Pens, Paper, & Ammo

It’s the canned food product that many won’t admit to enjoying but I, for one, will attest to its versatility in the kitchen. It can replace almost any meat in recipes, makes for a quick breakfast sandwich, and is wonderful in fried rice…

You’re right, it’s Spam. Spam - that easily identified pink brick of meat byproduct that could survive the apocalypse. I remember eating it as a child and feeling a tad uneasy - should I be enjoying it when other are so quick to judge it? Always the butt of many jokes, I wondered how Hormel managed to sell so many tins of it. I later realized that many of my peers enjoyed it as a treat from time to time as well, only to fall victim of the guilt that surrounds the name brand.

As an adult, I still feel a bit odd placing a can of Spam Lite in my grocery basket. On one hand, I’m sure that it contains more fat, cholesterol, and salt than any normal human being needs in their diet… but on the other, well, who the hell cares? Everyone has a guilty pleasure, right?

Anyway, I’ve noticed that much of my Spam purchases seem destined for food that has a decidedly Asian flare. Feeling desperate for something salty, I battled my way through our cluttered kitchen pantry and emerged victoriously with the ingredients to make these:

Simple Spam onigiri.

Spam sushi rolls with carrot, onion, and cucumber.

I admit, lately there hasn’t been much action on the crafting front due to various Nooblet-related events. Doctor’s appointments, baby get-togethers, birthing classes… it seems that we have somewhere to hurry to almost every day. Even so, I managed to find a few minutes to complete a rattle to go with the Nooblet’s carrot sweater.

Pattern from Bittersweet! There’s a cat-toy inside so that it jingles.

Hopefully I’ll have a few more crafty updates before the end of the month. I really should start getting cracking on diaper covers!

Pirogies, broccoli, left-over scrambled eggs, and cantaloupe.

I’ve been intrigued by bento lunches for years now. To date, however, I’ve only managed to make a scant half dozen or so. Furthermore, I lack the patience and creative intuition to create colorful masterpieces such as these or these. None the less, I was inspired to dig out my lone bento box in order to better practice portion control as my eating has gotten a little out of hand since becoming pregnant.*

During breakfast, I spent a bit of time looking at various bento websites and here are a few of my favorites:
Lunch in a Box

Just Bento

Cooking Cute

*To clarify: I am not actively trying to lose weight while pregnant. I am simply trying to not over-eat. Also, I don’t make it a habit of drinking Diet Coke while pregnant, but I do enjoy a single can every once in a while as a treat.

Apparently, all of this… with a little bit left over.

I’m always amazed how little yarn baby projects use.

Has it really been more than 7 months already? I never knew that pregnancy would fly by so quickly. I’m finally entering the time where I actually look, feel, and walk like a stereotypical pregnant woman. So far, I’ve had no complications and only minor brushes with nausea and heartburn. I’m happy to report that I don’t have gestational diabetes or blood pressure issues and the Nooblet seems to be healthy. Let’s just hope it stays that way. Tomorrow the Mecha-hubby and I start our Prepared Childbirth classes and I can only hope they’ll put some of my paranoia about hospitals to rest.

I haven’t been doing quite as much knitting as I was a couple weeks ago, but I did manage to finish the Curly Purly soaker that I started far too long ago.

Made with the Easter egg-dyed Fishermen’s Wool with undyed cuffs.

We’re still planning on cloth diapering (with prefolds) at least part-time while I’m still at home. We’ll see how it goes before investing too much money into CDing supplies. If nothing else, I’ll have some cute diaper covers to pass onto a friend or charity.

I had such a nice day of warm weather, walks, and yummy, yummy Indian food only to be surprised once again when I got back to our apartment! This came all the way from Australia!

Baaammmbbooooo! Is this not the best swap ever?!  Lookit all the cute things - a rhino eraser, foot-shaped paper clips, adorable pens!

Ooo! It’s all so wonderful… and green! I can’t wait to start searching for a project to make with the wonderful, wonderful yarn! And that washcloth is about the softest thing in the world! Thanks so much, OzKnitter!

