here is what i love;

tea!


tea is my favorite favorite. i just love it. the irish way please, one sugar and a bit of whole milk. oh my gosh, my crumbiest mornings and most foul moods can be improved by a simple mug of tea. a good cup of tea is not sweet, but it is not bitter either. it's strong, but not stewed. it's gotta be hot! no lukewarm left over please. and it's gotta be made with triangle tea bags. PG Tips or Lyons please. made in a tea pot is best, but in a pinch, a mug and a tea bag is ok too.

picture the worst bit of sideways rain and cold weather- now picture coming in from it, and putting the kettle on. see- you're in a better mood already.

i love tea.

a satisfying crash into the dumpster!

so yesterday, while the football games were on, i took the opportunity to throw away all the jewel cases in my cd collection. When a person is young, a music collection is a tangible, visible expression of personality. I remember being in college and dismissing a person based on their music collection (god how utterly daft and incredibly narrow-minded that is, i realize now).

A music collection is a mirror of a person, sure, but it's more like a fractal than a mirror. music ebbs and flows according to your circumstance in life, the other major players and characters in your life, and even things like your job commute and the job's location play a role in selecting the cd's in your stacks.

my collection has it's share of crap. i admit, i was a victim to the high school hair band era, Though most of that was on cassette, and those have all been in cold storage for years. i have Appetite for Destruction and Kix to remind me of my formative years. then it moves to the college days, i have the van halen, queen, Creedence clearwater that i used to listen to with my friends in college. Russ loved the classic rock. specifically he loved Led Zeppelin, but all the others fell into that group as well. from college i moved to emo, punk and brit rock. What a strange demographic. i collected en masse (truthfully i like this stuff the best). the clash, and the bouncing souls, weston, ah, the suicide machines. love it! since then, i've settled down to regular rock and roll, leaning toward punk rock tenancies. it's gotta be rockin. and have proper guitar riffs and adequate tempo to drive too fast.

I threw away all the jewel cases because once you reach a certain number in the collection, the amount of space they consume in the apartment is too great. i don't think i'm a real collector of music per se, not like that guy rob gordon from the nick hornby book high fidelity. i'm sort of more a collector of my favorites. i haven't got too many, around 500 or so.

so i threw away all the jewel cases and kept just the disc and the insert booklet. i even threw away the crates that were holding them. they landed with a satisfying crash into the dumpster!

so here's the best part of this post (it's good of you to keep reading this far).
my desert island discs !
(i've changed the rules, and i can bring as many as i want; they're in no particular order.)

the clash, foo fighters, and bouncing souls their complete sets. Oasis, blur, U2, pete yorn, the replacements, millencolin, butch walker and the marvelous 3: complete sets for everyone.

I would like to bring the metallica black album, Appetite for destruction, the bravery, and hot fuss. I would like to bring With Teeth, franz ferdinand and my mary chapin carpenter discs. i would also like to bring some sheryl crow. i would like a greatest hits album from: Aerosmith (just the columbia years please) the rolling stones, led zeppelin, elvis costello and garth brooks.

i would also like to have an unlimited power supply to listen to them and i would like the option to get replacements if they wear out. this is only today's desert island discs, it may change tomorrow, with the exception of the complete sets. those are the constants.

lace scarf for marianne

Marianne was our travel partner when we went to ireland a month or two ago, she was quite nice about my knitting. she also sent us a very nice thank you gift when we returned home. i decided to knit her a scarf with some super fab louisa harding yarn. i also have had a hankering to do something other than stocking stitch, because though it's easy, it's really kind of boring.

so here is the beginning of it. it might take me a long time to complete it.

so here it is, 2008

whoopee. For me, New Year's is just so anti exciting. i dunno, it's just not too thrilling to me. it's freezing cold here, there is snow everywhere, and i still have the same remarkably boring job. This is the time of year when i start daydreaming and planning my next travel adventure. my friend sofia is hoping for us to come visit her in Lisbon. Perhaps i'll start planning that.

