33 Days Until Christmas!

This will be a post full of holiday ideas.

And, if you've never noticed, there's a widget at the bottom of this page that tells you how many days are left until Christmas, so you can check back here anytime.

First of all, since it's coming up later in the week, Crazy Aunt Purl has put up a post about how she's making stuffing and turkey at her house. These are good, easy and workable recipes, from a no-nonsense knitting writer, so get on over there and check it out if you're someone like me who never knows how long to cook a turkey.

She's doing her turkey in a crock pot, which is something that I've often thought would be a good, foolproof way of doing it but have never tried. Mainly because I don't have a crock pot. But I think I'll get one and do my Christmas dinner that way if I'm home for Christmas. She says the crock pot keeps it from overcooking and guarantees that it'll be nice and juicy! Sounds good!

If you want to do a more traditional roasted turkey, you can find all the instructions here. This seems like the best general outline I could find for times and temperatures for roasting.

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Now I'm switching the topic to Christmas presents, which people are beginning to think of with increasing panic at this time of year.

I came across a great listing of handmade presents for geeks. If you plan to buy something for a geek, you might find some good ideas here.

I was in a Borders store yesterday, and they had e-readers on sale this week. If you know someone who reads, you might want to check it out. I tend to lean toward the CruzReader and the Cruz tablet.

If you actually go to a Borders and look at both of them, you'll see that the Cruz tablet has a much clearer, easier-to-read screen than the CruzReader. The reader is a reader (duh), but the tablet is more like an iPad, more like a computer than just a reader. Both of them are color. There's not that much difference in price, so I tend to think I'd prefer the tablet because it'll be easier on the eyes, and will have a lot more functionality.

If that Cruz tablet sounds like a good deal, check out the Nookcolor. It's also a small tablet computer, that runs on the same system (Android) as the Cruz tablet (and some Android based phones), but it's about $50 cheaper and has a higher resolution screen than the Cruz tablet. Both tablets are smaller than an iPad, but both have or will have similar functionality as the iPad (from what I can tell) with a much smaller price tag.

Both have expandable memory (to 32 gigs) by the use of an SD card for the Cruz and a mini SD card for the Nookcolor. Both of these are also small enough to be almost pocketable, too! I especially like the loop on the Nookcolor so you can put a hand strap on it to help prevent dropping it. From what I understand, most of the apps that are available for my phone (I have a G1 from T-Moble, and I highly recommend T-Mobile as a phone company) will work on the Nookcolor as is or with a program converter. But there will be a whole new app store out for the Nookcolor in January, so it'll be even more computer-like.

I also feel I should mention that there's an app available for my phone that's similar to the one available for iPad that shows the night sky when you hold it up to the sky. I'm guessing it should work for the Nookcolor and Cruz tablet, but I have no proof of this yet, so take it with a grain of salt.

I went into my local Dollar Tree yesterday, too, and they have small lumps of (plastic) coal to put in someone's stocking or give as a present for someone who has been naughty this past year. Two lumps for a dollar.

And speaking of stockings, I will have a series of about 10 hand knit Christmas stockings available for sale in my Etsy or Art Fire stores. More on that in the next few days. They'll all be multicolor red with a white fur yarn "cuff," beading on the leg, white, glittery heels and toes, and knit stars on the hanging loop. I should have a photo or two in the next two or three days, and if you like it and want more than one, let me know so I can reserve them for you.

This now concludes the extended infomercial!

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We're having another new Chuck, The Event, and Hawaii Five-O tonight. It looks like Castle will be off TV for this week and next. The holidays always interfere with regular programming!

Have a fabulous Monday night!

No Air Conditioning! Again!

You won't be hearing a lot from me for the next week.

In the Spring and Fall, there is always a period when the air conditioning is needed, but not on in my apartment building, and this is it for the Fall season.

The AC went off last Monday, but it wasn't so bad because we had highs of about 60 degrees all week. Which wasn't bad with the window open. Yesterday, though, the high was about 70 degrees, which brought my indoor temp (with the window open and fan on all day) to somewhere between 80 and 85. Today, it's going to go up to 75, which means (since I couldn't get the temp below 80 degrees overnight) that it's sure to be over 90 in here later today. Part of the problem (as mentioned) is that I can't get it cooled down at night, so each day it's over 60 degrees adds to the afternoon temp. For example, three successive days with a high of 70 degrees outside are likely to produce indoor highs of 80, 85, and 90 degrees respectively. With a high of 70 yesterday, and 75 today, with 70 for a high the rest of the week, we're looking at the likelihood of 83, 95, 100, 105, etc. It makes me want to alternate between taking showers and lying flat in bed. Plus, having the window open and a fan going just drags in tons of allergens!

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The good news for today is that Borders sent me an ad via email for a new reader/tablet computer that they will be selling soon.

It's called a Velocity Cruz Tablet, and it may be a rival for the iPad!

I've been trying to find out if there will be  a keyboard available for it, like the iPad. It promises to be the ultimate book reader, though. It runs on the same Android operating system as my phone, which means it takes many of the same apps, and will connect to my google account.

I can't tell you haw wonderful getting my current Android G1 phone was. When it started up, it asked what my Google email address was. I typed that in, and it came up with all my information. All my phone numbers were instantly on the phone, along with email addresses for everyone I know, etc. The tablet runs on WiFi, and with that connection, can (from what I can tell) do all the things my phone can do (except make phone calls) and a lot more!

It also has a USB connection and an SD card slot so you can upgrade the memory! And it can display PDFs, so all you knitters with a library of PDF knitting patterns can display them and carry all of them around in color!

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Tonight, there will be brand new episodes of Chuck, The Event, Castle, and Hawaii Five-O


Each night this week, ABC Family will be running a different Halloween movie. They're all movies that are suitable for children, but some of them are fun, especially The Spiderwick Chronicles, which I watched last night and enjoyed. They'll also be running Halloween movies all this coming weekend. It's worth checking out.

Have a wonderful week! I'll be doing my best to not die of either heat exhaustion or allergy overload!