Alien Spouse

Dr. Mario Phd.

Today my friend Zack was preparing to teach a class, and he needed someone to help him test the tech.  So I asked Doc C, because the tech in question was a Nintendo NES and a cartload of cartridges.  Zack's co-teaching a class on games, so it's important for the students to get a thorough grounding in the classics.

Zack had set up the NES in one of the classrooms at the end of the hall from my office, and they both went scampering off to play check that everything was really working properly in two-player mode.  Yes, I was working on budgets to the soundtrack of 8-Bit music.

Doc thought the technical consultation took fifteen minutes, but it was actually an hour and a half.

Cat-in-a-Box.

I'll be honest, this photo instinctively prompts a reference to Jack Nicholson in "The Shining".

"H-e-r-e-'s Edith!" probably.

In a lovely adherence to cat clichés, Edith adores boxes and this big box is her particular joy.  The tear was already in the corner, but it was taped closed until this evening.  With the removal of the tape, Edith has discovered a whole new facet to the box, and she has never been happier.

Nobody Likes Me Everybody Hates Me, Think I'll Go and Date Avatars.

Scene: This morning on the way to the gym.

Jen: sigh. I have "Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me, Think I'll Go and Eat Worms" stuck in my head.

Doc: Well I've got "Do You Want to Date My Avatar?" stuck in my head for the 19th day in a row.

Jen: (Heartless laughter, as she was the one who introduced Doc to the song) You are welcome!

And for those of you who don't yet have "...Avatar?" stuck in their heads, here's the video on YouTube.

Come. Join us in repetitively humming the chorus for the next month and a half.

Three Mice, Only One of Which is Half-Blind.

It is very rare that I can find all three of the crinkly mice at any one moment in time, so I took a photo to commemorate this historic event.  As you can see two of the mice have lost their noses, but the mouse in the middle has lost his eye which gives him just a bit more character.  They all originally had tails, but those lasted less than a week.

These are by far the most popular of the cat's toys, mainly because they make a really good crinkly noise (hence the highly original name I have given them) which the cats find very enticing.  If you want to get their attention all you have to do is squish one of these a little bit, and their eyes become huge waiting for you to throw it.  Nancy will tentatively pounce on a mouse and bat it around which is really sweet, but Edith really throws herself into the hunt.  She does spectacular leaps and twists in mid-air in her determination to catch her foil prey.

I love throwing these for the cats, but as I am always on retrieval duty I tend to get bored before they do.  Particularly because Edith has a bad habit of stuffing them as far under the sofa as she can.  I sometimes wonder if seeing me try to get it back is a large part of Edith's enjoyment of the game.

When Nancy Attacks!

I asked Doc this morning if he'd noticed any change in Nancy, and he tentatively said she seems to be more relaxed and playful.  That's what I think too, although it's hard to know if it's the pheremone diffuser or just us hoping that Nancy is chilling out a bit.  I'd love it if this turned out to be a long term solution for Nancy's skittishness!

She has definitely been playing a lot more, I love this series of photos from the weekend, and Nancy also seems less nervous around Edith.

Classically Trained.

Doc bought this T-shirt from the Clothing District, a great shop in Boston, when we were on holiday in March.

Generally speaking, you can rely on Doc to have an appropriate and interesting T for any occasion.  This one, for example, is perfect for teaching summer session, taking your wife for a coffee or watching "The Prisoner" on DVD. 

Fourth of July Lounging.

Today being the Fourth of July we invited some friends over to barbecue some burgers, and then play poker.  Somehow though I got the impression that today's weather was supposed to be bad, so I called everyone to cancel the BBQ part and come a bit later for the card game.

Well, naturally the weather is gorgeous today and we could have cooked a treat out there.  Grrr.

Still, that does give me more time to laze around reading Agatha Christie short stories and trim the cat's claws.  Edith wasn't exactly keen but acquiesced because with all her fur she's just too warm to kick up a stink at the moment; unfortunately Nancy was convinced I was trying to kill her and complained like hell.  I only managed to do Nancy's front paws, so we have to go through all that again to get her back claws too.  sigh.

My First Mini Golf.

After work Doc and I went out for dinner, and then played a round of mini golf.  My ball was a lovely shade of blue, and The Doc chose black.

 

I only lost to Doc C by 24 points, which I think is pretty good for a first attempt, and it was a lot more fun then I was expecting.  Afterwards we played arcade games, and won enough tickets to get a toy plane.  I picked the one that I thought Edith would enjoy chewing most, an F 20.

Cards and Tattoos.

When Doc got his latest tattoo he took a deck of Bicycle playing cards with him, to show the exact style and size he wanted the suits to be in.

I've tried to get a nice clear photo of it, although what I soon discovered was that it was damned awkward to get him to pose, so that you could see the ink but that wasn't also uncomfortable and contrived.

So I gave up until the weekend, when we were playing cards and I realised you can actually see that part of his arm best when he's holding a hand of cards, which is very appropriate.  As an added bonus in this picture you can also see the Japanese characters on his leg tattoo, which is the signature of the artist who painted the scroll that the leg tattoo is based on.

In case you were wondering we were playing Shithead with the very deck he took with him to the tattoo artist.  When we finished we were tied at "Shith..." each.

Dead Subtle.

I don't know, do you think maybe Edith wants someone to play with her?

