Finally a hat!

During my birthday month two years ago I was at a yarn store and saw this super soft and fuzzy white yarn. I realized how silly it was to not have a homemade Santa hat, since I love making hats and have a Santa hat for Christmas time. 

I made one last Christmas and Steven really liked it, so this year I made one that fit his head. 

Book Review Time!

I really need to do more things so that I can blog about more things. I did read this book at. So, at least it is something.

This book is a young adult magical world type book. It takes place in an alternate Victorian England, where magic exists. The story is about a girl who is prophesied to be the one to defeat the monsters attacking her world.

Overall I enjoyed this book. It was a quick read and a fun story. Mostly what I enjoyed was the fact that it was a story with magic in it.

Despite liking it I wouldn't say I really recommend it. I didn't really like any of the characters. Some of them I couldn't really remember who they were for the book. They seemed like just a name that kept popping up.

Although the book was set in Victorian England, there was very little that made it feel that way. In the beginning there was mention of fires being used for heating, so you know it was without technology. Later there was a carriage mentioned a few times. Nothing really stood out at specifically England or specifically that time period. They threw in meeting the queen at the end, but that really didn't do much.

This book seems like it was written to be a movie. A lot of the things I think it was lacking could be filled out with visuals you'd find in a movie. Maybe that was the intent? I don't know.

German Baking - Book Review

I am not German. I come from a family that loves baking, but pretty much everything in this book is new to me. On that note I found this book to be very disappointing. There are very few pictures, and very few of the pictures are of the finished baked goods. There are pictures of Germany and of food prep, but those don't inspire me to want to make a recipe. As an example the Glazed Hazelnut Torte recipe has two pictures, one of a bicycle and one of a graffiti style art wall. Why would I want to see those pictures right then? It makes no sense.

Other than the very disappointing visual aspect of the book, the recipes look well written with good detailed instruction. I am doubtful that I will ever make anything from this book given how uninspiring the formatting is.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Book Review: Natural Color

I have been interested in learning natural dying for a while. Hand dyed yarn has become very popular, it can make a solid color more interesting too look at because of the slight color variations. I have been wanting to try to create my own color combination yarn, or try dying already knitted things.

This book has many color options for natural dying. They are arranged along with project ideas for many things you can dye. At the back of the book is a handy chart of all the colors you can make and how different methods can change the color.

I am very excited to start my first project.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Book Review

 

I tried really hard to get into this book, but I wasn't able to. The format of this book implies using each chapter as a weekly meditation. I didn't have enough time to take this approach since the goal was to review the book.

Looking through the chapters it seems unlikely that each one would apply to every person. I'm not sure how this would factor into someone using the book for a weekly meditation. One meditation is, "So, you want to get married". I'm already married; this would not apply to me. Nor would it apply to someone not interested in that. Another chapter is called, "How to Handle Negative People". This would probably be useful for most people at some point during the year, but not necessarily on the week it happens to come up.

There is a listing of all the topics in the table of contents, but that it doesn't seem to have any particular subject organization beyond the order things appear in the book. I wouldn't be likely to pick up this book if there was something specific I wanted to meditate on because of this format.

I think I will keep it around and read it occasionally, hopefully it will be more helpful than my original opinion indicates.

Book Review: Dark Matter

I started off enjoying this book. It was a quick read, and hard to put down. There were some weird science things that the author made a decent attempt to seem plausible. Nothing stood out as too absurd to exist at least in the realm of fiction. 

The main thing I didn't like about the book overall is that it seemed to be very much written by a man. It was a subtle thing, but not being a man there were quite a few moments where I thought it was odd how something was said or described. On a second thought it seemed less odd, just different. 

I'm always a little hesitant to pick up a fiction book I haven't read great things about. I don't like getting all wrapped up in a book and then have the ending just go pffft. I read a few reviews, which claimed this book had a sappy ending. I thought that would be fine, I don't mind sappy. In my opinion the ending was dumb. It took all the momentum of the story and just killed it. 

