Katie-- you mentioned you'd be interested in some of my cookbooks?  If so, here is the list of ones I'm getting rid of.  If you (or anyone else) wants them, just comment and pay shipping costs.

Comfort Me With Apples by Ruth Reichl
Quick and Easy Chinese Cooking (two volumes)
Prime Time Emeril by Emeril Lagasse
Fire & Spice by Jacki Passmore
Pheasant & Quail
The Book Lover's Cookbook
Food & Wine Magazine's 2001 Cookbook
Dressed to Grill
The Best Kitchen Quick Tips
The South Beach Diet
The South Beach Diet Cookbook
Festive Occasions Cookbook

I have some non-cookbook books as well, mostly non-fiction and business books if anyone is interested.

This article sickens me:

Pet store chain linked to puppy mills

This story is definitely worthwhile reading.  Powerful, disturbing and not at all surprising.  It makes me sad that the United States government made those men stay silent all these years.

I'm exhausted today.  I stayed late at work because the wife of the guy who was supposed to close had an accident and he needed to leave suddenly.  I hope she's okay.  I think I ended up working slightly more than eight hours, though.  Being on my feet today for as long as I was really affected me.  I have a feeling I'm going to have to ask my boss to drop my hours a wee bit after Thanksgiving.

My Old Navy stuff arrived today, everything fits beautifully.  I really love my cheapass $30 winter jacket.  The best part is it has a really tall collar that I can snap down if I don't need it to stand up super high.  It will keep my neck warm all winter.

Dakota continues his random chewing of paper products.  This time he went into Bill's bag and pulled out a notebook and various other sundries and chewed them up.  He gave Dakota a stern talking to and I successfully resisted the urge to say something about leaving his bag on the floor--what he has told me each time the dog has destroyed some of my papers.  This is a relatively new development and it is annoying as crap.  

Bill brought me flowers today.  I had told him a few weeks ago he owed me flowers for all my help with the OGT (Ohio Graduation Test) and he wasn't allowed to bring me grocery store flowers.  He actually stopped at a florist and picked a pretty autumn bouquet out all by himself.  Such a good husband. =)

NBC is calling Ohio for Obama!  I'm proud to say I participated in that vote today.

ETA:

Good local news--The Columbus Public School levy passed!  That's the school district Bill works in.  He might be able to stay in his high school next year after all.

Also, it's looking like we might even have a new democratic representative to congress -- Mary Jo Kilroy.  Fingers crossed for that one.

ETA2: NBC is calling the election for Obama at 11pm.

It's funny they have the complete works of Shakespeare, then they also have Hamlet listed.

It's been a while since I've posted some of my knitting projects, so here are my two most recently completed.

Embossed Leaves Socks


Annetrelac Socks


Yeah, I have really pale legs. 

Because if we don't talk about it, it won't exist...
A U.S. government-funded medical information site that bills itself as the world's largest database on reproductive health has quietly begun to block searches on the word "abortion," concealing nearly 25,000 search results.

More here:
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/censorship/index.html#47937644

And the email list query that revealed the change:
http://list.uvm.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0804A&L=MEDLIB-L&D=1&T=0&P=28023

I wanted to post specifically about the gingerbread cookies I made on Thursday.  I was so pleased at how they turned out!  I used a Martha Stewart recipe and while they took me FOREVER from start to finish, it was definitely worth the effort.  My favorite part of the cooking process was when I added the baking soda to the molasses sugar mixture because it completely foamed up.  Not ever having made gingerbread before (well, since I was little), I didn't realize what it would do, even though it makes sense.  I should have taken pictures of the process, but I only have one of the final product. 



The icing was a little runnier than it should have been, but by the time I got to that part I was ready to be done. 

I cooked half for about 15 minutes, which made them more of a snap consistency, and the other half for 10 minutes, which made them softer.  I was worried that the first batch would be too hard, but they softened up after a day.

All in all, I really love the results and will probably add these to my holiday baking list.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas with your families!

So, in other happier news, meet Shady Leon and Tupac:



Sorry for the crappy picture, it's hard to photograph fish!  Bill's sister and BIL wanted to get rid of their fish tank and Bill has been looking for one for a while.  We set it up this afternoon and these two goldfish are our "tester" fish.  Hopefully, they'll make it.  Crazy Leon (the calico) is named after this shady used car salesman who sold Bill this old bronco that he bought less than a week after I moved to Ohio.  I wish I had the whole story written down somewhere, but I wasn't journaling over here at this point.  I may not have even been journaling at WC.  Anyway, he was totally shady...hence the name.

Also, some adorable photos of Dakota from Thanksgiving:

thank you so much to my Secret Pal for my wonderful, thoughtful, fabulous gift that I received over the weekend:



See that bag?  She MADE it and it fits a small project.  It's got my latest in it right now.  She also sent me two skeins of bamboo yarn...I've never tried knitting with bamboo before, some homemade stitch markers, some stationery, and some yummy candies!  My wonderful spoiler is Ellie from desceptivelypackaged.  She has an etsy store where she sells her stitch markers. 

