What love is

Roses, candy, unexpected gifts, and kisses are good ways to show you love someone.

Want to know an even better way? Take a day off from work to help your significant other fight soap scum, organize DVDs, vacuum, scour, mop, sweep, and eventually pass out from the lower back pain.

That, my friends, is true love.

Thank you, baby!

Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

I don't think I mentioned that a month or two ago, I switched to a mostly vegan diet. I try to eat totally dairy-free Sunday-Friday and then splurge on Saturdays. The result has been a 9-pound weight loss, fewer migraines and more energy. A lot of people picture this diet as being pretty much all lettuce, but I promise that isn't true. I still eat plenty of tasty treats and hearty meals. I'm going to start featuring more recipes and such on my blog and hopefully, starting next week, I'll participate in Choosing Raw's raw Wednesday challenge.

Sunday I decided I had to make something sweet and vegan to munch on this week. I found an easy recipe in The Joy of Vegan Baking, so I grabbed all the necessary ingredients from the store on our weekly run. The result is a sweet, delicious, peanut buttery dish of awesome.

I had some requests on Twitter for the recipe I used to make some vegan no-bake treats. (The requests were probably due to my incessant bragging over how good they are.) Here you go:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

2 cups crispy rice cereal, crushed (or not, if you're lazy)

1 1/2 cups natural peanut butter (Smucker's creamy is the best)

1.5 cups confectioners' sugar (recipe calls for 2)

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. Earth Balance, melted, divided

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup (or more) vegan chocolate chips

1. Grease a 9x13" baking dish.

2. In a large bowl, combine the cereal, peanut butter, confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup Earth Balance, and vanilla. Spread the mixture into the baking dish.

3. Melt together the chocolate chips and remaining 2 Tbsp. of Earth Balance in a small saucepan, double broiler, or the microwave. Stir constantly. When all is melted, spread the chocolate over the peanut butter mixture. Use a rubber spatula to even it out.

4. Let sit 1 to 2 hours. Cut into pieces and enjoy!

Makes 12 to 18 squares depending on how you cut them.

The pictures don't do them justice (mostly because they were taken with my cell phone). They are rich and tasty. The chocolate is an accent to the peanut butter.

Weekend Recap

A migraine kept me away from The Girlie Show this weekend. I cannot adequately express my disappointment. Mom and I had big plans to knock out some holiday shopping, but it was not meant to be since we were both afflicted by the same head pain. We did venture out to the Garden Deva Open Studio Tour on Friday evening for a bit, where I bought some lovelies (pictures to come).

Generally a weekend full of migraine pain is a pretty miserable one. However, my taller half and I made do with what we had. Our disc that allows us to stream Netflix "watch instantly" movies through our PlayStation 3 arrived, so we tore through a few things to test it out. We watched the first season of the British The Office and Frozen River. We also enjoyed Sunshine Cleaning on disc. I also knitted. Oh, did I knit. I am almost finished with a scarf for my sister and a hat for my, well, someone else. (I have yet to decide whose head is worthy of such a lovely hat.) I also made a fleece scarf, which I hope to show you all later this week.

On Sunday, I met with the gals of the Tulsa Craft Mafia about our show on Saturday. What show, you ask? This one:

Come out and see us!

What did you do this warm weekend?

"Thankful" Thursday

I am having a hideous, rotten, no good, very bad week. It's the kind of week where everything goes wrong and everyone seems to think it's your fault. There's been yelling, stomping, accusing, and passive agression. The Rilo Kiley lyric fits me so well right now: "There's blood in my mouth 'cause I've been biting my tongue all week." It's hard to feel thankful when the 40-hour grind is this, well, grinding, but I'm trying to keep myself out of a funk. So here's my less-than-enthusiastic list of what I'm thankful for this week:

1. My little purple Nano, once again. It has helped me drown out the sounds of angry and crazy this week.

2. My boyfriend. He makes me feel better when I'm ready to kill somebody or dissolve into a puddle.

3. My Taylor Swift albums. I know no 25-year-old, indie-rock lovin' lady should enjoy her teenybopper music as much as I do, but oh well. It makes me sing along, which always improves my mood. (Before anyone says anything, ask yourself, "Did I read and enjoy Twilight? If so, you don't get to make fun of me! :P)

So go ahead, tell me something that will make me smile.