This book is about dimensional travel. The idea is that any choice you make you actually made all the choices, and there are infinite realities with all the outcomes of everyone's choices. The book starts with Jason, a happy average man with a family and mediocre job. He is taken hostage and thrown into another world where he didn't get married and have a child, instead he became a famous scientist who invented the dimension travel. The guy who took him hostage was actually the version of himself from that world, who regretted leaving the women Jason married.

The whole book is Jason escaping the world where Jason2 stuck him, trying to get home to his family. The machine to travel in throws him into all these horrible places where he almost dies multiple times. He finally figures out how to use it and finds world's closer and closer to his own, almost going crazy in the process.

When he finally does get to his world there are apparently there are many copies of himself who also found this exact world, and all these copies are trying to kill each other. This is where I think the book stops making as much sense. It makes sense that there are copies of the first Jason, but why do they all end up in the same exact world at the end? Jason was gone for weeks trying to find it, there must be an infinite number of worlds that started as the one he left. That world had millions of people making millions of choices for weeks, there must be a nearly infinite number of worlds that all the versions of Jason's could have ended up in. And then there is the issue of why are they all trying to kill each other? None of them are trying to kill Jason2 for taking their family, they are all attacking each other. It makes very little sense.

Then the worst part one of the Jason, presumably the one we have been following the whole book, gets to his family, and they decide the only way to escape is to all jump in the machine together and try their luck in whatever world they end up in. That plan didn't work so well the first few times Jason went into it. The machine is controlled by your thoughts and emotions, so somehow his wife and teenage son are able to control the machine their first time in it, after being through a very traumatic few days. This ending makes no sense. Maybe the author is leaving it open to a sequel?

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for this Review. 

Book Review: Home Sewn

I was really excited to get to review a book on a hobby I actually do. I have some really cute books with some great sewing projects in them, and I was hoping this book would be a great addition to that collection. I was not impressed.

Some of the major problems I had with this book:

Two of the projects in the book are just pictures of the writer having used purchasable kits with her own fabric. There is a make your own lampshade, and make your own headboard. I don't think using a premade kit and writing the instructions count as making your own project...

One project is a linen ottoman. This on it's own this could be a great project. Except when you get to the important part of the stuffing. She gives minimal direction on this. "Stuffing of your choice"... "Up to you really"... I made a floor cushion a year or so ago. The sewing part, although complicated, was the easiest part. Finding a good stuffing, tips on getting it into the cushion, tips on not getting said stuffing all over your house... Any of those would be a really useful addition to this project.

At least two projects in this book don't fall on the right side of the handmade vs homemade. When I make something by hand I want to take the time to do it right. If I am going to spend hours making something and probably spending at least twice what it would cost to buy the same thing. What I make should look good. One project the "embroidered lambskin and silk throw pillows" looks terrible. The final project pictured is wrinkled and the embroidery is a small circle in the middle filled in with random stitches and x's. Maybe if it was a child making it this could be appreciated.

Another project " decorative silk upholstery panels" looks like she tacked on fabric to the back of a chair. Reading the instructions for this project, says that is exactly what she did. "You probably don't need instructions - the images say almost all you need"... She actually says that.

There are a few cute things. One project is making silk butterflies. Another is a leather strap to tie back curtains with. She made a cotton, silk, and leather chandelier that looks nice. But even for these projects that I might actually want to do the instructions are minimal. She takes a lots of posed pictures of the finished product, but doesn't really focus on helping people get there with great instructions. I could probably figure it out, but with a book I shouldn't have to.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

New Game

I normally get books to review, but this time there was an option for a game. Since I like games I got it. I wasn't expecting to love this game, since I don't love puns, and it states that it is a game for pun lovers. Steven loves puns, so I thought he might like it. 

The game makes a claim to be the new Cards Against Humanity. I can't say I really liked the game, but I definitely disagree with that claim. Cards Against Humanity has only the requirements that you read english and aren't easily offended. It doesn't require much thinking and if you have no clue for a round nothing really happens. Punderdome requires a lot of thinking. You are given two topics and you have to write your own pun combining them. Some combinations are easier than others, but when you can't come up with anything it is frustrating. 