You Krazy Kats. *

The cats are still really pleased that we are home from our holiday, and that they can now get into our bedroom at night because it's too warm for us to have the door closed.  However they still don't understand that we like to sleep all night, not just take a series of naps.  This bores the little darling apparently.

Nancy woke me up this morning at about 2:30, by biting the tip of my nose.  It wasn't a hard bite by any means, but it's always disconcerting when you are woken up by a tooth going up one of your nostrils, however gentle a bite it may be.  It turned out that all Nancy wanted was some attention, and she sat on my chest purring wildly until Edith tried to get in on the act by curling up on my tummy.

 Edith, on the other hand, has been trying to entertain herself.  Unfortunately this involves her bring her favourite toy up to our bedroom and then chasing it.  Edith is a beautiful cat, but dainty she is not, so we have been woken up several times by the thunder of her paws or a crash as she slams into a wall.  It particularly annoying when she loses the ball in a paper bag, because she adores the noise she can make whilst trying to get it back. 

Still I suppose it is quite sweet that, even though I always take the ball back downstairs for her to play with, when we wake up in the morning she will have brought it back upstairs.  This morning I found it left neatly between the shoes I wore yesterday.

* Bonus points to anyone who can name the 90's pop duo I'm referencing in this post's title.

Alarmingly Routine.

Doc and I have very different approaches to waking up during the week. 

• My alarm clock goes off first, and that starts with the charming sound of birdsong, followed by a witty morning greeting from Stephen Fry, before the beeping part of the alarm goes off.  I then doze for fifteen minutes, before my iPod chimes in with a lovely harp playing scales at which point I get up (or I check my e-mail and web comics).  I find this combination of sounds wakes me up gently but reliably and I quite often start the day with a smile.
• Doc's phone has a horrible klaxon sound, which is the sound he has chosen to jolt him awake.  He then hits snooze and it goes off again five minutes later.  I'm already downstairs eating breakfast by this point, but I'm pretty sure he then swears and hits snooze again.  Sometimes he'll also then have the phone's marimba ring tone go off, which is much more fun but still really loud and abrupt.  Doc hates waking up, and so he finds this barrage of loud obnoxious sounds to be the most effective means of forcing himself to face the day.

Very different approaches.

We do agree on a couple of points, however, for example that we do not wake up before 6 on a work day.  That's just wrong and unnecessary when you only live ten minutes away from the office.  Another thing we concur on is that having a ten pound weight dropped onto our tummies is a particularly unpleasant way to greet the day.

I just wish we could explain these two vital points to Edith.

Last night we had to leave the bedroom door open because it was too warm in our room, and we needed to get the air circulating.  Nancy immediately came upstairs, found a comfy place on the floor, tucked her paws under herself and proceeded to face-plant quietly.  Edith?  Nothing is ever that easy with Edith.  She started off sitting on my bedside table, watching me closely whilst blithely shoving things on to the floor.  If I moved and/or brought a hand out from under the covers, Edith would purr loudly and fawn all over me.  If I didn't move for any period of time, she would check me for a pulse.  Well, it was actually the cat equivalent, which involved pawing at me until I woke up and fussed her.  This began to bore her after an hour or two, so she ran downstairs for a while and tore around like a mad thing, before racing back up to our room and mewing plaintively.  We discovered in the morning that she had brought up one of her tinsel balls and put it into Doc's shoe, that must have been what she was trying to tell us.

At around four she launched her main assault, which was her classic technique of cantering back and forth across the bed at stomach level; until I got out of bed, scooped her up and ushered her gently out of the room. Doc and I were both shattered today, but I think the worst part was that we had known that is what she was going to do before we even tried to sleep.  And she'll probably do it again tonight. 

Stupid cat.

The Knitted Village.

This is very impressive, a miniature replica of a village knitted by people who live there.  The BBC has photos here, the report says that it took 40 people 23 years to complete

The only thing that worries me is the amount of space it must take up, because it's hard to tell from the pictures and they don't give a precise square footage.  Apparently this is going to be sold off in individual pieces to raise money for charity, but I bet not all of it will be sold or they just start making another one.

This is precisely why I make sure I know where my amigurumis are going before I start them, otherwise I'll get over attached to them and my entire house would end up waist deep in chubby little figures made from yarn.  Although the cats would love that I'm sure.

Speaking of amigurumis, I am gearing up to make Rorschach from "The Watchmen" this weekend, I bought the right colours of cotton yarn when we were in Philladelphia but I've been putting it off because I have no idea how I am going to do the face, or the hat and those are the main distinguishing features.  Anyway, I'll sketch it out tonight, and just start the thing tomorrow.

After that I'm going to make something for my cousin Hollie (She initially asked for the green monster, which I think means Cthulu, but I'm thinking we may need to discuss this a bit before I start), but then there will be a new contest.  So it won't be for a few weeks, but I want to give you some advance notice because this is going to be a bit more complicated than the first one, and it's much more about you guys! 

Here's the basic idea,

1. You suggest characters that you would like to see crocheted amigurumis of. 
2. I will then pick a shortlist (Let's all assume that I get more than one entry for this! Hopefully!), and do an initial sketch how I think I would make them.
3. I will post those basic designs, and you can vote on which character I make. 
4. The winner will be the person who originated the idea, and they will get the amigurumi, so make sure you suggest things that you actually want!  

