Little Things

Some things I've been making lately:

Maple Walnut Granola:

• 3 cups rolled oats (not quick cooking)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (or nut of your choice)
• 1 cup dried cranberries (or dried fruit of your choosing)
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 Tbl warm water
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 250°F.

In a large bowl, mix together syrup, sugar, oil, water and salt until throughly combined. Add in oats and nuts and and mix until coated.  Pour oat mixture unto a  lightly oiled rimmed baking sheet or pan.

Bake from 1½ to 2 hours or until oats are dry and brown. Remove from oven and cool. Stir in fruit and place in a sealed container.

Roadtrip: FunSpot - or I am a big nerd.

At work I get a "floating spring holiday" that I can take whenever I want, so on a sunny Thursday last week, I played hooky from work and drove with Mr. Cleaver to New Hampshire to play pinball. Because that's what you do when you play hooky. Obviously.

I may have mention it before, but I have a thing for pinbal, and this place?

Pinball heaven.

Over 35 different pinball machines, my favorites of which were the 1979 Superman machine seen above and the 1986 PinBot.

Mr. Cleaver spent most of his tokens relishing in DigDug from his youth.

We also played some good old Skee-Ball,

Tried a few rounds on the machine from King of Kong (which if you like video games in the tiniest bit you need to see, because it is an awesome documentary),

We also tried our hand at some newer games, including this Star Wars number that made me feel like a real Jedi. :)

Don't worry, we didn't stay inside all day, we also enjoyed the beautiful shores of Lake Winnipesaukee:

All in all, it was a good day of playing hooky, and thanks to some coupons we have so many leftover tokens we'll have to take a return trip someday!

5 True Things and a Lie

One of my dear friends and old college roommates tagged me on this so I figured I must comply - the rules are I must write 6 things about myself, one of which is a lie.

1. When I first met Mr. Cleaver, I hadn't sewed in years and didn't yet know how to knit.
2. From since I was little, up to today, whenever I take long roadtrips and I'm not driving, I imagine myself riding a (rather speedy) horse alongside the car.
3. I really want to learn how to quilt.
4. I own at least a half dozen children's books in Latin.
5. I once stole 54 green crayons from a restaurant.
6. If I ever did more acting, my dream role would be Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible.

You can put your guesses for the untruth in the comments if you'd like. :)

Lent 2010: Update 2

Our newest family member, Billy Budd the Betta

I have to say that I somehow expected things to be radically different sans TV, but really its much more the same than it has been different. I'm still tired when I get home from a stressful day at work (of which there have seemingly been many of late) and more often than not, I'll still sit down on the couch and knit, just like I would when we watched tv. Though I have been doing more spinning of late.

We have been eating at the kitchen table more and the dishes get done right after dinner more often. I will say that.

An Updated Lent by the Numbers:

• Games of Boggle Played: 1
• Games of Scrabble Played: 1
• Games of Trivial Pursuit Played: 1
• Games of Pinball Played at the Mall: about $8 worth
• Development League NBA Games Watched: 3/4 (the power went out)
• Quarters of USM Men's Lacrosse Wathched: 1 1/2
• Patterns Drafted:
  • Basic Tee I : The learning experience
  • Basic Tee II: getting closer....
• Concert DVDs Watched:
  • Stop Making Sense
  • Patty Griffin at the Artist Den
  • The Last Waltz
  • Johnny Cash at Austin City Limits
  • Guster on Ice
  • Pink Martini : Live
• Movies Watched:
  • The Hangover
• Episodes of The West Wing watched on DVD: a lot
• Episodes of Mad Men watched on DVD: 3/4 of Season 1
• CDs Listened to: too many to count!!
• Visits to Borders to read comic books and magazines: 3
• Walks taken:  a lot
• Books read:
  • Emma
  • 1/4 of Pride & Prejudice
• Times Mr. Cleaver fell asleep with a book in his hands and didn't wake up when I took it out: 2
• Hours of live TV watched: 0

There's also been dining out, internet surfing, knitting, sewing and  general lollygagging about.

Lent 2010: Update 1

Now that I'm two weeks in, I should probably give a Lenten update.

So far, it's not too bad! I did miss watching the Olympics (Mr. Cleaver very cutely asked me if he could watch the end of the US/Canada men's hockey game - I said yes.) and Sundays are generally the hardest. But I have to say I don't miss prime time tv at all - the only thing I really miss is Jeopardy!

Mr. Cleaver and I both agree, that live without tv somehow feels less stressful. We can go out any night we want, becuase we don't have to be home to watch anything. We've been doing more stuff, talking more over dinner and generally having a good time.

Here some Lent by the Numbers:

• Games of Boggle Played: 1
• Games of Scrabble Played: 1
• Games of Trivial Pursuit Played: 1
• Games of Pinball Played at the Mall: 9
• Development League NBA Games Watched: 3/4 (the power went out)
• Patterns Drafted:
  • Basic Tee I : The learning experience
  • Basic Tee II: fingers crossed
• Concert DVDs Watched:
  • Stop Making Sense
  • Patty Griffin at the Artist Den
  • The Last Waltz
  • Johnny Cash at Austin City Limits
• Movies Watched:
  • The Hangover
• Episodes of The West Wing watched on DVD: a lot
• CDs Listened to: too many to count!!
• Visits to Borders to read comic books and magazines: 1
• Walks taken: 3
• Books read:
  • 3/4 of Emma
• Times Mr. Cleaver fell asleep with a book in his hands and didn't wake up when I took it out: 2
• Hours of live TV watched: 0

There's also been dining out, internet surfing, knitting, sewing and  general lollygagging about.

