A Whole Chicken is a Scary Thing.

I had a nice little Wednesday, actually. Made it through work (the less said, the better), raced home and to the library to return books, had a spinning student at spinning class, and had a lovely time at yoga. My back popped back into place at long last! This is good news for me, and better news for my friends, who are sick of hearing about it. I am moving cautiously today.

But back to the bird. I have been jonesing for chicken & dumplings for a while now. I went to the store, I acquired the ingredients, I spruced up the stock pot, and last night was the night. With "The Joy of Cooking" at my side, I did the appropriate whole-chicken-cleaning dance. There are things that need removing, none of which are labelled "for my convenience", there is the theme to "Sledgehammer" running through my head, the 2 dogs suddenly turn into 20 dogs, all wanting to "help". I need the chicken for people who took drafting instead of home ec. Somehow I managed and wrassled it into the pot, browned the bird, chopped veggies, discovered all my garlic has sprouted, and simmered late into the night.

While that was happening in the kitchen, I watched "Lost" and did a little knitting on my new sock. "Lost" has really perked up over the last two episodes. I far prefer the adventuring to the relationship crap. I really, really hope it makes it to season 4. The sock does too (although it is taking a nap right now. We were watching the movie until after 1am, and I already woke it up to knit at lunchtime today)

I checked on my chicken, returned to my sock, and started a new movie about 11pm... The choices were "Alexander" (2 hr 47 min), or "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" (102min). I chose the short one. Now, you and I know I have been looking forward to this movie for many, many days now. I have discussed the dishyness of the two leads, I have declared that I would not be accessible by phone, email, or act of god when I was watching it, and I fed the dogs in their kennel to keep them quiet(er). My sock and I settled in... and were unimpressed. Poor Johnathyn Rhys-Meyers (while dishy) dies in the first 15 minutes or so, disturbingly. The entire rest of the movie is his brother's (Clive Owen) quest to avenge his death, which means you are not allowed to forget the cause, although both the sock and I were shocked and saddened. Watching Clive Owen for the next 92 minutes should make up for this, yes? NO. Poor Mr. C looked like the Wild Man of Borneo - all long scraggy hair and uber-beard. I thought it was Desmond from Lost and dropped my knitting when he spoke and Mr C's voice came out. There is a long stretch in the middle where nothing happens in a very dark and wet England (will the sun ever shine again? Could they only afford streetlights?), and then the last 10 minutes or so makes up for the rest of the film. Far too short a time to truly enjoy the return to dishyness and extremely nice suit. All in all, Billy the Budgie was my favorite character.

You want more knitting content? I think I love the new sock. I am not sure. It is more white and sparkly in person. The yarn is nice and soft, not very splitty, and the fabric feels good. I worry that it (the fabric) is a little loose, but I am getting 8st/in on # 1 needles, which is just about right. Going down to #0 would be overkill. That, and my only set of #0 are already in the peppermint socks, planning the overthrow of the new project that pushed them back down the queue. It is Regia Bamboo, color 1064.