What Has She Gotten Into Now?

If you leave me to my own devices too long, if I don't have something to immediately keep me occupied, I will find something to keep me occupied. I'm like a little kid...I'm into EVERYTHING!

Tonight, I got home from work and was too tired to really do anything else except melt onto my couch with my laptop. I checked my email, my social media sites and texted a couple friends. Then...nothing. The cat is asleep and doesn't feel like playing. I'm waiting for my OH to finish up work. Until then...what do I have to do online???

*twiddles thumbs*

*twiddles thumbs some more*

*tries twiddling toes, realizes toes are too short to twiddle and is saddened by short toes*

OOH, I know! I'll see if Coursera has anything new listed! So I toddle over to the site and find that, yes indeed, they do have new ones! YAAYYY!!! So I browse the listings and within 15 minutes, I have five, count 'em, FIVE new courses I ended up signing up for.

Computational Photography  - For the photo nerd in me who is longing to come back out.
Organic Chemistry Part 1 and Part 2 - For the chemistry nerd in me who wishes she had taken organic chemistry.
Rationing and Allocating Scarce Medical Resources - For the medical professional in me.
Introduction to Logic - Because it sounded interesting.

I should not be left alone with access to this website.

Til next time! -Erika

Doing Some Good, Sharing Your Skills

September has begun. Kids are heading back to school, the sun is setting earlier and earlier, the evenings are getting a little bit cooler and soon, there will be a chill in the air during the day. This time of year has always been one of my favourite times. I was incredibly lucky growing up to have handmade scarves and blankets from my mom and grandmom at my fingertips.

In fact, getting a crocheted blanket from them became a way for me to mark important milestones in my life. When I was a baby, grandmom made me a green, yellow and cream chevron blanket. When I was accepted into college, my mom made me an afghan with the logo of my college crocheted into it, in crayon colours of course, since I was an art major. Two years ago, mom made me a Halloween afghan, simply because I wanted a Halloween blanket.

When I take a step back, I realize I am incredibly spoiled. I have a mom who makes sure I have the blankets, hats and scarves that I need, even though I'm 30. She passed along her knitting and crochet skills to me, so I can share the same feeling with those I care about, including my incredibly spoiled dogs.

There are a lot of people (and animals) who have no one to make sure they have a nice snuggly blanket or the enveloping embrace of a handmade scarf. There are a lot of ways you can get involved in charity knitting and crocheting if you want to share your gift with others and let them feel the same way I feel everytime I wrap myself up in one of my afghans.

The Red Scarf Project
Project Linus
Snuggles Project
Newborns in Need
Knots of Love
Knit A Square

Til next time! -Erika

For That REAAAAALLY Deep Clean

I love the feeling of clean skin. Given that I wear make-up everyday and live in the city with the pollution that goes along with it, I especially love the feeling of a nice, through, pore sucking deep clean. If I had the money, I might consider heading to a spa to have my skin steamed and worked by an esthetician.

There's only one small snag with that idea; those pesky things called bills that need to be paid first. There's always a hitch.

So I came up with my own facial so I can have my cake and eat it too. Here's how I do it.

What you'll need:
-Whatever facial cleanser you normally use
-Lush Toner Tabs (I use the Tea Tree tabs, but pick out ones that work for your skin)
-Face steamer or a pot of steaming water
-Pore cleansing facial masque of your choice (I use a Mint Julep masque)
-Facial moisturizer (pick one that works with your skin)

Step 1 - Wash your face and pat it dry. Don't rub, pat! Be gentle to your skin.

Step 2 - If you have a facial steamer, get that puppy going. If not, boil up a pot of water, then let it stand for a minute so that it's not boiling anymore, but it's still steaming. Add your Toner Tab (follow the link for more info/directions) and let it get nice and fizzy. While it's doing its fizzy thing, allow the steam to work over your face. (If you're using the pot of water method, make sure your face isn't right up next to the water. I keep my face at least 8 inches away.) Steam your face for about 5 minutes.

Step 3 - Once you've steamed your face, apply the pore cleansing masque and let it set according to the package directions.

Step 4 - After your've basically vacuumed your pores out with the masque, apply the moisturizer to your face.

I love. Love. LOVE doing this! Best of all, the cost of the materials is less than the cost of one facial! I try to do this at least once every week or two so that I can make this face at my family:

ERIKA MAD! ERIKA SMASH!!!! Ooh, Erika have clean pores! Erika happy again.

Til next time!

How to Get What You Want at Thrift Stores

Thrift stores have become a main stay in my shopping repertoire. I started regularly scouring thrift shops when I was a broke art student working two or three jobs at a time and barely pulling in enough to cover my bills. My friends and I would make trips to some of the local stores to find clothes, household goods and stuff to repurpose into art.

Years later, I still shop at thrift stores fairly regularly. Thrifting brings a sense of adventure, a sense of accomplishment and, yes, a sense of uncertainty. You never know what you will find when you go. I've gone into the store with the intent of trying to find a pair of jeans and left with not only the jeans, but a dress, some work clothes and a couple books. I've also gone looking for a dress for a wedding and come away with bupkis.

