Bueller....? Bueller....?

Thursday. Bow bow... chicka chicka

Get back, or get bitten.

Oooh wow. I am 15 minutes into my work day and OBOY am I ~~~pIsSy~~~ ! Gotta love that whole hormonal imbalance roller coaster. If it weren't for hormones I'd be really boring.

Normally, I'm a nice, normal person.



Ok, well nice at least.







No, really !!!!! At least, as long as you don't annoy me.


And, well... OK. Except this week.


Grrr. Fair warning.

I think I'm in love.

Fashion plate

Wow, weird childhood flashback to these Barbie "Fashion Plates" I had as a girl - you could mix and match the top, middle, and bottom parts of Barbie, then you put a paper over the pieces and made a rubbing of your design. If only fashion were that simple and everything went together with everything else.



I'm actually just here to say "the top is done!" Nothing spectacular, just a simple top. JB is flummoxed, he is just so amazed I can actually make something wearable. Yesterday, he said "it looks just like a top!" Tonight he said "it looks like something you'd buy in the store" "I mean, it looks like something that would be very expensive at a store!" . . . Hee hee hee. :)

Of course, since I made it I keep looking at it and critiquing every little fault. BUT! Be that as it may. It will be debuted tomorrow. And, as long as I don't have any wardrobe malfunctions, I'll be happy!!!!

Bored with myself

Not posting much other than links to stuff = "I'm bored with myself."

Started sewing again yesterday. It's been about...ummm... let's see - the last things I made were baby clothes for my first nephew, who is now... wow... TWELVE! OK, so it's been a minute.

I keep thinking about designs I want to do; like 6 months ago, back around the time Memoir of a Geisha came out, I was thinking how I wanted to do some long tops with an obi-like wide belt. Of course, now it is in every magazine. And I saw a girl with a loose baggy shirt on (poof sleeves, little delicate ties at the neckline) and I thought out of the corner of my eye that it was a soft white asian cherry blossom pattern fabric, which I thought was awesome, but when I looked it was just a white bread white shirt... Another vision...

So anyway... I went shopping over the weekend for some things to make and went hog wild on fabrics. I have enough stuff now to make clothes for a small army. Or, well, for me to suit my clothes horse need for at least 6 months. Now to just keep the patience needed for all the cutting and pinning and crap to get the end product.

So, I'm almost done with my first shirt. It's awesome.

Garden is incredible, had a few cucumbers, lots of sugar snap peas, and some broccoli. The broccoli would have been extraordinarily delicious. *IF*. It hadn't been tainted by my discovery of a couple of cute little not-so-delicious steamed caterpillars on it in the middle of dinner. Aside: what's the old story?... Oh yeah... At least I didn't find HALF caterpillars. Um yeah. Blech.

And that's the story of how I learned about cabbage worms, and bacillus thuringiensis.

Tomatos are everywhere! But still green.

Lettuce planted, heirloom varieties... It's a little late and hotter than lettuce likes it, from what I hear, but we'll see.

The 4400

SEASON THREE

The 4400 returns Sunday, June 11 at 9/8C with a two-hour premiere.

Read this forthe latest in the gripping saga that is...

The Vegemobile Diaries!

Last time I got 1075 miles - regular diesel tank last noted as filled 03/16/06 (must have missed one in there somehow... I can usually go about 6 weeks between fill ups).

This time - 1224.3 miles (thanks to warmer weather; quicker engine warm-up).

Filled up diesel, 11.519 gallons, $2.799/ gallon = $32.24.

Atlanta June 9, Tara Theater

Not Sorry Enough.

In Bush's recent press conference with Tony Blair he (surprise, surprise) took a more apologetic stance on the war in Iraq.

(hushed whispers) 'Backpedal, backpedal, quick! Republicans are sinking and elections are coming.'

"And I think the biggest mistake that's happened so far, at least from our country's involvement in Iraq is Abu Ghraib. We've been paying for that for a long period of time."

Uh huh. Only sorry because he got caught.

Last two things to say:

1) That's the biggest?

2) Not Sorry Enough.

One of the perks of having a veggie car

You hear interesting stories from people who learn different things about other altermative fuels! Thanks to a (non-blogging) coworker, who turned me on to a provider that hooks you up with plans to make your own ethanol still.

Although.... I have to say I am more than a little put off by their "To Our Dear Fellow Patriots" (ack... excuse me... just vomiting in my mouth a little) intro line.

BUT! Back to the topic at hand. With the still and resultant ethanol, you could then theoretically make and run an 80/20 blend in your car.

AND (bonus)... YOU'D HAVE A STILL !!!

How can you not love that?

What I learned today...

They say you learn something new every day. I don't know how true that is, but I sure try!

Today I learned that you are supposed to recycle flourescent light bulbs because they contain mercury. AND... guess what? You can take them to one of my favorite places to do that - IKEA.

(Did everybody know about this already?!)

Local or organic? It's a false choice.

From an article by Samuel Fromartz:

...organic food accounts for just 2 percent of food sales -- 1 percent if you include eating out. Similarly, local foods, though important, total 1 to 2 percent. So arguing over local or organic is a bit like two people in a room of 100 fighting over who has the more righteous alternative to what the other 98 people are doing. It doesn't really matter, because the bigger issue is swaying the majority.

Read the rest of the article here.

At the most basic level, being informed and choosing with intent can make a difference. For help, check these tips at Locavores.

Affirmations of a moron.

There are a lot of titles that have various connotations, like "queen."

There's "queen" - as in, referring to the 5 guys on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy as "5 queens" (on the commercial, in contrast to Kathy Griffin's "and a joker").

Then there's "drama queen," we all know one of these...

I, sadly, am the TMI queen. Or, if you prefer, Verbal Diarrhea Queen.

And, btw, who the hell first spelled diar"RH"ea and put it forever in the dictionary with the fubar spelling?! Just a few short chapters before ras"P"berries. Oops. Um... Yeah. Case in point.

So, yeah, I have this (bad?) habit of spitting out WAAAAY more information than anyone really needs. It is my sad attempt to participate in some way in the conversation, unfortunately it is usually with totally inappropriate and unecessary content.

The mental dialogue usually goes something like this: "Uh oh, someone is actually TALKING. To ME. I don't have my witty, outgoing, ready to talk to people hat on right now (which is usually only ready if I am initiating the contact and have time to prep myself for human interaction).... What should I do????! ((((PANIC!!!!!)))) I know, I'll fill the space with spastic behavior and inappropriate information!"
And then:
"Oh no. Now everyone is awkwardly uncomfortable (including me, but I was to begin with)... Okaaay.... I am going to bow my head in embarassment and slink away now......"

Blech.

Yes. Just in case there may have been any final lingering doubt (or hope)... It's confirmed. I am a moron.

Free the grapes!

Here's where I give a flying blog

JB gives his blow-by-blow account of our aerial tour here.

Life's a beach

  

Aerial shot of Diamond Head & Waikiki

  

Flying over Molokai

  

Surreal world

The rather surreal view of Diamond Head and Waikiki from Tantalus Drive...   

They're baaa-aaack...

Yep, plane landed at aprx 6:45 am this morning. I am dam happy, relaxed and fulfilled. A bit groggish due to the big time wacko time difference (here, it is 6:30 pm; there it is half past midnight). 05/16 Tuesday morning after note: scratch that - reverse it. Here 9 am; there three in the morning. Yeah, work this morning was rough.

Tomorrow, back to the grind.