it would be so nice to be able to really plan the trip- my dad would like to run in a race, and there is a

half marathon

but it's in march, and i haven't even paid the bills for the trip to ireland yet. i was planning to use my tax return to put hard wood floors in my apartment, but now i sort of wonder if i would rather use it to pay for air fare. Lisbon is beautiful, and at the risk of letting too many in on a secret i would like to keep for myself, it's one of the nicest places i've been to. it really quite magical- it's very modern, in an antique sort of wardrobe. the roads are well maintained, the retail therapy is outstanding, the food is so delicious, and the weather is just perfect.



the real draw for me though is the population. It was very easy to be a tourist in lisbon, but I've learned a bit of portuguese just so i can be a bit more useful in conversations, and people don't have to keep translating for me. I don't think i'd insult anyone by saying something like sua mae desgasta botas do combate. i could fumble through a coffee order- duas sandes mixtas com bicas se faz favor, e dois pasteis de nata, tambem! muito bem!

it sounds hokey, but the residents of portugal are fantastic. there are no pretenses, they are welcoming and pleasant, and polite, and genuine. the waiter at the cafe in mertola was funny- we had a snack of bread, and coffee, and sofia's family had some caracois; those are snails boiled in salty water. i'm afraid i was just too timid to try them. they said as much to the waiter, and he said, perhaps it's because she hasn't been able to try ours yet. It was really nice. perhaps this time i'll give them a try. perhaps.


maybe today i'll start working out a financial plan and start saving up for it.

argh!

The 2007 NFL post season is upon us, and what to my wondering eyes do appear? A whole new crop of anti-patriots. There is just nothing worse than bandwagon jumpers- god how i hate those fans who only watch because the QB is so cute- or only watch because a team is suddenly good. How infuriatingly agonizing is it to watch a game with those kinds of fans.

Conversely, it is equally infuriating it is to watch a game with anti-fans. God, just listen and to read all the reports from newspapers around the country- the patriots have no respect, the patriots are arrogant, the patriots haven't actually done anything noteworthy yet when compared with the 72 dolphins. This is all because the season has been boring for the fans in other markets. Andy peloff is having this manufactured apoplexy with his idea that the patriots operate under the guide of humility, while the whole season they have actually been arrogant on the field when they play. Of course they have! No one has beaten them this season!

It is only reasonable to find a degree of confidence from the patriots they have beaten everyone! it becomes arrogant and insulting when trash talk and superiority comes from schmoes like anthony smith. Who?

The thing is, no one ever calls peyton manning arrogant, but y'know what? It's not very often that manning said something like- he's a good player; i hope they take the day off, it will make my game easier. Manning very seldom concedes that someone other than himself is a good player. He doesn't even go out of his way to say his own teammates are good players! God if that is isn't arrogant, I dunno what is!

This nfl post season is going to be both nauseating and riveting. I don't think i can take one more minute of the patriots (and they are my team!), manning, or tony romo and terrell owens.

Ugh. God, if i have to hear one more time how good tony romo is in his first full year, I might barf. If i hear just one more word about how good peyton manning is at calling the offence, I’ll commit harey carrey. God, but if one more announcer speaks about upsetting the perfect season or knocking the patriots back a notch; how in once game we can finally prove that the patriots aren’t that good after all, i can't be responsible for my actions.

Argh! Anti-fans are the worst! They are just the worst. They are a detriment to their own team's fan base. God if you hate the patriots, fine. But hate them on the basis of football, not on sportsmanship smoke and mirrors. At least admit that you hate them because you are jealous of them. Or admit that you're pissed because they beat your team. i suspect that no fan in the world would keep their 7 and 9 record instead of a 16-0 playoff bound record.

