Self portrait

Nothin' much happenin' 'round here ... hence the lack of posts. But I just did this meme on my favorite message board & thought I'd pass it along.

Here's how it works:
1. Go to www.photobucket.com (don't sign in)
2. Type in your answer to the question in the "search" box
3. Use only the first page
4. Copy the img tag and paste for the answer (Unless you're on sucky Blogger. In that case, copy the Direct Link tag and use the Add Image tool)



1. What is your real first name?




2. What is your relationship status?




3. What is your favorite color?




4. What is one word to describe you?




5. What are you listening to?




6. Dream vacation?




7. Who is your best friend?




8. Nickname/Screenname?




9. Where do you work?




10. What makes you laugh?

3 (aka The Things We Do For Love)

In case any of you are considering getting married one day, please allow me to humbly suggest to have your wedding on April 2nd. It's a really kickass day.

This year, April 2nd felt a lot like how it did back in Tulsa in 2005. It was sunny, but not hot. The air felt clean and refreshing. The trees and bushes and flowers were in all their early spring glory. Gorgeous. But this year instead of dashing off to a frou-frou salon to get prettified, I started the day by mowing the lawn for the first time this season. It took a lot less time and effort to tidy my garden than it did to tidy myself on our wedding day. Funny that.


Gardening was not the biggest task of my day though. I had decided that I wanted to make something special for Tim for our anniversary. And lord help me, I settled on cheese and onion pasties. Tim loves these things & hadn't eaten one in the 3 years since he left England to be with me. I decided to show him that he could have me and cheesey, oniony goodness, too. The problem?
Pastry.
Pasties are made from pastry. Which means rolling out dough. And we all know how much I love pastry dough, don't we. But this is Tim and Tim deserves it, so I made the shortcrust pastry dough from scratch. I will admit that I uttered one grunt of frustration. And when Tim made the mistake of checking in on my progress, I was a bit cross with him. But the final result was amazingly tasty. I wish I'd taken photos, but I was too busy stuffing my face. For the first time ever, pastry dough was worth the effort.


I kept dessert simple: Brownies. But because I'm goofy and romantic, I cut out the brownies into little circles which I stacked on top of one another and dusted with powdered sugar. See? Little chocolate wedding cakes!

In a final gesture of love for my husband, I did not watch America's Next Top Model last night. Instead we watched episodes of Black Adder and the season of Doctor Who with Christopher Ecclestone. I know that there are people out there who would consider that to be a pretty lame way to celebrate a wedding anniversary, but I wouldn't want it any other way. Tim and I don't need fancy gifts and frippery. Good food, good entertainment, and a comfy spot to cuddle on the couch are all we need. I guess that's how we've managed to stay happy together: simple pleasures and low expectations. :P

No, they don't make dentures for cats

Yesterday Millie had 7 teeth pulled. Seven! Can you even imagine? The vet said that some of her teeth were loose & others were so rotten they had holes in them. Of her 4 canine teeth, she only has 1 left. Poor baby. Poor, dear, snaggle-toothed kitten. On top of this, she has bald patches on two of her legs for the IVs. She has been through so much! As soon as she got home yesterday afternoon, Millie ran to her favorite room - the guest room - and has rarely ventured out of it since then. I don't blame her one bit.

The good news is that, amazingly enough, Millie does not seem to hate us. I was sure she would reject us completely for days, but she has actually been quite affectionate. Don't get me wrong. She has spent a lot of time snoozing under the bed. But if I come into her room, she walks right out, purring away, & pretty much demanding to be pet and scratched and scratched some more! It's as if there's no such thing as too much affection. Tim thinks she wants to be reassured that everything is okay. I just find it odd that she's looking to us for that reassurance - the people who dragged her out from under the bed, stuffed her in a bag, and left her at the vet's office. But hey. Whatever makes her happy, ya know?

