Hey.. Remember me...

So I havent blogged in forever... I forget.. sorry.

What have I been doing?
This:




But not just this.. this was my second take of sed shawl. The first one I screwed up and it was 3 feet longer than it was supposed to.
This is a shawl for my friend who is getting married ( not pictured this is a friend that is about her size. Thank you H <3)www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=34422904that. I dont think I can fold it right. It took me forever to make but it was very rewarding.. I hope she likes it. I think I was using the wrong kind of yarn, or I didnt guage right or something.

Other than that... nothing has changed.. I still live in the same place with the same job and the same husband having the same employment status. The only thing that has changed, is that I'm actually using my health insurance, and I started being put on much needed depression medications.. I dont think its been working, but Hubs thinks its the best thing ever.

I hope to write again soon.

Pheldda

Thoughts for this week in 3 parts

This week was a nice relaxing week. Work was slow of pace for me, which I feel may not have been the best for my work ethic, but I have enjoyed it.

Food

• I love Basil! I love the smell I love the taste I like the way it looks and wonderfully it goes with most things. If they made a Basil Perfume. I would wear it and be a happy camper.


• More People hate onions that I previously thought: We have a new oven at work, and I thought I would celebrate by making some yummy Bruschetta(shown above). I go to the farmer's market and lovingly pick out fresh cherry tomatoes, get some fresh french bread at Safeway and then wake up extra early to make the tomato topping. I use a good 30 year old balsamic vinegar, kosher salt, leftovers of an organic onion I had lying around, a tiny bit of garlic. I made the toast at work, I found it very satisfactory. A lot of people didnt eat it because it had onions in it. Since everything I've ever brought to a work potluck fell flat, this was the most sucessful dish I've had. The foodie in me gets upset when I see Bruschetta described bread and a spread, even if that's what it is.

Knitting

• I'm starting to count my chickens before they have hatched. I have barely finished the guage for my knucks ( http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/PATTknucks.html) when setting up in my mind 4-5 other patterns I want to start knitting. I dont have enough free time to do everything I want to none alone knit what I want to.


• I've found something out that has rocked my world: Bamboo products ( including yarn) is not eco-friendly. Its a long story but its pretty much either jungles are being torn down to make bamboo forests, OR that Bamboo fiber is really a Rayon which, is very VERY bad for the enviroment.

Nerdery:

• My interest in playing magic is starting to creep back. Part of this is because Hubs is starting to get excited about magic again. I'm playing vintage with him, and I'm enjoying playing with decks that are fine tuned and 60 cards (instead of 40 or 100 if you know what I mean ;P) I'd like to get him into playing extended or standard but its not really the format for those


• I rented Mirror's Edge this week. That game is So cool! Really worth renting, I love the artistic feel they went with the game.

Well this weekend we are going to the Family Vacation House with my Family in Law. I'm hoping it will be fun and relaxing.

If I ever go to the oscars

I just found this dress herehttp://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=314131.0 and I would seriously die for it <3>

Beware of what lurks in the Ivy...

On Sunday, after spending a wonderful weekend with my Knit-jit-su master, Hubs and I stopped at a Carl's Jr. ( don't judge me) I go to get out of my car only to see the image you see now.

Made me smile

Knit Wit and Needlework Novice

I started knitting back in 2003. My grandmother is a knit-jit-su master (tee hee), and I wanted to be able to make the wonderful things she could. Its also a great thing to do while watching video games. I made a couple of scarves with just a knit. Hubs had me make him a scarf that took an entire skein of yarn. It was over 8' long! I eventually learned how to purl and then after about a year, like most things,... I just lost interest.

A couple of months ago I was bored at work. My Co worker Nellie* had some kneedles and some yarn and I asked her for it. I'm supposed to teach her how to knit but we never get around to it. I was suprised how easy it all came back to me. How satifing the clicking of needles against each other sounded.

I was also suprised on the wealth of knitting information you can find on the internet. Everyday I'm finding more websites and blogs to emerge myself in.

Since that lunch break, I haven't been more than 100 yds away from Yarn.

I'm really hooked on "Fingerless Mits". I've made 4 sets so far and each one is different. I keep asking people if they will want some, so I can make more!

Here is my most recent completed pair. I call it "The Indomnitable Bug" after the title of the symbol I embrodered

This is also my first attempt at embrodery. I got the tutorial from http://pimpstitch.typepad.com/blog/2008/09/tutorial-monday-embroidery-on-knitting.html Here is a close up glamor pic

Here is a pic of on my hand.
I'm really enjoying making these but I'm ready to get more complicated.. next up.. I want to learn to knit using double pointed needles..

* Names have been changed

Shameless Plug: Swaptree

One of the things I discovered this spring was http://www.swaptree.com/. Its a website where you trade your gently used Books's, CD's, DVD's, and Video Games. I found it through Ideal Bite ( A shameless plug nominee). It was saying its a lot more green to trade used Books then buy a new one. I saw "swap CD's" and I was hooked.