Also it seems to be a wasteful game. Each round you write your pun on a piece of paper. By the end of game there was a lot of little paper bits. 

I would like to watch this game be played by people who are really good at puns. It might be amusing. I don't think it is a game that can be enjoyed by any group. Which is something that is good to have in a game.

Some examples of our rounds.

Cat in the Hat

Climbing Adventures

Steven and I signed up for the lead belay class at the climbing gym. It took about 2 months to get into the class, apparently they are very understaffed. For those of you who are not climbers I found this cute picture on the internet.

Lead climbing is more likely what we would be doing most with most outdoor climbing. Planet Granite has two different certifications. One for lead climbing and belaying, and the other for just the belaying. I opted out of the climbing part for now. Unlike that lovely picture above where you would fall and land on that spike of rock sticking up, most lead climbing is done on walls with overhang. I don't like those walls because they make my arms hurt too much. 

On Monday we both got our official cards. 

Not lead climbing, but Steven was accidently posing for this picture. :)

My poor shoes are dying...

Book review

I have mixed feelings about this book. It has a lot of information about a lot of things to do with food and babies. Which is in theory good, because knowing things is generally good. That being said, I have a few friends who are planning to have children in the near future and I wouldn't even think of giving it this book to them. It has so much information about so many things that could go wrong. It goes into a lot of detail about very rare allergies. For a new parent who is prone to hypochondria it would be a horrible thing to read. 

There is despite all the very likely unnecessary information about rare conditions some good information in this book. This information seems somewhat buried in all the question- answer formatting. There are some useful charts, but you can't flip through it easily to find them. It would be more useful to read while you are making your first child, than wondering what you should feed your child of X months. 

Once past the first year or so of feeding suggestions, this book turns more into a basic nutrition book. Toddlers that are eating regular food apparently have the same nutrition concerns as adults. Limit excess sugar and salt, eat vegetables... 

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Book Review: Broth and Stock

My first impression of this book was not good. Based on the title I was expecting a cookbook of broths and stocks. Most of this book appears to be soups. Those do use broth and stock, but that isn't the same as making your own.

The first third of the book has useful information about broth and stocks. There is some history of it and a few a bunch of recipes for various types of broth. It was a little disappointing that all of the vegetable broths contained chicken bone broth. 

The rest of the book is just recipes. Most, but not all of these do use some amount of broth. I doubt I will be making anything from this book. There is not enough variety of recipes that it will be something I pick up when I am looking for a soup recipe. The broth recipes that it has are very basic. So I doubt that I would use it for that either. 

The most useful thing I got from this was to try adding wine when making a broth to a flavor and as an acid to bring out more nutrients.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Steven's replacement shirt arrived recently and required a trip into SF to pick it up. Last time I went for him, and didn't notice they got everything wrong when they made it. This time Steven went to check it in person. Since we were going all the way to SF we wanted to do something else while we were there. Steven suggested the SFMOMA, which happened to be within walking distance of the shirt place.

Normally when going to SF we take 101. It usually the quickest way. We were heading to do just that, and Steven noticed right before the 880N entrance that the 101 route was 45 min longer. We had enough time to change lanes. I tried looking up accidents on 101, but I couldn't find anything. There must have been something for that kind of delay. It didn't take too much longer to change routes.

Steven had found a parking garage that was in between both locations we wanted to go to and also offered 4 hours of free charging. We had originally considered taking BART to avoid dealing with parking, but it is still more expensive when you have two people. I don't understand how people can do that everyday. 

When we finished parking and were walking to the museum we found this performance of Balinese music and dancing. I'd never heard of it before, but they seem to have semi regular free performances in this area. I took a look at the schedule, and it is my opinion that we got lucky and stumbled on the most exciting one. 

Mini and Highly Biased SFMOMA Digital Tour

I will start off by saying I am not a fan of modern art. A lot of it seems completely ridiculous to be called art. A lot of it seems to not show any actual artist talent. Also this happened recently. I think it says a lot about modern art, and is also hilarious. 

