Coming Off the Crazy and Finding Fun Stuff on Etsy

I have been crazy busy getting my house ready to be put on the market. The major work is done, and now it's just the totally manageable jobs of maintaining the tidy and the not so slow but steady work of clearing out the basement. As a treat to myself I decided to have some guilt free time on the computer today. What did I hit first? Ravelry of course. The new term just started in the HPKCHC. I took last term off but I'm back and I am, not surprisingly, in Hufflepuff again. I also plan to check in at a couple of other groups I've been absent from for a while.

My second stop was Etsy. I had gotten an email that I had a new follower. I'm not crazy about how random people, in this case a shop that sells buttons, can follow me on Etsy. I did buy some buttons recently, but frankly my Etsy life is really not so interesting that I'd think anyone would want to follow me. However, it is what it is. Anyway, I figured I'd go see who this follower was and I ended up checking out some other random lovely stuff.

I am now determined to use string lights as an interior decorating accessory. How cool are these and so easy to change around as my mood varies!

And so many look like yarn! YARN! Who'd have thought? Well, obviously someone.

 

I'm also determined to grow my nails long enough to wear polish so I can buy some of these.

Sparkly!

I also love the things that this shop has made from vintage books. I love decorating in the fall. I can't get enough pumpkin and turkey decorations. I even have two cute pilgrims who live on my table around Thanksgiving. This year will be a tough choice between a book pumpkin or a book turkey.

And while I'm whiling away my time indoors, or back on public transportation with a good book, check out these amazing bookmarks - gotta love the fandoms!

 

Happy World Penguin Day!

I just found out that today is World Penguin Day! Check it out here.

Random penguin pictures:

Little Blue Penguins

 You can't tell me that this penguin doesn't feel like he can fly!

 Best penguin gang ever.

 Penguin Follow the Leader.

 I love the little guy's expression.

 Penguin gang in training.

 A penguin sporting Hufflepuff colors. Gotta love the style!

 Adorable!

 Couldn't leave out the penguins in sweaters.

 "I can't believe he took the dare!"

These penguins mean business!

Carpe Diem Gin and Tonic

I've been wanting to visit Tuthilltown Spirits for some time, and last weekend I decided to seize the day, so off I went to visit the only distillery in New York State since prohibition. I do enjoy a G&T now and again, and I had recently seen on Tuthilltown Spirits' Facebook page that they had recently restocked their shelves with a delicious sounding gin, Half Moon Orchard Gin. I didn't get there in time for a tour, that will be another visit, but I did get there in time for the last tasting of the day. I arrived as a large tour was ending so I wandered around the tasting room a little.

I was excited when the tasting started. I've never been to a tasting and I was interested in trying something new. We were given 3 samples as part of the tasting and my first choice was, you guessed it, Half Moon Orchard Gin. I have to say that I was not expecting to be so enthusiastic about straight gin, but this was delicious. I added a few drops of Jack Rudy Cocktail Co. Small Batch Tonic, from South Carolina, which I have to say will make a tremendous G&T once I get some plain soda water. I came home with a bottle each of the gin and the tonic so I can put my cocktail shaker to work.

My next choice was the Heart of the Hudson Vodka. It was smooth with a nice flavor. And then, I tried the Baby Bourbon. What I first knew of bourbon is that it used to be my mother's drink of choice in her 20's and what she drank every now and then at a party. I always thought it smelled awful. The next thing I knew of bourbon was that it is really good in pecan pie. The first sip I took was alright. Then with a few drops of water added, which apparently releases the flavor or something, I could see how people could drink it and not just use it in baking lovely pies.

I also had a tiny sip of Cassis which I was expecting to taste like syrup, but it was actually lighter than I expected.

I definitely want to take another visit, making sure I have time for a tour with my camera, not just my phone for pictures. I would love to see the distillery and all the workings. I was happily surprised with the products of this local distillery that takes advantage of the bounty of the area to create a high quality product that is very enjoyable, even to someone who is not really used to spirits. I'm also excited to try out some of their cocktail recipes!

Barrels for the aging of the spirits.

 One of the awards that Tuthilltown Spirits has won.

 Oil lamps for sale in the shop. One may end up making it's home with my in NYC.

 Adorable bottles of spirits and medals.

 Our lovely hostess for our tasting.

 The variety of botanicals that goes into Half Moon Gin.

Pi Day

I love math. I love mathy things. I like math jokes. I embrace my inner (and outer) nerd. I love March 14 because it's 3.14, Pi Day! Just wait until June 28, though. I wont go so far as to say you mind will explode but it may make a little popping noise.

18 Ridiculously Geeky Pi Jokes

I haven't watched all of these videos yet but here are 10 YouTube Videos for Math Geeks. I hope they're good.

I love to listen to and watch Vi Hart talk about math while she doodles. Here's a little Pi and Shakespeare.

Kind of late in the game I found this. I see some math activities happening this afternoon.

And you can't celebrate Pi without pie! M has been begging for raspberry pie for ages. I recently got a pastry blender which we will put to good use making my favorite pie crust when the kids get home from school and then there will raspberry pie for dessert! (This also aids in the emptying of the big freezer so we can defrost it as soon as the basement isn't freezing cold, but I really digress).

Clearing the decks, or rather the shelves.

I've mentioned that I'm clearing out and cleaning up. The reason for this tremendous job is that we're moving. We are heading back to New York City and that requires some serious downsizing. Even if we had nothing in the basement, as opposed to its current state of absolutely full, we would have to get rid of a lot of stuff to fit into an apartment. I try to spend some time every day sorting what can be donated or given away, what I can take to the dump, and choosing the things I can live without. There's quite a lot, as it happens, that I can live without.