Today, savoring the afterglow euphoria of sand, sun, fun, and so many incredible memories of a lifetime.

Love life large.

Oh! Wahoo!!!! V-minus 1 day.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow....

V-minus 2 days

V-minus 4 days

More on why I hate being non-confrontational

OK, so there is a coworker I work with, very nice person. Person knows that I drink tea and, every so often comes by and says "what kind of tea do you have?" always to be shortly followed by "oh, that one that sounds good, can I have some?" I purchase and keep a wide variety of tea, in my desk drawer, for personal consumption.

Now, where I come from, you don't just come around asking if you can have something of someone's unless they offer, or, unless you are friends. It wouldn't bother me if we in any way had a reciprocal relationship, where every once in a while person had something that I liked and they shared it with me. But they don't. Or even if we were anything like real "friends" - ie. ever spent more than 2 minutes talking to each other, having lunch, or otherwise had something over and above the basic cordial work friendship. But we don't.

I mean, should I walk around to all my coworkers and be like "Hey, Joe, I noticed you keep a some M&M's in your drawer. Can I have some?" "Hi Susan! I see you like to keep a case of bottled water under your desk. Can I have one?" "Hey Richard, you still got that jar of peanuts I saw you eating on Monday?" "Maria, hi! That lotion you used yesterday smelled great! Where is it? Can I use some?"

Am I wrong here?

I thought about taking all my tea home and being like "Nope, no tea. Sorry", but then I'd be denying myself. And, I think I've been over what a terribly compulsively honest person I am, I just couldn't lie. It wouldn't work.

It's just a peeve. I am so petty. OK. I'm going to just get over it now.

Ish. Politicians

When a politician does something like this Republican idiot did, it reminds me why I refuse to align myself across the board with either party. Yeah, give me $100 and I'll shut up and go away about the drilling in ANWR.

And here I thought Democrat Cynthia McKinney took the idiocy cake.

I think I can


I think I can

The countdown begins.

V-minus 5 days.

Adventures in canning

So, I have been all jazzed about home food preservation. I've been itching to get started on something... anything. So when I found this recipe for year round apricot jam I thought it would be just the ticket. I just knew it would satisfy my need to test out the process of home canning using the boiling water method (as opposed to the pressure cooker method, given that as yet I have no pressure cooker to speak of) AND, it can be made with readily available ingredients. So, as an added bonus, if I completely botched it I wouldn't have to cry over wasted freshly homegrown goods.

I pulled the jars out of the boiling water about 1/2 hour ago, and so far, all looks good! Won't know for sure until tomorrow evening at the soonest.
Yay!

M'm. Healthy!

I love blueberry muffins. Blueberry anything, for that matter. My favorite. So for breakfast this morning I thought I'd make up this packaged blueberry muffin mix that I bought. And, given my healthy / low (simple) carb / low fat & sugar orientation, of course, they are whole wheat blueberry muffins.

I whipped them up and doled them out into the mini-muffin pan and (by the magic of television) *poof* next thing you know I have hot blueberry muffins ready to eat.

I'm eating them thinking "well, these are OK. In fact, given that they are whole wheat, high fiber, etc., they're not bad." "AND, you know, since they're so healthy, you can't really feel too bad if you eat a bunch of them."

But then it hits me... Eating one doesn't really make you feel good. Why bother eating a bunch?

I mean, seriously. No one ever goes "M'm... These are so... healthy!"

Polar bears are drowning.

It's time to get educated and do something.

Nine more days.

Come on feel the noise

I'm not really sure why, but for some reason I've always had this aversion to being too direct in asking for what I want. Something in my upbringing has led me to be a person where being direct and specific somehow affronts my deep underlying understanding of propriety.

It's weird, because you know, it doesn't really bother me when people are direct and specific with me, in fact I prefer it. It's just this way I have of MY communication to others... Maybe it's fear. God, that's ugly. It's a hard light to look at myself under, but life on "easy" isn't worth it. I suspect that may be it. Fear. And fear of committing too strongly, coming down hard on one side or the other and finding out I'm wrong. I'm weak. Worthless and weak. Worse. Wishy-washy.

So what happens is that I take this nonconfrontational passive agressive approach to try to direct things, which often doesn't really work out the way I want it to. My fear is continually reinforced, though, because usually when I finally do break down to the point of being direct and specific, it comes off all harsh and inevitably ends up badly. I don't do direct often enough to learn the nuances, how to gently float the truth out there. I don't take time to polish the edges, just throw out the sharp jagged edged reality and hope it goes well. I toss it like a hand grenade, duck and cover. And I usually leave the outcome feeling like I'm the veteran, short a few body parts, thinking "wow, never do that again."

How to learn? How to nuance and massage the details into something presentable but still representative? It's my bane. It's my blind spot.

Floated some truths recently. I'm hoping I won't end up a victim of myself again.

Wow. Disappointment.

Just when I thought I was going places, I discover I'm really going nowhere fast. Boy is that disappointing.

But I refuse to sit back and be a pawn played to someone else's plan... Winds of change are blowing.

Gotta watch out for those tricksy plant dealers.

Bought a "Wild Ginger" plant, with handwritten tags indicating "Wild Ginger" and showing scientific name "hexastylis arifolia."

Long story short, what I bought is actually hexastylis arifolia, or little brownjug, and NOT, in fact, wild ginger, a.k.a. asarum canadense.

Those tricksy plant pushers.

After Note:
I posted something on the GNPS message boards about my disappointment in the mixup - to be fair, the info I received from Ellen there at their boards:

The confusion that you have encountered has to do with using a common name for a plant as well as some recent scientific name changes.

Hexastylis arifolia was up until recently classified as Asarum arifolia. Then the scientific classification for the evergreen gingers was changed to Hexastylis. Asarum canadense is a deciduous ginger and therefore retained the Asarum nomenclature.

Both plants are still widely referred to as "wild ginger" by common folk. Asarum canadense, while found in Georgia, is not as widely distributed as Hexastylis arifolia. Here is the distribution map on the USDA site for A. canadense:

http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?state_name=Georgia&state
fips=13&symbol=ASCA

Neither plant is associated with Zingiber officinale, which is the ginger associated with cooking in many areas. However, as you said, many native plants were used by indigenous people for certain ailments. Perhaps if you research using the old name (asarum arifolia) you might find more references.

I have both plants in my garden and use them in exactly the same growing conditions: shade to partial sun, neither excessively moist or dry. I happen to enjoy the evergreen presence of the hexastylis plants during the winter. Another great plant is hexastylis shuttleworthii.

Light summer fare

For dinner tonight I made a medley of salads using miscellaneous left over pantry and fridge items. I made a straight boxed Tabouli (mixed with the three slightly overripe plum tomatoes I had left over), a mildly spicy potato salad with a bunch of bagged white potatoes I had left over from making samosa filling last week, and finally, a mixed white bean salad with a bunch of pantry items:


I was worried about the potato salad, my initial inclination was to go the sweet southern potato salad direction, but available ingredients just wouldn't support it, so I ended up incorporating red pepper paste and chili powder... It was mildly spicy, not quite what I had envisioned when I set out, but JB said it was the "best potato salad (he'd) ever eaten" - which is a HUGE compliment coming from someone that eats quite a bit and wide variety of potato salads! Hmm. Ingredients - 8-10 small white potatoes, peeled, boiled and coarsely chopped, lots of low fat mayo, regular and Dijon mustards, various dashes of apple cider vinegar, white vinegar and balsamic vinegar until I got some combination I liked with the right "kick" - dash of lemon juice, lots of dill, probably 3/4 cup chopped celery and the same of onion (sweet vidalia like)... Let me think. Chili paste, chili powder, spicy Hungarian paprika... I think that's it other than salt & pepper. I think. Oh yeah! Probably about 3-4 tablespoons of dill relish.

