Category Archives: friends

Jul13

For the benefit of a princess (updated 7/13)

Posted on July 13, 2012 by administrator of DOOM

For the benefit of a princess (updated 7/13)

WINNERS OF WHAT THE YARN HARLOT CALLS “COSMIC BALANCING GIFTS” ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Tori M: Blanket (or the yarn I would’ve used to make the blanket; you decide)

Mary A: Nightfall Gift Set

Sophie T: Self-care gift set

Tamara K: Wollmeise Klapperstorch

Kim H: Headband

Caitlin O: Shallow purple bowl

Elizabeth B: Wollmeise gift set with DPNs & project bag

Jennifer L: Purple Shawl

Suzanne M: Free Form Bowl

Rachael A: Tili Tomas yarn

Marka Eberle: Lotus Yarns Chakra

Jennifer B: 4 skeins of custom-dyed Bugga from Cephalopod Yarns

Kelly C: The full line of patterns from Rebecca S.

Molly M: Green oval necklace from Ashley W.

Susan O: Purple Headband

Rebecca D: Purple teardrop necklace from Ashley W.

Sandra H: Wollmeise Aquarius

Christine M: Round green necklace from Ashley W.

Joan D: Wall vase

Agnieszka: Hair fork, hair stick, or nostepinne from www.artemiswoods.com

Jennifer S: Jojoland Harmony laceweight

Lindsey K: Leaf-shaped plate

Jennifer Loggins: Fascinator clips from Taylor Made Accessories

Suzanne B: Self-care set

Elizabeth A: Self-care set

Rhonda R: Khan gift set from www.sweetlibertine.com

Rachel H: Brownie Points gift set from www.sweetlibertine.com

Erin S: Round purple necklace from Ashley W.

Nadean L: Self-care set

Ashley W: 4 skeins of custom-dyed Bugga from Cephalopod Yarns

Anyone listed above has been notified by email. Karmic balancing gifts will arrive from the person who donated it. Instructions have been included in that email to contact the donor.

Also: HOLY CRAP THAT’S A LOT OF SUPERHERO CARDS TO SEND. Um. Guys. They’re going to be e-cards. I was absolutely bowled over at the number of people who donated and I cannot possibly mail that many right now. But I do want to keep my word for that, so you will get a really cool drawing as a thank-you, in your e-mail, and if you want to print them to use as postcards, or kid-room wall art, or to add to your collection of superhero stuff, that’s totally cool with me, just don’t sell them on etsy or something.

I met Talana on the first day of first grade, when she held the broken bathroom stall door shut for me after lunch.

That was 24 years ago this September.

Today, she’s in the hospital at Stanford University, and has just gotten word that calCOBRA won’t cover her because she has Medicaid A, which will only cover hospital expenses & none of her prescriptions.

Prescriptions she needs because she has Cystic Fibrosis and has just gotten a lung transplant. The transplant is why she’s in the hospital in the first place.

Her husband is going to fight this, is going to jump through all the loopholes & whatnot. But I want to help, somehow.

So here’s how: make a donation ~~via PayPal to her medical fund (tcfairfax@gmail.com)~~ To the Chipin fund we’ve set up in her name. $10 gets you ~~an entry into a raffle~~
update: PayPal doesn’t allow raffles. So everyone gets something tangible as a thank you.

$10 donations get a hand-drawn card of child-made superhero art and a chance to win a hand-knit throw blanket, made by me. Washable wool, cream. No guarantee on finish date (I’m starting law school in August, so knitting time will be limited), but I’ll send progress photos every week until it’s done. Alternatively, if you’re a knitter or know a knitter, I can just send you the yarn & you can make whatever you want. 5 skeins of MadTosh Vintage, which retails at $19.50 per skein.

$20 donations get two hand-drawn superhero art cards and two chances to win the blanket.

$30 donations get two hand-drawn superhero art cards, three chances to win the blanket, and a chance to win two hand-made fascinator hair clips from Taylor Made Accessories (one red & black flower and one multicolored feather hair clip).

$40 donations get two hand-drawn superhero art cards, four chances to win the blanket, two chances to win two hand-made fascinator hair clips from Taylor Made Accessories, and a chance to win the entire pattern collection from Rebecca Stromgren

$50 donations get two hand-drawn super hero art cards, five chances to win the blanket, three chances to win the fascinators from Taylor Made Accessories, two chances to win Rebecca’s patterns, and one of two lots of yarn (4 skeins each) from our wonderful friends at Cephalopod Yarns: two lots of custom- dyed yarn in Bugga. 4 skeins each, the winner picks the color, any color we have ever made, we will dye it just for you, OR you send us a picture of anything EXCEPT someone else’s yarn, and we will make a custom color just for you..

