This just in...I can see!!!

Now back to your regularly scheduled knitting.

Laying low

Miss Mabel and I are laying low...working from home...in our pajamas...trying not to succumb to sickness...

I think it might be working...

New, original template launched

Having a few days respite from the corporate design mill has helped the craft-spiration exponentially. And, rather than spend a lot of time working on the dreaded P5tog (found in Swallowtail), I spent some time this holiday weekend making a new super-crafty template for this here blog.

Whaddya think?

What's missing from this picture?

To make a long story even longer...

I arrived home from knit night last Thursday around 10pm. Unfortunately parking was a bit scarce, so I ended up parking in a Friday street cleaning spot, knowing that I had to get up rather early to move the car.

Cut to: Friday morning, 7:30am

We get up to move both cars (we park a car for a friend) and we do. And that's when we notice that something pretty important is missing from the vehicle. Can you tell what it is?



Someone made off with the rear license plate. Ugh. Now, we can get a ticket just for parking on the street without a rear plate, so something has to be done right away.

Here are the steps to follow if you, too, are a victim of license place theft in CA:

• call local police and report license plate stolen - 7:30 am
• police arrive hours later to take report - 10:30 am
• listen to police stories about the horrible crimes committed with stolen license plates, tickets racked up, people having to go to court to contest thousands of dollars in tickets, as well as people arrested and hassled because their stolen plates were used in commission of a crime
  
• receive police report number - 11:00 am
• go to dmv website and download forms to report stolen license plates, then fill out forms - 11:30 am
• report stolen plate to your car insurance company (in case any moving violations etc. are committed with the stolen plates) - 11:45 am
• go to dmv with license, registration, remaining license plate, police report number, and forms in order to get new plates and registration - 12:15 pm (Note: don't forget to bring tools to remove old plate, else you end up ripping it off of the front bumper in frustration.)
  
• call car insurance to give them new plate numbers - 1:09 pm
  

All of those steps in order to get new plates. Oh, yeah, make sure to check whether or not the thief took the entire plate housing off of the vehicle. Because then you'll have to improvise temporarily until you can order a new housing and get new screws etc.

So far, I only feel slightly violated and a bit put out. I guess we'll see what happens when the tickets start piling up.

Happy Hallmark Day

I'm not very demanding on this completely contrived holiday, but I do require that all things served to me at home have some sort of heart theme incorporated. For example, a homemade cappuccino with a heart drawn in the foam.

With that in mind, this year Griffin invented the vday PBJ. I love it! And, it doesn't require the purchase of any greeting cards--even better!

Moss Beach

Finally left the house (after another go 'round with mystery hives) today, and went for a stroll on Moss Beach. Griff had done his homework, and we saw lots of sea life hanging around the rocky tide pools.


Large orange starfish


Large purple starfish


Gratuitous sea lion (hamming it up for the camera)


Hermit crabs ingesting a crab many times their size


I had never seen a deep purple sea anemone


Mussel fields

The weather was beautiful, and the sea life was amazing. I highly recommend this walk at low tide.

The taco bell off the 1 on the way back isn't too shabby either. It's right on the beach, and has panoramic views of surfers riding the waves.

Belated Tahoe Post

Last weekend we went to Tahoe, where I once again tried to teach myself to turn properly on skis, while Griff snowboarded up a storm.


The weather was lovely--it wasn't too cold. Now, of course, most ski bums would complain that there wasn't any fresh powder, but it really wasn't so bad.


I did pretty well the first day even skiing some tough blues and part of a black. But once I get tired, I start to fall down a bit.


If only the super boobalicious skis came with a side of super skiing prowess...

Cupcakes

So, last Wednesday night I ended up staying up until 1am making cupcakes. Why? Why not. No, seriously, a friend of mine decided in a fit of panic that he wanted to present his girlfriend with Magnolia bakery cupcakes. And, he absolutely had to do it on Thursday. Why? It's a long, long story.

Long story short...cupcakes made.









and iced--in 5 colors! The Magnolia recipe was followed to a T. The end result? The cake part was dense, yet fluffy and butterlicious. The icing was SO SWEET that your teeth hurt instantly.