Daily Dose Of Deuce

After looking over my blog, and truthfully neglecting it for a couple months, I figured out what the problem was! I started this blog to share my photography and crafting efforts. However, there were times when I just didn't feel like I have enough to say about stuff I make. At the same time, I didn't want to put a bunch of random crap on here as I felt like that wasn't being true to the theme of my blog. Maybe it's a personal "thing" that's kind of weird and I can't explain, but it's true.

So, I have started a new blog - "Daily Dose Of Deuce" - which will house all my insane ramblings. I definitely have enough opinions on things in general that I can share them with you all. It'll be a little crafty, full of random opinions and tidbits of information that hopefully you'll find interesting. I'm not sure if I'm going to be letting this blog lay to rest completely or not, but my new blog will be a bit of a fresh start. 2010 has definitely been the year of a fresh start in several aspects of my life and this is just another one to add to that list. Please check it out - I hope you'll enjoy it!

How time flies

Suddenly it's the end of February already and I'm not 100% sure how that happened. Update on the husband would be that he's feeling pretty fine and had a relatively quick recovery. He hated being on the pain meds as they made him feel zombie-like, but at least let him sleep. Once he was off those, everything went nice and smoothly. The cat on the other hand seems to have got rid of his tapeworm, is back to eating normally and...the best part...has finally caught on to the fact that we don't like being woken up 30+ minutes before the alarm! He will now happily snooze at the end of the bed and when the alarm goes off, he's ready for breakfast.

In more crafty news, I have been making a decision on what to do with my online shop. I very much like selling my wares but with the sample knitting taking up so much of my time, I don't feel like I've had much time to dedicate to maintaining my Etsy store. I think I've reached a decision to let all my listings expire for now and to take my time on a complete revamp. I want to add new things from my photographic portfolio and really want to come up with a good game plan for inventory - knit, crochet, woven or otherwise. I'd also like to dedicate more time to knitwear design. I've been finding myself sketching a lot recently (which is fun considering half the time I'm only capable of drawing stick people). Next thing is to figure out how to get those designs onto paper and into your hands.

Once I've decided exactly how to handle everything, I'll put up more info, but don't be surprised if all the destashing that I'm planning this year ends up being a store full of stuff later on!

Well, this should be fun

Today is the beginning of what will be a very busy week. This morning, the cat had a vet appointment to get his final round of shots and a general check up. Husband calls me to inform me that he has tape worms (gross) but no evidence of fleas (which is usually how tape worms come about in felines). The doc treated him and all should be well in a couple of days. However, I now have to switch out the litter tray, clean all the bed linens, and keep an eye on his behind (literally) over the next few days to make sure everything looks good. The appeal of checking the cat poop for worm remains is far from appealing, but that's love I suppose. As a side note, the doctor was impressed that he was such a good boy while in the exam room. She also confirmed that he is teething, which explains why he'll so lovingly bite everything in reach.Tomorrow, husband is having a septoplasty to fix his deviated septum/wonderfully congested nasal passages. The poor guy has had chronic sinusitis for a long time, and with his allergies, things get pretty miserable. Over the weekend, we were dog-sitting for a friend and turns out that I'm highly allergic to Boxer's, cute as they may be. I was in the apartment for an hour trying to get some knitting done when next thing I know, I'm sneezing up a storm and have lost all ability to breath normally. The worst part being that I ended up with the sinus pressure behind my eye balls complete with an itching nasal passage that made me want to stick a toothpick up there to scratch! All the times I never understood how bad it felt when my husband was having a bad sinus day. I had the problem for 3 hours and it was already driving me crazy. So, here's hoping his surgery goes smoothly tomorrow and that he will have a good recovery without too much discomfort. I'm already trying to figure out what meals I can make this week that will be easy for him to eat with who knows what packed in his nose post surgery!

This week is all about my two boys - the small one and the bigger (slightly) less furry one! Wishing both of you a speedy recovery.

Long overdue

I am feeling like a total slacker right now when it comes to blogging. It seems like I've been on the go since before the holidays and things really haven't slowed down that much.