The vet says she should be mostly healed in a week. In the mean time, she has to take painkillers and antibiotics twice a day. The great news is that both of these drugs are in liquid form and can be mixed with her soft food (which she is eating with as much gusto as usual). Things will only get better from here.

And in case you were wondering, I bought a proper, soft cat carrier. No more pillow cases for my baby.

Don't know whatcha got til it's gone

Picture me, if you will, wandering around my neighborhood, my hair unbrushed, tears streaming down my face, an empty can of cat food in my hand, as I poked around the fringes of my neighbors' properties, sqinting my eyes as I strained to look under their bushes. That defined most of Wednesday afternoon for me. It was a bad day.

Here's the short story: Millie got out, but she came back. It was an emotionally exhausting affair. I cried myself into a migraine that made me so nauseated I nearly threw up (Which is amazing for me. It's been a decade since I last puked. TMI?). Tim even left work 3 hours early to help look for her. In the end, we found her curled up on our bed (do not ask me how long she had been there). The important thing is that she's back at home and safe and healthy. She was especially cuddly and lovable afterwards - as if she had finally realized that this is her home now & she was happy with that fact. All was good in the world of Millie.

Well, not quite. I noticed this week that Millie was having trouble eating. Sometimes while eating crunchy or chewy food, she would yelp and refuse to eat more. So yesterday I took her to the vet's office for the very first time. She knew something was up when I tried to put her in the cat carrier - a carrier that is far too small for her I realized. So instead I put Millie in a pillow case. Yup, I put the cat in the bag. Heh heh.

The good news is that Millie won the Best Cat of the Day award at the vet's office. She didn't bite or scratch or yowl or anything. She didn't run away or hide. Her tail didn't fluff up & her ears didn't flatten back against her head. She didn't even flinch when they took a blood sample. What an amazing cat, right?

The bad news is that she has lots of bad things going on in her mouth: missing teeth, possibly some broken ones, too, and ulcers. I got to see her gums, which were blood red and swollen. No wonder she was hurting! It's clear that she needs to have some work done. So on Monday morning, I will have to put her back in that pillow case and return her to the vet's office. I will also have to pay a hefty bill. But it's worth it.

Ah yes. Millie. The best $50 $500 we ever spent.

Grumpy Easter

When I woke up this morning, I felt rather under the weather. This persisted for a few hours ... and made me grumpy. The whole time I was sick, the cat kept meowing at me because she wanted to be fed/loved on/what have you, which didn't help my mood, either. And then I read some stuff on-line that made me grumpier. And I managed to think of a few other things in my life that hack me off, so I decided to mull on them for a while, too. Ya know, so that I could efficently get all of my bitching done in one go. Grrr.

But then I watched the Forumla One race and ate some cheese and now I'm watching the figure skating world championships. So everything is okay.
Well, almost everything.
The only little problem annoying me now is that we don't have any of my favorite cookies left. I made them for the first time last week and they were SO GOOD! So delicious were they, in fact, that we ate them all. And I'm low on ingredients and sickly so I won't be making more of these today. Poo.

However you, dear reader, should whip some of these babies up as soon as you can because, man, they are soooooooo freakin' good! They will certainly put you in a good mood. Really. Give it a try. Note that these cookies are big. You know the cookies you can buy at coffee shops that cost $2 and just one cookie hits the spot quite nicely? These are like that only better because (1) they cost a lot less and (2) you made them yourself! Hooray!

Super-sized Ginger Cookies
makes 12 to 14 cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
12 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup molasses
about 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350F with rack in middle position. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper (or I guess you can grease the pans, but I prefer parchment paper).

2. Sift first 6 ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter & brown sugar together until smoothly blended. Then add egg & molasses and mix until blended. On low speed, add flour mixture, blending just to incorporate it.

3. Put granulated sugar in a cereal bowl or on a plate. Roll 1/4 cup of the dough into a 2 inch ball, roll in the sugar, and place on the prepared cookie sheet. Space the cookies about 3 or 4 inches apart.

