General

No knittin’ yesterday – instead, I took the day off to run errands (hooray for fresh groceries in the house!) and spend some time with two of my neices (and their parents, of course!)

Somewhere between swimming, playing bubbles and drawing with sidewalk chalk (otherwise known as outside crayons) I realized I’m getting old. Woke up this morning planning on going to the gym…until I stood up. Ugh. Maybe the advil will kick in soon? I guess it doesn’t matter – lifting a three-and-a-half year old can probably take the place of weight lifting, right?

All in all, it was a perfect day. :)

The light box is almost done! OK, so Denis helped me with some of the cuts – particularly the ones involving tiny pieces of moulding, since they were far too close to the spinning blade of death for my taste! I could get used to the air-powered finish nailer, though. Wow. I was looking for other things that needed nailing since it was so easy to use!

We also (finally) bought all of the materials for the built-in bookcase/window seat/entertainment center we’re building along one wall of the family room in the basement. (Yes, we have a window in the basement large enough to have a window seat – two, in fact. There are advantages to living on a steep hill!) We splurged and spent $48 to have the materials delivered, since renting a truck would probably have cost almost as much.

And I’ve finally made the decision to not go with the landscaper who has given me the run-around for three months now. Especially since her estimate (which I had already thought was high) was only about 60% of the actual final cost of the fence, and the cost of putting pavers in around the pool is six times the cost of the materials. That’s just insane. We’ll probably end up doing most of it ourselves – what it would have cost to do the fence, I could buy composite lumber, build the fence panels myself, and never have to stain it again. It just might take me a while to do! (Maybe I can at least get someone to come dig the post holes. Ugh.)

I finally played in a concert in a park last night. We opened for another group, which seems really silly for a concert band to do! :) The group after us was really good – three guys playing folk-type songs on guitars, banjo, and sometimes fiddle. Then there were fireworks. Of course, I had to get a glow-necklace, because you can’t celebrate the Fourth of July (even on the third) without a glow-stick-type-thing! I put it on my dresser last night and every time I woke up I checked to see that it was still glowing. Some childhood habits never die.

Today, we’re cooking hot dogs and swimming. Ahh. Gotta love days off in the summer. Now if I could just get the horn part of Stars & Stripes Forever out of my head…off-beats, anyone?

The solution? Trash my entire preferences folder. Something not obviously related to Photoshop Elements must have been the culprit. (I think it was Quicktime.)

Let me preface this by saying I love my titanium powerbook, I love Mac OS X, and I have not had a single problem with it in the 6 months I’ve had this setup, or the three years I’ve been using OS X in general. Now, on to the gory details. I am so completely frustrated with my computer right now, it isn’t even funny. The card reader adapter I’ve been using ever since Murphy chewed the first one (long story)…well, I knew it was trouble from day one, when it caused my computer to crash for the first time ever.

Saturday, I sat down to edit some pictures and update my craft pages, stuck in the card reader…CRASH. Fine. This happens maybe 1 in 10 times I use the card reader. I restarted, downloaded the pictures, then went to fire up Photoshop Elements, which promptly crashed before it even finished launching.

I’ve reinstalled Photoshop Elements, removed my preferences, went through several disk repair utilities, trashed my fonts in case one was corrupted, scoured the internet, prayed to several gods, and even contemplated small sacrifices to them. I’ve posted support requests on a couple of forums, but haven’t gotten any useful advice.

Now, I’m stuck without an image editing program, lots of updates to make, and a sock that could have been finished if I hadn’t wasted all of that precious knitting time dealing with my computer. (And I’m running on very little sleep, since I worked on this until midnight last night, and started working on it again this morning at 6:30.)

I guess I’m going to have to try some of the paid support options with either Adobe or Apple. Grrr.

Since I’m sure there are people who haven’t read, or finished reading, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I’m putting my thoughts about it in the extended entry. If you want to read more, click the link below. Please be warned that it does contain some spoilers!

…and now back to your regularly scheduled knitting… :)

Read more

What a perfect day to spend reading – it’s been gray and rainy, so I don’t have to feel guilty about doing nothing! I’ve read quite a bit of it, but I had to stop reading for a while – my eyes were starting to get bleary. Does that mean I’m getting old?

Anyway, I only had to stand in line for 10 minutes this morning to pick up my copy, which I was very happy to have reserved – there were no unreserved books available! I can’t imagine what a zoo it must have been last night. I even took a break earlier this afternoon to go pick up my finished cross-stitch from the framers…and then, of course, I got right back to reading.

Now I think I’d better work out some dinner plans, and get my dish to pass ready for the parish picnic tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for sunshine – if it’s nice, we’re going to throw the puppies in the pool tomorrow afternoon!

Not much crafting going on lately – I’ve been re-reading the first four Harry Potter books instead. I think instead of going to the bookstore at midnight and waiting in an insanely long line, I’m going to get there first thing Saturday morning and pick up my copy. It’s not like I can (or should) stay up all night reading it, anyway.

I know, this is probably some unhealthy obsession. After all, it’s just a children’s book…although I feel a little like a kid at Christmas time…”just two more sleeps until Santa comes”! :)

Chicken & Bell Pepper Medley
(serves 4)

• 4 chicken breasts, cut into small chunks
• 4 bell peppers (whatever colors you like), cut in bite-sized pieces
• small amount of olive oil
• a clove or two of fresh minced garlic
• black pepper (to taste)
• a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup feta cheese

Sauté the chicken in the olive oil (if you use a nonstick pan, you don’t need very much – maybe a tablespoon). When that’s cooked through, add the peppers, garlic and black pepper. Cook just until the peppers are crisp-tender. Remove from heat, and toss with balsamic vinegar and feta cheese. Eat until you’re stuffed. Mmmmm.