Please don't use contrasting thread!

please, seamstresses and seamsters- i implore you! don't use contrasting thread to sew your projects together. no mater how you hard you try convince yourself that it's a design element, it's not. For instance- using red thread on a black fabric just doesn't look good.

use a contrasting embroidery floss as an embellishment after you've completed the bulk sewing? Sure. that's a good idea. but doing the main sewing in a color that is not the same as the fabric itself does nothing more than show where you sewed too fast, and where your feed dogs were taxed. Using contrasting thread shows exactly where you strayed from the correct seam allowance, and it shows when your starting point and ending point don't quite match up. it is, of course most obvious where topstitching is required.

no matter what level you are, beginner to intermediate to an advanced clothier- please please please; resist the urge to use thread that isn't the same shade as your finished piece!

it's not the patriots' job to run plays the defense will stop

so all you bellyachers who are pissed off because the patriots went 30 points on you- get stuffed. it is not the patriots fault they compiled such a good arsenal- to the contrary- it's their intention. no team in the league compiles a team to be mediocre. no team does that! no team happily collects scrap heap quarterbacks and gimpy running backs; or shrinking violet inside linebackers- no team goes on the hunt for a free safety with poor peripheral vision. come on. if a team's front office did that they would be run out of town.

so the fact that anyone outside of New England is moaning and wringing their hands or feeling insulted is crap. Teams exist to put the best possible team on the field. Real sportsmanship is not about making sure the other team on the field gets positive reinforcement. Sportsmanship is about respecting the game, your teammates, and the other players. but just because you respect a team or player doesn't mean you shouldn't take advantage of their flaws. do you think for one minute that the teams i play against don't take advantage of the fact that i'm a girl and probably slower than them? of course they do. I can take advantage of that just as well, i can play give and go against them. At the end of the game, they know that i played them hard; and i know that they played me hard.

i have to admit- i don't think i want my opposition to go easy. sure it's embarrassing, no one wants to get schooled, but if you're a sport-o, ask yourself (and answer truthfully now), would you really pull back if there was an open net? honestly, would you intentionally kick it wide if you were on a breakaway? that is simply a foreign concept, even to the most beginner of athletes. the point is to score points and goals.

it's going to snow on sunday, so i don't think the score will be very high, but i'm afraid to tell you that i don't think the jets have a chance.

Ellsbury should be untouchable

Dear Theo, A move to acquire Johan Santana by using Jacoby Ellsbury is foolish. 80% of the armchair GM's think this too. sure we aren't as smart as you, and sure we don't know all the facts, but what i do know is that Ellsbury is a better player than crisp. he's faster which is saying a lot, because crisp is fast. he plays the outfield as well, and he's as good a hitter as crisp. I don't believe Crisp in centerfield is the best team possible, I'm sorry, i just don't.

we already have a powerful rotation. acquiring santana would make it dizzying, for sure, but that leaves us with an outfield that is less powerful. (remember crisp has to play every day, and he doesn't always contribute every day. besides that- letting ellsbury go is 100% foolish in terms of batting order- who's going to lead off for us this year? julio Lugo? come on. Youkillis? along with his piano, sure. Crisp? a .330 On base % is not too shabby, but he's so remarkably streaky.

for me, ellsbury is too complete a player- he is too good and too young to trade him.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/polls/11_28_07_jacoby/

That is what good teams do- they win.

Even when they play somewhat poorly, even when the temperature is freezing, even when the ravens give them a game.

No question, the Ravens played well, had the Patriots lost, it would have been ok to have lost to a them. Last night was a good football game. Gosh- back and forth, scoring on almost every possession for both teams. At half time, I said to myself- this game is going to come down to the last team with the ball. And sure enough it did. It just so happens that Bowler's hail mary was two yards short. That is heartbreaking, any way you slice it.

But to act like this is anything other than a well played game is preposterous. The Ravens played very well, that's true, why can't people concede that the Patriots did as well? Is it so hard for people to admit that the Patriots have cultivated a culture of winning? Come on, four weeks ago, the Patriots were vilified because they ran the score up. Now, in the close games they're vilified simply because they won. Sorry, but all this appears to be is sour grapes. Mike Sando from espn was in Baltimore last night-

here are some tidbits.

Ravens linebacker Bart Scott on the timeout: "I didn't hear a timeout. That was very convenient." Sorry Bart. There was film of it on espn, some coach on your sideline was calling for time out, he made the big T with his hands and walked right over to the ref.