4. Bake for 14 minutes until top feels firm but still soft in the middle. Cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Feline paralysis

It's been a quiet week 'round the house. We watched the first F1 race of the season with Mark (Hooray for Lewis Hamilton!). And I baked some delicious ginger cookies (I'll share the recipe if you want). Tim got some nice compliments for a program he completed at work. And the Bradford pear trees in the neighborhood bloomed and it rained a couple times. So that's all quite nice.

But the biggest news this week is all about the Millie cat.

Miss Millicent is an interesting cat. She loves to be around her people. It is very rare to find her in a room alone. She'd just rather be with us. She even slept on our bed her very first night here. She will even walk right up to strangers & expect them to give her a nice scratch behind the ears. She's quite friendly in her own way. However, she has never been a lap cat. She might curl up near us on the couch or even sleep by my side at night, but she has showed very little interest in snuggling up on our laps ... until this week.

On Tuesday morning, Millie approached me while I was on the couch and she gingerly stepped on my leg. Before I really realized what was happening, she sat down in my lap. She sat there for a full 10 minutes before she got up and wandered off. This was a major achievement! I was so excited I almost sent Tim an e-mail about it. But it got better! Later that afternoon, Miss Mills curled up in my lap and stayed there for 2 hours and 40 minutes! Hooray! What a break-through! The only problem, of course, is that I didn't want to get up & disturb her - a condition Tim calls "feline paralysis" - so I wasn't able to run the errands I had intended to. But no matter. Millie was snoozing on my lap and I was pleased as Punch.

In the few days since Millie started sitting in my lap, I've been doing everything I can to encourage her. Yesterday she sat on my lap on 4 seperate occasions & slept by my side all night, too. Today I've been a bit busier, but she managed to sit on my lap for a while after I returned from the grocery store. This is really encouraging. More and more, she feels less like some distant relative who is staying with us for a while and is feeling more like our own, sweet baby cat.

Pi!

Did you know that yesterday - March 14th - was Pi Day? You probably did because if you're reading this you're probably about as dorky as I am and you get a kick out of silly holidays like this. In honor of Pi Day, I made pie. Indeed, I made TWO pies on Pi Day. Glorious, yes? But it was more than that. It was ... miraculous. Allow me to explain.

Confession time: I don't like making pie. Or more to the point, I don't like making pie crust. It takes so much time and effort to make pie crust. Rolling it out is a pain in the butt because the dough is always trying to stick to the table or the rolling pin. And it's hard to get it just the right size, because it never wants to form into a perfect circle with an even thickness. No, it's always got to be oblong with thin bits that tear while the thicker bits on the side laugh at me, mockingly. And then there's all of that flour everywhere - all over the table, all over your clothes. It frustrates me to no end. So much effort for what is basically an edible shelf that usually contributes very little to the overall flavor of the pie. You would think I would get the hang of it with practice, but no. For YEARS I was in charge of making the pies for every Thanksgiving and Christmas. And for years I struggled with annoying pie dough because in my family we have always made it from scratch.

Well, ya know what? Enough. Deep down I'm a purist and I love making everything from scratch. Hell, I've been thinking about making my own butter! But there is a point when one must embrace this modern age in which we live. And ... well, frankly, I don't want cooking to be stressful & annoying. I want it to be pleasurable. I figure that if buying pre-made pie crust keeps my hair brown for just a little while longer, than so be it. Pre-made pie crust it shall be.

So I bought a box of crust. I opened the packaging, unrolled the circle of dough, plopped it in the pie pan. And that was it! A miracle! Amazing! Splendid! Marvelous! And it tastes about the same as the dough I've slaved over for years. It appears that I truly can have pie and my sanity all at the same time. I didn't think it was possible! Hooray!

All of this to say that I made turkey pot pie for dinner and egg custard pie for dessert. And now that I've discovered this shortcut, I think I'll be making pies far more often.

Good Things Tuesday

Here's some stuff that is making me happy right now.



