Rained In

It rained buckets last night. Today, my car can't make it down the street due to flooding, so I'm effectively rained in. It's a bit like being snowed in, without the fun for Xena. She loves playing in the snow, but she hates rain. Around 2 o'clock this morning, she climbed into bed with me because of all the thunder and lightning.

I guess I'll be spending my day reading (almost done with #19!) and finishing up some immigration paperwork. I want to mail this stuff tomorrow, but if I still have to report for jury duty, I may not get it in the mail until Wednesday.

Lit.

Is it possible to read too much? Believe it or not, I just finished my third book this week. A contemporary vampire mystery/romance, a fictionalized account of the Bosnian war, and a Depression-era whodunit. Although I have about a million books on the shelf that I've never read, I'm worried that I'll run out soon, at the rate I'm going.

My jury duty got postponed a week. I'm crossing my fingers that it will keep being postponed until I'm no longer on call, or even canceled altogether. My hopes aren't up too high, though. I guess it's one of those things you've just gotta do at some point. Civic duty and all that.

Not much knitting going on around here. Or cooking. Or anything else worthy of being photographed. Sorry folks. I've been too busy cleaning and reading and enjoying the beautiful weather. And catching up on the first four seasons of Lost, which Flavio's got me hooked on. I just started season 2 today.

Happy Spring

Today was a pretty great day. The weather has finally decided to be beautiful (and, hopefully, stay beautiful). This morning I took Xena for her longest walk yet--about 3/4 of a mile. She's doing really great! She even sits down when we reach an intersection so I can check for traffic before crossing the street.

I spent a good chunk of the afternoon downtown with my mom, trying to figure out where I need to go and how I need to get there, because I've been summoned for jury duty next week. *sigh* Since we were in the area, we decided to go to Caffe Moderne (one of my favorite places) for a late lunch. I had an amazing smoked salmon & cucumber panini, a side salad of mixed spring greens, and a pomegranate Italian soda. Followed up by a hazelnut cappuccino and a dish of pistachio gelato. It was the perfect lunch.

Then I bought licorice and some beautiful roses. Great day. The end.

Black Beauty

I'm teaching Xena how to walk on a leash. I thought this would be impossible, but it's actually proving to be pretty easy, especially now that she's got a harness. She doesn't pull the way Max did, and she's a lot better at ignoring other dogs than I thought she would be. The biggest problem I'm having, actually, is conquering her fears. Sometimes she gets a little skittish--I don't know if it's from a sound or a smell or what--and she just sits down in the middle of the street. Today I walked her to a nearby park, and she wouldn't go in. About half a block away, she tucked her tail between her legs. Of course I didn't force her, just turned around and walked back home together. I'll keep trying, though. I'm hoping that the more I walk her, the more comfortable and confident she'll get.

Harvey (and Friends!)

[ raveled. ]

Last night I finally finished Harvey, the little white rabbit I started knitting back in September. As much as I love all of Ysolda's toy patterns, I hate picking up stitches on a stuffed thing, so I put off doing these ears for forever. Well, now he's done, just in time for Easter! It feels good to have another one in the "done" column.

Before:
After:
Coming soon: Pauline, Petrova, and Posy Fossil!!

Ysolda

[ raveled. ]

Last night I finished Ysolda, and she turned out so darn cute, I couldn't wait to take pictures of her this morning. And the pictures I got turned out pretty cute too, and I couldn't wait to share them with the world. But arg, it was not to be! I don't know if it's my camera, my software, or my computer, but I had the hardest time uploading my pictures. I think it's my software, because it turns out that the photos actually did upload like three times, but they're not showing up in the software (but I can open them in, like, MS Paint). So, long story short, these images are unedited and will be replaced with bright, shiny edited pictures later when I've recouped enough patience to tackle the issue. edit: Okay, they're brighter now. But my computer still blows.

The doll--well, mostly her outfit--is modeled after a photo Ysolda posted on her blog several days ago. She's even wearing a miniature Icing Swirl beret! I was going to braid her hair, but I messed it up, so I just gave her short little pigtails, which I think I actually like better because you can really see her outfit this way.

Dear Whitney,

We're quite lonely. Please finish knitting our friends.

Lots of love,

Ollie and Bambolina

Bambolina

[ raveled. ]

I finished Bambolina's dress last night (including sewing a scallop-edged ribbon to the hem of her dress, like a little ruffle that's peeking out). I'm so happy with the way she turned out! I also knit a little mousie, but he still needs ears. And also also, I started another doll. They're just too fun! This one was inspired by an outfit Ysolda posted about in her blog last week. I'm even playing around with the idea of making a miniature Icing Swirl beret for her.