Donate more than $50 and I’m not sure what I’ll throw in.

One randomly selected person from the Eugene area, or who can travel to the Eugene area, will also receive one outdoor photo session (single, couple, or family, pets allowed) with Heidi Turnquist of Taylor Made Photography, and a CD of the edited images from the shoot. I went to high school with Heidi and can personally vouch for her quality and professionalism.

Some people have already said they don’t want to be part of the drawings, and that’s fine. You don’t have to be. You’ll still get cards as a thank you, because that’s how we roll around here.

I’ll use www.random.org to pick winners, based on the order in which I receive donation confirmations.

Drawing date is July 12, which is Talana’s birthday. She’ll be 30. If the Oatmeal can raise over $100,000 in a day, let’s see if we can raise even 10% of that in just under a month.

Donate after July 12 and you’ll still get the hand-drawn superhero cards, as well as the amazing feeling of helping someone totally awesome. This isn’t a business or a charity, this is community coming together to help someone who is going to have ongoing medical costs and needs tens of thousands of dollars in medications tot stay alive, medications that insurance may not cover.

And if you have a gift to donate, let me know & I’ll post about that, too!

Additional thank you gifts that have been donated (updated 6/19) (each increment of $10 gets you one chance to receive each of these items).
This amazing shawl

Four self-care boxes, each with 2 bars of handmade raspberry swirl soap, one washcloth, and one tube of handmade raspberry lip balm

Two hand knit purple headbands

A Nightfall yarn gift set. That’s one 4oz shawl ball and a matching Sock Set (which is two smaller balls so you can make matching socks).

One hair fork, hair stick, or nostepinne from www.artemiswoods.com

Four necklaces, two purple and two green, one for each of four winners, from Ashley White

A hank of wollmeise (amethyst WD), a slipped stitch studios sock bag, a sock pattern and pair of knitpicks DPNs (this would be a great gift for a special knitter in your life, if you’re not a knitter yourself).

Yarn that has been offered to date: 2 skeins of lotus yarns Chakra (MCN base) in “prayers for rain,” a skein of Aquarius wollmeise 80/20, two skeins of Jojoland Harmony (laceweight) in purple, and a skein of Tilli Thomas rock star in sapphire, and a skein of klapperstorch wollmeise 80/20.

2 amazing eyeshadow gift sets from www.sweetlibertine.com
Khan (Jet Set, Oasis, and Dragon City)

Brownie Points (Copper Penny, Cafe au Lait, and Filigree)

Matt’s cousin, Amber, is a potter and has donated the following four items:
A free-form bowl, which is raw clay on the exterior and the interior is a mottled green. It measures approx. 6″ in diameter and 3.5″ tall

A leaf-shaped plate, which measures 8.5″ across

A shallow purple bowl with lace imprint and metal handle which measures 6 x 8″

A wall vase which is 6″ from top to bottom

Jun25

On friendship and being behind the curve

Posted on June 25, 2012 by administrator of DOOM

On friendship and being behind the curve

My mother, may she rest and her name be for a blessing, was a wonderful, charming, creative spitfire of a person. She was generous and pulled no punches and left an impression on everyone she met. She was not, however, particularly fashionable and she enacted incredibly strict and controlling standards about appearance. I was not allowed to wear makeup until I was 14, except on school picture day, when she applied it for me. The result of that combination was me, as a teenager, not knowing how to do my makeup and her never teaching me. She thought blue eyeshadow, a la “Totally Hair Barbie” was a good idea well into the 21st century. I learned how to do stage makeup from my years in community theater, and I knew better than to ever use blue eyeshadow (at least, not the way she did), but I didn’t know much of anything else.

I picked up a few tricks here & there over the years, enough to look decent when going to job interviews or weddings, but my skin became increasingly sensitive and I became less and less concerned with that sort of thing. Until one day, a few years ago, I realized I was in my late 20s and there was this knowledge base that my friends all seemed to have picked up 10-20 years before and I was clueless. You mean you’re not supposed to use the little sponge applicator that comes in your eyeshadow box? What are loose mineral shadows? There’s a difference between under eye concealer and concealer used for blemishes? What the blue bloody fuck is primer?

My darling friend Jeannine came to the rescue, with Face Enhancement 065: Remedial Application Methods. From her, I learned how to do a basic smokey eye, how an eyelash curler is used (I still haven’t purchased one), and precisely what primer is and how it makes everything better.