In the crafty world, more of my knit samples have been popping up on the Plymouth Yarn website, which is proving to be something I'm increasingly proud of. The sample knitting has been quite time consuming as essentially, it is my second job, but I've been very happy with it and seeing the end result really gives me the encouragement to carry on. If you see these in your local yarn store, perhaps you'll think of me!In the meantime, my parents have been out visiting from England. They got some crazy snow out there before they left, and then came out here to some highly uncharacteristic Southern California storms. Considering it's 70 degrees and sunny most of the time, Californians are really quite useless when heavy storms hit, meaning we've spent quite a good amount of time sequestered in the house while the rest of the country probably points, laughs, and says we're all "weak" at our inability to handle weather changes! I am lucky that my parents visit often enough that they don't need to go see the sights, which have mostly been encompassed by a layer of fog, mist and rain.

Around the house, while trying to stay dry, we've also been lucky to have our little Deuce kitty to entertain us. He's quite the character and based on the number of toys around the house, anybody would think we've got a toddler living with us. Given that he's coming up on 5 months old and will play with anything put in front of him, we practically do! I have pages and pages of stories that I could share and may have to start the Daily Deuce. For now, enjoy his attempts at DJing - just like his father.

A year in review

As 2009 comes to a close, I thought I should look back over the goals that I'd set for myself in January and see what I've accomplished.

- Try dying yarn with Kool-aid (perhaps move on to roving if that works out ok) Check!
- Do the cross stitch pattern that I bought (see picture) Psuedo check (I started it but it's got a long way to go for sure)
- Figure out if I really do want to buy that darn weaving loom! Check!
- Finish the sweater that I've been working on for a year now that's been hiding...crazy cable patterns lead to long time knitting! Total fail on this one. It hasn't come out of the bag all year.
- Sew the curtains for our bedroom Check!
- Learn to sew zippers properly Admittedly, I haven't done as much sewing this year as I was planning. Going to have to push this one to 2010.
- Go on a couple of field trips with my camera (definitely need some new portfolio shots) Also a fail. Will need to work on this one too.
- Thrift more yarn (I had fun with my first sweater so will try to find more!) Check!
- Attempt to felt something in the washer Fail. I've got a couple things knit up to do this to at least.
- Write down a couple more of my knitting/crochet patterns. I have them in my head but not yet on paper. Well, I managed the Harpa socks on this and have 2 sweater patterns in the works for next year.

My plan for 2010 is basically one gigantic stash bust - yarn, fiber, jewelry supplies, etc. It occurs to me that if I ever plan on putting a child in our second bedroom, I should probably make some room. :)

2009 was a difficult year in various ways, especially with my husband being laid off and then losing mine (although I was instantly rehired so more fortunate than I can truly express). Having said that, I feel that I also accomplished a lot. I would say my biggest accomplishment this year is probably my health. I wasn't an unhealthy person before but on my 30th birthday in May, I decided to kick my own ass into shape and end this year having lost about 5% body fat, around 7 inches in total measurement and one pant size smaller. I still have a way to go with that but I'm in fighting shape so to speak and I foresee a lot of time in the swimming pool for next year as well.

So, whatever dreams you may have for the upcoming year, I wish you all the best in achieving your goals. It's a wonderful thing to wish, but remember you're the only one that can make your wishes come true.

Sample knits are up!

I was just sent pictures from the sample knitting that I've been working on diligently, with designer Vanessa Ewing for Plymouth Yarns, and I'm excited to share them! There are several other knits that I've done but the patterns aren't finalized and in production yet, so no go with sharing those yet. However, I'll be sure to provide all the info once I have it so that you can buy the patterns if you want too.


This one is the very first sample knit that I did for Plymouth - a hat/mitten set in Trabajos del Peru yarn. The yarn is yummy and reminds me a little bit of Manos for those that are interested. The colors are great too and I would put this on my suggested yarn list for sure.










This other pattern is a mother/daughter sweater set that just looks so cute together! The yarn is Jeannee DK (cotton/acrylic blend) and also very nice to work with - super soft. The biggest problem I had with this pattern was time! I had both sweaters knit in a month, which was tough going considering the yarn weight. It just might be my biggest achievement in the world of serious speed knitting...the kind that gives you small callouses on your pinky fingers!



I've got 3 more things in the works right now so there'll be lots coming too.

Kitteh obsessed

Adopting Deuce might have made me realize my potential as a future parent to an actual child. I might become one of those "cat people" who talks about what accomplishments their cat managed that day. In a strange way, it's not dissimilar to the parents I know that don't blink an eye when discussing how many times their baby has pooped that day. (I should like to let you all know that my kitten has been successfully litter trained in less than 72 hours and even covers up his business ok?)

