Sweet desperation

Ever since getting a refurbed Nexus 7 for Christmas, I've been playing some awful time wasters. Lack of full-time employment was quite enabling. And I've been quite aware of my poor choices in how to use my free time.

But I know it got bad once I decided to take the plunge, without any prompting or invites from Facebook, to download Candy Crush.

The obsession of yesteryear finally sunk in, long after I think most of my friends have stopped playing. I wouldn't feel so ashamed right now if it were a similar game, and not this one. There's nothing wrong with a casual puzzle game to play while waiting for the train or while winding down and watching TV. But Candy Crush! I've been marked forever.

Though I don't find myself addicted (at level 30ish), I see its appeal. Unlike a lot of other games with in-app purchases and Facebook integration, you can play for a long time without feeling the call of spending real money. The better and luckier you are, the longer you can play without waiting a half hour for another life. (And there are simple sync/un-synching tricks to give you even more flexibility.) And its popularity is in itself its strength. My leaderboards were pre-populated with 60+ friends, many of whom I would have never pegged for a little bit of Candy Crush obsession. I don't like to be too far from the top on any given level, and so there's a decent replay value. I like the timed levels the best.

So hello, my name is Diana, and I may have a Candy Crush addiction brewing.

But at least I've never played Farmville.

forever alone

I have never made a sock. I've never made more than one mitten. It's just that my attention and focus challenged brain can't really comprehend having to make two of something to make something whole. My meals are mostly one pot or the veggies are steamed in the microwave while the protein's cookin'.

Here is a handwarmer. It turned out nicely but I did it freehand and had no desire to reverse engineer it.

Here is the beginning of a sock. I bought actual sock yarn. From a store. I went to a brick and mortar STORE. This was 4 years ago, but still. Don't remember the last time that happened. I do still one day want to complete a sock to find out just how "so fast and easy!" people say it is. It does not look easy. I don't like stitches everywhere. Grah. Anyway it's still on its needles 'cuz I think there's hope.

two for three

Why is it that the first thing that a guy I'm dating says when he finds out I knit is "why don't you knit me a sweater?". They're almost always joking, but don't they know about the Sweater Curse?! (Which I was actually totally surprised to see a wikipedia entry for.) And that a sweater takes a lot of yarn and good yarn costs a lot! Also that knitting can take a long time and I am impatient (usually if I don't finish a project in 2 weeks it's all over) and to me it sounds like "woman, cook me 5 course meals for a month" or "build me a motorcycle", or I don't know. Just things that to me sound impossible. Yeah...cooking for more than one day a week and building a vehicle sound equally as annoyingly difficult to me. Whatever.

But scarves...scarves are easy and take a week of knitting on the train or while watching TV. Though I feel like I must have knitted more (but maybe I'm just thinking of ones for family) I know I've made scarves for 2 boyfriends. This one is not one of those scarves. Note that it is not finished. And to be honest, I don't remember what gave out first: my motivation to even finish the scarf and gift the guy anything, or the shaky relationship we had to begin with.

So long, black 'n yellow (guess where he was from!) box stitch scarf. I've since moved onto better, wool blends.
(And the one before this unfinished one was made out of acrylic yarn 'cuz I was cheap/poor and I didn't know better. Poor guy. But I remember it was the first time I cabled!)

woven memories

My yarn-y thingz!!! I feel so organized!

After getting this Plano box for a, well, rock/crystal collection (hmm, why do I feel so ashamed about that) I realized that it could fit my knitting needles and other knitting/crochet-ing knickknacks! Well, anything 13" or shorter anyway. In order to find all of my things though...I had to go through my milk crate-o-yarn. (Yeah...it's a thing.)

I don't know where I am on the knitter spectrum as far as unfinished projects go, but I know I'm not unique in having a bunch of unfinished things, holding some of my needles hostage. Took me forever to invest in some stitch holders. Since I don't know if they'll ever get worked on again and gifted or otherwise used, I decided to bring this blog out of retirement and tell the stories of these unfinished furballs.

middle aged toys

It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with growing up, but I definitely have genuine desire for boring things these days.

My Shark Navigator vacuum.

I love this thing. I had a theory once. If I liked my vacuum more, I'd...vacuum more. It sounds dumb, but I hated using the upright bag vacuum I had. Not only are bags gross, but it wasn't exactly the best vacuum and um, the circumstances under which I bought it were unpleasant. Bad memories. But anyway, after fostering cats for a year or two I really needed to get a quality machine. I was tracking refurbed Dysons until I came across a review that mentioned Shark vacuums being just as good or better and much cheaper. They got great reviews, so I got one at Costco. (I was days before I was going to pull the trigger on Amazon but I happened to see it for cheaper at Costco during my one visit last year.) It came with a ton of attachments, including a hose extender and this pet roller thing that's magical and I dunno man. It's pretty great. I really should rinse out the (washable!) filters in the thing though. It says to do it every X number of months (there are a few different ones with different frequencies)...and though I'd say I probably use it way less than the average chore-performing american, I also fill up the canister 3 times whenever I do use it.