What I did not learn, however, was how to choose products best for my skin tone, eye color, etc. Having sensitive skin complicates issues, because I can’t just go to the store & get a set made for blue eyes or whatever, because most of those products lead to a reaction ranging from flaking skin to OH GOOD LORD WHY ARE MY EYELIDS ON FIRE THIS IS BURNING ITCHY BADNESS, GET IT OFF ME NOW. Yes, the caps lock is necessary.

I flailed about this issue on twitter a few days ago, because I’m going to soon be in an environment where looking at least semi-professional/put-together is going to be required, and on-campus interviews & internships & jobs mean more days where makeup is recommended as part of a “professional” appearance. I flailed because, despite my success in Face Enhancement 065, I never progressed to Face Enhancement 101: Basics of Product and Color Selection.

Enter the wonderful friends I have made over the years, many of them with literal or figurative certifications in basic and advanced cosmetology. Erica, who I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting in person, hated seeing me so anxious about this. And really, I was. Still am, a little. There is so much information available. Tutorial videos, blogs devoted to different “looks,” entire (enormous) stores dedicated to makeup. As someone who needs to know ALL THE THINGS, it’s a near-paralyzing amount of information. Going to one of those stores is intimidating, at best. I’ve gone, with friends, to the M.A.C. counter to get my face done, and they always do a great job. I usually walk out with at least one purchase, but that’s a really roundabout way of doing things, and sometimes the ladies in the shop are done up in a way that makes me think, “please don’t let her near me with an eyeshadow brush, because she is scary.”

So Erica, who is not scary at all and always has flawless makeup, offered to make me a little kit. She & I wear the same shade of foundation (which she knew by seeing my pictures, but I had to read the label on my stuff because all I know is I’m pale). Samples of products she uses & loves, brushes, that sort of thing. That kit came today and I am verklempt. There are instructions and everything is labeled, and she even included mini notecards & fun pencils & elephant-shaped sticky notes for my kids, because she is so very sweet and thoughtful like that.

My friends have taken over where my mother, great as she was, fell down. I may be learning it all 15 or 20 years later than most American women learn this stuff, but I am learning it, thanks to very patient friends, some of them more than 3,000 miles away. I cannot express how grateful I am to them for this. For all my flailing, and all your patience, I appreciate your efforts.

Oct17

Spending Friday at my Cheers

Posted on October 17, 2009 by administrator of DOOM

Spending Friday at my Cheers

The common refrain when one lives in a small town is “There’s nothing to dooooo!” I grew up in Cottage Grove and FSM knows my friends and I said it often enough. I’m all growdedup now, and as I look around I see plenty to do. Most weekends, I head down to the Axe & Fiddle, where my stepdad runs the soundboard, the bartender will 86 the dude who pees on my car (yes, that really happened. Yes, I’m still a little perturbed), and the band gets the crowd jumping. The music at the Axe is eclectic, to say the least. From Anticipate Pie (that’s a video) to Zepparella, one thing Axe-goers can count on is a good time. Last night was no different.

After Gurglebutt finally fell asleep at 10:00, I got myself ready, grabbed my camera and my phone, and dashed out the door, thinking I’d only catch Half Shark/Half Jesus‘ second set. Imagine my pleasant surprise when I walked in and Three-Way Stereo‘s final song had just started.

Three-Way Stereo

I’m sad I didn’t catch their entire set – they play the musical equivalent of your favorite pair of jeans. I have their myspace music streaming right now, and I’m tempted to put “Paper Cranes” on repeat for the rest of the day.

I snagged myself a pint of cider and headed upstairs while Fred and the band got the stage ready for Ty Connor‘s second set. Upstairs, where you’ll always find a game of pool in session, even on nights without live music.

Anna pulls a pint. Anna's the best. She kicks out dudes who pee on your car.

Bart. The Axe is his pub. I've never seen him lose a game of pool.

I don’t play pool. I’ve had patient, loving, caring, intelligent friends try to teach me, and it’s like teaching a giraffe to dance the tango. I am an intelligent woman, I understand geometry. Pool? Just doesn’t happen. Most nights, I drink my cider and knit something simple and BS with my friends. I didn’t have time for much of that Friday, because I wanted to be downstairs during the performances. So when Ty took the stage, I took my cider and sat right up front.

Ty Connor: performer, bartender, comedian, profane, hilarious, slightly creepy.

