A Bookish Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen of My Recent Reads To be more precise, my last 13 reads. As I mentioned in my last Thursday 13, I keep an Excel spreadsheet of every book I read. So here are the last 13 books I have read (and up slightly early, since the list is on my home computer so I can’t post at work): 1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 2. Kafka on the Shore by Murakami Haruki 3. The Nursing Home Murder by Ngaio Marsh 4. Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh 5. Suddenly You by Lisa Kleypas 6. Scales of Justice by Ngaio Marsh 7. Scandal in Spring by Lisa Kleypas 8. Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear 9. The Accidental Tourist by Ann Tyler 10. Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl 11. Last Ditch by Ngaio Marsh 12. Photo Finish by Ngaio Marsh 13. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding The high amount of Ngaio Marsh has to do with a recent trip to Aunt Agatha’s (the best used mystery book store ever!). Links to other Thursday Thirteens! Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

The first finished object in months

The combination of the endless miles and miles of gray, gray, GRAY Under the Hoodie knitting and the library finally having a copy of Mason Dixon Knitting for me yesterday led to this:



Bright colors! Finished in just a few hours! A welcome respite from the neverending sweater! Hurray!

It is, of course, the Ballband Dishcloth that swept the internet like ... I'm not sure what. Insert an appropriate metaphor of your choice. Anywho. It was fun and quick, but I don't know if I'll make another. I'm not crazy about the back of it. The front looks sweet and the back looks... Well, sorta messy. And I like my dishcloths to look good from both sides, because you see and use both sides. But, I do like how the random colors of Lily's cotton that I happened to have look together. Almost like I planned it. (I really didn't.)

Also, has anybody ever heard of kitchen cotton going bad? I have had that dark green in my stash for awhile and boy,it shed like mad crazy! Great big hunks of dark green fuzz all over everything. Yuck.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about Jen Since this is my first Thursday Thirteen... here are some basics about me! 1. I am double-jointed. 2. I just celebrated my 29th birthday. 3. If I could eat Thai food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I would. 4. I met my husband in April 2004. We were engaged in June 2004. And married in February 2005. 5. I have a birthmark on my right elbow. My mom has one of the same size and shape on her ankle. 6. I don’t intend on having kids. 7. I love cats, but can’t have any because of my husband’s allergies. 8. I have kept an Excel spreadsheet since 2001 of all the books I have read. It has over 200 books on it right now. 9. I secretly resent all the knitters that don’t work. They have so many FOs! 10. I think Ann Arbor is the coolest place in Michigan and am thankful I live here. 11. I am still best friends with a girl I met in fifth grade. 12. I have been living in apartments and condos since I was 18; I can’t wait to own a house! 13. It was pretty hard for me to think of 13 things for this list! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. One Life Among the Many 2. Gone to Plaid 3. Caylynn’s Contemplations 4. Notes in the key of life 5. The Zeus Excuse 6. The Shrone

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Back to the grindstone

The picture that sums up my vacation the best:



AAAAHHHHH.... Cape-y. :-) I could also post pictures of lazy days curled up with books (finished two), wading on the sand bars, sipping cups of coffee on the porch in the morning, a bit of knitting.... Sounds incredibly relaxing, no? Well, I may be neglecting the massive amount of driving, the family wedding, and the wild cramming in of visits to friends! It's called selective reporting on my part. :-)

I also visited this store in Eastham and bought some of this yarn as a vacation treat to myself. Mmmm... yarn.

(And thank you all for your kind birthday wishes! I had a lovely day!)

It's my birthday!*

And it is Friday! And I go on vacation tomorrow! Does life get any better?

* And no, I am not telling you all how old I am. Let's just say I am between 25 and 30 and leave it at that....

Excuses, excuses

I am a lazy, lazy blogger. I apologize to all. It’s just that work/life has been pretty busy.... but not with things worthy of being blogged about. Working 12-hours days? Fascinating, if you like to hear me whine. Family BBQ? Fun, if you happen to know my oh-so-weird-but-lovely-and-quirky family. If you don’t, the stories just sound like we are certifiable. (Well, maybe we are, but that is neither here nor there.) Books read? Well.... I am reading and enjoying Kafka on the Shore.... but did you see the first question? It has really caused my reading rate to plummet. Perhaps an update on the Under the Hoodie sweater? Scroll down to the last post. See the picture? Now add another 10 inches to it. Awe-inspiring, no?

There is something I should have blogged about days ago, though. I received a completely out of the blue, totally unexpected, made me incredibly happy gift (click here to see) .... now, the uber-kind-and-way-cool-person who sent me this is not looking for public thanks, of course (in fact, I had to really strain my brain cells to confirm it was her!), but you all should drop in on Sara and say hi and tell her she rocks. :-)

And one last thing... my way bad (Ha! Look at the way I mangle the English language!) blogging is going to continue for a bit. The hubby and I are going on vacation from the 9th to the 18th. We will be hitting CT, Cape Cod, and Maine and are so. looking. forward. to. it. Hopefully, when I get back, I’ll have tales of knitting completed, books read, and salt air enjoyed!