Here are my tips to be a successful thrifter:

• Know your wants versus your needs. Thrifting takes a certain amount of luck. It's important that you are aware of the things you really, truly need and can't really wait for and the things that you need, but can maybe wait for. There may be a point where you have to give up looking in thrift shops and move onto a retail store. Only you'll be able to determine what that point is. 
• Again, know your wants versus your needs. It's also important to know your wants versus your needs so that you don't end up on an episode of "Hoarders." The point of thrifting is to save on things you need or can use, not to buy things "just because."
• Be patient. Thrifting is a little bit of a game of chance. Some days you might leave with half of the store. Other days,  you might not find anything at all. In a way, it's kind of similar to shopping in a retail store. The key difference is that if you find an awesome dress that you LOVE, but it's a bit too tight, you might not be able to just go grab a different size from the rack.
• Be consistent. Given that the stock is constantly rotating in thrift shops, it doesn't hurt to stop in on a fairly regular basis to check out what is in store. I've been looking for a bread machine. Every time I go to the thrift shop, I take a look for one. I haven't found it yet, but at some point, I'm confident I'll find one.
• Keep your mind open to an items possibilities. About 2 years ago, I tried on a GORGEOUS white eyelet dress at Goodwill. Everything fit, except the bust. A good friend of mine bought the dress and had it altered to become her wedding dress.
• When it comes to trying on clothes, look at the sizes...but don't look at the sizes. You'll be shopping a multitude of designers and brands at thrift shops. Every one of them have different sizing scales. If you're a size 10 in one brand, you might be a 12 in another, and an 8 in another. DO NOT freak out over this. Use the sizes as a guideline only and focus on the fit. If the piece doesn't fit well, don't buy it, regardless of the size. 
• Most importantly, don't buy something just because its cheap.

So, there you go! These are my tips for successful thrifting. I hope that they help you out, whether or not you've ever stepped into a thrift store. Please let me know if these tips help or whether you have your own recipes for success.

Til next time! -Erika

Wanna Take a Free Course?

Do you like to learn? Do you take a strange pleasure in taking classes? Would you like to take ivy-league level courses? And would you like them to be for free?

My answers to those questions, of course, are a resounding, "DUH, YES!!!" And a couple of months ago, I discovered the answer, courtesy of This is Hell on WNUR in Chicago.

Coursera. You can sign up to take courses through different colleges and universities. For FREE!

Now, one caveat here. You don't get college credit for these courses. For some of the courses, you get a certificate stating that the course was completed. When you're selecting a course, there's a synopsis provided, so check the requirements and what you'll get from it.

I'm signed up to take Modern and Contemporary American Poetry next month. I'm probably more excited than I should be. I hope you find something you enjoy as well!

Til next time. -Erika

To Match or Not to Match?

One sock of my Welsh Flag Socks for the Ravellenic Games is completed! I've cast on for the second sock and am plugging away as quickly as I can to get them finished. I'm not sure whether they'll be finished in time for the end of the Olympics. I'm ok with that though.

I was having a conversation with the recipient of these socks (who is half Welsh, hence the Welsh theme) and we had a discussion about the theories behind matching hand knitted socks. There are two schools of thought, at least as far as I know, on the idea of matching socks when making a pair from self-striping yarn.

The first school of thought is that a pair of socks should match. I've seen knitters go to great lengths to ensure they end up with a pair of socks that match up perfectly from cuff to toe. This dedication, to me, demonstrates a level of commitment and skill to their craft and the finished product.

The second school of thought, and the one that I subscribe to, is that it's ok for a pair of socks to be fraternal twins rather than identical. I get a thrill from seeing how the yarn works up based on where the repeat starts.


In my humble opinion, I believe that a person's hand-knit socks can say a lot about a person. For me, knitting a pair of socks is knitting two individuals. Two experiences. Two different pieces that come together to make one set. I also think that it adds some personality to my socks.

And I like personality in my socks. And, thankfully, so does he.

What are your thoughts on matching your socks? 

Today's Goodwill Score

Today proved that, even when it seems like nothing is going your way, a little bit of positivity (even if it's coming from someone else) will go a long way.

I decided to make a quick run to Goodwill to drop off some stuff and look for a drying rack. As soon as I got on the highway, I realized I had made a big mistake. The traffic was all but moving. It took 45 minutes to make a 15 minute drive. I was not a happy camper.

Things got worse when I got to Goodwill and saw that they had stopped accepting donations 20 minutes earlier.

I was ready to leave when my mom suggested that we go in anyway to see if they had the drying rack since the store itself was open until 9:00. We went in and mom convinced them to take the donations since we had gotten stuck on the highway. Three bags of stuff out of my house!

The bad news is that I didn't find the drying rack that I needed. The good news is that I was able to find two other pieces of furniture I have been in desperate need of: a microwave cart and a bookcase that could fit in a nook of my dining room.

With a little bit of cleaning and some bolt tightening, my $20 purchase was transformed into some much needed space savers.

I have my kitchen counter back!

And I again have space on my end tables! And my entertainment center. And the shelf behind my couch. And under my couch. Yeah, I have a lot of books.

In an upcoming post, I'll talk about strategies for successful thrift shopping. Now, back to knitting for the Ravellenic Games!

Til next time! -Erika