After note: And, 2 hard boiled eggs, finely chopped. This, coming to me in a dream - realization last night that I left them out of my recap. How sad must my life be, that not only am I dreaming about potato salad, but dreaming about my blog entry about my recipe for potato salad. * Sigh * I am an admitted homebody.

My personal fave was the white bean salad. I'm going through some kind of white bean enamoration phase right now, though, so I'm a bit biased. I do think possibly substituting Kalamata olives for the straight black olives would have been better, but it was a "use what you have" kind of evening. To make the salad, mix up the following in a big bowl:

1 can large black olives - drained and coarsely chopped
1 can great northern beans - drained and rinsed
1 6oz jar quartered marinated artichoke hearts, drained and finely chopped
1/2 an orange bell pepper, seeds and ribs removed, finely chopped
2 scallions - green and whites, finely chopped
3 tbsp sun dried tomatoes (dry, the ones in the bag, not the jar, preferably) - chopped
1/2 cup or so of chopped cilantro
2 tsp. dill weed
1/2 tsp. garam masala
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1/2 tbsp. lime juice
salt & pepper to taste

All the liquid and spice measurements are estimates, it was more "a dash of this, a bit of that" mixing it up, being careful not to go overboard with any one ingredient before mixing thoroughly and tasting for quality.

This was a good one and will definitely be on the agenda again.

"Nice pants."

I'm wearing some rather, well, loud 60's flower pattern / Pucci reminiscent pattern pants today.

I've mostly gotten compliments, but now that Paulie has called them my "Dillards paisley vomit botanical camouflage pants" I'm just not so sure.

Ahh. A weekend.

Looking forward to checking out the Georgia Native Plant Sale at Piedmont Park in the morning!

Here's the garden update:

The blackberries are flowering - they alternate flowering and fruiting years, so we may have fruit next year!

One of my blueberries' leaves are looking rather flaccid (hahaha...!). It has some type of wilt that I'm going to have to research further this weekend. Both are flowering currently, and I didn't have the heart to try to cut them back to encourage root growth as is recommended.

The Camellia Sinensis plants are planted.

Tomatos are all flowering and the peas are really starting to grow and leaf out.

Cucumbers are flowering and sending out climbers.

Broccoli are basically doing absolutely nothing. No growth, no nothing. They're just sitting there being dissapointingly tiny leafy plants. Hmm.

Squashes are getting bigger and leafier.

Strawberries are leafing like nobody's business but only one had flowers (now becoming fruit).

All the tea plants are well, some growing more heartily than others.

MAY is Eat Local month!

May is Eat Local month!

I'm going to have to exempt myself for May 6-15 because I'm not sure I can survive on coffee, pineapple and macadamia nuts while I'm in Hawaii, but I'm going to do my best for the rest of the month, and also try to be more aware going forward. The target is to stay with foods grown or produced within 100 miles.


Eat Local Challenge - My 100 Miles

Beauty is the purgation of superfluities.
- Michaelangelo

Oh. Ahhh. Who?

Hawaii 2 weeks from tomorrow. My mind is already there.

Now, let's all put on our patience hats...

Peevsy.

New guy in our office has decided that I am the answer person... "What is {{person's}} name?," "Where does soandso sit?," "Who does XXX work for?," etc. etc.... I don't mind it, but I do cop a peeve when I am clearly on the telephone, engaged in doing something, etc. and new guy proceeds to hover at the corner of my desk waiting to ask. Even when I am OBVIOUSLY not making eye contact or acknowledging him. He just stands there. Forever. And ever. Sheesh. Ya know?!

Have an urgent customer/business need or question? Hover away!

Have a "hey, do you know..." question? LEAVE! Find someone else, or come back when I have time to deal with you!

Am I cold? Or just bitchy?

Jekyll Island

JB navigating us over the ocean


Jekyll Island Club


Goofing around the resort


Jekyll Sunset

What a weekend!

Went to Jekyll Island for the weekend, whirlwind trip. The boy's plane is finally working!! Or, I guess I should say "our" plane is finally working, but since I am not a pilot and really had no interest in getting the money pit plane to begin with, I always consider it his toy.

But, finally got some advantage from it, so I may begin to appreciate it more now.

Seems like work is 'bout to get busy. I hope. I hope. I have a lot of hopes, and a lot of faith. Cross your fingers for me.

More re: the weekend to come later, along with some cool Jekyll pics. That place is, well, simply put... it's perfect.

Dare ya!

Use it in a sentence at work. Here, I'll help. Here's some possibilities:

"He has such a flaccid leadership style."

"That plant looks a bit flaccid. Have you watered it lately?"

And, the word of the day: Flaccid

Sometimes I'm such a Beavis. That uber technical document I linked to related to the Camillia Sinensis info says something about the leaves becoming "flaccid"... I just kind of giggled to myself, I don't know if I've EVER seen the word used in relation to anything besides... Well... you know.

Latest additions to the tea garden

Stopped by Home Depot last night, intending to pick up some more strawberry plants. One of the four I have now is flowering, but of course I want more, more, more!!!

I also needed to pick up something to cover the pot my radishes are growing in, a couple of days ago I found that something has been quite enjoying some of them - a few were missing and there was a big hole where the something had nuzzled around a bit in there. I suspect squirrels, but who knows? I've seen possums in the woods behind our house, and I guess if they can climb trees they could be out there partying on our back deck all night too. I was looking for some type of chicken wire but couldn't find it immediately so settled for some plastic netting instead. I covered the pot with it and moved it over by the back door, so that hopefully the dogs can scare off whatever critters are eating MY radishes!

Anyway... I found a couple of great additions for the tea garden - a chamomile plant and added a spearmint plant. The chamomile smelled so nice I almost just uprooted the whole thing to immediately dunk it in hot water. Oh! And I got the Camellia Sinensis plants a couple of weeks ago - you have to gradually acclimate them to the outdoors from the shipping packages, and now they're acclimated, I just have to plant them. They're really small though. Patience... patience. Not my strong suit.

In non-tea related news, I also picked up a lavender and another summer squash plant.

I'll try to remember to get some updated shots of the garden to post this weekend.

Crazy shi* happens to JB in the middle of the night.

Sometime after 2 o'clock in the morning this morning/last night, JB half-hacked and suddenly bolted out of bed toward the bathroom, clearly agitated and in distress. Groggy, I ask "what's wrong?" to no response; I hear him in the bathroom coughing. Escalating, I ask again: "what's going on? Are you OK?"

Finally he is able to respond "yeah, I had some kind of acid or something come up in my throat, it really burns." Me, over the next several minutes as he remains coughing over the bathroom sink - "drink some water;" "blow your nose - maybe the acid got up into your sinuses which is making it worse;" "there might be some cough drops in the closet;" "do you want me to bring you something to drink?" I am now fully awake, and wait and worry over him until he finally returns to bed.