Phantom calls? Are you for real? Come on. I sort of remember when the pass interference was also called the Ty Law rule. Get stuffed. Sour grapes.

Hard to play against Brady and all the extra people. Sure it is, the thing is, you're only playing against Brady and ten other guys at a time. Sour grapes.

I suppose the Ravens are just searching for some sort of moral victory in all this- searching for a way to win a game they clearly could have. But the fact of the matter remains, they didn't win. They called that time out. They assessed 35 penalty yards on their last possession.

Sure the Ravens brought it, but don't you think that Patriots brought it too? That was a hell of a game last night. And it clearly prepared the patriots for the post season- which is infinitely more important than the season record.

We'll see you in February.

i love my new walmart pjs!

I confess, i have a love hate relationship with Walmart. on tho one hand i really don't like it- the store always looks like a yard sale- merchandise is picked over, shopworn and often times not even there. the employees can be real crabby- they are so busy- who wouldn't be? working in retail i know that it is sometimes hard to keep a genuine pleasant demeanor through an entire shift.

but on the other hand- it really is a good place for me to get lots of stuff i need and cheap. i hate to say it, but i can't afford to get everything at the grocery or at the gap. so i go to walmart and get cheap cereal, soap, cleaning supplies and the like. this is a PRO on the list, which leads directly into a CON on the list of walmart things. these cheap prices are clearly predatory. they are clearly putting other places out of business. the problem is that i am not very affluent, so i need to take advantage of savings when i can. it's all very tricky for me.

another walmart PRO is that you can get a true feel for the demographic off your neighborhood. there are lots of languages at walmart- i like that. i admit, i like to go to walmart and eavesdrop on conversations to see if i can understand what they are saying. that's very rude, yes, but i need to get more practice with spanish and portuguese, and i'm too shy to actually say something polite- Bom dia, Fala Portuguese? but i listen in on their conversation! This also leads to a definite CON about walmart- the customers can sometimes be as crabby as the employees. i once saw a real fight at the checkout- some guy had 20 items in the fast lane, and the guy behind called him on it. well, 20 items was all pissed off, and he gets into it with the man behind. Actual Fisticuffs took place. i didn't even need to eavesdrop, this was all in english.

so what was supposed to be a quick post about the walmart pj's i got the other day has turned into a quasi commentary about social anthropology. but you should see the pj's! they are pink, and they have christmas scottie dogs on them! they are so cute! they also had little jingle bells on them, but i took those off, because they made a racket.

today i have to go there again to get buttons, because i'm so flaky. i only got two buttons, the sweater i made has three holes.

Destructo Cat

So Debra and Ben looked after Shermy while we were away. I heard that the cat was oh so well behaved while i was gone. So sweet and lovable that Ben is smitten, and wants to keep him. This is all fine, since at least i know there's a family who would consider taking him in if i kick the bucket. Well, when i returned home, there's was one day of "i was so lonely, you abandoned me!" from the cat, and then it was back to business as usual.

I got home from work and there was this to greet me:

Yep, that's the trash knocked over, and the water dish broken into pieces by something heavy that must have been hidden. Criminals hide their weapons, why shouldn't the cat too?

It had to be the water dish that broke, right? So all the water went all over the place, and i had to clean that mess up too. I sent this photo to Ben asking if he still wants the cat. Silly guy he still said yes. well, he'll have to wait till i kick the bucket.

that voting is fixed!

bah! that cy young vote is fixed! i admit it, i'm greedy, i want beckett to have that cy young, on top of the WS Ring!

boston.com article

CRUMB! i simply cannot believe it!

iwanted all those extras- rookie of the year, cy young, gold glove, silver slugger! i wanted all of them. i'm a hoarder!

the Sally Gap

there's a road in the eastern part of ireland called the R759 road. it goes through the Wicklow Mountains, along the Sally Gap. it is here where I saw the most spectacular shade of blue ever. For the rest of my life, the mere word "blue" will evoke memories of this icy cold, crystal clear lough.



it really is fantastic!

so here are some photos

so here we all are, with proof that we were here. In appropriately touristic photos.