Lent 2010

How quickly times flies! Here it is the first day of Lent already!

Long-time readers of the blog know that my annual Lent challenge is basically the only regularly reoccuring feature on The Chronicles, but for a one-sentence recap:

Last year I gave up non-cash forms of payment, the year before I gave up jeans.

This year I'm giving up TV.

I watch more TV than I care to admit, but admit I will.

It starts with the local news when I get home from work, then it's Brian Williams on NBC, then 207 comes on (a local news magazine program), then there's Jeopardy!, and what-do-you-know prime time programming is on and on it goes. Half the time I don't even care/like what I'm watching, but you know, it's on.  Lent seemed like the perfect time to kick this bad habit.

I came up with the idea back in January, because I'm far more interested in my 47 days of Lent than I am in New Year's Resolutions apparently.  Of course, this year I needed a head start, because I had to convince Mr. Cleaver.

Usually my Lent stuff doesn't effect him too much, but this year it kinda does, but he's graciously agreed to go along with it (though he can still watch TV when I'm not awake/around).

Rules:

• No broadcast/cable television.

Exceptions:

• Mr. Cleaver and I decide that PBS will be okay - it give my news junkie an option if I happen to be in the room and it's educational. But we're going to try to not abuse this one. (When I told a co-worker about this "loophole" she said (in jest) "Did Jesus have a loophole when he died for your sins?" And yeah, he kinda did, with the whole resurrection thing.)
• I can watch things on the physical TV, like DVDs.
• Internet videos are okay.

Expectations:

• I will play a lot more board games.
• I will read more.
• I will sew more.
• I will probably get more creative with dinner.
• In general, I will likely be more production.
• We will go out more during the week. (Borders, bowling, who knows?!)

All in all, it'll be hard for the first few weeks (it always is), but I think it'll be good. The only thing I'm bummed about is missing the rest of the Olympics, but I can look stuff on the web.

Here goes!

National Pie Day

According the American Pie Council, today (Jan 23) is National Pie Day . Loving all things pie the way I do, when I read about this in a magazine back in December, I knew I had to celebrate. So I invited all my knitting friends over for a Pie Day potluck!

We had a meat pie, chicken pot pie, two apple pies, a blueberry pie, a lemon meringue pie, a turtle pie cream pie, a chocolate pie/tart, and some cherry cup-pies (which I've wanted to make every since cup-pies were mentioned on the tv show Pushing Daisies). It was a yummy pie-extravaganza!

Turning New Leaves

Last night after work, I picked up my 2010 calendar for the home-front (think I have a thing for sheep?), along with a new comic book and sewing book. It was a good night.

So this morning I did the annual shift of birthdays, etc. to the new calendar. I always love going back over the prior year's pages and seeing what I did - things like a Pink Martini concert, a trip to New York, and a lot of rehearsal days.  I used to just tear out my favorite pictures and recycle the rest, but now I like to hold on to the calendar as a simple momento of what happened that year.

In other news, I think I've officially shifted from a blue-green phase to a purple phase. (I'll be casting on that dark purple Eco-Wool later today for a Vivian knit-a-long I'm doing with my friend Maggie.)  Does anyone else do this? Get obsessed with a color, then move on to another, and so on? My phases usually last for about 5-6 months, then I ban myself from buying the shade for a while and then I'll usually come back to it again. (My last purple phase was Oct 2007-May 2008) Maybe I can talk myself into a yellow phase next.

In other other news, I got my 400th comment on my last post, from the lovely Jen at Pretty Little Pictures. I always love hearing from my readers, so thanks to you all for brightening my day 400 times!

2009 Year in Review

A very Happy New Year from Mr. and Ms. Cleaver!

Thank you for sharing 2009 with us and I look forward to an exciting Twenty-Ten!

Christmas in California...

...or you really can't go home again.

Mr. Cleaver and I just returned from an almost week spent at my Mother's in Napa, California. Our flight out was delayed (canceled and re-booked, really) by two days due to a huge snowstorm on the east coast, but our actual travel was fairly uneventful.

It'd been two and half years since I'd last been back and it was the first time I was truly hit by the fact that I didn't live there anymore. Though in general Napa has gotten more touristy, with large hotels and tourist-aimed shopping centers being the most noticeable changes, not all that much was different (the Uptown Theatre is still closed, the flood abatement project still isn't completed, the Cinedome still stands tall, my mother's favorite restaurant is still the Red Hen, and Butter Cream still makes the best doughnuts in town).

But it wasn't home - I didn't remember my way around the roads, my childhood bedroom was filled with boxes of things that weren't mine, all the art seemed lower on the walls, I couldn't recall where the pots went in the kitchen, the bakery I once worked in was now a hair salon. I not longer had any ownership of the place as it is, only as it was and it was a sobering feeling.

That said, the weather was beautiful and it was nice to see family (Mr. Cleaver got to meet a lot of my mother's side of the family for the first time) and friends (shout out to Angie & Steve, Sean, Heatherly & Angelina!). I love that there will always be people in my life that no matter how long it's been since we've talked or seen each other (which is regrettably often too long), we can always pick back up right where we left off - and that's a comforting feeling.

I didn't take many photos while on the trip, but I did take a series of shots on Christmas morning when Mr. Cleaver and I visited my neighborhood park (which is, yes, also a city drainage basin). I'd like to point out that Mr. Cleaver is wearing my Christmas gift to him, a Woven Bands Pullover re-imagined as an Elizabeth Zimmerman shirt-yoke seamless sweater knit in Cascade Eco-Wool.  Mr. Cleaver loves it, which makes me so happy  - you have no idea.