Happy Monday!

Yesterday my football team advanced to the Grey Cup.  I would have been glued to the television if possible but alas, I live overseas now and one of the concessions to this lifestyle is not being able to see my beloved Riders play football.  Funny enough that is one of the things we look at for the next post.  Not specifically the Riders but a few things that we thought we could live without that we are discovering we can live without we’d just rather not.

Now as we apply for the next place to live we are making sure there are a few things that we don’t have here…

• bikram yoga
• golf (i could care less but i think scott would find finding friends easier if there was some good golfin’ around)
• sushi (seriously.need.sushi)
• football or satellite tv in general…i think we’ve enjoyed this time without tv but what i miss is the news and documentary channels…really.   We keep up with our ’shows’ but I miss the local news or at least Canadian news.

So as I apply all over the world these things are tickling at the back of my mind.  Interestingly enough with these requirements Asia looks more and more likely….well when you factor in that the oldest REALLY needs to go to school next year and the two little ones need better programming for them at school than our small international school can make available….

Oh first pair of Bella mitts are done!

Anyway on to my love of Neil Patrick Harris….This guy is by far the coolest guy ever.  He’s witty and charming.  Can host the Emmy’s and bring down the house at the Tony’s. He got self-deprecating humor down to a science.   He’s a stage actor, a web actor, a film star and tv guy.  He’s NPH for god sake and he’s brilliant.  He’s in a long term relationship with a super hot guy and he’s done Sesame Street.  He’s Dr. Horrible and the Prop 8 the musical video he appears in is brilliant.  Now NPH is on Twitter.  My happiness continues.

I hate the new theme….

I want a theme that just says “Allison”.  And this is not it.  I can’t decide which theme to use and so I am using this one.  I think it may be time to get my own domain extra pay for the ability to have my own distinct website.  Or I’ll just keep changing among the themes that wordpress gives me for free and whining about it.  Yeah, probably the second one.

 

The leaves here are amazing! Beautiful large leafs in vibrant colours everywhere.  Loving November although the sun doesn’t shine at ALL.  Oh well I’ll trade no sun for no snow yet any day!  Here’s our backyard….

Oh Bella mitts, how I Love thee…

Well I have an admission to make, I have never knit cables. I have been knitting since I was a little girl but I’ve always thought cables were something I couldn’t do. Then I found the Bella mitts from Twilight and I had to have them. So what to do….well knit cables of course. Nothing is too difficult for me, right! I’m knitting Bella mitts right now and I will tell you that you’re going to be seeing a lot of cable projects from now on. Wow, it’s very easy.
I’m on the first mitt going exactly by pattern and making the mitts in purple. I have a beautiful skein of grey that will make the second pair (for me) after I’ve worked out the kinks. And yes the first pair will be for Nadia, cause she’s a kid….and won’t notice the mistakes.
I’m not completely cruel I’m making hers out of cascade 220 superwash….

Oh and to all the knitters out there snickering at me, you know we all have ONE thing. The one knitting thing we’re scared of…for some of us it’s socks, others it’s colours (fairisle or instrasia) still other blanch at the idea of steeking. For me it’s been cables. I have no idea why but that fear is out the window now. Come on, why not tackle a knitting fear of your own.

Knitting IS my therapy.

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Originally uploaded by allycupe

I’m knitting up a storm here in cold, dark, rainy Germany. I am just finishing up a delightful pair of socks for Elijah. I really like the way these knit up. They are from More Sensational Socks (of course). But the reason I’m so excited it because after these socks I am knitting a pair of mitts from the movie Twilight. Bella Mittens Pattern..go over to subliminalrabbit’s blog and get it for FREE. This girl can really write a pattern.

I asked Emmett today if that made me cool. You know seeing a movie, and then knitting the pair of mitts one character was wearing on the screen for like 4 minutes. Of course he said that he can’t imagine anything cooler. (when he said it, it sounded like ‘oh god, you’re such a loser’ but I know what he meant). So I’m rushing through this pair of socks with a determination I haven’t had for knitting in a long time. Funny how your passion can get turned up again….

Elijah wanted the socks to be knee highs but we settled on the length in the photo. I love the colour, the pattern ROCKS and although I’m thoroughly enjoying the renewed passion for knitting I can’t wait to be done to move onto the mitts.

Aw man the above post is brought to you by Flickr, I’m trying to see how the posts look when you upload directly from there. But if you forget anything you have to come back to wordpress and redo it anyways. I forgot to mention the 50 Euro sewing machine I’m getting from a family who is moving back to the States. I know it’ll be a god year before I can get one so I’m buying one off them. And when I can get my fancy machine, this one can be Nad’s.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

What the ?