This is Mom and Dad and me at the upper lake at Glendalough.




This is ma and dad with marianne, outside St. Mary's Pro Cathedral

these photos are a jumble of the hundreds that we took the chronology on this post isn't tight. i should have tried to check in at the cybercafes while i was there, but i just didn't.

this is the GAA Museum at Croke Park- there was a good tour, and you can give it a try playing both hurling and gaelic football in the cages in the museum. Did you know that none of the athletes in the GAA are paid for playing? they play simply because they love it! so on all ireland day, some of the players might never have had to do that sort of thing before. imagine playing in front of 70 thousand people on one day and then going back to being an accountant the next!

here is mom doing her best to blend in with the locals on the Dart.

I have a whole bunch of really good photos, but i can't post them right now, this blogspot is giving me fits because of the size of the photos, so i'm a but aggravated right now. you can go see them here:

kms Ireland 07

i'll work more on this post later.

A-Rod; is he really worth all that?

I was away in ireland when my sox won the series again. i'm on the fence over whether i am happy to have been in ireland or whether i'm bereft for having missed the series. it is a very different feeling than when they won in 2004, when i was glued to the tv.

but i digress. the point of this post is to wonder wheter or not alex rodriguez really is worth those giant dollar signs being thrown about like warmup toss. $350 million dollars? for real? first of all the guy is no spring chicken in terms of baseball age. he's 32, sure he's just a baby- he's my age in fact; but for playing ball professionally, that's middle age at best. he's a bit of a malcontent- anyway you slice it, he's not the clubhouse guy that teams need. i don't ever remember him being called a team leader by the NY press- jeter, possada, pettite, sure- even clemens every so often. but never ever a-rod. He gets into dustups with the press- even manny is more eloquent when he's mad than a-rod is. if i were a major league GM, these would be concerns.

i suppose if i were said GM, i could overlook both those things if A-Rod had proven himself to be valuable in the postseason. i'm afraid he hasn't; and not just with the yankees- the mariners and rangers didn't win post season series very often with him on the roster. it's tough for a team to build themselves around a stud like a-rod. he's so costly that it leaves very little payroll cash available for other signings. so the signings have to be cheap. either on the downhill slide, or rookies and youngsters. both of these present problems- rookies can be unpredicatable. they could be great like pedroia and ellsbury, or they could struggle, and often times they don't hit well enough to be a matching threat to a-rod, essentially making his bat less of worry- pitchers can just walk him. old hats can be worrisome too; older, slower, can't hit as well as before, so it's hard to even make the playoffs, let alone be successful.

so i have to wonder- will teams be willing to take on such an ineffective postseason player at the risk of the rest of their roster? sure he's great- i can agree that he's a baseball talent; a rediculously impressive talent, but are teams willing to pay a guy to improve his own resume, yet not contribute to the ultimate goal of the team- win the trophy with many flags? sure baseball is a team sport played by individuals- but make no mistake- dave roberts stolen base off the bench in 2004, and coco crisp sitting out the end of the ALCS and the beginning of the World Series- those were individuals playing for the team. they helped the team win.

I just don't think A-rod has that kind of selflessness in him i just don;t think he has the integrity. if i were a general manager, i wouldn't pay a player who is an individual to be a part of my team. there is no I in team.

so here we are home from ireland

booo! we had a tremendous trip, and soon i'll post photos and stuff, but for now i have to pick up the pieces from being away from work without posting and auto-reply to my email. what a pain.

this is the funny dancing frosting

A Foodies Opera is a funny little you tube animation. it's quite nice, and it's a great "it takes all sorts of people to make a world" sort of short film. it's very well done and quite clever. go check it out!

heidi had a girl!

so my sister heidi had a girl yesterday. a tiny little baby, 6 pounds 1 oz. though i confess, i don't really know if that's tiny or not. but i think the otehrs were bigger than that. her name is kristen marie- after thirty two years of grating my teeth at people who call me kristen, (no no, my name is Kristine) this will take some getting used to.