It can be a fictional character or real person (Like Niall's Zombie Queen Mother), or something you've totally made up, but can describe clearly (Ella's guess of a vampire librarian bunny would be a great example, I know exactly how I would do that!).  Anything you want to see crocheted, I will try and work out how to make.  So consider the idea, and be ready for phase one soon!

Don't submit any entries yet.

I'm just mentioning it now, so you can think about it for a bit.

Nancy Thinks - "I Shall Kill It!"

I was trying to get a photo of Edith doing one of her spectacular leaps to catch a ball, although for the first time ever she was uncharacteristically camera shy.  So with Doc's help I tried filming it, and I did get her mid-leap, but I was too close really and you couldn't really appreciate the height.

Anyway, then Nancy started playing with the feather duster thingy, and I began filming her instead.  Both cats find the combination of the duster and the foot-stool absolutely fascinating, so Edith joined in and I got the whole thing on video.

It's only about two minutes long, and I've added a soundtrack so you don't have to listen to me and Doc giggling.  I really like how Nancy is getting a teeny tiny bit feistier, but Edith is always going to be the bigger cat.

I Shall Kill It! from Jen Alien-Spouse on Vimeo.

My Plans for a Long Weekend at Home.

This being Easter weekend I have four days off (although I was told it isn't called Easter Weekend officially because the "separation of church and state" means it cannot be referred to that.  Later in the day I saw news footage reporting with horror that President Obama has not been to church since being in office.) and naturally because it's a public holiday the weather is predicted to be awful. 

That's ok though, because none of my intended activities for the weekend require fine weather.  So far I have planned an intensive program of:

• reading,
• crocheting,
• catching up on TV,
• making a fuss of the cats,
• playing video games. 

These tasks will be broken up by some serious napping, and I shall also be requiring Doc C to dig out the recipe for hot cross buns, so that I can snack appropriately.  But in the meantime, I think I need to go to bed and watch "Numb3rs" before having a good night's sleep. 

I've already turned my alarm off.

Ok, But How Does the Walrus Come Into It?

Every time I think I get how the internet works, or what's going on out there I find a new thing that throws me completely.  I don't mean NSFW stuff, after all I've seen "Avenue Q" so I am well aware that many people believe that "The Internet is for Porn" and all sorts of other far less pleasant things.

No, today what I don't understand on the internet is Layer Tennis.  I thought I'd got it, but then I looked through some archive matches and now I think I must be missing something.  I sort of understand how it's played (a designer sends an image to a second designer, who answers with their interpretation of the image and each match is a volley of ten images), but I don't really get if the designs must incorporate an aspect of the previous image or if there has to be any thematic connection running through all the volleys.  I also really have no clue how a winner is determined, in fact even the commentary can be baffling to me because I'm sometimes not sure how it relates.

For me Layer Tennis has become the on-line design equivalent of ice hockey, in that I really have no clue what is going on but I sort of don't want to, because just watching the action unfold without any notion of what the hell is going on is fascinating to me.

I may have to sign up for a season ticket.

Jasmine's Skeleton-Girl-Pirate Amigurumi.

This is the Skeleton-Girl-Pirate Amigurumi I made for my friend Jasmine to celebrate her getting into University.  She already knows which halls of residence she will be in, and it's the one next to my office building!  Yay!

I decided to make a skeleton pirate because Jasmine is probably the only person I know who has more skull t-shirts than I do.  As you can see the Pirate's bandanna is pink (which is how you know it's a girl, obviously) and I decided to leave it removable.

I finished this last weekend, but didn't see jasmine until we went bowling this evening.  I should also note that Jasmine got a much better score than me, although that wasn't difficult this evening.

Crochet Alien Spouse Ready to Roll.

I've just finished packing the Green Queen in her travel pod and she'll be on her way to Australia tomorrow morning.

She's traveling light, but insisted on taking her collection of shredded recycled paper with her.  She's sentimental like that sometimes.

My Day Off in Bullet Points

1. Realised I forgot to move my alarm clock forward, when my first alarm failed to go off.  Good thing I have today off.
2. Celebrate contest having been won by Ella, with the magic of HTML code.
3. Worked with Doc C to get Nancy into her pet carrier.  We both ended up bleeding slightly. 
4. Nancy's skin is much better.  I also mentioned to the vet Nancy sometimes seems reluctant to jump, the vet examined her and her hip is very stiff.  It may be arthritis, but she's a bit young for that.  The other solution may be a badly healed old injury, which would fit with her missing front teeth.  Poor little cat.
5. Went to the gym with Doc C, and slogged away at the elliptical.  Ugh.
6. Came home and had a shower.
7. Took two Advil for a headache and had a nap.
8. Ate lunch that included string cheese, which I find oddly satisfying.  I had previously mocked the stuff.
9. Afternoon screening of "The Watchmen".  It's good, but I spent a lot of time closing my eyes to avoid the gory bits.  I didn't expect the darkness of the comic to be so faithfully translated to the screen.  Wow.  I need to think about it for a while before I review it fully.
10. Went for ice cream.  One scoop of swiss chocolate ice-cream, with cookie dough mixed in.
11. Ordered pizza whilst eating ice-cream.
12. Browsed comic books whilst waiting for pizza.
13. Came home, with fresh hot pizzary goodness.
14. Ate pizza and watched TV.
15. Content, but tired.

