Massive Monday Mouthful

Damn, I'm good. I'm just saying is all. Remember how I said that because of my Nasty Eye Infection of Death I wasn't going to hold myself to the One Knitted Christmas Gift Per Week self-imposed deadline for last week? Well, I did it anyway. Because damn, I'm good. And for almost all of the Christmas gifts I'm knitting, I am not going to post pictures here, because people who will be receiving the knitty love also read the bloggy, and I cannot have them seeing their gifts ahead of time. BUT! In this once instance, I am going to post a picture because I am just so damn crafty and proud of myself. I realize this is not any sort of giant knitting feat. This is maybe one of the easiest things I've ever knit. It took me 2 hours total (plus felting and drying time), but they just came out so darned cute, I am so happy.

Felted Coasters!!! I got the pattern from my One Skein Wonders book, but I altered it quite a bit. It called for bulky weight wool, I used worsted. It said to cast on 11 sts, but of course with the worsted, that wasn't nearly enough. So I kind of just winged it. But the best part was that I got to use my new felting needle tool from Knit Picks. I realize my Christmas tree is a little, shall we say, "abstract", but it's my first design and I'm happy with it. Also, my felting tool BROKE after the first use. So I only managed to get one tree done. I'm pretty unhappy about it because I figure it should have a longer life than one freaking coaster, so I've emailed Knit Picks and I'm hoping they will replace it (or at least the needles).

In other news...

I went to the movies 3 times this weekend. I decided after my mis-adventures with the great out-of-doors in the past several weeks (sunburn, infection, whathaveyou) I needed to stay inside all weekend long, which was just fine since it was about 105 degrees here this weekend and I'm not exaggerating that.

So on Friday night The Cowboy and I saw The Dark Knight.

Let me tell you what, that was a long movie. A good movie. A great movie, even. But man alive it was long. With previews and everything it was about 3 hours. Anyway, all the hype about this movie is true. It was great. Very dark, very violent, and Heath Ledger's performance was amazing and scary and hilarious all at once.

Saturday we switched gears and saw Stepbrothers.

This movie was hilarious, if you like fart jokes. Which I do. And other sophomoric type funnies. Which this movie was loaded with. There were a couple of parts that were pretty stupid, of course, but overall, it was entertaining, mindless fun.

And on Sunday, I switched gears once again, and went (by myself I might add, which I love) to see Mamma Mia!

The Cowboy is a weirdo. In addition to not liking to hold newborn babies, he also doesn't like musicals. Ok, he's not a gay man, and I can accept that musicals aren't his favorite. But I mean, he HATES them. He didn't even watch Sesame Street as a child, because they would bust into song, and he just couldn't take it. This saddens me greatly, because I have a great love for all things musical, and I realize that I have a long future of trips to the movies and theatre by myself ahead of me. But I digress....

Mamma Mia the musical was great, and the movie was just as awesome (maybe more? I daresay?). This is high praise from me, considering Mr. High-and-Mighty Himself, Pierce Brosnan is in it, and you all know how I feel about Pierce Brosnan (and if you don't know, I will tell you and that is that I think he is full of himself and thinks his shit don't stank and I'm willing to bet that it, in fact, does). Anyway, I loved this movie! This one was probably my favorite of all 3 that we saw this weekend, but I really did like the other 2. But oh, this one made me happy. I'd see it again tonight if I could, and I can't say the same for The Dark Knight or Stepbrothers.

In other news...

I have a bad habit of starting new books when I'm in the middle of reading another book, and then one of them gets forgotten. Case and point: I am reading 3 books right now. (Never mind my bad habit of buying books all the time, just never you mind about that) Two of the books aren't even worthy of a mention, but the one I bought and started yesterday is. Behold! I give you: The Pillars of the Earth.

I've seen this book for months now, and I've heard various, many, random people talking about how good it is. It's about people who build cathedrals. Zzzzzzz. I know, right? But apparently, this book is good. I believe hype when I hear it (see: The Dark Knight), so I broke down and bought this monster yesterday at Target (thanks, Tiff!). I got the paperback, and it is 973 pages. NINEHUNDREDSEVENTYTHREE pages. It is a beast. It is the size of a large dictionary, and it's the paperback, so imagine what the hardcover looks like. Anyhoo, I started it last night, and have only read 3 chapters or so, but so far it's good. I'm not all enrapt with it or anything, but you gotta give these things time.

And finally, I will wrap up my Massive Monday Mouthful by telling you all how much I love my crock pot. Some of you may know that for awhile I had a very strained relationship with my crock. Basically, I hated its guts and in return, it burned all my food. We went round and round like this for awhile, until I found this blog. She inspired me to try it again, and I've had great success with several recipes since.

Today, my bloggy friends, I attempt a new recipe in the crock. Again, I realize this is no crock-pot feat, and I'm sure many before me have tried (and succeeded!) in making this, but dangit I'm excited. I'm making a pot roast in my crock! It's a-cooking righty now and will make the house smell warm and wonderful and I can't wait to go home and eat! If all is successful, you will hear the details tomorrow. And if all is unsuccessful, well, I'm sure you'll hear the details tomorrow in that case too. Because I ain't got no secrets, man.

Happy Monday!