| Am alive, honest |
[Nov. 11th, 2009|09:49 pm] |
I got a little note today wondering where I was. Apparently I haven't posted since September. Um... oops? I didn't mean to be so quiet!
I think what helped confuse me was that I have been posting over on twitter, which allowed me to check off the "type some sort of update on the internet" box in my mental to do list.
Not much new here other than being busy. There has been knitting, spinning, cooking, working and other things that I can't even remember anymore. Oh! Making things! Like butter. I have made my own butter and it is quite yummy. I have also made cultured butter which was easy but I'm not sure about the result. I mean having butter that knows more about Proust than I do is just embarassing.
This week we're doing a cookie swap at work. It's my first cookie swap so I'm excited.
Aaaaaaaaaand I think that covers it for now. Hi! =) |
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| Observations |
[Sep. 12th, 2009|01:22 pm] |
People were actually calling yesterday "Patriot Day"? Really? I thought we all collectively agreed to pretend that particular bit of Dubya stupidity never happened.
Fall is starting to peek out here in the land of Siam. Rain, cool air, hints of color starting to dust the trees. On the whole, I am happy with this.
I have 25 pounds of tomatoes, empty jars, and a rainy day. I'd say this is a pretty darn good combination. |
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| Holiday weekend overview |
[Sep. 7th, 2009|10:05 pm] |
This weekend I:
* Pulled weeds
* Set up a small brick path to the crawlspace
* Had a headache
* Went to the RenFaire
* Did laundry
* Canned tomatoes
Other than the headache, not so bad I'd say. |
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| I made it! |
[Aug. 31st, 2009|09:03 pm] |
I made it through last week! Work stuff is still unsettled but at least for right now it's not like it was last week, which by definition makes it better.
This weekend I canned more tomatoes. I'll do even more on this upcoming weekend. It's fun! Granted I'm working with small batches. Perhaps I'd feel differently if I was doing something that had me working all day. But as it is it's just taking a chunk of my afternoon.
The weather is growing cool. I'm having nights where I can turn the AC off, open the windows, and sit and knit. Soon it will be Fall! EEEEE!!!!!
And yesterday I saw a bunny. It was nibbling grass and being bunny-like.
So things at the moment are good. |
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| So here's the thing |
[Aug. 26th, 2009|04:52 pm] |
A thing happened this week. A thing which I can't talk about, because it is work-related. But it has left me FUMING for DAYS. I actually don't know why it has pissed me off this much. But it has. (Pissed me off, yes. This much and for this long? Not quite sure.)
(I haven't been fired, my immediate boss continues to be awesome. The thing itself is first-world problems at their finest, and yet.)
So if I have been even more quiet than my usual radio silence in email/AIM/Twitter/RPGs/whatever please do not take it personally. It's because I am in a FOUL mood because of this, I'm stuck in this until Friday at noon (I am counting down the hourse, trust me), and so far all signs point to my mood not improving until I hit the weekend, at best.
So please don't take it personally if I'm not chatting, or tagging into something you think I should tag into, or whatever. All of my energy is being poured into trying to get through this without killing somebody, and I just don't have anything left over.
Thanks for the understanding. |
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| Observation |
[Aug. 24th, 2009|07:51 pm] |
Apparently when I'm in a bad mood I am more inclined to buy things for my cats.
On the upside, they both like the new toy I got them. |
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| Cooking and weather |
[Aug. 23rd, 2009|12:16 pm] |
I'm trying to determine if it's going to rain this afternoon or simply threaten to with clouds that sneak in just when I think it's going to be sunny. The reason for this debate is that while I enjoy rain, clothes drying on the line do not. I've made it this far without my clothes getting caught in a rainstorm and I'd like to maintain the record. All weather reports seem to indicate that I'm safe for a few hours and yet... clouds.
Yes, this is an indication that I am such a fan of line drying that I'd almost rather wait a week and hope for good weather next weekend than toss my stuff into the dryer. Sadly drying everything inside isn't an option because with heat comes humidity. Stuff that line dries indoors in the summer is just not worth it. Bah.
I have developed such a weekend rut routine that Luna and Mac know the exact sound my teacup makes when I am finished eating brunch, for then and only then do they know that their demands to get into my lap will get them anywhere.
The wackadoo weather has caused headaches and other forms of not feeling well. In spite of that I have done my first batch of canning! All of two pints worth of tomatoes, but still. (Well, three pounts of tomatoes, two pint jars in result.) The jars have sealed the way they are supposed to have sealed, but I feel like I erred on the side of giving them too much headspace. So these two jars will get chalked up to experience and used to make sauce sometime this week. When in doubt and all that.
Next is cleaning. Assuming Luna lets me get up from the couch. |
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| Mad Men (no spoilers) |
[Aug. 16th, 2009|11:14 pm] |
Just watched the season premiere of Mad Men.
