I�ve done my yoga for the day and that seems to be definitely helping with the stress levels. Yeah, what do I have to stress about, I know that�s what you�re thinking, but even for someone who spends her days cleaning and farting around, there�s still stress. I had an easier time of some of the poses today than I did on Friday, so I�ve apparently been advancing without realizing it. Before I know it, I�ll probably be moving onto the advanced workout with all the funky backbends and stuff. I actually watched Oprah yesterday afternoon and Sting and his wife amaze me with what they can do with their bodies. I�d love to be able to do stuff like that some day. I�ve also eaten some toast with freezer jam and a cup of yogurt, so my hunger pangs have abated.

I�m looking forward to going grocery shopping when Luke gets home tonight. Most of the chili I made and froze a month ago is now gone, so I have to supplies to make a double batch this time and I plan on making a pie or two (pumpkin first, then apple, and maybe chocolate) in the next little while. I�ve never made a crust on my own, but I don�t want to sell out and buy a pre-frozen crust, so I�m taking the leap. Besides, I need the practice if I want to be the pie maven that my Gram is. I also plan on getting some stuff for game hen and pasta with roasted red pepper cream sauce. I recently learned that a smooth cream sauce is a lot easier to make if you don�t make a roux first and instead heat the cream and butter together and only when those are warm, should you add the flour. I was taught to do the roux, but F that S, I like my new method a 1,000 times better, as I can more easily control the thickness of the sauce.

I have been working on compiling my birthday/Christmas list and have come up with several things that I would like to make my own. I naturally can�t put in that I want Debbie Stoller�s (of BUST magazine) new book Stitch �N Bitch because it involves a curse word and I can�t ask for a host of sex toys, either, but I will be asking for a handmade kitty hat even though it�s not the one I really want. As you can see, the one I really want is absurdly expensive. Who would pay $99 for a knit hat? Not I. Nor would I ask the people I love to pay so much for such a trivial thing. I�ve wanted to get back into knitting lately and I think I will actually take the plunge and have Luke take me to the store this weekend to get some needles and yarn so that I can start. I�ve asked Luke for Debbie�s book, so if he gets it, I�ll be set with a primer and a pantload of really cool patterns.

I just don�t know if I�ve put enough on the list. I know that they�ll send me money as well as gifts, but this list gets circulated to a lot of people and covers two gifty holidays, so I�ve always had to make sure to have enough stuff on the list so as not to get a bunch of crap that I don�t want. I have always had to write to lists, too: one for one half of the family and the other for my dad�s side. Dad�s side tends to have more cash lying about, so I can ask for more frou frou stuff, while the other half is inevitably dangling above the poverty line. So, while Dad�s family list consists of electronics and DVDs and the like, the other involves cash for clothes and a goofy thing or two. In no way am I saying, �oh, woe is me, I have too much family�. I am instead saying that I am very blessed if a bit inconvenienced because there are a lot of people who don�t even have family or get gifts at the holidays. So, I have two days to fine tune it until the Hallowe�en deadline set by my Gram. We�ll see if I can pull it off.