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I want a document scanner. Like the Fujitsu ScanSnap.

I feel like no matter how many times I read things about how long you really need to keep bank statements, receipts, all mail ever etc. I have trouble believing any of it. These Neatdesk double sided document scanner things are so damn expensive but they seem to get good reviews. I don't see myself splurging on it anytime soon, but that doesn't mean I don't want it for some bizarre reason.

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A CableCARD TV tuner. HDHomerun PRIME.

It's on sale RIGHT NOW. I might actually buy it tomorrow. Okay, I guess this is something I would've wanted 10 years ago too. But I finally have TV service since I thought it cost the same as just getting internet. However, I didn't realize that DVRs had such steep leasing fees. Silly me. Anyway, I already have a HDHomerun tuner and I liked it a lot. And if I get this I can save $12/mo on monthly fees! Which doesn't exactly make fiscal sense unless I get more than a year's use out of the tuner but it'd take up less room and there are fun things to be done to programs saved on a computer. =P

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My cast iron skillet is my new favorite thing. I got a Lodge skillet.

I still don't really cook but having a quality piece of cookware is helping. Sure, all I do now is eat massive amounts of bacon, eggs, and fried potatoes with the occasional steak...but I'll start using it for other things one day. I used to make fun of people who had things like dutch ovens on their wishlists (why are they so expensive anyway?) but I guess...I guess I am closer to understanding. Having to clean it shortly after use also forces me to do the rest of the dishes since I need the whole sink to scrub at it. I'm a believer of cast iron now. I made some potstickers. I want to make more just to achieve that nice crust on them. I don't even have to eat them. It's just so much better than they've ever turned out before.

unconcerned ignorance

This is a shirt I wore yesterday to a baseball game.

The name of this Woot shirt was "Be What You Want". I've been of this attitude lately, or trying to. For the most part, no life-changing revelations. I've just been caring significantly less about what people think about me. I'm more open about pole fitness, I don't try nearly as hard to try and fit in with say, my kickball and soccer teams, and I'm giving serious consideration to getting a prescription for colored contact lenses. I've always liked the idea of having them as an accessory, and it's hard to place exactly why I never truly considered it.

I do what I want! Nothing too life changing...it's not like I'm off to pursue my rock star dreams or going back to school for something I might actually be interested in.

So I like the message of this shirt. :-)

Then again...should I even be wearing shirts like this anymore? As I'm turning 27 soon I feel like when my sisters were this age, the older one was telling the younger one to stop wearing and buying t-shirts, and have a more grown-up wardrobe. At the time I was in college, and probably didn't agree or disagree one way or another. But here I am, wearing unicorns and rainbows in public, with my painted nails (currently, left hand is bright red-orange and my right hand is a shiny purple), passing it off as just part of my personality. But I've been thinking recently, is it that? Or have I failed to grow up?

Why are my biggest concerns still social perceptions and things like the color of my eyes? Shouldn't I be more concerned with where my life is going? Or at least dressing, acting, and feeling like an adult? For all I know, maybe the key to getting into a grown-up routine of work and exercise and chores and cooking can start just from dressing and feeling more adult and capable? I've let time pass so fast, that just yesterday it seemed like "oh you're young enough to pull of this look" and now I'm feeling oddly close to that mom you see in the store wearing pink sweatpants, fitted at the top with writing across her ass, bearing her midriff since her girlish tank top is just too short.

Then again, either way this mini-debate goes, I'm only talking about clothes.

I guess I'll never escape the thinking that links what the superficial might say about things that are not.

And next time the clothing donation drive comes to work (semi-annual...so waiting for "Fall Sweep") I might have to seriously reconsider my wardrobe, and how it reflects on my lifestyle. Maybe it's not what I want.

melaleuca mania!

Tea tree oil! It works! Kind of!

I'm kind of hurting right now since I haven't gotten a chance to apply some tea tree+lavender+jojoba oil mixture to my scalp post-shower in almost a week, but it was going pretty darn well. I'd say similar improvement in the psoriasis as the steroids, but a lot less of the paranoia of the chemicals and stinging. Then again, I don't know what the long term effects of tea tree oil are. Even so many days removed from my last oil massaging treatment it could definitely be much worse. TMI coming? My scalp hasn't bled from cracking in a whole week it seems. Definitely yay from me. I'm not cured, and you can't really be cured from psoriasis anyway, but it was a clear improvement from doing nothing but some medicated shampoos. The topical steroids do work better, but like I mentioned in a previous post, I wasn't comfortable using it daily given the warnings. I hope tea tree oil doesn't turn out to be carcinogenic or something.