The last couple of days, we've had a very quick introduction to Deuce's personality. Even funnier is the new side of my husband that seems to have popped out - starting with the post it note stuck to the bathroom mirror with instructions on how much kitty medicine to put in his food, and how long to stick the food in the microwave. The kitten on the other hand has stopped hiding behind toilets/books/vases/boxes and is now happily sleeping/playing/running in the upstairs hallway.

Last night we were both playing with him and left the room for a moment when he started up the little squeaking that he does. I pretended like I wasn't hearing it and went to the computer while my husband continued making his famous teriyaki bowls for dinner. Next thing you know, the squeaking has stopped and I turn to wonder why when suddenly a little ball of fur is seen jumping the hallway barricade and landing (rather ungracefully because he hasn't quite figured out hardwood flooring yet) in the living room. Little smart ass. Having said that, when I put him back in his designated area, there was no attempt to replicate his escape. As a reward, husband dutifully let him into the living room today so he could explore space #2 of his new home where he promptly discovered his reflection in a mirror and has apparently been engaged in ninja kitteh activity, pouncing at his own reflection, ever since.

Since he tried to lick me to death this morning before I left for work (the cat, not the husband), I've actually been sitting here wondering what the cat's been doing today and looking forward to going home just those few minutes quicker so we can play with the balled up paper and I can trim his claws. I've fallen madly in love with the ball of fluff and I get it - this just might be my first foray into motherhood!

What the Deuce?

December/January is always a crazy time in our household. In the space of 3 weeks we have Hanukkah, wedding anniversary, Christmas, New Year's, then my husband's birthday. It gets a little whacky and the hunt for the perfect gifts for the husband in particular can get a little stressful. This year, in that he's unemployed, we decided not to go crazy on the gift exchanges and when contemplating anniversary gifts for each other, we decided that we should add to our family and adopt a kitteh!

Being the prepared parents that we are, we did a trip to Target last weekend and bought food, litter, bowls etc. Then Tuesday on my lunch break, took a trip over to the local shelter where they had lots of little kittens as well as older cats. Husband always claimed to not be much of a cat person (something to do with cats lacking personality....ha!) Having said that, when we walked into the cattery at the shelter, he spotted one in the litter who was later to come home with us. He had an identical twin brother in there with him but his brother was a little too much to handle - lots of tail chasing, hopping around on his hind legs and smacking the other kittens to try and get them to react. Our little guy just sat there looking at him with the contemptuous "what the hell are you doing dude?" look on his face. We tried looking for markings to distinguish them from each other and found none - it was all in the personality with these two. As much as I would have loved to take both, there was also some concern that we'd come home to find the more boisterous one swinging from a ceiling fan or 5 feet up the bedroom drapes.

His name is Deuce in honor of being our second anniversary cat. He's about 3 months old and the sweetest little bundle of joy. Husband picked him up from the vet yesterday and brought him home where he cowered in the corner of his crate for several hours before coming out and cowering behind the toilet (which is where he was when I came home). I can't blame him after what must have been an incredibly traumatizing 24 hours - being separated from the litter, traveling to the vet, losing his manhood, then waking up and not knowing where he (or his balls) are. A little love and cuddles helped though and by later last night he was exploring the staircase and finding new spots to hide in the bookcase.

Husband seems to be adapting well, leaving me a post-it note on the bathroom mirror this morning with instructions on how to heat up his food with his post-op antibiotics into it. I have a feeling his "I'm not really a cat person" days have come to an end after catching him late last night playing with the cat and a balled-up piece of paper. I had a very proud parent moment this morning when I discovered he used the litter tray last night while we were asleep and I caught him cleaning his paws too.The one thing we do need to teach Deuce is how to retract his claws. He's got a tendency to get stuck on clothing/carpeting because he can't figure out how to pull his claws out! He also doesn't know why he can't pick up his toy when he's standing on the other side of it with his back paws. He's a smart one though and I'm quite sure he'll figure it out! ;)

Baby, it's cold outside

The fact is that people in Southern California are total weaklings when it comes to cold weather.

When I lived in England, I would walk from the train station to my school (about a mile) every morning in frosty weather, skidding around on mulchy leaves and potentially getting drenched by a soccer mom's Land Rover after a badly timed puddle splash. All of this in a thin button down shirt and my blazer. More than once I ended up on my ass having slid on black ice somewhere on the paving - one time in particular coming to memory because my walkman fell out of my pocket and busted into about 4 different pieces which flew all over the street.