Mystery Crochet - Compare and Contrast.

I thought I'd post a picture of the Alien Spouse Amigurumi next to the Alien Spouse Banner logo, so you could see properly who she is supposed to be.

Actually I've always called the fabulous creature in the banner The Green Queen, but she is the image I use for all my Alien Spouse stuff instead of a photo of me.  You know, because of the whole secret identity thing, so I suppose she is also my on-line alter ego.  I don't have hair quite that big though, hers is clearly the result of hot rollers, back-combing and at least half a can of hair spray.  I'm more of a small-amount-of-product-and-scrunch-blow-dry kind of a girl myself.

I hope you all enjoyed this contest, Hillary wants to know when the next one is going to be and I have an idea or two about that, but I have a couple of other things to do first.  Doc C was quite disappointed that we won't get to keep the Green Queen, so I'll be crocheting him a Yoda to console him.

I believe the Alien Spouse will be heading to Australia to live with Ella at the weekend (I need to find the best packing option to keep her safe), so she's got a long journey ahead of her.  Isn't that exciting though?  She really will be internationally travelled.

Mystery Crochet Solved! Go Ella!

We have a winner!

Congratulations Ella, you correctly identified our Mystery Amigurumi as the Alien Spouse from the banner!  Look, she's there now!

I have your e-mail address, so I shall be in touch later today about how best to get her to you.

Mystery Crochet - Full Picture.

So the Mystery Amigurumi is still a mystery!  Oh, she is a puzzle, wrapped in an enigma and shrouded in uncertainty!

In the comments Ella has asked me if the character is a myth to, which the answer is no.  The name Red Riding Hood has also been banded around a fair bit, which I will take as a question and respond by saying that she is not a fairy tale character either.

Actually, I think it is time to reveal a full picture of our Mystery Crochet Personality.

Here she is:

Name that Amigurumi!

Mystery Crochet - Picture Clue With Added Mise en Scene!

Here's your picture clue for today, which I think will give you a pretty big hint.

I bought more yarn today to start a new amigurumi, this one is inspired by an entry that was incorrect on this occasion, but was nonetheless utterly fabulous for that, so now I simply have to make it.  The power of crochet compels me.

When we were in the yarn shop (Doc C likes to come too, because he fears the whole house being overrun by my stash.  Quite rightly.) they were holding a felting class outside, which looked like a lot of fun and they were making some amazing things.  They also had some little badge thingies, I think your supposed to wear them pushed through button holes.  I bought a little skull with crossed knitting needles and a polka dot bow on her head, and a demon ball of wool with little horns and a tail.

Fun!

Mystery Crochet, Long Weekends and My Inability to Compose Quizzes.

I'm sorry you didn't get your customary second post yesterday; I was SO tired that when we got home, I had a nap for two hours, then obviously I had to watch "Dollhouse" (which I am enjoying immensely by the way) and I was also working on another clue for you... 

Let's just say if you read Alien Spouse through a feed reader, then you might want to occasionally pop over to the actual blog and have a wander around. 

Speaking of clues I am still finding it very difficult to judge how much of a hint I should drop, and when to post them.  I'm trying to be fair by not giving the UK or the US an advantage, so I try to factor in the time difference when I post.  One of the reasons I haven't run a contest on Alien Spouse before is that I've always been bad at judging how difficult a question is.  The very few times I've helped to write a quiz, it wasn't until I saw the answer sheets that I realised how uneven my questions actually were.  Fortunately for me, that can also mean I find a really difficult question in Trivial Pursuit easy, which gets me the admiration of my team, until I then get stumped by something blindingly obvious when I am going for a piece of pie.

Next week is Spring Break at our University and my office has to be manned for the whole week, but there isn't a lot happening so we are taking it in turns to actually be there.  I'm taking Monday and Tuesday off, which means I get a nice long weekend.  Doc C was all "Let's go to Vegas!", but I don't think we will be doing that, exciting as it would be.  You never know though, I've been known to plan a week in Derby and then actually spend most of it in Amsterdam.

Mystery Crochet - Bonus Picture Clue!

I was only going to give you one more piece of our puzzle, but you know what?  It's Friday, and I have a long weekend coming up.  I am feeling generous, so here are two key parts of the photo.

Mystery Crochet - In Answer to Your Question.

I have made a contest page where I will be putting all of the answers to the questions you ask me, and all of the picture clues.  I'll update it as we go.

There is a link in the side bar on the left, and here's another link to it, just to be thorough!

I told you this morning that this is a fictional character, BUT she has never appeared in a film, on TV, in a book or a play, as far as I am aware.

This snippet of information prompted Deidre to ask if she was a British fictional character.  To be honest I think she has quite a complicated personal history, and part of that is because she has no nationality.

Here is your next picture clue:

Mystery Crochet - Question Time.

I have an idea for how to progress with the contest, let's play Twenty Questions!  Well I won't bother counting the questions though; just ask anything you like, with the obvious exception of "Who is she?", in the comments and I'll answer in the posts. 

To kick off the questions, I have already posed myself the following query:

Is this a real person or a fictional character?

The answer is she is a fictional character, BUT she has never appeared in a film, on TV, in a book or a play, as far as I am aware.