As I lay in bed searching for peace I remember a similar incident a couple of months ago. The story begins much the same - sometime in the middle of the night, JB shrieks and suddenly bolts out of bed, clearly agitated and in distress. Groggy, I ask "what's wrong?" Somehow, he has dislocated his shoulder. In his sleep. He is finally able to pop it back in. Still in pain, he downs some Advil and lays down.

I just think it's pretty funny. Not funny, "ha, ha," but funny, "weird." I mean, isn't it a bit odd that these events occur in the middle of the night, while we are both sound asleep?

Meanwhile JB jokes this morning (what he considers a joke) "one day it will be a heart attack."

Not funny, mister. Not too funny.

"On the record..."

I just want to go on the record here and say, I would LOVE to live and/or work overseas, y je parlais un petit peu l'français. Pas très bien, mais j'étudierais et j'ai des amis qui habitent et travaille dans france pour l'assist moi. C'est suffice.

Pants on fire.

A lie can travel halfway around the world
while the truth is putting on its shoes.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910), (attributed)
Ms. Nasty Pants also has this habit of making up stories. The last time this happened, she stopped by my desk and said "don't you think we should ****?" (After note as result of comment - NO, it is NOT something sick/perverted. See comments for more detail). And I said "I don't care. We could **** if you want to. I'll participate."

Next thing you know, she's parading around the office, telling everybody "C-rella wants to ****." Then we **** and she reiterates it - "Well, C-rella really wanted to ****." "You know, C-rella thought we should ****." "C-rella kept begging for us to ****, so I got with soandso and we made it happen."

Not once. Not twice. Not just the day that we ****, but a month later. Not to one person, to every person that would listen. Over. And Over. And Over.

Whatever.

Shut the f*up.

Now when she comes around and asks "don't you want to ****?", my answer is a loud, resounding, "NO!" I'm not going to be known as the "requestor" for ****.

If she wants to ****, she can just dam* well say it.

Instigator.

Yet another reason fast food is bad for you...

Investigation links European fast food to Amazon Destruction

Review: Asian Chicken and Chili Soup

OK, so here's my review of the Asian Chicken and Chili Soup. Good overall flavor, but somehow lacked depth. When you got spoonfuls with the freshly chopped scallion, it had a really nice almost onion soup quality flavor that gave it what the rest was missing.

Possibly the soup would be better in 2nd day status, though I'm a bit skeptical about that since the recipe specifically called for you to reheat/cook some of the ingredients for only a few moments just before eating.

But, the flip side of the light flavor is a benefit... As JB noted, you don't feel bad about eating a whole big bowl of it, and soaking up the bottom with bread since it's pretty light!

I did bring some in for my friend Leah to try, perhaps she'll give us an Iron Chef guest judge review in a comment later, though I can't picture her with a high shy voice constantly giggling in between comments or anything (thinking old school IC here). She'd be more the serious food columnist reviewer, though hopefully not as harsh.

And tonight - Tostadas!

Busy day yesterday

Yesterday was another good and full day. Started out making lemon curd, inspired by Jamie's post from a few days ago, recipe courtesy of Bakerina. It looked simple enough, and I've been really dying to make something and be able to put it in a jar. It was SOOO simple. And it is SOOO delicious!!! Yummy. Now I just need to pick up some mini tart shells and whipped cream, and stop eating it right out of the jar.

Back to all the activities... I planted the 2nd blackberry bush (finally, poor thing).

After the planting I watered in the blackberry, and Murph got thoroughly soaked playing "chase the sprayer" (I have to admit that I encouraged it, spraying in circles and figure 8's while laughing my ass off as the dog chased it at full speed). So, a bath for each dog immediately followed.

Both dogs clean and me soaking wet (and still muddy from planting), my sis called, spent an hour or so on the phone catching up (she had never heard of a food dehydrator {!}).

Finally gave myself a shower, then off to the library with JB.

Back from the library, took a quick nap... And finally, woke up, ate pizza from the farmer's market (yum!), then made Poached Chicken and Chicken Broth so that tonight I can use those to make Asian Chicken and Chili Soup and tomorrow Tostadas Salsa Verde . (Part of my personal Cooking 101 - Independent Study!)

Last Night's Feast

Had a couple of friends over for dinner last night. We made a run to the DeKalb Farmer's Market and came home with a great mix of wonderful goodies! For dinner JB made his famous cedar plank salmon on the grill (topped with fresh basil - yay spring!). As a side we had our staple, Basmati rice, and I made a delightful Mango and Hearts of Palm Salad with Lime Vinaigrette (from Jan/Feb issue of Everyday Food).

Great finds at the Goodwill yesterday

Went to the local Goodwill yesterday to drop off some clothes, and wound up coming home with some great finds! The first thing JB found was a food dehydrator - I've been wanting one, and this one was 1/3 the price of the same model new (I know, cause I've been looking!). It works, looks super clean (even cleaner since I scrubbed it down).

The second thing I stumbled across and was super excited about was this small greenhouse shelf unit:

And finally, JB found this kerosene heater (we can run it on veggie oil, of course) that he was all jazzed about:


All in all, a great day, super finds for (of course) a super price!!!

Bye, bye Bella.

Sweet Bella got adopted!
JB had enrolled her in the humane society's "rehoming" program and last weekend he took her to the humane society adoption center in the Discover Mills Mall. Of course, someone took an instant shine to the cutie, but they were going out of town for Spring Break and couldn't comfortably take her home until this weekend.

She is a sweet girl and going to a great home - the lady + 3 small children (oldest is 5) came to pick Bella up yesterday (husband was out of town on business or some such). It made me feel a bit better about giving up baby Bella bear to hear the lady talk about how this is going to be the dog that the children grow up with and remember as their childhood pet (the 5 year old will know the dog into her teenage years, etc.).

Bye, bye Bella. All the luck and love in the world to you. We'll miss you.

Global Warming

Change my evil ways

So currently I'm a big house person. What I mean by that is that my S.O. and I, and our two dogs Gracie and Murphy, occupy a 3 story (two story plus daylight basement), 5 bedroom, 3.5 bath house. I've often thought and voiced to the S.O. that it's a waste, too much house for the two of us. Two of the bedrooms pretty much stay closed at all times, except on the rare occasion we have guests.

It goes to the whole overly consumeristic and bigger is better mentality that many of us have. It's a bad mentality. More isn't actually better, it's just, well, more. Not to mention the whole environmental unfriendliness of it.

I'm not moving immediately. I'm too damn comfortable, and sometimes thats a bad thing - too much comfort can soak up all those resolutions to do the right things - do the right thing, or do the easy thing. Often I choose the easy one. I don't always practice what I preach right away, but I keep preaching anyway, because just because I'm lazy doesn't mean I don't believe it. And when the time comes I'll choose smarter.

So, for those of you that want to do the right things, eventually, a little help and information never hurts:

The Small House Society

Wee Houses

And, if you don't believe in global warming (and, yes, big houses are a contributor), read this, or this, or this.

Welcome to Preserving Food at Home: A Self-Study

Yay! This site has a free internet self study course... I'm registered!

I've got to take those next steps for my goals, start penciling in times and days to devote to getting to everything I want to do more of. It's great that I want to do so much, but it really doesn't matter if I never actually take the steps to pursue it because I'm busy, what, watching really bad reality TV? Ya know?

Next steps, develop a plan - less TV, more progress.

Saving myself

OK so I saved myself. I had to. *whew*

Bad enough I have to explain how humiliating it would be to someone. And, of course, someone who's still wearing rose colored glasses about the intent and characteristics of our team.