I have been looking at my collection of knitting books several times a day every day for a long time. This is because the bookshelf on which this collection lives is on the landing of our staircase. I couldn't decide for a while if I wanted to sell the books or donate them to the local library. If I sell them I have two options - sell them on line or give them to the local bookstore and take whatever amount they see fit to give me. I've decided to try my luck on line and hopefully get a little more money for them. So, tonight I lugged a bunch, maybe a third, of the books into the living room and made a list of titles and prices and listed them here, on Ravelry in the Sell, Trade or Destash group. I'm selling the books at almost half price, no additional shipping, and there is a 15% discount if you buy 5 or more books. More titles will be added every day or so as I have time to add to the list.

And if you think that I have a lot of books, just wait until I start selling off my yarn stash!

My Favorite Colors Are Rose and Grey

I always have an affinity for grey, and there are certain pinks I can totally get behind, but when you put pink (especially rose) and grey together I get all happy inside. For anyone who is an aficionado of school colors you may have guessed, or if you know me you may just know, that I went to Vassar College. I love Vassar for many, many reasons. Today I am unspeakably proud of my alma mater and its community.

I will not pretend that Vassar is perfect. There is no perfect place. But it was a place where I felt I could figure things out. I saw people walk onto campus the beginning of freshman year as the person they thought the world wanted them to be, and I watched them become the person that they wanted to be. I had wonderful teachers who encouraged us to question and search. I made amazing friends who are still some of my favorite people.

When I heard that Westboro Baptist Church was going to picket Vassar and that the college community was joining together in response I knew I had to participate. There are a lot of links about how the students, administration and alumni responded, and the response was swift and greater than anyone expected. Campus organizations quickly organized a rally in response to the WBC picketing and what I loved the most was that the organizers of the rally decided that the focus would not be Westboro and their hate, but Vassar and its culture of inclusion.

It was a challenge to get to campus (four trips to the mechanic in one day before we left New Paltz) but once E and I got there it was amazing how many people were gathering by Main Gate and how much energy the place had.

I had made sure that E was sporting Vassar colors

I ran into my friend Liz and her husband who I had met when we lived in Brooklyn and who made the move to the Hudson Valley around the same time we did.

Liz was there with her friend who is a Vassar grad from '66

Being Vassar, there was singing and dancing

And signs

About a week ago, I received an email about the schedule of events leading up to today's rally and then the schedule of today's events. When I took the time to read it carefully I found that my classmate from both high school and college, Joseph Tolton, would be making the key note address (which starts at about minute 23). I was so excited to hear him speak. His speech was one of the highlights for me. He was powerful, moving and inspirational. E described Joey as reassuring. Joey's conviction and strength of character which were so apparent in his speech really gave us the feeling that we could be vehicles for change, that we had to be vehicles for change, and that we all could make a necessary difference.

After speeches by student leaders, which were amazing as well, we headed out of Main Gate where a crowd had gathered in support of Vassar and the rally's message. (You can just see Liz's husband, John, in the white shirt in the crowd in the middle.)

Some of the bikers who now form a barrier between WBC and those they are picketing were there. 

 

They were rather rough looking, but after some of the great things I've learned about what groups of bikers do for their communities, and remembering the message of the day, I simply went up and thanked them for coming. When I saw that they were NYC firefighters, well, I did think about giving them all hugs. 

After a bit everyone started walking down the road in front of the school to get to where the WBC was picketing - all 4 of them - but word spread that they had left, so instead, we all started walking back to Main Gate.

Along the way a human chain started to form. Thinking back, it would have been amazing if someone had turned it into a Conga line!

Once back on campus the human chain was made to circle Main Building. It was so much fun to watch this enormous line of people, all holding hands, surround the huge building that is Main.

It was a great day that I am so glad I got to share with my son and with the students, faculty, staff and fellow alums of Vassar College. There are so many people I know who weren't able to be there in body but were there is spirit.

I couldn't resist a few last shots of the beautiful campus

Costumes and Iron Rescue

My older daughter has always loved to create things. The moment she was old enough, and skilled enough, to use my sewing machine she has been  creating all sorts of items. Recently she has discovered the joy of decorating clothes with designs from her favorite shows and web comics. This has grown into making costumes to wear to conventions. I love that she can go to the local art supply store and sometimes the bigger hobby stores and come home with what seems to me to be the oddest assortment of supplies that then becomes an amazing costume. Last week she took styrofoam and two old records into the dining room where some awful sounds of styrofoam being cut nearly drove me mad, but this, along with the outfit she had put together earlier, was the result:

Most recently she has been making a lot of iron-ons for t-shirts. The other day while she was ironing one on, there was a very odd smell. Turns out she had printed the picture on the wrong side and had put the iron down on the adhesive side of the iron-on, and ironed it on to the iron. What a mess. An iron with burnt on adhesive really doesn't work all that well. I knew that I had seen how to get adhesive off of an iron so off to Google. I found this - it didn't work. Then I found this and IT WORKED! They should definitely add "liberal amounts of elbow grease" to the supplies list, because it took some serious scrubbing to get the burnt adhesive off. I saved my iron which made me very happy because I really like my iron and whenever I have to replace a small appliance I have to go through two or three before I find one that I like as much as the one that needed replacing. Now, F has learned a valuable lesson in iron-on transfer use, and I have learned why people have dedicated craft irons.