So far I've traded (4 individual trades total):

• 2 Books (I'm offically over Kurt Vonnegut.. so it goes :P)
• 3 CD's ( I usually only buy the CD's upload them into my ipod, and then they sit collecting dust)

for

• 1 Book (Wicked, maybe if I own the book I'll actually read it)
• 4 CD's ( yay for more Coheed and finally owning some Norah Jones) and all it cost me was shipping.

What you do is you make 2 lists: Things you have (they use the Code # to determine that you indeed have it and it is a legal copy, yes you need to have the case) and Things you want.( you can upload your amazon wishlist or just search like I do) When someone else has a then you want and wants a thing you have. Swaptree notifies both parties and a trade can be made. It does multiple person trades too.

The only problem I have is.. I dont have enough THINGS to trade. I have a 3-1 ratio of things I want to the things I have. Maybe I'll buy a new CD ( most of my CD's are at least 9 years old) of music I want and see how many trades I can get with it. I also dont really want to swap books or games, because I enjoy having an extensive library. I dont buy DVD's unless I REALLY like the movie.

So.. if you have a bunch of old movies that you dont want anymore or CD's that your Ipod has rendered useless.. you should try it.. oh and look me up.. you can have friends and stuff here

My Screen name... Pheldda

The Good, the Bad & for lack of something quirky, the Ugly

So I haven't blogged in months, leaving this blog promises that I would blog about the wedding and Honey moon and now that I've been married for almost 4 months, Its been looming over me. ( wow how time flies). As the weeks go by my recollection of the two events are become more nostalgic and less factual so I dont think I'll be blogging about them is going to happen.

I might do that some day but lately I've been wanting to just write about other things. Wedding was great Honeymoon was wonderful and that's that.

So what's been going on these past 4 months? Let me tell you with my favorite tool: The Bulleted List. ( bad first so we can end on a good note)

The Bad ( or "not good" is better)

• No jobs for Hubs: It seems pretty dismal for the Hubs as of late. He's been a grad for over 6 months now and hasn't have much prospect. No interviews since last I've updated. We've given up on getting into JET this year, next year he says he knows what he could do differently.
• Still living with the in-laws: Its not a bad situation per se. Its just not the best. Its nice living here and free rent is well.. free. Mother Hubs likes us living here because Father Hubs works out of town. Chloe ( I asked my cat and she said we could use her real name) likes it here but there's no freedom. That and I'm 30 min away from work and 40 min away from my closest friends up here.
• I don't have a car: I'm borrowing Mother Hubs old car ( her baby, even though its seen better days)
• I started going to the gym.. then stopped: I was going to join a gym.. then went for 3 days during the trial and stopped.. I feel bad about myself but oh well
  

The Good

• I'm debt free! Hubs and I are proud to not have any outstanding debts! Not only that because of our living situation we've been able to save a little money. We didnt have any savings really ( We have money saved up for when we go to Japan, but we dont want to use that) so we've been activly building a savings account.. and....
• We bought a PS3!: Hub's Birthday was in June, so I bought one as his present. I love it. I finally get to play FF7 ( his ps1 copy, the second CD doesnt work) and Little Big Planet is one of the most fun games I have played in a while. I only rented it but I really want to buy it.
  
• I'm knitting I took it up last month and I am addicted. I'm really trying to do more advanced things. I'll probably be blogging about that more
  
• Summer= More farmer's markets: While there's always one on Saturday, in the summer you can get Fresh Produce, flowers and other goodies 4 or 5 times a day if you wanted to. I made Ratatoulle last week and I loved it.
  
• Hubs is expanding his life: While he is unemployed he is not Idle. He started volunteering at a Local Cat Shelter, ( Cats are his first love, me second I knew that When I married him) He's learning how to cook wonderful foods and then making them better!

The Ugly


I feel shamed.. but I really want to see it. I dont know why I love these two but I need to get some friends together and see it.

A weeks worth of musings

Ok so I havent posted in a while. The only time I've really had to blog, is during work, and I feel bad doing it at work. Thi s has been a very long week.

Hubs got put into the Alternate pool for JET. I got pretty down because of it. He's pretty upset because he really doesnt have a solid backup plan. So what are we going to do now?

• Turn in all the paper work. There's still a chance. Who knows he could get called up in May.
• Go on our Honeymoon. I'm super excited. I'm all packed and ready to go. I'll probably have a nice long blog about everything we did.
• Hubs is going to look for a job. He doesnt want me to look for a job because, with my experience, I could find a job anywhere. He doesnt really have the job experience so finding a job for him is harder.

So that's the plan. I'm out of the slump I was in this week.

The Waiting Game

The wait is killing me! The results for JET aren't out yet, but they will be soon and I know it. There isn't anything for me to do at work, the beginning of the month is traditionally slow so I'm just waiting by my cell, hoping Hubs calls me, telling me the results. While I wait I'm going to just talk about it and our options. Sorry this is a major text wall

What is JET?

JET (Japanese Exchange in Teaching is a Japanese government based program where the ALT ( Assistant Language Teacher I think) goes to a usually small rural town in Japan and helps teach English for 1-3(or some say 5) years.

What you are really supposed to do is be a representative of our country, and get the( from what I've heard) sheltered Japanese experience with outsiders.