Blech. What a lovely day. Not only do I get to experience deep hurt and humiliation once (on my birthday, no less! with my SO out of town until 11pm that night!), but I get to relive it again (and again).

I'm definitely going to leave here for lunch today. I need a sun bath for my mood.

-----
Eww. After note because I feel it is necessary to add something here. We do have some VERY nice people on our team that I am totally not crediting for their niceness (I realize it sounds like the whole team sucks, and truthfully it doesn't). Just that for the most part the nice people are, well, men. What that means is that they have no involvement in any birthday well wishing responsibilities. And, of the non-catty women, they know that particular people manage the birthday calendars, so they don't worry too much about it.

Oh well. I am Over It. As they said once on the show "Friends"... "Bitter, party of one? Your table is available."

And damn if life isn't just too short to be bitter.

Bunches of Birthdays

Happy birthday Fuzzy, happy soon to be birthday Rhi!

Today has got me thinking birthdays. Yesterday we celebrated our boss' birthday, and while we were all gathered together around the communal goodies, the coordinator I work with asked me when my birthday is. "January" I whispered. Why did I whisper, you ask? Because my birthday was conveniently "forgotten" by my team this year. Or, more specifically, what I believe to be true is, my birthday was subjected to selective memory by the catty haters I work with that are the birthday ringleaders. And, realistically, I am just fine with that. Actually, no I'm not, I'm hurt. But I think it's pretty dumb of me to feel hurt by the actions of shallow and vindictive people. So, I know. Get over it. But whatever, I do have feelings.

And, you know, I'm normally the optimistic benefit of the doubt person, but I had "BDAY" written on my VERY publicly displayed calendar in BIG, PINK letters, and I know I saw a few different people eyeing it openly in the days beforehand. Not to mention, my birthday was conveniently forgotten and belatedly celebrated last year as well. If anyone felt even a little bad about it then, they would have noted it down for future reference.

So (cut back to me, standing in the conference room holding my bowl of sugar free ice cream), of course my coordinator (a very nice and naive lady) looked at me with horror and whispered back "but, why didn't we....?" and I promptly shushed her and changed the topic. So today she asked me "you're going to be here Friday, aren't you?"

How do I explain - "thanks very much for your kind thoughts and friendliness, but it would be absolutely, utterly HUMILIATING to me to now have a ridiculously belated birthday celebration, and I really prefer not to give all the catty bitches the satisfaction of the public display of my pretend forgotten birthday three months after the fact"???????

Help. Just kill me now.

After note # 2: Yeah, I'm nothing if not proud.

Things to do before I die Things to do before I get senile and forget who I am

Is it me or is my post title morbid? But what else can I call it? Things to do before I get senile and forget who I am? There. Pablo reminded me, but this actually dates back to my "goals" post a long time ago (which, of course, I never sat down and did).

- Learn to fluently speak at least one other language.
- Learn to REALLY knit (like make stuff other than scarves!).
- Learn to crochet.
- Learn to identify wild edibles and other species of plants, tree species, etc.
- Learn to live "stuff" free to the fullest extent possible. Remember to ask myself "yes, but do I LOVE it?" every time.
- Start a fire, once, without matches or lighter. Just to say I did.
- Learn to can vegetables and make jam.
- Become highly literate in theology.
- Become highly literate in holistic healing, herbs, etc.
- Learn to really cook (like, more than 5-6 things, and without recipes).
- Let people in and connect with them. Be there - mind and body. Call friends and get together with them sometimes.
- Be "cut" - have a great superhero bod, like Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft Tombraider. But realistically I'll settle for "be not flabby," and preferably "be toned"
- Volunteer in some way for one of the causes I believe in and at least once walk away feeling like I made a difference.
- Learn to ride, and control, a horse.
- Keep track (keep journals, blogs, etc.) & make goals.
- Travel to (this list is really long and in fact not comprehensive)
* Alaska
* New Zealand / Australia (these two are *almost* interchangeable for me right now)
* Germany
* Russia
* Switzerland
* Austria
* Belgium
* Spain
* Every single US National Park


Things I've done already that I'm glad about:
- Learned a very small smattering (about enough to say "I don't know") of French & Spanish, and cussed a French guy out in French
- Skydived twice
- Scuba dived Cozumel, California, etc.
- Traveled to Paris, Lyon, London, Geneva (just for dinner); Florence, Pisa, Rome
- Gone on a buncha cruises and seen the Carribean and the Bahamas, wedding-mooned in St. Lucia
- Camping in Yosemite. Just, "wow."
- Started to learn to knit
- Quit smoking (even though I gained 50 pounds, I'm still glad!)
- Subsequently lost 25 pounds (still working on losing 5-10 more, but that's about it ; I was a bit less than my ideal weight before at 5'10" and 135, size 4)
- Learned to sew (with a sewing machine)
- Have begun my self-teaching via experimentation in cooking lessons
- Taken horseback riding lessons
- Started using the elliptical machine purchased this past weekend

To look at later...

The National Center for Home Food Preservation

Playing in the dirt again

I am really loving gardening this year! Something about the prospect of literal "fruits of my labor" that really appeals to me. Last year it was small time, red peppers and cherry tomatoes in containers on the deck. This year we're pulling out all the stops. Hopefully we wind up with something to show for it (keep those fingers crossed)!

Yesterday was spent playing in the dirt once more. Here's my list:
- Replaced the tomatoes that I thought had been killed in the frost (when I started to dig them up, at the base of the plants two actually look as if they could come back, so I ended up just moving them)
- Planted a new red pepper plant for the one that died in that same cold snap
- Moved the strawberry plants out of the raised bed and into big planter bowls (bowls which I found out after the fact, when I noticed that after watering I had strawberry soup [!wt?!], have no drainage holes - luckily they are plastic so we just drilled some)
- Planted 2x cucumber plants
- Planted some lemon balm (thanks again to my secret santa - who has continued to remain anonymous [[aarrgghh!]], I noticed that the Lemon Rose Herb Tea has Lemon Balm in it so I bought some)
And....the finale
- Planted one of the two blackberry bushes I bought (yay!)

I am thinking of buying one of those watcha callits... Dehydrator thingies? So that I can easily dry and store my tea herbs, and maybe fruits too (if and when we have any) for the winter.

Oh, yeah, and I want to learn about canning and jam-making.

Pioneer C-rella.

On my 2nd cup

* hack * - gasp -
((exaggerated childlike death spin before dropping to the floor))

KIDDING! M'm. Delicious.

Oooh I have a secret santa... !

So I got the coolest present this morning, left mysteriously (anonymously) on my desk.... Lemon Rose Herb Tea, from a LOCAL herb place, no less!!! I have to say this may be the coolest and most thoughtful thing... I am "wowed" by someone really thinking of me (so many gifts are trifles, monetary rewards for the occasion, rather than a thoughtful and insightful personalized gift).

The local place is Hartley's Herbs, in Cleveland, GA.

Of course, not knowing who left the present is making me
* C-R-A-Z-Y *

I am all weird about presents (not just about presents, you say, yes, I know) and have such a hard time accepting them, thanking people for them, etc. I don't know why. I guess it is just because I am seriously, developmentally, a relationship/friendship retard. I am like the backwards kid and struggle with basic interpersonal relationship things... Or maybe I just feel like that, becoming a self fulfilling prophesy... either way, wow, TMI and *tangent!*!

