Mitten

I have a knitting project - a hat, to be exact - that has been sitting in my drawer unfinished because I can't bring myself to pick up stitches around the edge to do the brim. Note to self: never start a pattern that needs stitches to be picked up.

Such odd feelings this morning. The mister left in the wee hours for back-to-back out-of-town shoots (Bardstown then Albuquerque) and won't be back until nearly Christmas. I am simultaneously thrilled and bereft. It'll be lovely to center myself and lay groundwork for my projects, but I'm absolutely dreading a solo run through most of the holiday season. Why can't things just be all good once in a while?

I've moved this site to Pelican, and away from 11ty. Having it in 11ty was just too much of a hurdle for me - it's written in a language I don't know, and the monthly updates to the system were too stress-inducing. Never felt like I could keep up. So I've got everything moved over to Pelican, which is written in Python, which I at least have a passing knowledge of. They seem to do a release every 12-18 months, which is much more my speed (and I have it running in a virtual environment, which seems more immune to MUST UPDATE NOW.) In looking at the site again, there's lots I want to change, but what I really want to do is write, so I'll get on that first.

To Laptop or Not to Laptop

Ah, Apple, always stirring up the ooh shiny desires. Here's a quick take on the new iPad (and Pencil!) announcement today, and thoughts on juggling the different form factors of modern computing machines.

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Why can't cookbooks get all the things right? I just borrowed a bunch from the library, all focused on meal planning. One has good looking plans and cooking strategies, but no shopping lists. Another has nicely paired recipes, but they're not indexed (and no TOC, either!) C'mon people, this just isn't difficult.

Around the beginning of the year, I realized that every morning, the first image I had of myself was me dressed in a ratty old t-shirt. It just didn't seem like a good way to start the day, so I bought some proper pajamas. Nothing fancy, just a nightdress and a couple "camp style" pajama sets from Lands End. But I tell you what: it has made a huge difference! When I see myself in the morning now, I see someone who takes a bit of care about how she looks - and that seems to give me a better outlook on lots of things throughout the day.

The mister has put on the Eras tour movie as music to work by today. I'm sitting in the next room, out of his line of sight, but in the reflection of the glass of pictures on the wall, I can see him dancing - but I don't think he knows I can see him. It's very sweet, tbh, and I just love him so much.

My Default Apps

Oooh, oooh, since all the cools kids are doing it, I will give you a list of all my default apps. And maybe some other stuff too - like opinions on the length of podcasts, music discovery, and where voice memos go to die.

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Starter Villain, and the Joys of Writing and Performance

A spoiler-free review of John Scalzi's Starter Villain and Wil Wheaton's audiobook reading thereof, complete with side commentary on listening to writing.

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Seeing Through My Own Eyes

In which Laura muses on how seeing the world differently is going after a week with new contact lenses, and the unusally profound results of the change.

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