So what would you like to know next?  Let me know in the comments!

p.s. After work today I think I will set up a contest page, which will have a link in the side bar and I'll put all of the clues there, so they are in one place and you don't have to hunt through the archives or Flickr for them.  Comments will stay where they are though, so to see previous entries look at the "Recent Comments" in the sidebar and you should be able to spot them quite easily.

Mystery Crochet - The Object is Complete!

I have unplugged the hot glue gun and cut the last thread.

This means that the Amigurumi is finished.

All that remains is for her to find a new home, so please guess who she is and she will be on her way to you!

Mystery Crochet - I am LOVING the Contest Entries!

Wow! The comments I'm being left for this contest are really great, all of the entries are brilliant and SO funny!  Many of the suggestions are so entertaining that they will probably become future Amigurumi projects.  The lesson here is to guess something you would like to see in the form of a small crochet creature, because I might just make it.

I should also say that I have had some entries in the contest by e-mail; Megg has suggested "a horribly mutated baby chick bent on revenge for its disfigurement", Row K thinks it might be "the Princess from Mario" and Niall has told me he will be very upset if it is not "a doll representing the final death throes of the late Queen Mother shortly before she learned of the great Dubonnet drought of 2001".

Genius!

So if you are having any problem at all leaving comments on Alien Spouse itself, please feel free to e-mail me.  You can find a link to my hotmail in the left column, then I will copy, paste and attribute the entries in a post.

To keep you up to date on the project, I think I have nearly finished! 

After work this evening I re-stitched her mouth for the third time, and I am pleased to say that I think I've got it right this time.  There was one point when the mouth was just wrong and I had put her eyes far too close together, the cumulative effect was frankly creepy.  I'm glad to have fixed that.
Now I am going to fire up the hot glue gun to add the final touches, and make sure everything is secure and would last a journey in a jiffy bag.

Oh!  I also wanted to say that this Amigurumi is made of some small parts, which includes a short length of wire. To be totally clear lets go for the bold here:

This would not make a suitable toy for a small child or a pet.

Essentially this figure is designed to be cute, but it isn't really a toy, and it was not designed to be chewed or hugged or poked in your eye.  Don't do any of those things, or allow anyone else to do those things and then sue me!  I wouldn't like that at all.  Why not just put it on a high shelf and admire it from a nice safe distance?  I think that would be best all round really.

Mystery Crochet - Second Set of Picture Clues!

I have been trying to think of hints that aren't headache inducingly cryptic, but also aren't completely obvious and I'm finding it very hard.  Maybe once I've actually finished working on her I'll be able to step back and be a bit more objective. 

In the meantime today's picture clues are some of the component elements of the Mysterious Amigurumi's accessories.

Picture One - Silver bugle beads.  Shiny!

Picture Two - Thin red ribbon. Please be aware that, according to Nancy, this harmless looking ribbon is in fact purest evil and must die!  Die! Die by nomming!

Picture Three - A strip of white shell crochet.  There will actually be two of slightly different lengths sewn on top of each other.

Picture Four - A trapezoid of red crochet.

Once again please feel free to guess as many times as you would like, there is no limit on guessing. 

The prize will be the mystery object itself.

I would like to also like to assure you that I am happy to post the prize anywhere in the world.  This is an international contest for a small crochet figure, after all it would be weird for an Alien Spouse not to want to include the whole wide world wouldn't it?

Mystery Crochet - Picture Clues!

Hoorah for snow days!  I have very nearly completed the Mystery Amigurumi today!  All that remains is for me to make a fiendishly complicated accessory that I think she needs, and maybe re-do the mouth.  Again.

Here are your first photo clues in gorgeous extreme soft focus, with varying exposures and lights for a real sense of continuity:

Picture One:  The secret to how she will stand, which is her bottom is reinforced with a disc of cardboard.  Oh laugh now, but you just wait; it'll be the hot trend for this summer.  All the kids will be doing it.

Picture Two:  The main components of our Mystery Amigurumi after being stuffed, but before being joined.

Picture Three:  A black button eye, with spiky sequin eyelashes.  This whole project was really just an excuse to use those sequins as eyelashes, I've been thinking about it for months.

Based on this new information please feel free to leave new comments with your hypothesis for what the hell I am making.  You can enter the contest as many times as you like, there is no limit to the number of guesses you can submit.
 
Warning - The correct answer will win the object currently under construction, and in the event of a tie the judges ruling is final.

If You Didn't Come to Crochet, Don't Bother Knocking At My Door.

Today has been a very long and busy day, and I haven't had a moment to crochet more of the Mystery Contest Amigurumi.  Tomorrow will probably be as busy, if not more so, so I hereby declare this Sunday will be Crochet-Palooza. 

Oh yeah, I know how to party.

The First Eight Rows.

I am loving the contest entries I've had so far!

Also I forgot to say please feel free to leave as many comments/guesses as you'd like.  This is a free for all type deal, and the more entries the better.  Someone has to win!

As you can see I have started off with the pink yarn, which naturally means I'm using the blue and white stitch markers to keep track of where I am.

 

Three Colours: Yarn.

These are the main colours I'll be using in my next amigurumi.

The first person to correctly guess what I shall be making will win it!  Yes, it's Alien Spouse first give away contest!