Now, that obviously still isn't anywhere near as bad as being in Cleveland or somewhere similarly freezing. I had a 2 hour layover in Cleveland during January several years ago and recall everything being covered in at least a foot of snow.

In Los Angeles, people are liable to freak out about the weather when it ducks below 60 degrees but even at 40 degrees outside, it's quite likely you will spot one sorry person wearing flip flops. I will admit that I have somewhat become a person that doesn't know how to handle the cold weather on account of having left all of my big fuzzy sweaters in England after I moved. My limited amounts of cold weather clothing have been leaving me somewhat stumped over the last few days as we've hit temperatures of freezing.

Yesterday, I was standing outside with some co-workers complaining about having a cold neck. It then occurred to me that I am an idiot. I KNIT! Why on earth would I not have anything around to wrap myself in?! It seems that I am extremely good at knitting for others and assuming that living in Los Angeles means that I will never really have a need for big warm wooly accessories to heat up my freezing bones. So, last night I whipped up a rather simplistic cowl to throw around my neck. It's now my mission to make 3 or 4 more in different colors over the next 2 weeks so that I can wear them before the weather warms up again!

Thanksgiving fun

I'm finally getting back into the swing of things post Thanksgiving. We took a little trip out to Las Vegas to visit with the in-laws and got to see my nephew, who is growing ridiculously quickly. He's getting chatty and while a lot of it sounds like a foreign language, the occasional word or phrase makes it through very clearly. I loved it when he was putting away his toys before bed and said "I'm a big boy". All four of us in the room heard it and agreed wholeheartedly!

I wish I could see him more often and the beauty of the holiday season being that I will get to over the next month. :)

Score!

One of my favorite lunch time activities when I'm bored is to go wander around the local thrift shop. I've found some decent deals there - the occasional cone of mystery yarn, a nice sweater to unravel, and of course lots of books! Today, I made the ultimate score though.

As I walked over to the section where they tend to put bags of assorted things, I spotted yarn...then I got closer...and then I realized that there were about 8 or 9 huge bags of yarn. I must have looked like a crazy person because I started pulling down all the bags and looking at each bag to figure out what kinds of yarn were in there and in what colors. Some had rug yarn, not great for my uses, but I narrowed it down to 5 bags that I just HAD to have (so much for destashing). Usually I expect to score some vintage looking acrylic at the thrift store but these bags had yarn marked as 100% wool, 100% cotton, and one has yarn that's 80/20 wool/nylon already wound into balls. Did somebody say socks? Lots of them? There's also a ton of hanks in natural colors - white, cream, grey and light beige - that are perfect for dyeing. :)

I estimate that I ended up with probably 100 balls or yarn in some form or another, for the ridiculously bargain price of $30! I cannot wait to get them out of my car and sort through them. In the meantime, I took some fuzzy pics with my camera phone because I was too excited to actually wait until I had my camera in my possession! Here are the bags taking up the majority of the back seat in my car. I really hope my husband doesn't kill me for this one!
What was your greatest thrift store find?

Hybernating projects

When it comes to knitting and crochet (ok, maybe just crafts in general), I have a certain attention deficit problem. So called WIPs (works in progress) tend to become strewn about the house. Then there's the things that I've already made that I tuck away in need of photography to sell, donation, craftster.org swapping etc. that I forget about. That is exactly what happened to some freeform crochet collar/scarflet things that I made last year. So, while I'm rummaging around in my craft room yesterday, I came upon some of these and actually did something about photographing and posting in the appropriate places.

For sale in my Etsy shop - Victorian Rose Collar.
A green and cream crochet collar with scallop detail and 2 different kinds of yarn for texture.
There's other things hidden in that room, I know it! More pictures to come as I find them I'm sure. :)

A little weekend home decor fun

This past weekend, husband and I finally had some time to play around with the house. We went on a field trip Saturday to downtown L.A. where you can buy just about anything on the cheap. We're talking $1/yard fabric stores, discount apparel, shoes, bedding, and...the reason for our visit...rugs! We have been getting tired of the relentless collection of dust under the dining room table and decided that a new rug was totally the way to go.