1. The Song Chart photo pool on Flickr. A bunch of people have taken song lyrics & turned them into graphs and diagrams. Brilliant. Click here to see my favorite one.

2. The Soop Shop on Etsy. They make these adorable rings that cost only $12 each. I need the squirrel one. I really really really do.

3. The "Stuff White People Like" Blog. Yes, it's wrong. I like it anyway.

4. Eddie Izzard is going on tour! EEEEE!!!! Just a shame he isn't coming here.

5. Design*Sponge, a really cool blog about home decor & such, has posted a Design Guide for my neck of the woods. Now I wanna go shopping.

6. Fluffy kitty belly.

Blah

Yup, that's right. Blah. It's how I feel.

Last night I had one of those big emotional breakdowns that we all have occasionally. I know that some of my dear readers are prone to these breakdown, too - some of you even call me in the midst of them - so that's why I don't feel bad admitting this. But it feels self-indulgent, you know? It's not fair for me to keep Tim awake late into the night while I thrash around, trying to figure out Why I'm Here and What Does My Life Mean Anyway and blahblahblah. Poor Tim. Poor, dear, patient Tim. He's even more tolerant than my cat ... and that is seriously saying something, people.

Speaking of Millie, here's some further proof that she is super laid back. Today a couple men came to the house to install our new over-the-range microwave/vent hood (yay!). These were two total strangers. They rang the doorbell. They walked into the house, smelling of strange smells & talking with strange voices. And did the cat get spooked? Not in the least. She continued to lounge lazily on the living room rug. I picked her up & put her in our bedroom so she wouldn't get upset. I don't know why I bothered, though, seeing as this is the same animal who will rub against my legs while I'm playing high Fs & Gs on my flute. Amazing. Millie is an animal that does not sweat the small stuff. I could learn a lot from her.

But here I am, sweating anyway. I think my problem is that I don't feel passionate about anything anymore. I used to feel an inner drive to do certain things - theatre, for instance - but that drive is gone now. I don't want to knit or sew or do anything crafty. I don't even feel the urge to see what plays are showing each week, let alone audition for any. I spend a lot of time on-line looking at art & interior design blogs, but I don't have the money to do what I want to the house. Generally I feel perfectly content just poking about on the internet & listening to my cat snore. But what kind of life is that? That's pathetic. I may seem content on the surface, but deep down I know that something is missing. I just wish I knew what it was.

You know what I'm doing? I'm making buttprints in the sands of time again. Bah. But how can I change that when I don't feel compelled to do anything else?

Anyway. Blah.

Happy Homer Day

Most of the people who read this blog know that I used to date a guy named Corey. He and I broke up about 5 years ago, but nowadays we are good friends who chat on the phone & visit one another whenever I'm in Tulsa. He still knows me better than just about anybody else & understands my sense of humor better than most. Basically, he's a good friend to have in your corner.

Anywho, Corey loves to buy surprise presents for people, so when I was his girlfriend I was the recipient of many gifts. However, Corey had a habit of occasionally buying gifts for me that he appreciated far more than I did. We called them Homer Gifts in honor of the episode of The Simpsons in which Homer bought Marge a bowling ball for her birthday - a bowling ball that had already been engraved with Homer's name & with holes already drilled to fit Homer's fingers.

One day we decided that occasional Homer Gifts weren't enough. We needed an official holiday. And so, Homer Day was born. On Homer Day - March 3rd - you're supposed to buy a "gift" for someone else, but honestly it's an excuse to buy a gift for yourself. It's a great holiday because we all deserve to treat ourselves on occasion, right? Right.

So this year Corey got me the DVD of Kenneth Branaugh's "Hamlet". I bought him "Something Rotten" - a book in the Thursday Next series. Well, whaddaya know, Corey already has that book! And I know that Corey is a much bigger Hamlet fan than I am. So, in proper Homer Day fashion, we've chosen to just keep our gifts for ourselves. I guess we won't be mailing eachother care packages any time soon afterall. ;)

Kitty Quirks

It's now been a week since Millie came home to us. In that time, we have come to learn a lot more about her.