W00t!

It should take me about a week to ten days to make it, I'm hoping, and the contest will remain open until it's completed to my liking.

Mum, I'm sorry to say you are disqualified because I've already told you what I'm planning to make.  But I'll make you one too, if you'd like!

***Post Script*** Doc just asked if he could enter the contest.  After having picked up the pattern and correctly identified it from the illustration.  I would like to clarify that Doc C is also disqualified.

Play School

On Wednesday evenings David usually comes over to have drinks and watch "Top Chef" (Or "Project Runway", whatever Bravo show we are currently engaged with). He hadn't been able to for the past couple of weeks, so we had a couple of episodes to catch up and, as an added bonus, Kim and Jill came over too.

So naturally I got out the Ker-Plunk, and none of them had played it before!

As I fitted all the sticks into the tower and added the marbles, I explained the aim of the game. We soon had four University professors fixating on which stick to pull out so they wouldn't get any marbles. It got quite competitive.

A Tantalizing Game of Nerve and Skill.

This morning we had run out of porridge oats, so we went into town for breakfast; I had an omelette, Doc C had eggs benedict.  It was delicious!  The place we like to go for breakfast is furnished with vintage furniture, and they use some vintage crockery too, on this occasion Doc C had a particularly great milk glass mug for his coffee.  I was so taken by it, that we decided to stroll around the local antique shops to see if they had a set of anything similar.

We found some really cool mini snifter glasses that will be perfect for port, but we had no luck with the milk glass mugs.

That was ok though, because I had found a vintage Ker-plunk set for $10 (it say's 1967 on the box).  The art work on box was just so cool that I immediately picked it up from it's shelf, and announced I was having it.  On the same shelf was a five hundred piece jig saw of a painting depicting the underground railway, I left that where it was.

When we got home I immediately set the game up and Doc watched me, because it turned out he had never played Ker-plunk before.  Can you imagine that?

As you can see our set is sort of unusual in that the sticks are either yellow or red, and the marbles are all orange apart from a single green one.  I'm pretty sure that, when I had this as a kid, the sticks were different colours and I know the marbles would have been too.  I quite like this limited palette though!

We played three games, and I beat Doc C twice.  It's a lot more strategic than it looks.

Game Day.

When we got up today the weather was distinctly grey and damp, so I declared it to be Computer Game Day!  So for most of today I have been playing "Teen Titans", and I think my favourite character to play has to be Starfire.  She has some great powers, and I like being able to fly.

I've only seen the cartoon once or twice, but I love the jpop theme tune by Puffy Ami Yumi. 

It's so much fun, and I was very happy to be able to get it from iTunes.  Now that I've read their wikipedia entry, I really want to see Puffy Ami Yumi's own cartoon series.  In fact I think I need to add it to the Netflix queue; Doc C is not so thrilled.

Five Dice and a Rule Book.

Last night we went to Randy and Laura's house to play a new board game that they had which was based on the books of H.P. Lovecraft.

I've never read any Lovecraft, and I've never played any sort of D&D related games, so I was completely lost in the first five minutes but it was really fun!  Really complicated fun!

Ok we didn't actually complete a game, but we got to grips with the gist of it all and next time I am sure we will vanquish the Unnameable!  And isn't that really what we all want for Christmas?

Thanks Indeed.

I don't have to be back at work until Monday, which gives me a five day weekend.  This Thanksgiving thing is pretty good I suppose.

On top of that we also get to go for dinner at a friend's, Doc C will be making Pumpkin Cheesecake to take with us and we may well play more Apples to Apples?

Excellent!  I am coming to appreciate this little dry run of Christmas more and more, so much so that I am beginning to think that we really ought to look into something similar back in Great Britain.

Silver Ball.

When we first chose the cats (I know, like we were the ones who made the decision!  Ha!), we thought Nancy would be more lively and Edith was going to be very sedate. 

Oh, how wrong can you be?  Edith runs around the house playing with anything that she thinks might be fun, and this is one of Edith's favourite toys.  It went missing last week so I've been looking for it for several days, but I didn't have any luck; until Edith apparently remembered that she'd stashed it under our bed.

 

It may look like a perfectly innocent ball of silver tinsel, but it sends Edith insane. She stamps on it, she hides it, she stalks it and she plays football with it at all hours of the day and night until she literally becomes a blur.

That splodge is Edith in motion, and the slight shimmer you can see towards the top right corner is the silver ball.  I think it must have said or done something particularly offensive here.

Doc C's Birthday Wish.

Doc C brought back all the post from our post office box when he came home from work, and none of the parcels or cards that I know are on their way from England had arrived yet.  However there was a jiffy bag with Doc's name on it containing a disc for the Playstation two.

Yes it's true, finally Doc C owns "Baldur's Gate: The Dark Alliance 2" which, as any fule kno, is the sequel to "Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance"

Right now he's playing as Vhaidra Uoswiir, a Female Drow Monk (I asked why she was a monk instead of a Nun, but I expect that's the type of rookie mistake only a non-D&D-er would make) who he describes as "cool!" and "very mercenary".

In case you were wondering what Doc and I gave each other, we actually got our presents early this year in the form of two beautiful gray felines.  In fact in today's photo you can see that Edith is helping Doc C out with his quest by guarding the perimeter, with special attention to small birds.  You can't be too careful about small birds you know.

