P&PS

Reasons the Blanket of Time Sucking Loveliness Should Count as a Week's Worth of Creativeness: It's a time suck. It is shiny. It has taken up every spare second of awake time. It has accidental ruffles. I dream I'm knitting it. It's taking forever to finish. Because I said so.

I've been working so much I haven't had much time to actually create or write anything, but I have been thinking about it.  Here's a list of a couple of things I thought about writing about today.      &  Spoilers and the Suspension of Disbelief aka why I hate spoilers (I would focus on Mockingjay and Sanctuary 's Hangover)      &  Media Rating Systems (focusing on book [goodreads] and movies [my system vs trakt] and how certain biases/timing plays into that with examples from Never Let Me Go )      &  Why someone should create a library booktube meme and what it should include      &  All those posts I started around Christmas that I still haven't finished

My pad of scrap paper at work has green sheets sprinkled in it: these mint green distractions.  They seem to pop up randomly at the oddest times, which of course means I have to do something different with them.  The first time one popped up I was having a bit of an afternoon and so I decided to make a list of things I was grateful for.  It hasn't turned into a full fledged gratitude project, but it is a nice reminder of life's shinier things, especially since my job can get a bit stressful.  Take yesterday's list for example:      &  SANITY      &  Pumpkin      &  Arctic Air      &  Hot water

My water kefir grains came in the mail today, on the coldest day of the year.  Thankfully, as far as I can tell, they're not dead, which means I should have kefir this time next week.  It's an exciting prospect, equal parts apprehension and excitement.  It's been a couple of years since I've fermented anything on a regular basis and even longer since I've had to keep any sort of starter alive.  I'm worried about messing it up, which wouldn't be the worst thing, more disappointing than anything, but at the same time I'm confident I can pull it off.  It's just sugar water after all.  I'll do up a blog post in a couple of weeks with details and photos. I also gave myself a haircut tonight.  This isn't anything new either, but it's been awhile since I've had a shorter hairstyle and I'm liking this one.  My hair dries in less than...well never, and it's fluffy now that it's not so weighted down.  All in all not a bad end to a

I'm planning on doing quite a bit of travelling this summer, quite a bit of it internationally, all of it quite a ways away from the creature comforts of my house and my kitchen.  For the most part, I'm staying with friends which is awesome and amazing and helps ease some of my misgivings but I'm also concerned about a couple of things, and since making lists of concerning things makes them less concerning, here's my list:      &  I don't know what I'm going to eat- I have a pretty specific diet (strict paleo) and it's not the most travel-friendly diet considering I'm on it because I feel rather cruddy when I'm not.  At home I manage by cooking all of my own food, everyday.  This isn't something I necessarily want or would be able to do while travelling.      &  Airport food- or more specifically getting edible food through airport security to address the above food issue.  Airport security, or really any security for that matter, and

On and off this week I spent quite a bit of time trying to put together first, an intro video and later a book review and a book haul for the youtube channel I started in conjunction with this project.  I want so badly to post something, anything, to find an excuse to play with this medium that's so new to me and which inspires so many new ways of looking at things.  Unfortunately this is proving more difficult than expected, which I did expect I just wasn't quite expecting there to be quite this big of a learning curve.  I'm not looking for something perfect.  Perfect would be boring because it would require cutting out all the quirky little things I know other people love, even if I don't.  But I wanted something that at least had the following:      1.  Decent lighting (the lighting in my room is horrible)      2.  A backdrop that doesn't consist of piles of stuff or stacks of boxes      3.  Decent sound quality/me not mumbling continuously so people can unde

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking Part I) by Patrick Ness I have a habit of picking up books whose title or author I recognize.  I suppose everyone does, but often times these are books or authors I'm not familiar with, but have heard about enough (or heard about once in a memorable enough way) that they've stuck with me in a a way all the others haven't.  Patrick Ness and this book in particular was a combination of the two, I've seen lots of reviews for A  Monster Calling  but I didn't put author and book together until I went to add the rest of the Chaos Walking series to my GoodReads.  What stuck out in my mind up until that point was a book haul nerdintranslation had done where she talked about picking up the first two books in the series despite the fact she didn't read much YA.  Assertions like that are the things that interest me about books.  What is it that makes one book more compelling than another?  What is it that draws people to

Book Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Showtime (Marvelle Circus #1) by Chloe Kayne Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. At it's core, Showtime is a book about a girl named Laila, who runs away to join the circus. There's a bit of mystery and some romance mix in, but for the most part the novel centers around this well known circus troupe. I wouldn't consider myself a circus aficionado or a circus lover.  In fact if you asked me, I would reflexively say that I don't like circus books, despite the fact that I have liked every one I've ever read, starting with The Wish Giver in grade school.  Partly because of this and partly because I have problems avoiding my friends' obsessions, I've been on somewhat of a circus kick lately and when I read the summary for this book I knew I had to read it.  Good compelling summaries feel a bit like a lost art these days, finding one the piqued my interest was reason enough to pick up the book. Given how com

SHOWTIME by Chloe Kayne Review

I made up a couple of new fonts today based on my own handwriting, mostly just to play around, but also because I wanted to be able to make things like this that had a personal touch to them.  While I'm not exactly sure what this is (blog header atm?) I'm happily geeking out over the fact that I have a handwritten font (I *love* handwritten fonts) of my own scribbling.  I mean it looks like I wrote it!  Only I didn't have to.  No more scanning endless paper scraps.  Score one for the trees(?)

