Houston, we might just have something resembling ignition...

Breakfast: Berry smoothie
Lunch: Quinoa salad
Dinner: I have no idea yet; getting home late today
Snacks: Too much of that fabulous trail mix
Liquids: 1 L herbal tea, water when I get home
Treats: XL Timmies' French Capp (I have to cut back on these...)
Exercise: Walk with Priest planned after dinner

So I've been playing with a really old idea for a story, turning it over in my head, working on a new way to start it, or at least a new way to approach it. It hasn't felt quite right, so I haven't done any writing on it just yet. But as I was driving to work this morning, it hit me.

The main character was wrong.

I can still use the former main character in a supporting role, but he shouldn't be the title character. The title character needs to be female, and younger. And suddenly, things started clicking. I know how the prologue is going to go. I have a vague idea about the start of the first chapter, but I think I'll have to sleep on it for a few night. And I should start thinking about, you know, plot, and do some research into faerie, angels/demons, and the like, and maybe try to decide if this'll be a one-off or a series (I think I'd prefer one-off, actually). Then, if I can get some of that together and start putting things down on "paper," then maybe next year I can participate in NaNoWriMo! How awesome would that be!

I vant to suck your blod

Don't vorry; it von't hurt a bit.


Vhy are you laughing? I am scarrrry vampire!

/giggle

Err... no meal plan today. It's just more of the same with a Booster Juice, since it's knitting night.

Priest's sweater

Our funny dog. He does not like getting his picture taken. He looks away from the camera. But then it looks like, "Make sure you get my best side, Mummy!"


I'm pleased with just about everything about this sweater. Where the buttons are curls a bit, but even with the curl, there's not too much of his side showing, so I'll live with it. Or maybe I can figure out how to pick up stitches on the border and knit a garter edge... We'll see. I have enough yarn left over. The bellyband is nicely placed and snug to his belly, so little chance of him being able to pee on it. I didn't put a buttonhole in the sweater because he likes his ears out whenever he can manage it anyway, so we'll always be leaving the sweater in its preppy Harvard turtleneck style. When rolled up, the collar covers his head nicely, so that might work for shoving him out into the backyard on cold windy days. The collar fit nicely above the rolled-down neck, though, and I'm pleased with the way the whole sweater hung on him throughout the walk.


He looks so uncertain here. "Mummy, I thought we were going for a walk..."


Mike and I anthropomorphise Priest probably a lot more than we should, but he makes it so easy... When we started on the walk, he was dragging behind me, which is completely abnormal for the start of a walk. I figure it's because the sweater felt weird, moving differently than his winter coat, so he was getting used to it. But it totally felt like he was saying, "Mummy... All the other boys are gonna laugh at me. I look like a DORK in my preppy sweater!" Oh, he made me laugh... By the midpoint of the walk, he'd gotten used to it and was out in front of me like normal.

I think he's totally sexy in his preppy Harvard turtleneck, though. :)

I have more hilarious Priest pictures from last night, but they're still on the camera, and have nothing to do with the sweater. I'll give you a hint, though. I was tempted to start calling him "Edward."

The Great Canadian Sing-Along Song Search

Breakfast: Berry smoothie
Lunch: Quinoa salad
Dinner: Beef kebabs with steamed vegetables
Snacks: Kiwi fruit, deli turkey with Jarlsberg cheese, the most amazing organic trail mix from Costco (darn it)
Liquids: 1 l herbal tea, 500 ml water
Treats: 2x Icy Squares chocolate (Priest had an accident in the house; I'm allowed)
Exercise: 0.5 hour walk with Priest after dinner (planned)

The consensus on the buttons was the bone type, and that's what I ended up going with. I washed it Saturday, and it's still drying, or I'd put it on Priest and send him outside into the backyard for a photoshoot in today's sunny weather, but sun also means below freezing, and the neck is still wet to the touch, so I'll cross my fingers for sunny weather again tomorrow. Gosh, I hope it worked out. If it doesn't, it's totally my fault, and not Terri's because the pattern is awesome, and I've never made a fitted garment in my life. As an aside, does anyone else think it's kind of funny that I knit my greyhound a sweater before I knit one for myself?