For instance, Millie can't jump very high. She has trouble simply getting up on our bed (she uses her claws to get a grip on the edge of the mattress & hoists herself up). This is good because it means that she cannot jump up on the kitchen countertops. How great is that?! Also, she has a squeaky snore that is very endearing. And she often likes to lay on her back with belly exposed and her feet in the proper "paws up" position. Very very cute.


There were a few early quirks that worried us that, luckily, we've already overcome. Millie was nervous about venturing downstairs during her first few days here, but she seems to have conquered that fear with just a teensy bit of encouragement from us. I also noticed that she likes to sharpen her claws on the carpet, but I got her a scratching pad & she seems to prefer it over the alternative. All of these are moves in the right direction & we couldn't be happier.


But she has one quirk that we don't quite understand and are not sure how to handle. It seems that Millie prefers to eat while she is being pet. At the very least, she wants us standing or sitting near her while she eats. It's very strange. I can put down fresh food for her - even yummy canned food - and she will eat a few bites by herself, but she'll stop when she notices we're not near by & will go seek us out. We used to have her food in the guest room, so she spent a lot of time lingering by the door to that room, trying to lure us in there so that we could pet her while she ate. Now that her food is in the kitchen, things are a little different. If she wants to eat she will walk up to me and literally poke my leg with her paw - no, seriously - and look at me in a needy, pathetic way. If I ignore her, she pokes me again. When I give in to her wishes, she will happily chow down & eat quite a bit, purring the whole time while I stroke her back. Even if I just stand next to her and just watch her eat she seems much happier and will eat more. It's bizarre.

Can anyone explain this? Why does she want us to be there? Do you think she's a social eater - that maybe her old owner used to feed her cats at the same time that she fed herself? I honestly have no clue. Luckily, she does not try to wake us in the middle of the night when she goes down for an early morning snack. At least, I don't think she does ...

I Can Haz Kitteh?

So here's how it went down. Wednesday evening when we met Millie, I was a bit concerned. She was so unbelieveably calm and ... tolerant. She let us pet her & scratch her neck & at one point she even flopped over & let me pet her tummy. However, I was afraid that Millie didn't like us. I feared that she was just being polite or something. Crazy, I know. But honestly, I felt more like I was meeting a potential roommate than my future fur baby.

I voiced my concerns to Tim. He tactfully told me to get over myself. "We're getting the cat, okay? No excuses." Thank goodness my husband is as patient and loving as my adorable new cat.

Friday night Annie and Tony (the foster people) brought Millie over to our house. I was worried that Millie would hide or be distant. I figured that at the very least she would choose to sleep in her cat bed rather than with us. But I was wrong. She happily ate the food we provided and purred at our every touch. When we went to our room to sleep, she jumped up on our bed, where she curled up & drifted to sleep at our feet.

I have not stopped smiling since.

I am officially in love. I feel this urge to go out and tell everyone how splendid Millie is & post oodles of photos of her & write long posts about the cute little noises she makes & the funny way she walks or about the tiny white tip on her tail that is so cute I just want to eat it.

Dear, sweet, silly Millie. Definitely the best $50 we've ever spent.

Meet Millie

Daffodils

The daffodils in our front yard are blooming. Just thought you'd like to know. :)

Because it's the view from the street ... get it?

Yesterday I got a phone call from Veronica.
V: "What color is your house?"
Me: "It's, uh, kinda a creamy yellow?"
V: "Okay ..." pause "You live on a cul-de-sac?"
Me: "Yeeaaaaah ..."
I was a tad confused at first, but then I realized that V was looking up my house on Google StreetView.