But being the freakish anal control freak that I am, of course the secret present giver thing is making me crazy. I think because I am all paranoid about being a bad recipient and not actually ever finding and thanking the person. So, if nothing else, here goes...

Thanks, Secret Santa, whoever you are!!
You rock.


After note
I hope it's not secretly poisonous (sips tea). I know I am well and widely disliked around here. I'm not paranoid or anything.

It's delicious, by the way.
.....................................I'm a freak.

JLWS... Love you babe

Somehow this freaky stupid blogger lost your comment but I abso-fricking-lutely did not reject it or something, I remember reading it and I KNOW I hit publish.

Blogger is a freaky thing for me lately though because a minute ago it lost ALL my comments (all my posts said 0 comments) and I totally freaked out and then they came back. But anyway

I love you chick and I'm totally not trying to exclude you

This looks like MY math.

Stupid creepy hobo.

So, I'm sitting in traffic this morning next to a potato chip truck. Some stupid off brand chip, apparently the official chip of Nascar. (After note - the chips are Golden Flake, and the pimped sponsorship is actually Talladega Super Speedway. As Rhi would say - "pffft." Whatever.)

The whole side of the truck and back of the truck is pimping out their Nascar (Talladega) tie-in. But, for some strange reason, on the back upper left panel of the truck, is a small image of a smiling hobo clown kind of like this:



And, above the clown it says "Drive safe - buckle up!"

Now, what I don't get is... What the fuc* is the significance of the clown in this scenario???!!! Are they calling me a clown if I don't buckle my seat belt? Will people pay more attention because the creepy hobo is telling them to?

Whatever. Stupid off brand second rate chip company.

Yesterday was perfect.

Spent the day yesterday leveling a section of yard for a new shed (John) and planting blueberry bushes (me). Weather was beautiful. All around, a perfect day!

And then I turn into a blubbering blob under pressure

Murphy came in bleeding from a cut under his eye. I immediately began to practically have a panic attack and turned into a huge shaking blubbering blob on the phone with John. He is the calm one when that happens, thank god.

The tears came in waves like stress aftershocks for an hour after.

I'm a mess. If anything happens to my dogs you might as well put a fork in me; I'm done.

Sometimes I am too pragmatic for my own good

I am very much a "what's done is done" kind of person and have very little time for people who want to dwell on something that they cannot change.

John is often the "sensitive" one in our relationship and my overly pragmatic viewpoint can drive a wedge between us sometimes.

At these times I feel he wants to revel in his sadness, to wear it like a lead cloak, to have it permeate every aspect of his existence... It shows in his walk, his voice, his words, his overall demeanor. And then he often recedes into the sadness for long periods, an entire day, or days.

I just cannot do that. I don't work that way. It doesn't mean that I am not sad, that I feel nothing, I am just more pragmatic about it. Damn sad. Mourn a moment. Move on. How does it go? Accept the things I cannot change.

I think my relationship with my sister is the same way. We had different ways of dealing with my mom's death, and she just didn't understand mine. I miss my mom often, but I don't want to have weepy hour long phone conversations on the anniversary of her death. Want to call me on her birthday, or mother's day, to talk about how great she was, what we loved about her? I'm all for it.

But I can't wear that cloak. It would smother me. There is a small faint candle in my heart that I've thought about snuffing out myself before. If I put the cloak on I might do it. I just can't. There are some darknesses inside I don't dare to look upon, weights I could easily reach out and grab to take me to explore the depths. They fascinate me but I am wise enough to turn away.

Yes, I am disconnected. In some ways from my true self, in some ways from others.

I guess I'm just insensitive.

Pissy

I am so dam pissy at work lately, I am not sure what is going on with me. I am not normally a pissy person! I think it is a result of feeling totally unchallenged by my current role and no immediate prospect of change. I am definitely the type of person that needs to do new things that keep me learning, even if it means taking a lateral move just to do something different. Once I get bored it all starts to go downhill. I am really trying to hang in there and keep a good attitude, but I can tell I'm not pulling it off all the time... Or even most of the time. Could be compounded by PMS... Stupid hormones.

Time to start the positive self-talk mantras:
"I love my job."

"I love my job."

"I love doing the same thing over and over all day"
(wait, maybe that's not such a good one...)

Comin Clean

I've got to come clean. OK, so I have to admit it.

I'm actually a ridiculously compulsively honest, to a fault, person. I mean, I'm the person who, when someone I am with in line says to the cashier "but, that came from the 20% off rack" I'm saying, "Nooo, that one was on the adjacent rack and not on sale, remember?" - ruining their plans to take advantage of the retail system.

Anyway, so my minor infraction of honesty has been bothering me for the past month. The delicious rice pudding recipe? I ADMIT IT!!! I totally stole it. To see the source, visit the page of my personal idol (I want to be her, she's living my dream!!!) at 10 Signs Like This.

As a footnote - the rest of the stuff here, be it good, bad, or indifferent, unless otherwise credited, is all me. Recipes included. Guaranteed.

I found a source *wink*wink*

Logee's Greenhouse has the Camellia Sinensis (tea plants)! I ordered two and will let ya'll know how they look when they get here :) I am so excited.

I'm such a geek.

Thinking about "growing my own" - tea, that is! !

My recent purchase of a spearmint plant, followed by an Echinacea plant (purple coneflower) has led me to thinking about growing my own tea garden. Upon further researching the subject, apparently you can make your own green, oolong or black tea by utilizing the Camellia Sinensis shrub. Problem is, if you grow it from seed, it takes three years for this sucker to grow big enough to start using its leaves for tea, and I just don't know if I have that kind of patience!! Looks like I'll be doing some searching at the local greenhouses to see if anyone has an actual plant that I can buy.

Baby Bella

The newly psuedo-adopted puppy, Bella, can be seen here for the time being. We had hoped to integrate her with our pack, but our boy dog Murphy is being a shi* head... I love him the most though. I think its a case of fighting it out to establish the Omega (bottom) dog, and he doesn't want to be it. Who can blame him?

Surprisingly, Bella is getting along great with our girl dog, Gracie (the "experts" say that normally its the female dogs that fight). Gracie and Bella have been playing like best friends, it only turns ugly when Murphy gets in the middle.

Bella is a sweet girl, we're going to let her stay with us until we can find her a good home (or she totally melds in and the pack stabilizes, whichever comes first!). She's a doll baby - less than a year old (vet said 7-8 months), no health issues. She's about 35# and should be almost full grown. She's got short stubby little legs and a really long body (kind of like a basset hound or something? Legs aren't quite that short, but that gives you the basic idea of her shape), and the sweetest personality you'll ever meet.

She's also very calm, at least in comparison to what I remember of my other two dogs at her age. She likes to lay next to you and get her neck scratched, and will follow you most anywhere.

OK, to be honest, she's not quite housebroken, but she's a puppy and we're pretty sure she's been an outdoor dog all her life. A little crate training would probably be all she needs to get her on track. She seems to be a quick learner about everything so far!

If you'd like to adopt Bella, let me know; she is a doll and she deserves a loving home.

I so want to do this

Sent the link to John, I think we should do one of their classes as a vacation in an upcoming year very soon (seems we plan our vacations a year or more in advance, or at least decide what they will be). I don't know which course, hunter-gatherer maybe? Too fun, I would L-O-V-E it ! ! !

PS we accidentally got a new dog this weekend. More to come after work, with pics.

2006 Eat Local Challenge coming in May

2006 Eat Local Challenge is in MAY this year, mark your calendars!

10 Reasons to Eat Local

Local places to pick your own (berries, tomatoes, apples, etc.).