 /walks off to solve the puzzle pen

A co-worker of the Mecha-hubby recently found out she’s pregnant. I’ve been pretty obsessed with cables recently, so I just had to try these patterns. I’m 99.99% sure she doesn’t know this blog exists, so I’m pretty confident that this won’t give away my little gift.

These booties will fit FOREVER. I should have gone down one needle size.

Again, this hat is MEGA stretchy. Also, the twisted German cast-on is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

And, amazingly, I still had enough yarn (from one skein) to make a little bunny. It’s such a cute pattern - you knit a square… and then, poof!, it becomes a bunny! I probably have enough yarn left to make one more for our own little Nooblet.

He turned out pretty cute with his little I-cord tail.

Eventually, I may actually finish something larger than a baby bootie… eventually.

I just got back from dropping off my partner’s box at the post office. I really hope she likes what I picked out. Her color scheme was a challenge for me, but I tried to get as close as I could.

I’ve also been working on some other little projects, but I’ll post those a little later. I need to dig out the camera…

And since I can’t leave an entry picture-less:

It’s not a new pic… but it sure is cute, isn’t it?

I really can’t wait to meet her! Only 88 days to go!

Mmm, Stevphens.

Uh, moo?

I wasn’t tagged for this, but I’m have a sheep-like tendency to do whatever I see on other blogs.

1. Why did you start your blog?
I’m not completely sure. The Mechahubby had bought me a domain name and webhosting service for some reason, but that was years ago. I don’t believe I had ever envisioned PP&A as a blog at the beginning. At first it was a failed comic… but let’s not talk about that.

2. How did you come up with your blog name?
Wow, this should prove to be a story to expose my secret past as an uber-dork. In its first incarnation, Pens, Paper, and Ammo was a fansite for Laguna from Final Fantasy 8. Yeah. See, he was a journalist… who used a machine gun as a weapon. I was also 14 years old when I made that first site.

The name has stuck with me though - as has my love of video games. I am, however, a geek now, not a dork. There’s a big difference, trust me.

3. Do your friends and family know about your blog? What do they think of it?
I really don’t know how many of my friends have ever visited my blog. Most aren’t interested in knitting, though. I do know that my mother and mother-in-law visit from time to time – likely check for Nooblet-related posts.

4. How do you write posts?
It’s a very complicated process. I grab a Diet Coke (hey, I’m allowed one every once in a while!) and an apple-cinnamon rice cake slathered in peanut butter, sit down in front of my dated PC, and type some random words until something semi-coherent comes out. Then I scour my desktop and/or digital camera for a relevant picture and throw that in as well.

5. Have you ever had a troll or had to delete unkind comments?
Not yet. About 98% of any comments I do get are of the garbled spam variety.

6. Do you check your stats? Do you care how many people read your blog? If you do care, how do you increase traffic?
Out of curiosity, I check my little map thingy in the sidebar. I would like more people to stumble onto my blog, but I don’t exactly do anything to increase traffic.

7. What kind of blogs/posts interest you?
I read just about anything. I’m just a blog-addict. I love knitting blogs the most, obviously, but have found myself branching off to read more humor (by the way, go here: Wendi Aarons). I also have a thing for vegan blogs, even though I’m an omnivore.

8. What do you like and dislike about blogging?
I love seeing what projects other people have chosen. I especially love seeing the lovely photography that many of the blogs in my blogroll contain.

Personally, I enjoy blogging because it gives me a goal for my own projects. “Come on, if you finish that last row, you can post it on your blog!”, I tell myself even though I know in reality only one or two other people will see it. Still, the process of blogging has given me a chance to practice my writing and photography skills – both of which obviously need more work.

The only thing I dislike about blogging is that it can cause so much conflict. This is probably why I stay away from blogs with super-strong opinions about politics or religion. I’d really rather avoid the flame wars.

I guess I’m supposed to tag people for this, but I really don’t know who visits this site. That said, if you have found your way here and haven’t already done this survey, consider yourself tagged. If you do, let me know who you are! I love finding new blogs!