namesake (how i came up with my blog name). My mil, i think, was pleased that i was so happy to receive a religious book lol. It's not a surprise because whenever they come, they comment on my religious "library" and we all read a lot when they are here.

itty bitty swatch

itty bitty swatch
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

This may not look like much but it's a tiny little knitted swatch. I did bigger ones too and I seem to do fine until I make a mistake - usually drop a stitch or have a stitch too loose (usually the first in the row or last). Anyone got any tips. I keep working on making something but then i make a mistake and just quit because i don't know how to fix my mistakes.