I wanted to make up some sort of graphic I could post along with the links to my book reviews.  I wanted a graphical representation to go with all those words for posts that don't have pictures (aka ebooks and hastily returned library books).  I started out with the index card at the top (which needs some more love if I'm going to use it) and ended up falling back on an old favorite of mine: library cards!  Now if only I had a way to put them in all my digital books...

I though since the Christmas video I had planned is at a bit of a standstill I would get to work on a first/intro video that might actually get posted.  The text below is what I ended up with; it's the self-image new years meme a la emilieofnewgloom , whose video is here .  I have yet to film anything yet (getting sick/being allergic to the world tends to put a damper on on-camera enthusiasm), but hopefully it'll get finished soon. Daughter, grand daughter, sister, friend. Reader, writer, knitter. Chronic learner. Social worker? Case worker? Job titles are confusing and not what I expected them to be this time last year. Confused about what I want from life but willing to figure it out along the way. Accidental traveler. Canadian wannabe. Homebody, geek, occasional dork. Happily obsessive, fangirly, and introverted. A planner. A cat enthusiast, history lover,  and country girl at heart. Tree hugger, environmentalist, upcycler, recycler, thrifter. I'm Lisa and this is

My love for awesome-thing-related bingo is no secret- bingos make for all sorts of fun achievements and crazy goals, and books. well those don't need an explanation- so my glee over discovering Random House's reading bingo ?  Flailtastic, so much so I got up first thing this morning and made this card, before breakfast, before checking my email... I may be in love, just a wee bit.

I received a wax turnip for Christmas.  This may seem like an odd thing to receive as a gift, particularly in the singular, but it was the last thing I had expected and it made for a pleasant surprise. Wax turnips, or rutabagas as they're also known, are quite beautiful in their own way.  I wish I had gotten a picture of it before I started chopping it up.  I do have a couple of pictures of the peels, though with their wonderful waxy flakes so that'll have to do. I wasn't quite sure what to do with one wax turnip.  I didn't want to throw it in with a bunch of other vegetables since I wanted to enjoy it for itself, so I settled on slicing it up into fries and pan frying them with a couple of hot dogs for lunch.  As it turns out this was exactly the right thing to do; it was the shortest lived and most delicious lunch I've had in quite awhile. For those who are curious, wax turnips taste quite a bit like potatoes, only a bit sweeter and somewhat

   Usually when I finish a book, particularly a good book, it clings to me like whispers or fading memories as I fall asleep. I'm left with streams of words and disjointed thoughts, praise and criticism. I fall asleep dreaming of the world I’ve just left. With this book, I had an entirely different experience. I was left with a hushed sense of silence. It was an eerie experience; in some ways it was disquieting, but at the same time it was comforting. Life lately has been hectic and this sudden silence, this lack of racing thoughts was something that left me more in awe of this book than anything else could have. There was a calm in the silence. It felt in a way like the humidity before a summer storm: omnipresent if not entirely welcome.         I sat with the Prince family in Africa for quite awhile after I had finished the Poisonwood Bible . That in itself wasn’t unexpected. There was a lot that went on, a lot that I had to sit with and process, to f

I'm not usually a sequins or sparkle person, but there seems to be a lot of glittery glitzy things hanging around this week: the costumes in Showtime , the flapperesque dress from the latest hair tutorial over at See Creatures , and one of my all time favorite dresses hanging on my closet door.

  The Poisonwood Bible Review

So what is this project?  Why did I start it?  Why this project?  Why now?  I suppose the best way to start off is by saying that I like projects or challenges.  I like things with definitive goals, things with lists, and things that motivate me to either meet goals or make lists.  The blame for the 365 project format falls squarely on the shoulders of Becca, who doesn’t have a youtube channel but she does have a bunch of really cool blogs: * link * * link * * link *.  And I know, technically that the 365 photo project and Shuttercal sparked my love for 365 projects and that Becca only fanned the flames and fed the obsession, but along with all the other things I love, I also love blaming things on Becca because she finds such joy in it.  Really.  I’m serious. So that’s why the 365 project.  Why now? starts out with me laughing a bit at my ban on new projects.  I’ve never been good at the whole New Year's resolution thing, mostly because I never really take them seriously

There's nothing quite like losing an entire weekend fussing with tiny bits of code.  Ultimately I ended up with two beautiful prefab layout from SoraTemplates  (one slightly modified), but I couldn't be more happy with the results.  I'm looking forward to seeing how they evolve over the course of the year, since despite trying not to fiddle with anything I know I will...quite a lot.

Read 40 books Sew a quilt Sew a civil war era costume Simplify / Destash Set more attainable goals / Finish a project before taking on a new one Buy more local food / Grow my own food Pay off debt / Save money Travel Donate to charity Exercise more / Do more yoga Spend more time unplugged Write 150k words

This is my 365 project for 2013. It doesn't look like much right now but by the end of the year I'm hoping it will be filled with things that remind me of the year as a whole and of those individual moments, good and bad, that would otherwise be lost in the shuffle.