Yeah so upon further research I’ve found out that only the kindle is available internationally. So I guess I’ll have to shelf the idea of an e-reader until the others catch up. I also found out that Pfaff sewing machines are from Mannheim, in fact the factory, which has since been closed was very close to my house. I think this is karma, or kismit or whatever. I think it means I should have a Pfaff sewing machine.

E-Reader.

Oh god. I’ve got a bee in my bonnet. I want an e-reader. Well, if you’re going to be a world traveller AND you love books it’s probably important that you at least look at what the newest high tech thingy that is out there, right? Right? Can I get a whooop whooop? So here’s the deal. I’m an avid reader. I’m a slightly neurotic reader who reads everything from historical fiction to true crime to anything with two covers and pages in between. I’ll even read German magazines if I’ve forgotten my book and see how many words I can understand (um, none). The one thing we learned when we moved overseas is that books are heavy. Really, really heavy. And they are a pain in the ass if your keeping them for purely sentimental reason (oldest child of mine is a bit of a girl if you accidentally give away a few of them and then distract him by pretending he did it). So what have the geniuses of the world come up with???? E-readers. E-readers that hold thousands of books and fit in your purse! And the print isn’t tiny if, for example, you’re 40 and trying to delude yourself into believing you don’t need bifocals. You can make the print larger! You can download onto your computer and then transfer onto your e-book or you can wifi the books right to the reader (but i hear that you then pay duty if you’re out of the country booo hisss). So now i’m starting to look at which one of these bad boys I have to have. I know that with the new Barnes and Noble e-reader called the Nook you can trade with friends and i know that the Kindle has had all types of press, even Oprah talked about her love of the Kindle one day. There is the The Cybook Opus and the BeBook. These 4 are all I know. If you have an opinion, PLEASE post it. I will take them all under advisement, well, not the negative ones, I’ll just pretend they don’t exist.

And a big shout out THANKS to my friend Anji for the information on the privacy posts. They say people are around you for a reason. I’m going thru some stuff and you answered a need I didn’t even know I had. Thanks friend.

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“Mawidge…Mawidge is what brings us together”

What did your wedding vows say. I remember when I was MUCH younger and getting married I was a traditionalist. I really wanted to say the vows that millions had said before me. I wanted to say love, honour and obey because I was marrying the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with….we all know how that train wreck turned out. I never did say the word obey because even at 21 with wedding stardust in my eyes I knew that I wasn’t going to say ‘obey’ to that person. I didn’t even really know what it meant within the context of a marriage. In which case I probably had no right standing up there in the first place but that’s another story. I’m not even sure I was really good at the honour part that first time around. We both said “until death us do part” (choke gasp choke) but unfortunately I forgot to put in the vows that in order to marry me we both had to quit dating. Silly me. I do know that the day I took those vows I was pretty sure (yeah yeah) that I meant them. I knew that as much as I could at 21 I meant what i said in front of god and those witnesses. Marriage is a tricky thing. I’m not sure why everyone focuses so much on the flowers and the dress when really the part they should be focusing on is whether the person across from them means what they are saying.

I thought long and hard (that’s what she said) before I got married again. I really didn’t care about having a wedding and I didn’t. We got married in our living room with just our parents and Emmett there. I remember the justice of the peace gave us a little book that had different vows in it. Once again that ‘obey’ reared its nasty head and once again I made another choice. Funny sitting here on a Sunday morning I can’t remember everything about that day but I do remember that we both said love, honour and cherish. I guess you can’t cover every contingency in the vows you say on the day you marry someone. You just have to hope that they mean what they say and are in a position to follow through on what they say that day.

I need coffee. Oh and I’m knitting. I love More Sensational Socks. I still have so many variations of socks to do that I never even look for other patterns anymore. This is a new set for Eli. He wants me to make them into knee highs but I’ve convinced him that these will be plenty long.

Am I writing or am I a writer?

There have been many times in my life where I have dreamt of becoming a writer. Usually it’s while I”m driving in my car. I no longer have a car so now it happens when I’m on the train. Some days I don’t want update the blog, some WEEKS I don’t ‘feel’ like writing. Usually someone prods me (erin) and I sit down and write something. Today I was chastising a fellow blogger for their lack of update and she responded with “I feel so uninspired lately”. Now this poor kid is in bed with a nasty case of morning sickness so I totally understand that feeling, but what she said stuck with me. That’s exactly how I feel some days. So I”m walking to the train and I thought….that’s the difference between writing and BEING a writer. Writing when your feeling uninspired MAKES you a writer. Writing when you’re inspired is easy. When I’m in the middle of Heidelberg and a guy is singing “let the sunshine in” on an accordion with a German accent THAT blog post practically writes itself. When I walk by the computer 10 times and think ‘meh i should blog’ those are the days I need to sit down and write. If I string enough of those days together then one day, I’ll be a writer.