The trip was very successful, but also very entertaining. Firstly we found a $5 parking structure where we handed the attendant a fresh $20 from the ATM. Turns out, as we were paying for the rug a little later on, he had actually handed us back 2 $5 bills and 10 $1 bills as change. Free parking? OK. Taking a walk through to find a rug shop, husband kept giving me a "no, we cannot stop for (socks/tank tops/shoes/buttons/trims/fabric)" look and hustled my easily distracted self onward. We get to a rug shop and find 4 or 5 designs that we like and want to pick between. The prices were already fantastic, but then husband starts with the "ok, we're going to check another shop and come back" game, where the guy promptly gives us an additional 20% discount. We got a 5"x8" rug for $80 out the door - although husband now had to carry the rug 3 blocks BACK through the melee of shops while trying to keep me from wandering off in an "ooh, shiny" kind of way.

So, new rug in place, we also got started with putting up some artwork around the house. I know we've been there for a year already and have very little hung on the walls, but we've also been very particular about putting things in the "perfect" place given that we're going to be living here for a while (it's a renting not owning thing I guess). The advantages of being a photographer I suppose is the never-ending supply of prints to put up around the place...the disadvantages being choosing which ones to frame and hang. A couple of the larger wedding photo prints are now hanging in the corridor just outside our bedroom, a fantastic photo of the Santa Barbara courthouse in our bedroom, and a set of 4 abstract foliage prints in the downstairs bathroom.

It's amazing how happy these few additions make me as they've given a little more personality to those areas and makes me realize that the simple things are the best.

Halloween costume recap

While it's somewhat unbelievable that Halloween has already come and gone, I will say it was a fun one. We had a couple of different parties to attend and outside of attempting to navigate crazy traffic through Hollyweird Hollywood, it was smooth sailing!

I was determined to get the husband into a costume again this year, especially after last year's success dressing him up as a moose. Really, the secret is to make him wear something as comfortable and close to his every day clothing as posssible - so that rules out silly hats, masks, anything that may cause overheating or involves facepaint. You get the idea. While we were trying a new and rather yummy pizza place (thank you yelp.com!) a week ago, we had jokingly suggested that swine flu would be a rather appropriate costume and went about our plans to be "team pig".
Saturday daytime, I had assigned husband the task of coming up with our team names while I disappeared off to get iron-on supplies for the letters I had been cutting out of felt. In the meantime, he dutifully turned down an offer from his friend to watch college football so he could stay home and help me prepare the costumes. I was somewhat in shock - was he actually getting into this?! A few hours of cutting and ironing later though, we were all ready to go, dubbed "Porkchop" (me) and "Wilbur" (him). Our pig emblems even had googly eyes...which I think should be a requirement for team emblems in general (I mean, imagine your favorite sports team with them on display!).All in all, the costume was a big hit and we even got a chuckle from a passing cop on a bicycle. Who knows what we'll come up with next year but I can't be happier that I've converted my non-costume-wearing husband and he's not going to be getting out of it again!

P.S. If you have been affected by swine flu, my heart truly does go out to you and no offense was meant by this costume. I hope our googly eyed pigs could bring a smile to your face.

Well, now that all of that is done!

It's been one rough ride the last couple of weeks. Let me preface all this by backing up a month to the black Thursday in my office where in one foul swoop, 40 employees were laid off (approx 25-30% of the division's workforce). With hubby being presently unemployed, I spent that entire day with a pained, barfy expression on my face because I couldn't even imagine what the hell I'd do if both of us were unemployed. When I didn't get the dreaded "come to M's office" phone call that day, I mourned the loss of my friends and dealt a little bit with "survivor guilt" before breathing a sigh of relief and thanking whomever it was that saved my job.

So, scooting forward to a week ago, my boss walks into my office and sits down. This in itself starts ringing the alarm bells because he just never comes into my office. Then he says "I'm just going to say everything so let me finish before you respond". (Which is one of those strange relationship break-up phrases that I somehow associate with "It's not you, it's me..."We've grown apart..."Stop cyber stalking me or I have to get a restraining order...") He then proceeds to inform me that my position has been eliminated, but they have found me a job at one of the other divisions of the company - effective immediately but with a short period for transition. He then suggests that I go speak with HR and all I can think to say to him is "OK, when I'm done eating my sandwich". Ok. Yeah.

Anyway, I am now the proud holder of some kind of world record for getting laid off and rehired again. I'm contemplating writing a little letter to Mr. Guinness to ask him if that world record has already been set and whether my time is competitive.

Back on the design train!