And, finally.... you can't beat these meats! Haaaahhaaha!!!! I make myself laugh.

Vegemobile Diaries

Got 1075 miles this time (regular diesel tank last filled 02/08/06).

Biggest problem was that I kept forgetting to switch over to run on the veggie oil (especially if it took a while for the car to get warmed up)! Hopefully that won't be as big an issue once it gets warmer.

Filled up diesel, 11.747 gallons, $2.559/ gallon $30.06.

Delicious salad

Ingredients:

1 mango, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 D'Anjou pear, peeled, cored and chopped
Golden Raisins
Crumbled gorgonzola (or any bleu) cheese
Organic baby spinach leaves
Green lettuce or lettuce mix
Good Seasons Red Raspberry Vinagrette with Poppy Seed Dressing

Mix the mango, pear and raisins. In a separate bowl, mix the spinach and lettuce leaves. Sprinkle the lettuce mix with the gorgonzola, then top with the mango mixture.

For this recipe, I recommend serving it with the Good Seasons dressing. Although I enjoy most of the fruit-based dressings (including Neuman's), most have a very strong flavor that would not do well alongside this already flavorful salad. The Good Seasons vinagrette is just light enough, and yet still flavorful, to be a good complement to this mix.

John, who is not known to be a salad lover - particularly when it is a side salad competing with a main course of filet mignon, as it was when I put this together on Sunday night - cleaned his salad bowl on this one!

The new garden!

So John and I built a garden this weekend. Murphy helped; he got all muddy and ran around the house and then jumped on the bed. Gotta love it!

We planted all kinds of green goodness, namely:
- Sweet peas
- Broccoli
- Green & Yellow Bell Peppers
- Tomatoes (3 kinds)
- Strawberries
- Cilantro
- Parsley
- Spearmint

Cucumbers to come, later on... They weren't available yet. Technically the last frost date in our area is April 10th, so according to that, we shouldn't have planted most of those tender items... But, oh well, we were just too excited about the garden to leave it empty. Hopefully it won't have another cold snap with a frost. We'll see!

Simple sweet

This doesn't seem like it should work, but believe me, it does. If anyone else out there often finds themselves with a quart or more of milk that is on the verge of expiration, the recipe that follows is a good thing to do with it.

I recommend Basmati rice, for this recipe (courtesy of 10 Signs Like This) but also, really, well, for pretty much everything. Hands down, it is the best. Check any Indo-Pak grocery to buy in huge burlap bags at an awesome price (don't waste your money on the teeny overprocessed version of Basmati, or Texmati, or any other variation, at your local grocer).

RICE PUDDING
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Mix 4 Tbs. dry rice with 6 Tbs. sugar and 1 quart of milk in an oven dish. Bake 3 hours, or until creamy inside and dark golden brown on top.


If you want to spice it up a bit add a touch of cinnamon or allspice. Heck, if you're feeling really crazy, try throwing in some raisins.

Yum. Enjoy!

Stress

OK, so I quit smoking, like, over 4 years ago. I had dreams the other night that I had reverted to a hard core (pack a day) smoker over the weekend and that I was going to have to really work to get that back out of my system and start over. Weird, right? I think its because I've been uber stressed lately, and eating all kinds of crap (my secret worries about ballooning back up to some larger weight... so far I've recorded a solid 1.5 lb increase that is constently there)....

Anyways. Got to rein myself back in. I keep myself on such a tight leash that I'm sort of worried that if I let it slip I could just go totally out of control nuts.

Got my stuff

Ha! And I'm so over it. Not even pissed or anything. Just over it. All the drama (in my head)... My main problem was worrying I would NEVER get it back (that has happened to me wayy, wayy too many times), or if I did there would be something major wrong with it that was causing all the procrastination to begin with.

And that's it, no nothing, just "here's your stuff." Goes to show me, got to be clear on expectations up front - no one knows your rules but you.

So, IF I ever loan anything to anybody again (big if!), first of all you'll know I must really like you, second of all I either won't have any expectation of getting it back at all, or I'll lay out my rules up front. 'K?? And if that shit doesn't clear it all up and I still have problems getting my stuff, then t'hell with alla ya'll, I won't be your lendin fool.

Nuff said.

Sunburn

Yesterday I got home from my riding lesson and it was SOOO nice out that I just went straight onto the back deck and sat soaking in the sun. I didn't even stop to shower, I just pulled off my socks and paddock boots, pulled up my riding breeches to my knees... And sat, soaking in the first real sun of the season.

I love spring, beautiful perfect days like yesterday. Today's awkward sunburn v-necks down my chest and bands around my arms along the lines of yesterday's t-shirt, making sharp shadow lines down each arm and leg, and each winter white toe kissed with streaks of fiery tomato red.

So worth it; the reminder, spring is coming... Sun is here.

I am so f*ing excited

We're going to Washington to see DMB at the Gorge... Should be great; we've been wanting to explore the great northwest, we'll take a little sampler of it and then figure out where to go from here, once we've seen a bit. As for DMB, a little preview at the Aug. ATL show (always on a Tuesday, blech, goes to show what they think of the straight laced southern baptist region...), to be followed up by a nice Sept. three-day labor day retreat, music back to back Fri/Sat/Sun in beautiful country... We'll kick off with a little Seattle or Portland city life for a couple days prior and for the 3 day event move to living my favorite method, in a tent, hard core, travel to the public showers in your flip-flops, see if the shower roulette gods give you hot or cold. Nothing like waking up and breathing the air that just bounced off the river, the mountain, the GORGE... You and nature, and $1000 worth of hard core REI gear. Got To. Got To Love It.

So much for Rule # 5

One, Two, Three Four Five

A little bit of patience in my life
A little bit of respect on my side
A little understanding's all I need
A little bit of my stuff I'd like to see

Clap your hands once
And clap your hands twice
If you give my stuff back now
Then I'll be all right

Goals

I have been thinking a lot about having goals lately. Stems from my overall life dissatisfaction, feeling that I am not as far along as I want to be, pretty much in anything. My career, my friendships, my personal development. I have high standards, I am not there. If there is, in fact, an attainable "there" to get to at all for me (I think my bar may continue to rise as I rise to reach it).

I want, I want, I want. But I never sit down and make a plan of attack to get. I only "get" if it is a simple process, almost whereby I can simply do one step that begins me on the path and the end is thereby inevitable. If it requires a plan, I don't ever seem to get there, mostly because I never actually sit down and plan it out.

I'm not much of a list maker; I have a certain disdain for making lists and never getting anywhere. I don't want to be that person. I believe in the words of the enlightened one (Yoda): "do or do not; there is no try." Live it. Don't list it.

But, I do think that sometimes, to reach difficult goals, you have to have a plan. So here goes:

# 1 - Sit down sometime this weekend and develop a list of goals.

There. I feel better now, I have a plan (to make one, anyway).

Here I built up all this dread...

And she was really nice about it.

Blech

I asked for my stuff back.... I went by to mention it to her, but (as I secretly breathe a sigh of relief) she had stepped out so I sent it in an email, tagged onto a work question.

Now I feel icky. There's really no nice way to say "hey, do you mind giving me my stuff back???"

Now, why should I have to feel icky after I did something nice?!?! Blech.

That'll teach me.

Never a borrower nor a lender be.