“This set,” he said, “is all about YOU.” He punctuated that key word with slams on the bass drum. He read “Hoboetry,” a transcript of a very loud conversation two people – one of them named Tiffany – had outside his apartment. “You don’t care about Lefty/You don’t care about anyone/All you care about is BEER.” Ty combined spoken word, snippets of songs, observations, and snark into 15 very funny minutes of performance art. He’s the only person I’ve ever seen who can make “You Light up My Life” sound creepy.

After Ty came the reason I stayed in town last night, instead of taking up an offer to hang out in Eugene. Half Shark/Half Jesus. I find band names intriguing and a name like that? Wow. How could I pass up the chance to see what they’re about?

Jen and her green guitar. She has an awesome name, don't you think?

HSHJ would be right at home on playlists including Veruca Salt and Letters to Cleo. Here they are, playing “Down to the Quick” from Hair on Fire

Chris played the entire time with some sort of impish smirk. See?

Chris plays guitar and has fun with it

The band took a break from playing to have a raffle. They gave away multiple copies of both their CDs and, as a grand prize, a VHS copy of Boogie Nights. I’ve never before been to a concert where the band held a raffle. I hope Jamie enjoys Marky Mark and his prosthetic…part.

The final song of the night, and I didn’t realize this until they were into it far enough that a full video wasn’t possible, was a cover of Britney Spears’ “Toxic.” Yes, really.

In short: a great night. But it always is, at the Axe. Tonight: Brazilian Ferró and Samba band Macaco Velho. See you there?

Aug1

I missed the water

Posted on August 1, 2009 by administrator of DOOM

I missed the water

Back in high school, nearly every weekend that I was here instead of at my dad’s, I’d go out to Bob’s house and spend time with our friends on his parents’ boat. His mom would make us set & clear the table, sweep the floors, clean the bathroom, etc. in exchange for putting up with our loud, obnoxious selves. Bob’s parents have divorced, but his dad still lives in the house across the street from the boat launch, and as I understand it the boat is now, essentially, Bob’s. Llamaface & Boogermonkey were up in Portland moving Llama’s stuff into his new apartment, where he’ll be living to save us money in rent since he’s not moving down here with me (he hates this area), so Gurglebutt & I loaded up a bag and went out to Cottage Grove Reservoir, after getting him a lifejacket and snacks at Bi-Mart.

Bob

Gurglebutt eats frozen blueberries from Saginaw Vineyards, picked when Cousin Awesome was here

Bob lets Gurglebutt drive the boat

Driving with Reilly, Bob’s girlfriend, one of my oldest, dearest, bestest friends

Gurglebutt slept like this for nearly 2 hours

Keith (one of the original crew), Bob, and Keith’s wife Elisa

Trinity, Keith & Elisa’s daughter. She’s 2.5 & ADORABLE! Great manners and we had fun in the water!

It was an amazing day. Sunshine, good friends, good memories, no one drowned, and Gurglebutt took a long enough nap that I was able to swim by myself for a while. The anchor got stuck under some mud & Bob will have to rescue it later, but he’s not worried about that so I’m not, either. Near the end of the day, I got word that a close friend lost someone very close to her, so that put a small damper on it. Then, Nana called and said something about Little Brother getting kicked out of the work program he’s in (Little Brother called later and clarified that Nana is on some sweet crack because no he has not been). And then I locked myself out of the house because I’d forgotten to put the new keys on my ring, so I had to send Austin the 10-year-old neighbor boy through Little Brother’s window to open the door for me. No day without a little bump or three, I suppose, but for the most part it was nice. No sunburn, despite being on medication that can make one photosensitive, no barfing from the kid who’d never been on a boat before, not too hot, water not too cold, just the right amount of snacks & water & companionship.

Thanks for a great day, guys!

Aug19

fun times

Posted on August 19, 2008 by administrator of DOOM

fun times

Before I start with the recap of the awesome wedding we went to on Sunday, I have to share these pictures of Boogermonkey with y’all.

A few mornings ago, he was trying to put on my skirt. Of course, his chest is much smaller than my waist, so it kept falling down. I grabbed a chip clip from the fridge & pinned it in the back.

This is a pretty good visual representation of my older child’s personality

And then, last night, he decided he wanted to play dress up. With my clothes. Isn’t he pretty? I think pink is a good color for him. Also: that shawl? I MADE THAT! Swallowtail, by Evelyn Clark, Interweave 200x. Yes, I will add it to Ravelry, as soon as I get better pictures of it

OK, so now on to the wedding.

