I Owe Them Nothing

This post is mostly frivolous. But it's Friday, a time for frivolity. Enjoy.

The federal government, in its infinite wisdom, saw fit to give me money. Since this money was fairly unexpected, I decided that I would pay off the last bit of my student loan (since I'm not paying interest at the moment, I decided that I had no reason to pay it off before). So now I'm all debt-free and stuff. And man, it feels great--25, and I owe nobody anything. Or I owe nothing to nobody.

Now for the frivolous part:



Kitties on a treadmill! I popped over to You Tube, and found many, many videos of kitties on treadmills. And I watched several and giggled a lot. Mostly because cats are kind of lazy, so it's funny to watch them willingly walk on the treadmill, then give up and fly off the end.

Snow, Melted Snow, and Handmade Things

When I looked out my window yesterday, this is what I saw:















Today, almost exactly 24 hours laster, here's what the I see:


I'm so sad--this is a pitiful way for snow to behave. I love snow so much, and for it to finally snow and stick, it didn't stay long enough for me to do any of things I like to do with snow, like go on night snow-walks, play in the snow, throw snowballs, get out of work, look at bird tracks, etc.

Arkansas Winter-1, Jenn-0.

Something entertaining: Last night, I made 6 placemats because I was feeling creative, and I wanted some to use on the table. I had been thinking about it for weeks, so finally I did, and here are the results:

Aren't they adorable? I made them with some fabric I bought with the intention of making a crazy dress. I then realized, however, that it was a little too thin for a whole dress. I'll probably make some manner of lined skirt out of it, however. Or maybe a cute little halter-top...

Anyway, placemats. These are backed with denim, so they are sturdy, and if I want plain blue, I can just flip them over. I love doing the top stitching too; I think it adds a really nice detail.

I have the dining room table by my window, since I figure that it's nice to look out the window. Also, it provides a better room layout. It's usually just Lance and me eating at it, so we really only need access to two places. If I need an extra seat or two, we can just pull the table away from the window.

I made four red placemats, but I decided to make a couple with this neat vintage-style fabric. So I had two made out of this. They were fast, fun, and really easy to make--it was fun sewing six of them in one night!

I think my next step is to make some napkins to match the red placemats...

Amusing Things

I faithfully subscribe to I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER--it's one of those things in Google Reader that I giggle about on a daily basis. It's nice to have something amusing to look forward to each morning.

My cat is obsessed with my pillow. No matter how hard I try to dissuade her, she must sleep by my head, which amuses me and annoys me all at the same time.

I made a list site. I love lists.

I'm having a hard time focusing at work lately, so I'm playing around on the internet. In my playing around, I found this fabric site, which has me thinking about all sorts of crafty projects I'd like to make...

The First Frivolous Friday

Although I occasionally maintain an air of calm disinterest on this blog (I'm an academic, y'know), most of you know that I'm secretly silly and easily excitable (and fond of alliteration). So in the spirit of my fun-loving and sugary cheerful side, I'm instituting Frivolous Fridays, where I post about anything unrelated to literature, graduate school, and books (though I reserve the right to be giggly over books, if I want.)

This week's frivolity involves coffee. Mmm, I love the coffee. Since I determined as a freshmen in college that I adored coffee, I've journeyed through various coffee-drinking phases. I started out drinking impossibly sweet coffees, but then discovered my true coffee love was strong and heady, with a bit of cream to make it palatable (not that I don't occasionally dip into the drinks that involve coffee, but more often lots of sugar and milk). Lately, I'd been alternating between lattes (occasionally with a splash of cinnamon syrup), Americanos (with half and half) and brewed coffee.

When we were in Spain, I learned something very important--I thought all along that lattes were my espresso drink of choice, but I was wrong. Oh, so wrong. You see, the problem with a latte is that it involved too much milk, not enough espresso love. I discovered this by drinking cafe con leche every day for my two and half week stay.

The cafe con leche is served in a small white porcelain cup with a tiny spoon and a packet of sugar. Lance and I would sprinkle a little of the sugar in the cup, stir it with the adorable spoon*, and drink it slowly. Most everyone in Spain drinks their coffee like this; in very few places did we see coffee para llevar (in a disposable cup)--you want a cup of coffee, so you buy it and drink it at the bar, then pay and leave**. It was beautiful, really.

So upon returning to the US, I set out to find the proper thing to order at my favorite local coffee shop. I'd been informed that what I really liked was the macchiato, but when I ordered that, it was a shot of espresso with a teeny bit of steamed milk foam. A bit strong for me.

Today, however, I determined that the cappuccino with light foam was my drink (at least at Arsaga's). It's deliciously milky, and although I forwent the added sugar, it was just like being in Spain again, sipping cafe con leche in a little cafeteria. Yum.

*I bought some tiny spoons because I have this thing for the diminutive. I also already own small coffee cups, and have bought other things because they are small and "precious".

**Very few things could be bought para llevar unless it came from a fast-food joint or places specifically meant to sell "take away" food. And the portions were small enough that you didn't typically have left-overs to take home...