There are 3 different Stages, the Application, the Interview state and then the Shortlisted stage. The Application requires that you have 2 letters of reference and a SOP ( Statement of Purpose) as well as a huge application.Only 30% of applicants that apply get an interview. Of that 30% only 1/3 of those people will get shortlisted. Hubs made it into the Interview stage and interviewed Mid February. Since then he's been waiting

The 3 scenarios.

Scenario A: Hubs gets shortlisted!- Yay we are going to Japan! I'm going with Hubs and I plan on getting a part time job tutoring, and then spend the rest of the time supporting him and trying to be a good Representative of America. I'm going to call all my family members and tell them, then he gets his background check and his physical and when he gets accepted then we budget out how much we are going to need ( we have a little pile of money stored away from the wedding, ) I would talk to my work about my future there and stuff like that.. I don't really want to go into too much.. because I don't want to jinx it

Scenario B: Hubs gets rejected!- This will be a sad day in our household. I will first be the supporting wife that I know I can be. We will contact family members and go through the motions. I know Hubs will start looking for a job out of the area. We had several plans for planB, real plan be will probably be everything all at once. :

• I will go back to school
• Hubs will take the LSAT ( SAT for Law school) and, depending on his score, start looking into law schools
• Hubs will get a decent paying job SOMEWHERE and then we will move there.
• Hubs will apply next year, I think, I really think he should anyway.

Scenario C: Hubs gets put on the Alternates list!- this is what I fear the most. You don't get accepted, but your not flat out rejected, there is still a chance, but you may not know until OCTOBER!!!! So Hubs will get all sad and feel rejected, but still check his e-mail every waking moment, and wouldn't be totally into finding the new job and getting over it... It would kill me. I know it would kill him.

So this is what I'm waiting for: Hubs to get a single e-mail, that will shape the course of our near future.. in seconds....

I'll never be THIS Green

I tried to think of something cool for April fools.. but I'm not that good. So I just get to share something that I "discovered"

Lots of people do things for the sake of being green. My Ideal bite today talked about a new "Green Escort Service" but this is something I will never do for the sake of the enviroment





*Warning* This is NSFW!!!!!!!





For the sake of everyone I'm linking it

P,W.S Post Wedding Syndrome

I was going to post a synopsis of my wedding and all its ups and downs yesterday, but I got distracted with:

• Thank you notes
  
• Hubs ( I'll have a better psuedonym for him someday) indulging my fantasy of a tomato garden, by letting me go to our favorite plant place price all the materials out.
• Helping Hubs make an amazing chicken dinner, and cake to go with it. Then cleaning the whole mess up with little help from hubs...
  
• Earth hour turning into a five hour induction into the wonderful game of liers dice by candlelight.

So now I'm ready to post about the wedding... or am I? I have this weird thing that I cant really describe. Talking about the wedding makes me sad. This day this ONE DAY, that actually the whole wedding + reception look a whopping 3.5 hours, ( 6.5 hours if you count pictures and getting ready) makes me sorta sad. I spent most of my free time of eleven months working on thinking about that one day. I stopped playing W.O.W, moved into my in-laws house, got thousands of dollars in contributions from family members that I will probably never pay back. In the end I still had to become a social hermit ( and stop going to Magic) just to make this day work.

And now that its over I'm sad. I feel that maybe if I don't give a final synopsis while its fresh, that I wont complain about the bad parts. In all honesty the parts that were bad, were fairly minimal. I dont think I'm ready to talk about the wedding as something that WAS.

Maybe later this week. I'll write it down on paper, read it to myself a couple of times.. and then post it here.

Here's a Teaser: My favorite pic that I have seen so far :)

Triple Threat

So 3 things I'm passionate right now have joined head on (Crafting, Nerdery, Being "Green") to make a wonderful thriple threat.

This week I came into some old computer parts and used floppy discs. They were going to be thrown away and the tree-hugging-jump-on-the-green-bandwagon-girl in me was very sad. So I saved them from the landfill and I have found little ways to re use them:



My work is using a Paper Cup to hold dry erase pens... how sad. I want to make this to make the office look a little more cheery. It's going to be in our works "colors" If it works out. I think I'm going to make more!

I love this idea. Its very "Geek Chic" I think I'm going to make a few of these.. maybe frame some pictures of us playing magic or .. dare I do it.. Our wedding pics * gasp*

I didnt make these btw. I got them from Geek Gear

That's all for today My goal for tomorrow is to talk about my wedding ( and make the frame :D)

-Pheldda

Hello My name is Pheldda

My name is Pheldda. This is my blog. I am a twenty-something (later half) newly wed with no idea how the future will unfold for me.

My husband has applied to the Jet Programme. It's only 15 days until they tell him if he got accepted, in which we will start to prepare for our departure to Japan. If not, well I dont know what will happen.

I'm worried and nervious about how everything will go. This blog will be more of a method of meditation more than anything else. I'm hoping to blog often about anything that interests me, which is a lot.

What is Pheldda? Pheldda is my screen name. I got it from the picture above. This is a Phelddagrif. A Phelddagrif is a fictional monster from the card game Magic: The Gathering, which both my husband and I play.

Well that is all I really want to say today

Good night

Pheldda