So Mike and I are going to the States here in about fifteen weeks, and one of the things I've been thinking about doing for my hosts (who are musically inclined) is to put together a Great Canadian Sing-Along Song CD for them. This is not as easy as it sounds. There's a lot of great Canadian music, but sing-along songs are a little rarer. But I've been putting a draft list together in my head, and two weekends ago when we were out and about, I mentioned the idea to Mike.

"That's a great idea," he said. "I'll help!"

"Okay!" I said, and mentioned some of the songs I'd been thinking about. "And I want to put on Lovers in a Dangerous Time by Barenaked Ladies."

"What?" he said. "I've never even heard of that. If you do a BNL song, it'd have to be Million Dollars..."

"Hmmm... Well, yeah, I guess. But I sing along to LiaDT all the time..."

"Oh! And we'll have to put on some Bob and Doug MacKenzie!"

"..."

"What?"

"You can't sing along to Bob and Doug MacKenzie!"

"Sure you can. What about Take Off?"

"You can't sing along to Bob and Doug MacKenzie!"

"But you can sing along with Getty Lee!"

"..."

So Mike's list and my list will be... very different. I want to include some Jeff Healey (that's what started the whole idea anyway), but don't know which one. I also want to include some Great Big Sea, but the problem there is not that there are no sing-along songs, but there are so many! Which to choose... My list also includes some Bedouin Soundclash, Wintersleep, Feist, Bif Naked, and Finger Eleven, but those are the only ones I'm absolutely decided on. But that's not enough to fill a CD, and I know there are those out there reading with with their own opinions on the Great Canadian Sing-Along Song, who have gone to things like Folk Festivals and the like, and have maybe been able to listen to great Canadian artists with great Canadian sing-along songs that I've never heard. So if you want to be part of exposing some great American friends (and me) to great Canadian music, email me a suggestion or two or leave it in the comments.

Next post may or may not have knitting. We'll see. :)

The real question

Breakfast: Berry smoothie
Lunch: Mock Moxie's Mayan Salad
Dinner: More Mock Moxie's Mayan Salad, this time with shrimp!
Snacks: Kiwi fruit, deli turkey with Jarlsberg cheese
Liquids: 1 l herbal tea
Treats: XL Timmie's French Vanilla Cappucchino (again)
Exercise: None (long walk with Priest planned for tomorrow morning, resting the shoulder today)

So, I'm almost done knitting Priest's sweater. Two inches of straight, four inches of decreasing, and it's done! But, the real question is, which buttons?


The lovely, subtle, brown "bone" type ones?


Or the shiny, gold, Harvard sweater type ones?

Decisions, decisions...

The Winter That Was... I Hope

Breakfast: Berry smoothie
Lunch: Turkey sandwich (Silver Hills sprouted grain bread, don't worry, haven't lost my mind yet)
Dinner: Mock Moxie's Mayan Salad, California rolls
Snacks: 4 slices Jarlsberg cheese
Liquids: 500 ml herbal tea, 1 L water
Treats: XL Timmie's French Vanilla Cappucchino
Exercise: 0.5 hour walk with Priest

I've had about five posts in my head, but absolutely no inclination to post them. So hopefully now I'll find it again.

This has been a nice day. Monday and Tuesday were -30, though, so forgive me for being less than certain that winter has released his chokehold on Alberta. I live in eternal hope, though. Yesterday, the City did snow removal on our street. Snow removal means "scrape it up and pile it on the sides of the road, but not in people's driveways." Which left us with this...



Okay, now, I admit that I picked the biggest pile on the block to stand in front of, but even if I hadn't, it's still a lot of snow. And not just snow. Ice. Let's for a moment, take a look at the stratification of our driveway, shall we?



Their bulldozers cleared what four hours of my time couldn't. And you know why? Take a look at that. I know there's nothing for perspective, but that's about a half-inch of ice. Pure ice. Stuck - no, melded - to the driveway. Resisting all human attempts to dislodge it while temperatures remained below freezing. Tomorrow, on the other hand, they're calling for +6, and if the hot/cold treatment I'm giving my poor shoulder right now helps some, I might just go out and try to clear the sidewalk part of our driveway. Because, darn it, I tried before and had NO LUCK AT ALL. Well, that's a lie. I could clear about one square foot an hour. Darn winter...

Stay tuned for other posts. They're pretty good ones, I promise. Well worth the wait.