I've been itching to design my first non-accessory knit wearable for a while and life just hasn't given me much of a chance recently. This week, I was wandering around the shops looking for a birthday gift for my mother - a notoriously impossible feat - and noticed that there were some super cute knitwear cardis out there this season. So, there's me standing in the middle of the store rifling through racks of awesome knits and next thing you know I'm completely distracted and instead of shopping for my mom, I'm standing there with my camera phone taking photographs of the sweaters. Talk about a sudden rush of inspiration!

So, yesterday on my lunch break, I sat here and thought about what yarn I have that I can get started with and drawing out potential cable designs, checking sizing and writing down notes for construction. It was irritating me that I'd actually have to wait and get home to cast on my design. I know there are some designers that can sketch a design and write out full instructions without knitting the item itself, but I'm not one of them. I have to knit it up myself - which means I'm simultaneously test knitting, sample knitting, tweaking and get something to wear at the end of it!

Well, the project is well underway and all I can tell you is that it's a cardi...with a cable design. You'll have to wait and see for the rest!

My first woven

Finally, I am proud to present my very first woven! I haven't had as much time to play with my new craft as I'd like, but I've got one scarf-type-thing done and another warp on the loom ready to go.

The hardest part of weaving for me so far has definitely been warping the loom. I chose to use some recycled yarn that I dyed with Kool Aid for both the warp and the weft. I decided to try the direct warping method and, seeing as I don't yet have a warping clamp, I used my husband's gargoyle piggy bank (named Leroy) to wind the yarn around. I will say that it was hard work and I broke out in a nice sweat from crawling around on the floor! I've concluded that some clamps from Home Depot will make the entire process much easier - including the fact that the heddle has a habit of falling off the heddle block when I move the yarn through it too quickly.

The actual weaving itself went pretty smoothly, outside of the handful of tension issues and having slightly messy selvedges. I'm very proud of my first attempt though. The end result is a little stiff for a scarf but I'm thinking that it can be made into a nice bag instead.
I should note that for the second attempt at warping, I got smart and brought the loom downstairs to the kitchen where I used the kitchen table and a chair to wind the yarn around. Having it all at a regular height and not having to wrangle yarn to stay behind the ears of a gargoyle definitely helped! I also scored a cone of fingering weight yarn at the local thrift store for $1 to use. I haven't decided what to use for the weft that, but that will be shared later.

From way back when!

While I was going through some things on my computer today, I found some photos of the first few things that I made when I first learned to crochet. These were all crocheted for our charity group at work.

From Stitch' N' Bitch

From the Lion Brand website, I think!

I got this pattern from somewhere and added my own color flair.

My first attempt at treble crochet.

It's amazing how far I've come with my fiber crafts in the last few years....crochet being my gateway drug so to speak!

OK, so it's a little crafty

I have been absolutely horrible about posting my crafty endeavors recently so I am making a promise that I will take pictures of the work in progress on my loom this evening! I'm making what is a mostly straight scarf-type-thing using some of the yarn I recycled and dyed with Kool Aid a while back. I'm quite happy with it so far although been playing with tension and neat edges etc. I also spent an hour in the library yesterday reading through some books on rigid heddle weaving to make sure I was on the right track. My husband was very patient as I explained to him how it all worked and what the difference was between the warp and the weft. I'm convinced he secretly wants to try it. ;)

As a bit of fun this morning, I found a website where you can squirrelize your photos. Now, what on earth is that about? Here is the original article, and here is my wedding photo - complete with squirrel.
Ridiculous I know, but it's still making me giggle. You too can add a squirrel on this site. Enjoy!

I am a big nerd

It has to be said that one of the reasons I enjoy Facebook is on account of some of the silly games that can be played on their interface. The most recent one to catch my attention is "Restaurant City", which has apparently become quite the popular game. The basic theme being that you build a restaurant (very Sims style) and you can hire your friends to work for you, collect ingredients to make dishes, even grow ingredients in the little plot just outside the restaurant. Here's my little restaurant right now. The most intriguing thing about this game to me is the fact that there's a nice open bathroom for the little visiting avatars to pee in (left side of the picture). My husband has been harrassing me to put a sink in there for days, not that it's a game requirement, but definitely makes me feel better about the situation. I think I'm planning on changing the flooring soon, but haven't decided what to do yet.

So, if you're on Facebook and want to befriend me within this game, leave a comment here telling me how to find you. You each get a free ingredient for visiting each other, plus it's an extra person to trade ingredients with!