let's try the todo list again

todo:
finish sister's scarf
clean basement
make work lunches

tada:
made french toast
solved the problem of not having a gift labeled to-sister's-fiancé under the tree
loaded dishwasher
moved some stuff from basement to bedroom
sorted basement mountain into several basement hills
photographed lots of yarn and updated Ravelry stash
finished one TARDIS for scarf
started second TARDIS
got stocking stuffer for Mom
got library hold books
got prescription
made work lunches
moved most of the stuff from basement to bedroom
vacuumed accessible parts of basement
finished second TARDIS
fixed first TARDIS
attached both TARDISes to scarf proper
wrapped scarf and put under tree

December Days 21: a song which makes me think of a particular person (dialecticdreamer)

There are several ways I could answer this question, but the two that came first to mind: "Arizona Rain" by 3 of Hearts and "There Is No Arizona" by Jamie O'Neal. Together in that order, they're...basically my relationship with my first ex in a nutshell.

More cheerfully, "Accidentally In Love" (I here link the Counting Crows version because the Dartmouth Decibelles' version isn't on Youtube) always makes me think of the lovely lady in Pittsburgh who introduced me to the song (Counting Crows version).

don't wanna end up like pirate bones, what I thought was precious just a pile of stones

Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. Holly King gives way to Oak King, the shadows to the light. "What is coming to ascendancy in your life?" asks today's meditation at The Daily Compass.

The calendar hasn't quite flipped yet, but the solstice is a fitting day to celebrate a new year.

"Pirate Bones - Natasha Bedingfield" (Watch on YouTube)

I've chosen Natasha Bedingfield's "Pirate Bones" as my theme song for the year:

What if I stake everything I am on a dream and it's counterfeit?
If I reach the end that justifies the means, could I live with it?
And if it's true that having too much of any good thing can only make me sick
What's the point in it? Where's the benefit when I'm gaining all but I'm losing it?

Today is the winter solstice. It seems a fitting day to begin a journey to a better self. As they say, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

(no subject)

Why a black Annie in Annie is so significant.

I'm debating the wisdom of spending Friday afternoon and evening at the local movie theater, watching Annie and Into the Woods. It's probably not going to fly unless I get Christmas money (...and I'm fairly certain I can expect money from my grandparents? but adulthood means I should probably use it to refill my phone or some such thing), but I bet it'd be delightful. Four o'clock showing of one of them, five-or-ten-of-seven showing of the other, depending on what order I want to watch them in, and stuff my face with food court Chinese food in between because they're both two-hour films.

Also mentioned in that article are Belle, which I still long to see because it never did come to Dinkytown Movie Theater, and Beyond the Lights, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw (star of Belle), which I now long to see and which I suspect isn't coming to Dinkytown Movie Theater. Also Selma, which had damned well BETTER come to Dinkytown Movie Theater.

oh, hey, right. let me share a triumph!

I didn't think to take a Before pic, but that is the After pic of this weekend's labor.

So you get an idea of what that area looked like before, here is the area off the left edge of that pic: (sorry about photo quality but even with two brilliant LED bulbs on this place is dark like dungeon, so it's blurry pic or no pic)



Most of the blue carpet in the first pic (actually all the carpet in the first pic except a pathway along the left edge and a pathway along the bottom edge) was covered about that high in (mostly) crafty stuff. Which is now (mostly) sorted and stacked on the freshly-cleaned-off desk and dresser in my room. (They are my sister's desk and dresser, but she hasn't had a chance to abscond with them to her apartment yet. I'm not sure she actually plans to, but there's still an awful lot of her stuff in those shelves and drawers.) So now there is no worry about sister-fiancé being unable to sleep down here Christmas Eve; as you see there is plenty of room for a sleeping bag on freshly vacuumed carpet.

...but also now people can get to the TV and the video game systems, which means people will be gaming in here while I'm trying to other stuff. dammit.