Rufus

I have a finished project to show you, but I’m just not in the mood to write that post today. Why? I’ll tell you.

As my friend Jenn and her husband, “The MWP,” concluded their vacation last week, they both posted Facebook status updates that their WonderDog, Rufus, wasn’t feeling great.

You can read the rest here. And here. Go ahead. I'll wait.

I started reading Jenn's Weirdy Pants blog before I moved back to Pittsburgh, and Jenn is a fellow Hurricane Knitter – a group of (nearly all of) my closest friends in the ‘Burgh. She’s the friend who joined me for the “big adventure” in Youngstown last May.

Shortly after I started working at Bloomin’ Yarns, Jenn came out to the store (the old one, in the cute house with terrible parking and access), which was nice. What was awesome was that she brought Rufus and I was able to finally meet him! Despite being a very large dog, it was instantly obvious that Rufus understood his size and was cool with anyone who was willing to scratch the brown spot on his butt.

When I woke up on the morning of August 9, 2008, to the news that dear friends had been critically wounded in Beijing, I was scheduled to pick up Jenn to go to SJ’s house for a Hurricane Knitters day.

I was (very, very) late. Jenn understood. And she encouraged being even later than we already were, because she invited me inside so I could get some dog time. Rufus knew something was wrong, and he was happy to sit with me and let me enjoy having a (rented) dog to love for a few minutes.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, Rufus is a special dog. Jenn has great stories and pictures about him here on her blog. I am hoping that radiation kicks that tumor’s ass and that Jenn and the MWP get as much quality time with Rufus as they possibly can.

Feel better, Roo! We’re all cheering for you!

Project Monogamy

Pretty much all of my crafty time this week has been spent on Nonpareil. Back is done. Almost halfway through the second front.


I cut the first three dishtowels off of the loom, and sadly they are NOT giftworthy. Back to the drawing board. Here’s hoping the next attempt turns out a little better!

In honor of the pathetic quantity of content, here is a gratuitous puppy photo

Hi, Sydney!

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

Yep, that’s where I’ve spent the week.

I flew to Memphis on Tuesday morning and then drove down to Oxford, where I met up with the best friend. I did a few hours of work from his office on Tuesday while he finished his day’s work.

After we headed out and had a bit of dinner, we headed down to his house, where I had an incredibly fun evening just hanging out with Bill and his dogs.

Oh yeah, the dogs! They didn’t do very well at staying still long enough for a photo, but here’s the best one I got of the little stinkers

Jackson on the left, Peggy on the right

They’re both great dogs and Peggy is a trip. She’s a great puppy and is gonna be a great dog when she grows out of the “everything-goes-in-my-mouth’ stage ;-)

After a morning working in Bill’s office on Wednesday, we did lunch in Oxford then I sucked it up and drove southeast to Starkville, where my “home office” is located. Not fun. The leaving, that is. I never get enough time in the same zip code as Bill and it’s always hard to say goodbye, even though I know we’ll be chatting online again in just a few hours.

Anyhoo, the hotel in Starkville is perfectly nice. Nothing flashy, but that’s fine. It does have one rather unique feature that I have completely fallen in love with

RT likes it too!

It has a window seat! Yeah, it’s designed to camouflage the air conditioning unit, but let me tell you, that thing is comfortable!!! I spent a few hours sitting there last night and am typing to you from that exact spot right this minute. The view isn’t the best, but you can’t have it all, I guess.

Today was pretty much an entire day of sitting at a conference table with all of my co-workers. I feel slightly hopeful about the next few months of ye olde jobbity job, so keep those fingers crossed.

A full morning of meetings is coming down the pipe tomorrow (Friday), then it’s a 3-hour drive to Memphis and a pair of flights back to the ‘Burgh, landing around midnight. I look forward to getting home, I just wish someone would figure out that teleportation thing. Someday …

Peppermint Brownies, Puppy

It’s 11:30 and I just realized that I owe the blog a post. Peppermint Brownies it is!!!

This is just about the easiest damn dessert ever. The only catch is that you MUST plan ahead!

Step 1: Go to the grocery store.

• Get a box of brownie mix (whatever kind is your favorite) for a 13x9 pan
• Get a bag of the bite-sized York Peppermint Patties, which will be in the candy aisle.
• As long as you're there, make sure you have the oil and eggs or whatever the box of brownie mix calls for (yes, I have forgotten that part!)

Olympic sponsorship packaging is optional

Step 2: Follow the instructions on the box of brownie mix. I like the chewy brownies, so my personal preference is to follow the non-cake-like directions. YMMV. When I say “follow the instructions,” I mean including the baking instructions. Bake for however long the box tells you to.

Step 3: When your timer goes off to tell you that your brownies are finished baking, take them out of the oven. Leave the oven on (and closed).

Step 4: Put the bite-sized peppermint patties all over the top of the baked brownies.

Usually, I wind up with six rows of 4 patties on top with one patty left over (25/bag). I think my helper, who unwrapped the peppermint patties for me, took his fee in minty goodness.

Step 5: Put the whole shebang back in the oven for FIVE MINUTES.


Step 6: It’ll come back out of the oven looking much like the above picture, with the peppermint patties all melty. Now you are allowed to turn off the oven. :-) I promise your brownies will NOT be over-cooked

Step 7: Use a spatula of some sort so smear the melted peppermint patties all over the top of the brownies like this:


Step 8: This is the most important step! I’m not kidding! Let the whole thing cool overnight. It needs to be completely and totally room temperature, or it’ll be a mess to cut. Trust me.

So that’s it! I did a photo shoot for my latest knitty finished object this afternoon and that morphed into doing some looong overdue yard work. Which morphed into visiting with my favorite puppy. Since my camera was handy, I took some pictures of how big she has gotten!

Sidney, July 8, 2008:


Shots 2 and 3 are what I usually see from my favorite pup, as that’s her “scratch my tummy PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE” position. Ain’t she cute? (and big!!)

Meet Peggy

I’m still chugging along on my first Summer of Socks sock. Updates later. Meanwhile, it’s time for all of you to meet Peggy!


Remember my friend Bill? Well, he decided he was ready to take on another puppy and Peggy came home with him two weeks ago!


She’s been playing with Jackson (he’s the big blur with the blue collar in that photo above) and otherwise being a pup.


I think some of the casualties have involved a flip-flop and a pair of headphones. And here Bill was with Jackson who just stopped chewing stuff fairly recently. :)


Oh, and she likes to wake up EARLY. Like in the 5 o’clock hour early. But they're working on that too.


But so far, so good. Oh, and in case you want to see her in motion, we’ll see if this Blogger video thing really works



Just so you know? If I ever get a dog of my own (doubtful), you’ll wind up with pictures of him/her just about every day. I’m just sayin’. I’m a sucker for the furry cute.