GORGEOUS wedding. Outdoors, on the one bearable day at the end of a miserable heat wave. A bit muggy, but muggy & 80 is a whole hell of a lot better than muggy & 95+ like it had been for a few days previous or muggy & raining like it was the night before & the night after. Llama & I went to college with Vaughn, he & Llama were resident assistants together sophomore year and continued hanging out with a core group of guys, playing video games like counterstrike (I hate that fucking game. 30+ guys playing it at full volume in one dorm with all their doors open: great way to make your girlfriend feel like she’s sleeping in a goddamned war zone). Vaughn is now a cop & about 1/3 of the guys are married, but we’re the only couple with kids so far. Booger & Gurglebutt stayed with LlamaMama for a few hours, which was nice because then I could have champagne without repeating “no honey that’s a grownup drink” a kajillion times. Hello, open bar. The Jen of the past would have been falling over, but the saner, happier, more mature Jen of now had a respectable two glasses.

Enough of that! Onto the pictures. Full set here. Any picture without Llama in it was taken by Llama.
Vows. The priest was awesome. Funny, irreverent, English, acknowledged that not all of us in attendance believed in ~~zombies~~ Jesus.

KISSING!

Husband & wife. Major bonus points for (a) not playing Canon in D, (b) not reading 1 Corinthians (they used Shakespeare instead), (c) not having a “unity candle.”

Dancing. There was a great dip at the end, but Llama had turned away at the wrong moment & didn’t capture it. They were so cute during this dance, though.

CAKE! The best part of all weddings, IMO.

Garter search. He spent quite a bit of time up that dress, lawl. There were little handcuffs on the garter, because he’s a cop.

Guys. Missing: Nick. Not sure where he is, no one really knows why he wasn’t there. The only time we see him is at weddings, and I was sad. Nick, honey, if you read my blog: CALL US. WE MISS YOU.

Off to the honeymoon! Disneyworld for a week.

Oct1

help an e-friend

Posted on October 1, 2007 by administrator of DOOM

help an e-friend

I read a lot of blogs, but one of my favorites is Rachael H’s Yarn-a-gogo. She’s entered a romance novel contest, and has made it to the semifinals. The top 3 semifinalists go on to the final round, whereby the entire novel is read by the folks at Simon & Schuster. You can read the details in this post. It’s pretty good, if I do say so myself, and even if she doesn’t get published, just having the manuscript read is a HUGE DEAL.

Sep21

we found the cord!

Posted on September 21, 2007 by administrator of DOOM

we found the cord!

David was here, and now there’s proof.

Sep8

Awesome sounds

Posted on September 8, 2007 by administrator of DOOM

Awesome sounds

“Hi David”
“Hi”
“Hi David”
“Hi”
“eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee”
*giggle*

———

“ball bounce!”
“ball!”
“BOOM!”
“BOOM!”
*giggle*

——–

“David!”
“What?”
thump thump thump thump thump *giggle*
“David!”
“What?”
thump thump thump thump thump *giggle*
“David!”
“What?”
thump thump thump thump thump *giggle*
“David!”
“What?”
thump thump thump thump thump *giggle*
——–

My friend Stephanie is in Seattle for a friend’s wedding and, knowing how hard it is to wrangle a toddler at something like that, I agreed to take care of her son for the afternoon. He and Boogermonkey are having a BLAST. They’re just getting to the stage of cooperative play (early for their age, from what a preliminary google search turns up), and it is so neat to watch. They babble to each other, play with the fridge magnets, share the corn chex and dino sippy, cook on Booger’s toy kitchen set, and chase each other around the house (those thumps up there *points*). Right now they’re sitting together on the bottom of the bookshelf, each eating cereal. This is so neat. And NOW Booger’s sitting on his stool, which he has turned upside down, and David’s trying to push him, lol.

Booger’s a really social kid, and he always shares the sandbox, but this is one of the few chances he’s gotten to interact with another kid, and the longest he’s had on his own turf, so to speak. Yeah, I definitely need to join a few groups/regular play dates. This is too cool not to let him do it as often as possible.

Aug17

yikes!

Posted on August 17, 2007 by administrator of DOOM

yikes!

So if you’re like me and you live under a rock, you may not know that there was an earthquake in Peru on Wednesday. Claudia, who has been an e-friend for years now, is from Peru and now lives in CA. She has a business selling bilingual kids’ clothes, like this “Sabor Latino” (Latin Flavor) shirt that we love. $10 from the sale of every $12.99 shirt will go to disaster relief for the people in Peru. Compre!