Mostly finished hat

I showed pictures last week of a hat I was working on. I am 95% finished with it, so I had to share. Ta da!

Here it is on my head. I probably should have made it a little longer, but this works, too.

The incomplete 5% is the little hole at the top. I'm not sure the "right" way to sew it up, so I need to investigate.

It's soft, colorful and my new best friend. I'm already working on another one to give away as a Christmas gift. Hurray!

Halloween fun!

We did things a little backward this Halloween. We dressed up and went out Friday night and then stayed in on Saturday. We're just a couple of laid back fools, so our low-key approach suited us well. Friday night, we suited up after work and headed to Gardner's Used Books for a Vincent Price movie night with some fellow non-partiers. The first film was The Last Man on Earth, which was accidentally silly. We were both too tired to stay for the second, which was the much better The House on Haunted Hill. In between movies, they gave out prizes for the costume contest. Though I thought we were the cutest and cleverest, we did not win.

Oh yes, the costumes. We both have a strong policy against anything slutty or obvious, so we decided to go as Audrey Horne and Special Agent Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks. Did anyone recognize us? No, but we had a blast. Here's the pair in question, for reference.

Here's me in my full Audrey get-up. (I apologize in advance for the cell phone pictures. I left my good camera at work.)

My sweater, skirt and shoes all came from Goodwill. I think the total was about $15. I am wearing the top again today! I was going for authenticity, so I curled up my hair and drew on my mole.

My love was a truly dapper Agent Cooper. His blazer and white shirt were also Goodwill steals for $18 total. Everything else was his already.

He carried a coffee mug, which he then used at Gardner's.

Here we are happily in love before the first movie started.

The people in front of us said we looked great. When we told them who we were, the woman said, "You're not old enough to remember that show!" I replied, "I'm not, but he is," which incited much giggling. Our choice of characters may have been a self-depricating reference to our age difference. After we left, I declared that I needed a snack, which led us to IHOP. I proceeded to eat a "snack" of two pumpkin pancakes, two scrambled eggs, and a mountain of hashbrowns. Then I felt wistful.

The following day, actual Halloween, was mostly spent celebrating my baby sister's 11th birthday at my dad's new house. I can't believe little Sarah is 11! Here I am with the birthday girl -- nay, young lady.

Afterward, we spent the evening gorging on chocolate (not a single trick-or-treater came) and watching The Wicker Man and Peeping Tom (during which I may have fallen asleep). I hope your Halloween celebrations were as fun and wholesome as ours!

A Yarn Good Time

I've been getting my knit on lately (a highly technical term). I still love crochet, but I decided to whip out the needles and re-learn to use them properly. This is the first project I created, destined to become a Christmas or Hanukkah gift:

It's just a basic knit stitch throughout. I then added a fun, sorta ruffly crocheted edge. The yarn is Sensations Angel Hair, which is ridiculously soft, especially for something you can find at any basic craft store. Here I am modeling it, just because, with my newly rebrowned hair:

I should admit that the true inspiration for this scarf was the prospect of learning to knit a hat -- yep, in the round! Though I learned to knit and purl seven years ago, I've never been able to do more than just a basic scarf. Andrea, our talented STICKS leader, told us what to buy (which I screwed up, of course) and then patiently showed us the steps. It's actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Here's what I've finished so far:

Do you see those three, double-pointed needles? The process actually involves FOUR! See here:

What have I gotten myself into? But seriously, I'm having a good time rediscovering and expanding my knowledge of knitting. Since I'm doing 90% handmade this holiday season, look for more soon.