I know, I know...

Rather silent in Susanblogland of late. I'm in some kind of fog these days - not bad, not good, just kind of coasting and mildly dazed. Anyway I am almost outta here (ofc) today and thought I'd babble atcha a bit, for good or ill...

Heading to MD/VA for Christmas to see PKLD (Paul & family) and Jessica & Harland, and maybe Elizabeth and her crew if I'm lucky. Found a very manageable flight price last night and now only have to figure out how not to worry too much about Sam & Lucy. I know a handful of people who would probably take care of them for me; I'm tempted to give absolutely everyone a key so that people can come visit regularly and keep them from getting bored or lonely or anything.

Having a ball charging thru the 8 seasons our library holds of As Time Goes By with Judi Dench & Geoffrey Palmer. It rocks.

Watching The Jewel in the Crown with somewhat less enthusiasm. It seems to me to be kind of a wartime Peyton Place with rickshaws and curry. The real reason I put it on Netflix was because I wanted to watch the sequel which features Trevor Howard & Celia Johnson (both of Brief Encounter fame, among other things of course) but now I'm starting to wonder how necessary it is to finish the first interminable series before watching the smaller sequel. At the moment it makes good Knit-to-it fare since I don't have to pay attention much as I get used to knitting a little again. Bref, it does not quite rock.

This is me getting excited about some fabric I get to see at Christmas and might buy from Jessica. Fun fun fun!!! Plus you can't have too much lolcat humor I think.

I am pondering the next quilt project... this one's for me, a scrap quilt to use up lots of extras and random fat quarters I've bought here and there as well as doing my first Really Thick Quilt. I plan to piece it on the machine but do knot quilting with yarn or ribbon since if it's as thick as I'd like the machine will never swallow it. I know exactly what design I want but I can't seem to find any directions anywhere. It's a pretty traditional pattern but of course when I want some details there don't seem to be any references to it... I'll keep looking of course and as soon as I start you'll certainly see some tidbits on here. If you really want to see what it looks like, get out your DVD of the Ciarán Hinds/Amanda Root Persuasion and fastforward to the scene where Anne is pondering herself somewhat begrudgingly in the mirror in her room at the Musgroves'. The quilt she's sitting on is the design I want to do. kee.

I have another project for someone else budding as well but I think the ground-breaking will probably be during Christmas or post-Christmas, not least b/c I haven't found the exactly perfect fabrics yet altho I have found the Exactly Perfect design.

Almost all caught up on schoolwork! Very diligent this afternoon during office hours and finished the 1020 test for Monday as well as the 1010 compo. Have yet to do the 1010 test for Weds. but I can edit it at home if nec. over the weekend and print Monday. Everything else is completely caught up save one set of compos to grade for the 1020's.

Made a moderately fun chocolate banana cake last weekend - I'm going to try it again before posting the recipe. It came out a little dry but I'm pretty sure it was due to my forgetting to set my watch alarm and having to guess at the baking time.

Seriously, it's Exactly Perfect.

Is there a sniglet for itchy kits? If so you can use it at our house. Sammers has started his winter itchies, a bit more rigorously than usual, and Lucy this year is following suit to a certain extent. I may have to do some online research or something. I think it's exacerbated by the diet food. We used to put a little oil in the dog food sometimes if their skin was dry but (a) cats aren't quite as blasé about wacky additions to their victuals and (b) oil would kind of defeat the purpose of the diet food... Hmph.

I'm getting kind of maniacal about iGoogle and Gcal and Remember the Milk and (insert Web2.0 toy of choice here)... Where RTM is concerned it is particularly pernicious of someone to create such a wondrously anal To Do List maker/manager when there are so many of us poor List-Addicts in cyberspace. On the other hand maybe I'll be back in my Super Diligent Birthday Card Remembering Habits of Olde in the New Year since everyone's on my Gcal now and reminders are set to email me 7 days prior... It could happen.

Bai.