blessedly it's all done- if either of my sisters have any more kids, i don't know if i'll be able to stand it.
hee hee hee.

yay!

hoo hoo hoo! If i could do a cartwheel!

so i was playing on sunday- an early morning match- not my favorite. but i am a sport-o at my core- a windpants wearing, sandals with socks, ponytail hairstyled, smelly old cleats kind of girl. and 9.00 kickoffs are part of the drill. Soccer is my true love. there is something about playing soccer for me that is just absolute euphoria. at bell hill park, for 90 minutes every sunday, there is no mortgage, no crummy job, no patriots game or sox lead just 1 and a half. there is no trip to ireland, no knitting project, no truck that needs an oil change, none of that.

there is just me and 21 other people kicking around. i simply love it. as it happens, i'm on a great team that calls you out when you suck; but props you up if you need it. we tell each other when we play well, we tell each other when to shut up. then we leave it there and actually are friends. it's so great. i haven't played such satisfying soccer since college- actually i think it was even highschool. and it's no big deal- it's a rec league, it's not world cup, but it's not skirts and sallys either.

it's tricky for me to explain it- i'm a bit old-ish these days- not nearly as fit or motivated as i was in college and shortly after graduating, i should probably retire soon but i find that I just can't give it up. I find that playing ball on sundays is a tiny little bit of complete me-time, shared with those 21 other people. it's a bit selfish really, but i simply love it.

I also love scoring goals! hoo hoo hoo! i never knew scoring goals could be so fabulous! it came on a corner kick, dan tried to redirect it on a header, but it didn't go in. then i dunno, it bounced somewhere, and came right to me, voila! i knocked it right in to back of the net! what a strange feeling, scoring goals. i'm a modified midfielder these days, i used to be a sweeper- not a whole lot of goalscoring chances for me. but now i'm more offensively minded, so i get in the mix a bit more, and take more shots- especially this season. it's mostly the men who get the chances, but every so often jess and sarah and myself get in on the action too. it's nice when they go in.

so here is my advice that i like to give when i post so infrequently to this blog. Do what you love- you will only love it more!

fancy a cuppa?

i've got one right here in my wallet. My Tea Wallet!


so i was at my favorite beach town, and there's a new tea shop there. in amongst the gifts and knick knaks i found a basket of tea wallets. not very expensive, they were only $4.95. normally right up my alley. but i'm a seamster, so i decided to make my own instead. folded they're about 3 x 4, flat it's roughly 6 x 4 it's got four pockets you can put teabags, or sugar packets or even little coffee sachets in there.

I'm going to make a whole bunch for my coworkers at the pharmacy for holiday gifts. and you really can make them with scraps.

I've been able to work up some directions to the tea wallet.

1. start with two rectangles of fabric of two different prints; 6.75 x 4.75 each, plus one rectangle of muslin for the interface.


2. take one of each print and iron it in half, print side out, the long way. They should end up 6.75 x 2.375. this is also when you make what ever closure you want, for this one i'm using a strip of bias tape.


3. top stitch the crease to make it look nice and professional


4. take the fold that is the same as your outside fabric and lay it on the lining fabric so the raw edge running parallel to the lining edge (with the muslin beneath) and sew together. this is the contrast pocket. the yellow highlight shows where you want to sew.


5. take the fold that is the same as the lining and place it over the contrast pocket (hiding the stitching from the contrast pocket) and pin everything together.

(Now is also the time to sandwich your closure in. put it between the ouside fabric and the pockets, don't sandwich it between the pockets themselves.)

6. place your outside fabric over all (RSF!), and pin the whole sandwich together.


7. sew a U starting at one corner of the top, down the side, along the bottom, and then up the other side.


8. Trim your bulk and clip the corners. turn right side out. press and match the top edges together, and then topstitch around the entire thing.


9. fold in half and press to give a bit of crease. then sew along the spine crease. this will help define the fold and it also creates the pockets inside.


10. add a button, and viola!


They are really easy, and methinks the possibilities are endless!