Oh SHOW.
<3<3<3<3 |
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| Sooooooooooooo full |
[Aug. 16th, 2009|08:12 pm] |
So today was the annual picnic for my co-op complex. This is our third year doing it. Last year I missed out on due to a migraine from HELL. Like it had me bedridden ALL DAY from Hell.
It was a happy day for me to be able to join in on the festivities this time around. There were burgers, hotdogs, baked beans, salads, and baked goods and all kinds of stuff that I can't even remember. LOTS of food, in other words. I did my part to eat as much as I could. You know, to be neighborly.
It's a nice little event. The ages of folks who live here varies from young and starting out to 80+. Everyone who came brought something, making it a real "stone soup" sort of event.
This week is my dad's birthday, and the office is doing a "everybody bring in a dessert to share" day. I estimate by the end of the week I will be totally out of eggs and butter.
Aaaaaaaaand I think that's it, for updates on my end. It's summertime. There's food and people. You know how it is. |
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| Catching up |
[Aug. 9th, 2009|01:32 pm] |
It has been a loooooooooooooooooong week involving such things as no LJ/Twitter access (now fixed), no hot water (also now fixed), repair people, and work crazyness. So I sit here on a Sunday afternoon trying to catch up on all that needs doing.
Such as passing along this story, (h/t to ![[info - personal]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) tzikeh): Never fly AirTran. Never ever fly AirTran.
I actually didn't know that an airline called AirTran existed, but based on the post and the comments clearly I don't want to know them either. |
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| Various updates on things that keep me alive |
[Aug. 1st, 2009|01:31 pm] |
Breakfast today was toasted rustic bread, creamy raw-milk cheese, fried eggs, and proper tea. Other than the tea all the components came from local farms. To say it was yummy is an understatement. And I can now attest from personal experience that yes, eggs that have recently come from a chicken are leagues better than what you get off the shelves in the store. Once I blow through the remaining store-bought eggs in my fridge I'll be doing farm fresh from now on.
The movement towards sustainability and locavoring (if that's not a word, I declare it to be one now) has spawned a new service in my area where a woman goes to farms in my state, asks them what they have on offer this week, then for a $15 dollar fee will deliver whatever of those items that you want (plus the cost of the food, obviously). This is the second time I've used the service and I LOVE it. She delivers to houses and restaurants and the food is amazing. It's like a CSA excpet you only buy what you want, or a farmer's market only with more options on what you can have.
Plus one of the farms sells yarn. Yarn. YARN DELIVERED TO YOUR HOME ALMOST DIRECTLY FROM THE SHEEP. Also donuts. Theoretically there is no need for me to leave my house ever again.
All that's left is for you to think good thoughts about the tomatoes I got. Because naturally the year I finally decide to try caning due to finding out how to can tomatoes without a pressure cooker is the year that local tomatoes have been hit by blight. The grape tomatoes on my porch are doing okay but those aren't exactly canable. Plus I haven't had a tomato yet that has that orgasmic "OMGYES" summer tomato taste to it. Hopefully there's a farm around here that's had some luck, or else I'm going to be very pouty.
Also on the topic of sustainability and roughing it, I'm going to be making use of some of the tricks I've learned this weekend as the hot water heater for my entire complex is broken and we're being told it won't be fixed until Monday. Nothing like old skool water-heating tricks to figure out how to do pesky things like bathe so you can make it into work and not immediately be fired on the basis of smell alone.
I also have laundry to do but fortunately it's all stuff that can be run through a cold wash. It'll get hung outside to dry so I should probably get cracking on that before it decides to rain again. |
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| Book recs |
[Jul. 20th, 2009|10:32 am] |
Older Brother has developed an interest in nature-based religions/spirituality. I told him that, thanks to my awesome friends, I could probably put together a recommended reading list of books that might interest him that would be high on actual information and low on the fluffy-bunny "I'm 1/100000000th Indian on my mother's side and thus can write authentically about Native American religions even though my only actual exposure is having once watched an episode of F Troop." type things.
So - book recs please? He's thinking Native American religions but I told him he might also be interested in shamanism, druidry, and so forth. He says he's open to anything that would involve nature-based spirituality. Based on what I know of him I'd say things that are low on magick/spellwork and high on recogizing the seasons, circle of life, and so on.
Thanks in advance, oh friendslist-fu! =) |
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| Not a bad day, all things considered |
[Jul. 18th, 2009|09:07 pm] |
Today involved laundry, a trip to the farmer's market, and getting a pedicure. All good uses of a sunny summer day, if you ask me.