Some of my favorite moments today in this museum were overhearing other people talking about things not making any sense. 

The first thing we saw was this metal sculpture. You are allowed to walk around it. It's pretty neat. I think they would frown on you actually climbing the walls, but I think it is possible on the inside areas. A friend on facebook described it as giant ski ball. I think it is an excellent description. 

This piece was untitled. I decided to name it "Cardboard Mummy Bird."

This was a funny looking statue of some guy. I have no idea if he is based on a real person or not. I wanted Steven to take my picture mimicking him. Apparently I started a trend. Two other people did the same thing while we were still in that room.

This statue is creepy. It would be much less creepy if it was on the ground. Being on the wall is not unlike a creepy horror movie. Also it had very realistic eyes, which greatly added to the creepiness.

This is a sketch of a old man vomiting. Someone spent a lot of time drawing this. It is very well done and large. 

This was my personal favorite piece of art there. I had Steven take my picture in front of it. It may become a profile picture in the near future. Despite being my favorite, I think this piece makes no sense. It is blue. Solid blue. One solid shade of blue. No special textured effects. No special completely smooth lack of texture effect. It is blue oil paint on a canvas, and nothing else. 

This next exhibit is literally a pile of dirt. It is dirt piled around a cross section of retro reflective mirrors. 

This exhibit is old cardboard boxes on a wall. There isn't really anything special or clever about it. It is just ugly boring cardboard boxes stuck on a wall.

I liked two things about this painting. First it was hung right in front of a bench. Second it has pencils. I like pencils. 

In the coffee shop I found this interactive exhibit. It has a table you put things on. Where you put things the camera located above the table can see through. Steven and I made a cute selfie. 

This is called "Woman, Sitting". It is a brown rectangle framed in a white matte. If you read the last card of the series it explains that the images are unfixed photographic prints that disappear in a few hours. So you go through all the trouble of making your own photo, and then don't finish developing it, frame it anyway and this is art? Maybe he was tired and forgot one day and went with it?

This is one of the outdoor sculpture. They are horribly mean and do not allow you to climb on this. Which is absurd, because it looks exactly like a climbing wall.

This is wool and sheep skins hung on a wall. They did sort them by color... 

Earlier we saw a pile of dirt. Now we have a circle of rocks. No fancy mirrors this time. Just rocks in a circle...

Next we have this partially tiled floor. This is not like the glasses in the article above. This is actually an exhibit. You are not allowed to walk on it despite it being a floor. It also contains lead, so that's bad.

The light fell down! Nope more art...

This is another tiled floor. This one you are allowed to walk on with shoes. No bare feet, because the silver squares are lead. Lead is bad. We stayed on the copper, just to be safe.

This is a close up shot of a permanent exhibit. The artist drew lines with pencil on the wall.

This was a neat looking thing. Not sure what it was supposed to be, but it was neat looking.

This is a photograph of people visiting the Musée d'Orsay in Paris looking at art. I made my own more complicated art by taking a picture of Steven looking at a picture of people looking at art. I should frame it and hang it next to this piece.

This is neat looking, and also near a bench. I would like this painted on my garage wall.

This lucky statue gets to take a nap. Most statues have to stand posing all day...

I guess they ran out of nails?

This is a neat hanging wire thing.

Far

Near

This was a silver ball thing displayed in a room with a strobe light. It has some sort of oozing effect. Weird, but fun to watch.

This painting is just silly. Please read the text for the full effect.

This is a sideways broken TV, apparently this is art? I personally think it is just a broken tv.

Outside they had a weird reflecting thing. It was in the sun so I didn't go inside it. Normal Steven is taken from the outside. Funny looking Steven is what you see reflected on the inside.

That is the end of my mini tour. There is a lot more to see there. 7 floors of it. Some of it even looks like it took effort. There are also some video art exhibits. There is a very suspenseful film about a bubble floating around an empty house. There is also a time lapse video of a dead bunny decaying. I think that is kind of icky and I would be happier if it didn't exist.