Packing, Cooking and Failing

Ugh, lately it just seems like everything I try to start knitting just ends up a failure.  I've tried to begin at least 2 shrugs to wear with spring dresses but I am so bad at lace for some reason that neither one is working very well.  My $5 in Paris is about to hop off to the frog pond.  Its nowhere near what I like in a sweater.  I think I'm just going to stop for a while and maybe when i'm ready again, I can continue on with my afghan.  Maybe I have much too much on my plate right now.

We began packing in earnest last weekend.  The decorations in our bedroom have come down and into boxes.  We're staring early so we can go s-l-o-w-l-y, deciding which of our beloved belongings are coming to Oregon, which are going to Goodwill and which can be safely thrown away.  Its not always an easy decision.  Do I take my favorite lotions and comfy old pajamas with holes, or do I simply expect that I will get new ones on the west coast?  Next week our chairs go to friends, and we stop off at Goodwill to unload our THIRD car full of still-slightly-usable crap.

I haven't been taking many pictures of my cooking lately.  I've been eating a lot of salads, and those don't make for interesting pictures, really.  Today, I found a really nice recipe for a simple baked and breaded fish.  Its easy and takes only a few ingredients that most people probably have around.  Its great for Lenten meals or Good Friday.   It tasted fantastic, it just didn't LOOK that interesting.  Save a squirt of lemon juice for the finished fish.

I finished  "Fugitives and Refugees" by Chuck Palahniuk (Copyright 2003, Crown Journeys) today.  It reminded me very much of the episode of "No Reservations" where Tony Bourdain visits Portland and has Chuck Palahniuk take him to all the best local places.  (I'm a huge fan of the show, and i've seen most of the episodes more than once.)  Most interesting to me were the "Postcards" sandwiched in between chapters.  They are interesting autobiographical stories about the author, they will easily remind you that your life might never be as intersting as his, but they will make you laugh just the same.  Some of them make me glad I'm boring...but eating a lady's fur coat at Laser Floyd is enough to make anyone howl.  The later chapters get a bit boring, especially those about the antique trains and cars, which i'm just not interested in.  I skimmed them, but I doubt I'd ever visit them personally.

Tomorrow is my party at Hillman Library.  I plan on stopping by the [other] library for another Portland guide, or one of the other suggested readings (I'm thinking "Geek Love", mentioned several times in Portland guides).  I know its crazy to think that reading these books will prepare me for moving to a city I've never been to, but with 53 days left until the move, its all I have.