****

I also wanted to come in and wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving, because we are leaving shortly for the ILs and I'm not sure when I'll be back online.  Even though this year hasn't gone exactly the way I had planned on it going, I've got a lot to be thankful for and I count my LJ friends high on that list. =)  So thank you for being my friends!

It seems that I've gone overboard on posting knitting-related stuff today, but I cannot help it.  I'm on a yarn-buying hiatus that I've only broken a couple times recently (insert embarrassed smiley here)...on Sundara silk lace  and her Season's yarn club in Autumn, I figured I'd record what I want but cannot buy right now.  If my family asks, I'm going to point them in the direction of this yarn purveyor.   Can I just say, OMG... :drool:... silver threaded yarn?  How incredibly decadent and delicious!  I'm also loving the Autumn Welcome colorway.

OK, here's the finished Tea Cozy.   I don't have a teapot with a handle on the side, so I had to take the handle off of mine to use as a model.  I'm giving this to my aunt for Xmas.

I have some new projects to show off:

another pair of mitts, this time with a matching hat (made from The Knittery merino/cashmere sock yarn)


this will be a tea cozy, that I've actually already finished, but haven't taken any pictures of it (made from Socks That Rock heavyweight sock yarn)

My latest project: Stulpen Fingerless Mitts.  I love these.  They're long, which will be great if it ever gets cold enough.  I'll definitely be using these for winter photography...my fingers are free but my hands will stay warm.

I made a couple mistakes on the cables and didn't notice until I took the picture.  There's one mistake on each glove.  I'll definitely be making these again, they're a quick, satisfying knit and they look fantastic.  These are knit with Claudia Hand Painted yarn fingering in the Buckeye colorway. 

After a day or so of feeling sorry for myself, then finishing my sucky class and the celebration that followed (re: I got drunk last night), I have been thinking about what to do while I'm jobless.  So much of my self-worth is/has always been wrapped up in my career, so sometimes I have a hard time separating who I am with a job and just me. 

So.  Being the person that I am, I don't like dwelling, so I've started thinking about what I want to do in the meantime.  I've decided that I'm going to do some volunteer work in some capacity, what I'm not sure right now.  I was thinking about volunteering with an adult literacy group, but I'd almost prefer to work with children.  Maybe I'll become a big sister?  We'll see...I'm still gathering ideas on this one.

The other thing I've decided to do is to really get to know my city.  There is a surprising amount of stuff to do here, and it is so easy to fall into a routine.  Much of this exploration will probably be done on my own, seeing as Bill works 60 - 70 hours a week.  As such, I started this little endeavor today.  I decided to explore a couple of local Asian grocery stores.  I didn't know this, but apparently there are a bunch of really good options in Columbus to get hard to find ingredients. 

First, I went to Tensuke Market, a Japanese specialty store and apparently the place in Columbus to get fresh fish--especially sashimi grade fish.  Yum!  They also make their own sushi which is reasonably priced, so I picked up some for us tonight.  Second, I went to Columbus Asian Market which I had read had a wide selection of dim sum.  Oh, boy did they....I got some potstickers, shrimp shu mai, and bbq pork steam buns (my favorite).  I also bought some sauces: hot sauce, chili sauce, tempura dipping sauce, and a couple others.

My third stop for the day was Pistacia Vera in German Village.  I've been wanting to stop here for months, ever since I read about it in Columbus Monthly.  OMG!  It is this fabulous little dessert boutique that makes the most incredible sweets.  I ended up buying a muscato chocolate bombe, a pistachio cheesecake, and a lemon tart with pine nuts.  I've already eaten the lemon tart and it was beyond incredible.  The custard was almost like lemon curd, the flavor was intense and it was just sweet enough.  The pine nuts were toasted and crunchy and went perfectly with the lemon.  I'm saving the other two for tonight when Bill gets home.  I can't wait to go back!

*****

A couple of other things:

-- We've been experimenting with leaving Dakota uncrated when we leave.  It's gone pretty well so far.  The one exception was yesterday when I left for class.  When Bill got home, he found about 20 empty candy wrappers on the dog's rug.  Apparently, he figured out that he could open the individual packets and eat the candy.  I had left them on the counter in the kitchen thinking that since they were not open, he would leave them alone.  The funny part was that instead of eating them all over the place, he at them on his rug, which is where we have trained him to eat his treats.  He puked while I was gone this morning and there were bits of candy wrapper in it.  I hope this doesn't continue...

-- After a couple of chilly nights and some frost, the weather is warming up.  I've been noticing bugs again.

-- I have more tomatoes than I know what to do with.  Ideas, anyone?

They're finished and they're pretty, even though the toes are super pointy.  They'll be a gift to my MIL probably.  They're not blocked in this pic...



Here's a close up on the detail:



I've started something for myself: Stulpen Handmitts in Claudia Hand Painted yarn in the Buckeye colorway.  A pic is upcoming...#2 is almost finished.