Do I have time to knit/crochet?

The head of this coming weekend's Holiday Bazaar at the temple bailed without warning. The person left holding the bag looked miserable and wan after she discovered how little had been done (surprise!).

So my mom, who's handled it in the past, took pity and offered to team up. She's keeping her expectations very, very low.

One of the problems is the toys.

They have some used toys to sell, but they're thrift store quality.

Do I have time to help mom out? I've been working six-day weeks, working till I'm sick, but what I've been doing every night is clicking on the tube and picking up my OAR (overly ambitious rug). So I could do some simple toys instead.

Like this soft, squishy bunny...

Or this kitty of adorableness...

Or the horsie I loved in kindergarten at Waldorf...

I'd probably crochet instead of knit them, and I don't know how many I could get done. But it's doable. Isn't it? Or am I being too ambitious?

Should I just ... do them without telling mom?

She doesn't want to accept because she's knows I have my back against the wall on the bio project. But the writing of it is dead in the water at the moment and I need to recover some mojo.

LotR LP: Elijah Wood, I owe you an apology.

I just saw the extended version of The Return Of The King for the first time.

This is a much, much better movie. The extended version of The Fellowship Of The Ring had a few extra touches. The extended version of The Two Towers couldn't fix the major plotting problems Peter Jackson introduced with his new version of Faramir and attempt to stretch Eowyn Arwen, Arwen's role, though showing the destruction of Isengard by the Ents was deliciously satisfying.

But the long version of The Return Of The King... oh. Oh. Elijah Wood was robbed in the short one. His best moments were left on the cutting room floor. After a weak performance in the re-do of The Two Towers, he was just excellent in those added scenes of the RotK.

His staggering across the blasted plains at the foot of Mount Doom, swiping at unseen enemies ... he was both pitiful and brave.

Showing his bleeding finger, then watching him get up in rage to attack Gollum -- wonderful.

His sad moments at an empty Bag End, looking about as if lost, while his voice over admitted that some wounds would never heal -- heartrending.

Truly marvelous. He stands out as the hero in a way he didn't in the final theatre release.

Never watch the shorter version of The Return Of The King. It's not the same movie at all.

Elijah Wood, I take back everything I've ever said about your performance in The Lord of the Rings. You did a wonderful job and I believe you as Frodo. I'm sorry so much of it ended up on the cutting room floor the first time around.

For those curious (and so helpful): the final system:

With your help, the system I'm going with is ... *drumroll please*

- ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM (we all agreed I didn't care about Blu-ray)

- Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (downgraded a bit from 2TB)

- PNY XLR8 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model MD4096KD3-1600-X8 (saved money here; I don't game so don't need heavy duty RAM as yet)

- GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3P LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard (this was a tricky item S. put a lot of research into: I stream video from my computer to my TV via an HDMI cable)

- Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I52500 (went with the i5; everyone agreed that i7 is pricey now and overkill)

- Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit (it's on sale at www.newegg.com! S. was astonished)

- COOLER MASTER GX Series RS650-ACAAE3-US 650W ATX12V v2.31 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply (something that tends to die on Dells, and it was a combo deal)

- COOLER MASTER Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case (I wasn't pleased with the color, but it's going under the table anyhow, and is a different color worth an extra 60 bucks? I should say not!)

Your suggestions were very helpful, thank you. I particularly appreciate telepresence, who clicked through newegg and emailed a shopping cart. That was invaluable and set the foundation for what I was looking for. I missed some sales on Friday, but other things have gone on sale for Cyber Monday, so it's evened out.

The motherboard was the hardest piece for S. to figure out. I didn't need a gamer-level video card, but I did plan to stream video (Hulu and icenetwork.com) to my TV via an HDMI cable. This is rare enough for it to be listed as a feature on the motherboard I'm getting.

He also needed to future-proof my system since he knows I'll be resistant to change, pushing upgrades to the last possible millisecond. OTH, he's seen what I use here and says I don't need twice the RAM he has for his gaming, and 1TB hard drive space should be plenty.

And now for dithering and worry....

I could spend less buying a complete system from somewhere like Dell (though he's managed to get this below $800), but he complains that Dell cases are not very upgradable. He describes having to use a chopstick to reach something and that there's just no room inside. And I like the idea of being able to keep components like DVD burners, cases, and power supplies and just ditch what's not needed anymore.

Oh dear. It's 7:30am. Have I been up all night?