Polled it: And the weiner is...

Stalin/ guy down by the river

beard	1 (5%)
fu manchu	2 (11%)
stalin/ guy down by the river	8 (44%)
hitler/ charlie chaplin	3 (16%)
clean cut Jerry	4 (22%)

Total votes: 18

Shaved it: Jerry's face

Jerry has put an end to his facial hair. We had a good time shaving it in stages. Vote on your favorite Jerry (poll to the right):






FuManChu:






Jerry thinks he looks like Stalin, I'm thinking this Stalin lives in a van down by the river:






The nicest Hitler...er, I mean Charlie Chaplin, ever:







Clean cut Jerry:

Made it: Baby Poncho

I came across this pattern for a baby poncho in the Lion Brand newsletter and thought it would be cute for little Immy. Immy belongs to Jade and Nigel (my former co-worker and her British husband). She is super cute and has crazy hair. The pattern was pretty easy. It was basically a rectangle with a hole in the middle. The hood is knitted on and picking up the right number of stitches is not so easy. Also there was supposed to be a pocket but I ran out of yarn, plus what the heck does a baby need a pocket for any way? lip balm? a cell phone? nuffin!
We ate at London Fish and Chips, a wildly popular fish n' chips place in Cary. People line up at the door and they sometimes sell out of fish early. Nigel gives it a thumbs up. He says it is less greasy than the standard fish n' chips. Jerry enjoyed it. I feel it is what it is, I am not a huge fan of overly breaded fried things (don't get me wrong, fried IS a food group ya'll).
The highlight was the very fashionable Immy in the poncho and her Union Jack shirt.

Embroidered it: "and all was for an appil"

This is what I will be working on for the next year or lifetime....
My co-worker Martha showed me a cool website (www.scarlet-letter.com) that sells reproductions of samplers. This is a reproduction of some canvas work from the 17th century. What is really cool about it is that the Adam and Eve motif was not at all common during this time. I like the really primitive look and phrase "and all was for an appil". So this is cross stitched on linen which is not an evenly woven fabric. Seeing this firsthand was overwhelming and I almost started crying, considered sending it back (I was really looking forward to this for weeks). But then I thought about it for a while and decided to pencil in a graph out line on the outside of the piece. That really helped and I have stitched about 20 stitches so far. Hopefully I will give an occasional update. Also overwhelming is the size 13"x 16". According to my calculations there are 696 squares containing 100 stitches- that equals almost 70,000 stitches. However, half of this is negative space so really it is about half that...phew! only 35,000 stitches!
I have not been blogging as much lately. I actually have posts drafted up (like the time we shaved Jerry's facial hair in stages). Maybe I will get around to it over the weekend!

Crocheted it: Scarf

This is my first time crocheting. I will always prefer knitting BUT there are certain patterns in crochet that you don't see in knitting. For example, a cloche. I had one pattern in knit and it was for a super expert. It had a complicated herringbone pattern. I figured out the pattern but when it came to the pattern and increasing and decreasing....I gave up. I must have tried to knit this 8 or 9 times. I don't feel like it was a failure because I tried several times and the person at the knit shop was impressed that I figure the pattern out and could not really help me when it came to whatever my problem was (yep, so complicated we did not even know what my problem was, just that it wasn't right) . To impress a knitting shop lady is pretty impressive so I just left it at that--pat on back!
So I got the book "Get Hooked Again!" and it is ok. The written instructions are easier than the pics, but I found this to be true of online instructions as well. Knitting seems easier to represent graphically. I did not like the colors of the yarn at the craft store so I chose another brand (Vanna's Choice by Lion Brand Yarn) and bought the hook mentioned in the gauge and am using the pattern in the book. Unfortunately the yarn is acrylic BUT the colors are awesome.
So crocheting is not too bad, everyone says it is quicker but I don't necessarily think so!

Laughed at it: Sprinkle Brigade

My pal Jill shared this site with me. It is funny and nauseating at the same time:
www.sprinklebrigade.com

Cooked it: Soup Soup Soup

Since Jerry is sans job we have been making lots of soup. Soup is great because it is usually some what economical and lasts a while. It has been pretty cold here, well, cold for us...ok, it will be 74 degrees on Tuesday...whatever! My favorite thing about the soup is my enameled cast iron soup pot (kind of like this but in apple green) and the ladle (both thoughtful gifts from my soup buddies). However, I do not recommend you drop any part of the enameled pot on your foot....it really hurts.
White Chicken Chili- I like this recipe because it is healthy and easy. Other than sauteeing the onions and peppers (I use red bell peppers only, not the green), everything else is cans. I usually use red kidney beans vs the white beans. Also I dump in a small can of corn (sorry I used dump and corn in the same sentence).
Sausage and Kale soup: Jerry LOVES this soup. We use smoke turkey sausage. Also pretty healthy with the beans and the kale. Kale is really good in this because it stands up flavor and texture wise, something the more delicate greens can't do. (also, this version)
Curried Caulifower Soup: This is a great potato soup alternative, the dominate flavor is definitely onion but the cook down so they are melt in your mouth. It is a little labor intensive (roast the cauliflower, sautee onions, cook together, take out half and puree). We used curry powder and really it does not have a curry flavor. I threw in some red pepper flakes to give it a kick. My friend Scott suggested toasting and grinding some whole spices, I agree it would probably give it a better flavor, more of a true curry, and if you are going through all the trouble any way, you may as well!

Watched it: 3 movies

3:10 to Yuma: I usually do not care for Russell Crowe, but this was not too bad. Predicatably I fell asleep during the middle part but woke up in time for the end. It was ok for a movie I did not entirely see.

Ratatouille: We decided to see this since it was on a lot of critics top ten picks of 2007. It was pretty good. The best thing on the dvd was the extra about the history of the rat. It was really well done and hilarious. I also enjoyed making Jerry mad by calling the rat a mouse..."Poor mouse" or "Poor Mousatouille".

Stardust: This was pretty good. We are not sure why they cast Claire Danes in it. Why have an American play a role with a British accent. There are enough British actresses out there to avoid her all together (even for American movies....please?!). The other thing was a gay pirate played by Robert Deniro. They should've re-cast it or left this out! One of the pluses a large cameo played by Ricky Gervais.

Read it: Mysteries

Ok, I am hooked on mysteries... I can't help it. Sometimes with contemporary lit I get so bored. It is so stylized and usually a let down. What I do like about mysteries is the predicatability; there is a murder, the murder is solved. I also like the unexpected twists. I may have it solved but there is usually something I did not see coming.
This would be the case with Kate Morgenroth's book, They Did It With Love. This is a chick lit mystery. There are a ridiculous amount of characters and sometimes it can be a little tedious. It moves along fairly quickly. I think this book is best read in a short period of time since there are so many characters to keep straight. I liked it though. I was hoping she would set it up as the first in a series but I doubt that is the case.
The other mystery of late is Every Secret Thing by Laura Lippman. Lippman has a series but I really enjoy her stand alones (also enjoyed, What the Dead Know). This book was a good quick read. She really depends on the reader making a lot of assumptions only to totally demolish them in the end...very sneaky. I think that is pretty intense and skillful , to write a book knowing the assumptions of the reader is making ...mind-blowing!