Pre-Birthday Celebrations!

If Laura ever offers to host a party for you, just say yes!  Immediately!  It was SO much fun!

When we arrived Laura had already been cooking up a storm and there were all the making of tacos and enchiladas on the table, with plenty of options for veggies and carnivores alike and it was all so delicious.  The TV was tuned to a Mexican music station, so we had suitable tunage as we ate and tried to translate the song titles to much hilarity.

After dinner we smashed the pinata, now traditionally one is supposed to be blindfolded and then spun around until your dizzy before you get your three hits.  Well I can see how that might be fun for kids who playing the game outside, but we were adults inside Laura and Randy's house and flailing around with the shovel from the fire irons set seemed like a bad idea.  Besides we were in it for the destruction!  I got the first round of hits, and I'm sure I dented it, but Doc C was next and he took the entire back half off with one swipe!  It was hilarious!  All of the sweets and little plastic things I put inside went flying.  Jasmine finished it off by very neatly separating the head from the neck, and then we all set about collecting all the stuff from the floor.   I'd made some solid choices with the filling and everyone found something they really liked, including one of the cats who loved the little plastic spider rings.  I only wish that I had gone with my original plan to attach some red streamers to the inside of the pinata, so that they had spilled out like entrails!  Yeah, I'm not sure how I get ideas like that either, but it would have been cool.

Then we played Apples to Apples, which I have mentioned before as being one of the best games ever ever ever.  I think we need to buy our own copy of that, it is just so much fun when you ply with a good group of people.  I suspect academics are particularly good, because they do enjoy arguing their case, but the highlight of the game was probably Jasmine pulling on Shawn's leg yelling "But creamed corn!  Creamed Corn!"

I did make skull masks, but I was the only one.  How anyone could resist the lure of craft paper and glitter glue I do not know, but I suppose it was coming up for midnight by that point and we had all had a lot of Mexican beer.

It was the most fun Mexican Day of the Dead Birthday Party I have ever had!

Why I Am Very Excited.

My lovely friend Laura is going to be in town for a few days, and she offered to host a birthday party at her house tomorrow evening for Doc C and I!  How can you turn that down?  And when I asked if we could have a pinata, make Dia De Muerto skull masks and eat tacos she thought that was a great idea!  Hooray!  It's going to be a very faux Mexican birthday; except I think The Doc plans on making another pecan pie, but it would be churlish to turn up my nose at Doc's pecan pies just because it doesn't fit a theme.

So I've been very busy this evening disembowelling a tissue paper bull and stuffing it with sweets and tacky plastic stuff.  Edith loves the pinata, and keeps rubbing her face up against it, but Nancy has ascertained it has no cat biscuits in it and is therefore totally uninterested.
We actually had quite a difficult time choosing our pinata because there were some excellent options.  I think Doc would have preferred the pirate, but I thought we should go traditional for my first pinata.  Neither of us wanted to get a Dora the Explorer pinata, because she had an oddly grey face and it was creepy frankly.

The Current Economic Situation, And How It Is Effected By Hairballs.

I am watching the presidential debate, whilst playing with the cats.  It's surprisingly pretty similar, but I bet things would liven up if you dumped some cat nip on McCain and Obama.  Now that would be a debate worth watching!

By the way, Defective Yeti has live blogged the debates (and, indeed, is right now), and even if you haven't seen the debates they are really funny and insightful posts.

Shoes and Books.

Before we talk about anything else, can we please discuss this chandelier? 

Isn't it ridiculous, and hideous, and bizarre?  I am pretty certain that I would have begged to be allowed this in my bedroom as a small child, but despite it's undeniable campness I have to say that now I think it's atrocious. 

It's not so much the idea, because I can sort of see what the designer was going for, but the execution is so appalling.  The colours and the construction just look cheap and nasty.

I saw this particular treasure in the local DIY supermarket whilst we were shopping for bedside lamps and bookshelves.  We didn't find any lamps that we really liked, but we did buy two small bookshelves.  We need more than two, but that's all they had. 

On the way home Doc said "So when we get back I'll play video games, and you'll build bookcases right?", I said Ok, and Doc was all "Really?  Because I didn't honestly think you'd go for that!".  Luckily for him I am very much my mother's daughter; so whilst he was battling gladiators, I happily unpacked the instructions, the bits of wood, and all the various widgets and grommets. 

It said on the instructions that the makers estimate that it would take an hour to put together.  It took me 35 minutes.

I Blame Online Poker.

I'm sorry that I'm posting so late in the day, but you see Doc C played on-line poker for 16 hours straight, and out-right refused to let me have internet access.

Ok, that's not strictly true.  In fact he was writing a lecture about feminism, and he refused to let me have the computer.

Well, I suppose it's probably more accurate to say that he was writing a lecture on feminism and occasionally interrupted my enjoyment of "Law and Order" to check whether I was feeling oppressed and to ask for my opinions on the education of women and some snippets of appropriate celebrity gossip.

And if I'd asked he actually would have let me use the computer, because he is a sweetheart like that, but crocheting got away with me again.  What can I tell you?  It's absorbing, especially when paired with a good detective drama.

 

Copyright: Don't Mess With It Kids!

I knew it was coming, and we did get a full six months warning, but it's still a sad sad day.