I hate loaning stuff out. I always end up saying I'll never do it again, but of course, I want to be a nice person, a good friend, etc. I just never learn. People are crappy and inconsiderate borrowers, and me being the nice non-confrontational person that I am, I always end up feeling like I've been taken advantage of.

Now, don't get me wrong, I admit it - I myself have been the crappy borrower before. The difference is, I realized that I was WRONG, and I've since turned over a new leaf. Nowadays, I just don't borrow stuff from people - the simplest way to avoid any bad borrower/lender situations. On the very few occasions that I actually do borrow something, I will make it a point to follow my rules of borrowing etiquette.

I'm married to a bad borrower, who borrowed some gear (granted, from one of his best friends) and didn't return it for months afterwards. I asked him about it a couple of times in the weeks immediately after we got back, and basically got a "mind your own business, it's not a problem" attitude. Boy was JB surprised when, after so many months, his friend finally had to break down and ask for his own stuff back (see my rules below). JB had forgotten he even had it! Of course, I knew exactly where it was all along - it being a somewhat sensitive topic for me after so many bad experiences. And then (!) he actually MAILED the stuff back !! Not following rule # 5 at all. Guess what?! Yep, the package arrived damaged, with half the stuff missing. I don't know if he followed rule # 6 yet or not, and that all transpired a couple of months ago. If not, maybe a nice gift certificate to a sporting goods store (or a joint shopping trip, more fun & personal), given ASAP, would be in order...?

I have this friend at work, I loaned her about $200 worth of snowboarding gear for a trip she took at the beginning of February. She's not following the rules. Maybe she'll see my website and get the hint. Now, she hasn't broken all the rules... YET. If she doesn't return my stuff to me tomorrow, I'm going to be forced to do all the stuff I shouldn't have to, and her credibility will be GONE (it's already going... going...). Funny, she's always the one pointing out other people's etiquette faux pas or behavioral quirks. I thought for sure she knew the borrowing etiquette rules, which is why I even loaned her the stuff to begin with. Huh.

Borrowing Etiquette 101

Borrowing Etiquette Rule # 1: If you borrow something for a particular purpose (i.e. a snowboarding weekend), return the borrowed materials within 1 week after you are done with them.

Borrowing Etiquette Rule # 2: If you should, for some reason, fail to be able to follow Rule # 1, tell the loaning party when they can expect to get the stuff back from you.

Borrowing Etiquette Rule # 3: If rules # 1 and # 2 above are followed, this rule would not need to exist - the loaning party should never, never (NEVER.) have to ask the borrower when they will get their stuff back, and if they can have it back.

Borrowing Etiquette Rule # 4: If rules 1 & 2 are broken, and Rule # 3 actually has to come into play, and the lending party is asking for their stuff back (after the understood 1 week grace period), they DO NOT have to have a reason or explanation for asking for their own property back from you.

Borrowing Etiquette Rule # 5: If, the lending party is finally forced by your poor borrowing habits to finally have to ask for their own stuff back, return the goods immediately. Even if it means going out of your way to do so.

Borrowing Etiquette Rule # 6: This one is hopefully the one everyone already knows - return the items in as good condition as they were when you borrowed them. If not, make it right.


What did that Chinese calendar thing say? "They can find fault with many things and are noted for their sharp tongues?" Yeah. OK. You got me, there is a point there. But really, are my rules wrong?? Seriously.

It's my year !!!

According to the Chinese Zodiac, at least. (put on your high pitched new joisey gangsta accent:) Yeah... I was born in 1982... Yeah...

I actually think this description of my personality (courtesy of) is pretty spot-on:

Year of the Dog

1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006

People born in the Year of the Dog possess the best traits of human nature. They have a deep sense of loyalty, are honest, and inspire other people's confidence because they know how to keep secrets. But Dog People are somewhat selfish, terribly stubborn, and eccentric. They care little for wealth, yet somehow always seem to have money. They can be cold emotionally and sometimes distant at parties. They can find fault with many things and are noted for their sharp tongues. Dog people make good leaders. They are compatible with those born in the Years of the Horse, Tiger, and Rabbit.

Ms. Nasty Pants

There is this person at our office who, for whatever reason, refuses to flush the toilet. And sometimes, on special occasions, she even leaves a spray of lovely lemon yellow piss on the toilet seat as a little added bonus for whoever discovers the bowl of joy.

Now, I am in the process of trying to be a kinder and gentler C-Rella. I am trying to move away from my center of intolerance and move to a center of love, if you will. But, sometimes I can't help it. I just have to say it.

What the hell is wrong with people?!

Perhaps it is a (VERY, VERY) misguided effort at water conservation. Now, I'm all on board for some conservation efforts. Not flushing the toilet? Not one of them.

I am a non-confrontational person, and I have only once had direct evidence of the culprit as she tried to make her hasty exit from the scene of the crime. Fortunately there was another concerned citizen present at the time who called her on it (at which time said culprit tried to play it off as some type of urinary amnesia). I've accumulated a vast array of circumstantial evidence which supports a my single-party offender theory, such as the party in question being in the bathroom brushing her teeth at the time I arrive to discover the bowl of joy, as it happened this morning.

Suggestions on dealing with this nasty ass person, please?????

Help me, help all of us.

P.S. (Response to Anonymous)

So I got a comment (through my comment filter, I might note) from "Anonymous" that said "yet you allow anonymous comments."

Yeah. You may have noticed, anonymous, no, actually I don't. Ya phucking coward.

I allow people to submit comments for my review under the comment submittal selection "anonymous," because I don't want to force people to sign up for blogger, or create some other type of online "identity" that they may or may not want. I do, however, expect you to put your signoff at the bottom of your comment if you elect to use this option.

So, for all of you anonymous voyeuristic passive agressive smack talkers out there... Get back to me when you're willing to sign your name to your witty yet acerbic rhetoric. Oh wait, that's my rhetoric. Yours is the irrelevant, unsubstantiated one.

Anonymous comments are bullshi*, man.

Not anything really related to my site, but just my general reaction to anyone that posts comments anonymously on somebody else's site. It's bullshi*, man. Either have the balls and conviction to stand by your usually 'righteous indignation' 'moral superiority complex' statement - show that you are at least willing to try to back it up, and at the very least you stand by it - or just keep that crap to yourself. By virtue of your unwillingness to put your signature on it, you already know it's weak, or biased, or both.

Vegemobile update

OK, had to fill up the diesel tank today - last time I filled it was 01/13/06. I got 1121.4 miles on "one" tank of diesel - supplemented by who knows how many refills of the vegetable oil tank in the trunk. But, since the diesel costs me aprx. $2.50/gallon and the vegetable oil costs me about $.70/gallon, I think it's a pretty good story.

Also, since its winter it takes longer for the engine to heat up, which impacts when I can switch over to run on the veg oil. In summer I'll probably get much further. Heck, when it's really warm I could leave it set to run on veg oil only.

Vegemobile diaries, chapter 2: Filled up tank 02/08/06. 10.997 gallons, $2.499/gallon @ $27.48.

.

I love that Picasa2 can make my Tuesday Morning Sunrise shots look like a great Japanese print

Satisfied am I
Yet times it seems I'd sell my soul
For some sad carnie's vision ---
A look into my future.

And what I'd find? Some vision -
where what we see today
and all the things we might have seen
meld into the best
of all possible realities

yet then escape us

an easing into the full day
from the surreal glorious sunrise
the world remains

still pink around the edges

As if to remind us
those visions --- they were there.