The farmer's market provided me with tomatoes and bread, which got added to pasta, garlic, parmesan, and basil (from my own plant) to make a very yummy dinner. This was part and parcel of getting the hang of the steps involved in canning tomatoes so that I have them down by the time I actually do canning later in the season.
Tonight's step was peeling and coring. Peeling went fine (60 secs in the boiling water before I put the pasta in, then dunked into ice water). Coring I feel I'm not quite getting the hang of. I mean I did it, I just feel that somehow I could've done it better.
So, anyone have any tips for how to easily core/deseed peeled tomatoes? The lines are open, call in! =) |
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| Because I can only take the outdoors in limited doses |
[Jul. 16th, 2009|04:33 pm] |
Who out there has experience with camping via cabins and/or RVs? Perhaps more accurately, who has that experience and doesn't mind me bugging them with total n00b questions?
*looks cute and hopeful* |
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| Still no goats |
[Jul. 8th, 2009|09:36 pm] |
The weather was so nice when I got home today that a few moments spent with the tomato plants turned into nearly two hours of pruning and weediing all of my plants. It was longer than I thought, but the sun was setting, the air was neither too hot nor cold, and it wasn't humid. It was relaxing, with the only breaks in the silence being when my neighbors passed by or when the nearby church chimed the hours.
I saw lots of worms. I'm guessing because of all the rain we've been having. I said hi and thanked them for all their hard work in the soil my plants are in. Also lots of ants, though thankfully we were pretty content to leave each other alone, much though me pulling out weeds near their homes understandably upset them.
Possibly the most fun was weeding around the vinca minor. I got it last year because there was a looooooong stretch of dirt right in front of my porch which needed something to keep it looking barren. The catch was that the dirt was shallow, in no way rich looking, and had a huge wooden fence right next to it which effectively blocked out most sunlight.
After doing research I found that the vinca minor was pretty much made for that spot, up to the point where I'm pretty sure that some of the entries mentioned that the ideal location for the plant was at my address.
Last year it didn't grow much, but this year it's been flowering and getting lush. It's slowly covering the space. But what was fun was watching it choke out the weeds. I felt like the vinca minor and I were working together, like it had hunted down the weeds and held them up for me to spot and I got to yank them out to help finish the job.
The best was when I got to the end. I hadn't bought enough last year to cover all the ground, so the end was where the dirt was thinnest and for the most part I let it be. Today as long as I was on a role I figured I may as well make a dent into the thick clump of weeds. As I started to pull, sure enough, I saw my creeping vines sneaking their way along the bottom of the dirt. I felt like a proud mama. A mama who was proud of her slowly murderous baby.
Now all I need to do is figure out if I want to call it Audrey or Dexter. 8) |
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| Days off are nice |
[Jul. 6th, 2009|06:50 pm] |
I am repeatedly reminding myself that it is not a good idea to nap at 7pm. Not when you have work the next day, anyway. My second wind can kick in aaaaaaaaaaany time now.
Today I slept in then went down to the beach to walk and generally observe life. Back home for a shower, then making dinner. Since I had vegetables left over from the weekend I grilled them up then mixed them with pasta, salt, pepper, olive oil, and parmesan cheese for dinner. Quite yummy if I do say so myself.
Wee tomatoes are still coming in, and I spotted more morning glories today. If I can stop yawning for five seconds I may knit.
Such was my day. |
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| WInding down |
[Jul. 5th, 2009|11:00 pm] |
As is so often the case, it is helpful to check one's bank account before going off and buying things. Nothing like vacation to eat up funds. So much for that steak I was going to buy to put on the grill tomorrow. ;)
I had a ![[info - livejournal.com]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif) lucifrix with me for the holiday. There was fondue, BBQ, Rifftrax, and other sorts of fun things. I dare say good times were had by all.
My plants are not yet dead. The other day I spotted some morning glories, which was very exciting. Today I saw that one of my tomato plants actually has tomatoes coming in! Now if I can just keep the basil from dying we'll be good to go. |
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| Today's lesson |
[Jun. 24th, 2009|06:40 pm] |
When a hiking trail is rated "strenuous" they MEAN it.
I can only imagine "aggressive" refers to the exact same trail, only they have people shooting at you while you climb it. |
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| Possibly the best overheard conversation ever |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|04:07 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | humor | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
Overheard today in the nail salon:
Mother, to her 6 year old daughter: "Let's say you had nine lollipops and some friends came and took three. How many - "
Daughter: "I CAN HAVE NINE LOLLIPOPS?!!" |
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| Music recs |
[Jun. 20th, 2009|08:44 pm] |
This week I shall be roadtripping on a three hour tour drive. That's three there, three back, and assuming no traffic.
I need music! Rec me your favorite stuff to listen to at the moment. Preferably stuff I can download right away, like from iTunes or where ever *cough*.
Danke =) |
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