"Scrabulous is disabled for US and Canadian users until further notice."

And right when I was in the middle of a game with Danny, with decent letters on the rack and everything!   I mean it becomes all too obvious that this is just a ploy to stop me beating him for once.  It's all that nefarious Birchall, I tell you.

On the other hand Jonny thoroughly trounced me this week and April was clearly squaring up to give me a good beating too, so maybe it's not all bad.  Plus my phone has a Scrabble application on it that is actually licensed from Hasbro, so at least that's not going to disappear any time soon.

The question now is what on earth am I going to use Facebook for?  I don't want to go back to being one of those annoying people whose vampire application keeps biting their friends.  I know that there are two official Scrabble applications on Facebook, but one is for the US and Canada whilst the other is for the rest of the world.  This clearly reflects the copyright situation, but it annoyingly means that I can't play a match against any of my friends in the UK anymore and I loved doing that.  And anyway, the US one has technical issues and won't load.

Oh, and, to keep in the spirit of the thing, this photo was half-inched from the BBC news website a few weeks back, and shows the sixtieth anniversary celebrations for Scrabble in Trafalgar Square.  I was sorry to have missed that particular event, I would have loved a photo of me next to a giant J tile.  sigh.

ebay Board Game.

I'm just thinking that this would be a great companion game for anyone who already owns "The Antiques Roadshow" board game.

Right, Jason?

Although it would feel a bit odd buying it off the shelf at a junk shop.  I mean if there is anything that you really should buy off Amazon, surely this is it.

Kinetic Phase Two Week Seven: Complete!

And we're back!

I had a feeling that Kinetic would be better in a larger, less cluttered, room and on a wider TV screen and it really is.  It's much more fun, because I'm not accidentally kicking sofas or hitting the light fixtures; but also a lot more work, because I do have to run around more to hit the targets.

It's also great not to have to worry about the neighbours being able to see or hear me, that makes me feel a lot less self-conscious.

Now that I'm setting up my own schedule and work outs I don't get an official break down of the score, or the end of week pep talk.  I do miss that, but I still think that I needed to scale the workouts back to three or four times a week, that just works better for me.  I am getting daily grades, so I'll approximate my weekly score from that.

1. B - I hadn't focused the camera properly and that caused a few minor problems, but I'm quite pleased with that score overall.  I played one Combat, one Cardio and one Mind/Body to see how it all worked and I was pleased with the end score.
2. A - 2 Combat, a Cardio and a Mind/Body.  I have the camera properly focused now and I discovered that I can adjust the sensitivity of the camera, so I set it on the highest setting.  That means it can read my movements more easily, which is great but I still have to dash about like a mad thing.  It also occasionally reads the stairs as movement, which is annoying, but it's not very often so I think I can live with that.
3. A+ - Yay!  One Combat, Two Cardio and a Mind/Body.  That was really fun!

I would say that a B + A + Aplus = A for the week, that sounds about right doesn't it?

The Measurements for this week are:

• Bust - 38.5 Inches (No Change from last week - Or so...)
• Bicep - 11.75 Inches (No change from last week)
• Waist - 35.00 Inches (No change from last week)
• Hips - 42.00 Inches (No change from last week)
• Thigh - 22.25 Inches (No change from last week)

I'm delighted that I didn't put anything back on over the past couple of weeks, but let's hope that getting back to doing some exercise starts knocking more weight off.

Kinetic Phase Two Week Five: Complete

1. A+ - It was SO nice to do some exercise after the road trip.  I had Two Cardio and Three Combat games, so it was straight back in at the deep end.  Lovely!  I felt really lethargic, so it was just brilliant to be stretching, punching, kicking, ducking and jumping. 
2. A+
3. A+
4. E
5. A+

I thought this might happen, I've been in such a rush this week to try and fit the work-outs in that I didn't make notes about what I did on which days.

I know exactly where the E came from though!  I couldn't work-out on Friday, and the next time I logged in Matt had a few things to say about that.  So, if I miss a whole week I simply get asked if I want to start again, or continue from where I last played; but if I miss one day I get a sorrowful little speech about how I need to commit to the program to achieve anything?  Hmmm!  That seems a little bit silly to me, especially after a full 17 weeks of commitment on my part.

What with one thing and another I've decided to stop using the personal trainer mode, because it's not giving me enough flexibility with the days and I think a program of six work-outs a week is too much (my knees are killing me!).  Instead I'm going to use the routine builder to set up my own work-outs every other day, and start doing yoga again on the days in-between.  I really want to get back into doing yoga regularly, and I also think that would be a better balance of cardio and toning for me.

The measurements for this week are:

• Bust - 38.5 Inches (Down by 0.25 Inches from last week)
• Bicep - 11.75 Inches (No change from last week)
• Waist - 35.00 Inches (Down by 0.25 Inches from last week)
• Hips - 42.00 Inches (Down by 0.25 Inches from last week)
• Thigh - 22.25 Inches (Down by 0.25 Inches from last week)

I'm pleased to see I'm back to losing quarter inches after last week's road-trip plateau.  I'll still be measuring myself every week now that Kinetic is being scaled back to three or four times a week, and if the inch loss stops or, worse, starts to become inch gain then I'll go back to personal trainer mode.  Whatever it takes to lose those twenty pounds!