Yup, that's right, kiddos. We've hit the big time. Last summer legions of camera-bedecked cars were wandering our streets. Now the fruit of their labor is available for all to see. Our town is now on Google StreetView. And if that isn't cool enough, V & Travis' house is on StreetView, too. So V and I had fun looking up one another's homes & saying, "I can see your house! Oh my god! That's so cool!" and blahblahblah.

V and I will both warn you, though, that StreetView is seriously flawed. When you put in V's address, it drops you in front of a house on the opposite side of the street and many doors down from their actual house. Ask StreetView to show you my house & you get dumped in the middle of an intersection. But with a little guidance (via cell phone in our case), you, too, may look at poor-quality photographs of the homes of loved ones and strangers. Hooray! Ain't technology grand?

PS: I would post the StreetView pic of our house, but I can't figure out how to copy the image. Damn you, Adobe!

PPS: My friend Laura & her family move away on Thursday! How fast was that?!? I held a going-away party for her last night. Mmmmm ... mohitos ...

PPPS: We put in an application for Millie the cat. Fingers crossed.

Anti-kvetch

So ... I've been MIA for nearly 2 weeks now. Sorry about that. I've been pretty stressed out, but I'm starting to get over it. I could write a long, detailed post about my recent "kvetches". However, I've decided to focus on the positive. Won't you join me?

1. Tim and I celebrated our 3rd Elopiversay. Yes, spicecake cupcakes were consumed. Tim even bought me flowers. Aaw!

2. Tim had a birthday! And received his first ever birthday card that poked fun at his age. They should make a birthday card that says "You know you're old when you receive a birthday card that starts off with, 'You know you're old when ...'."

3. Inspired by Tim's rejuvenated interest in music, I have rented a flute! I'm playing it almost daily. I'm not as good as I was in high school, of course, but I'm holding my own pretty well.

4. Derek got a great job! And will be making more money while working for people who appear sane! Hooray!

5. Our friend John who was laid off a while back also got a great job! Too bad it's in Austin. But now he and Laura can feed their kids & that's all that counts.

6. My dear old friend, Karen, had a baby girl! Her name is Chloe Ellen & is super cute.

7. My pal, Janice, is a published author yet again. Her new book "Have You Found Her" - is out now. Run to a bookstore & buy it!

8. I think we might possibly maybe possibly adopt a cat. Maybe. The agency will only adopt their animals out to US Citizens, so keep those fingers crossed.

Painting madness: revisited

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I painted the living room and hallway? Remember how I had trouble posting the pics? I think I found a solution. It's called PictoBrowser. Check it out.



Thanks to Jessica over at "How About Orange" for the heads-up.

An axe to grind

Warning: Rock Band is a dangerous, dangerous game. Not just because you can get blisters from pushing those buttons for hours. And not just because you can strain your voice if you sing Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive" too enthusiastically. Rock Band is most dangerous when it reminds your loved ones of how much they miss rockin' out with their buddies back in college.


Back In The Day, Tim owned a number of instruments, his favorite being the bass guitar. He was briefly kinda-sorta in a band. He only played in public once (at a PETA Greenpeace fundraiser back during his brief stint as a vegetarian treehugger). But public performance has never been a major source of joy for Tim. He just likes making music. Rock Band reminded him how much he missed that.

So Tim is now the proud owner of a new bass guitar. Ta da! Pretty, isn't she?


I don't think we can only blame Rock Band, though. Over the past few weeks we have been watching the first season of Flight of the Conchords on DVD. Pretty inspiring stuff. If listening to "Business Time" doesn't make you want to pick up a guitar, I don't know what will.

C? Really?

As is the case with so many people, the new year has inspired me to think about changes and improvements: Things I can do to improve my environment, my relationships, and even myself. Being the person that I am, I started to do research. In my quest towards improvement, I came across the following pamphlet.

Here is The Big Question, kids: What is this pamphlet attempting to sell? Is it ...
A: A local theater company's upcoming season
B: The latest is anti-depressant medication
C: Countertops

Yes, that's right. The answer is C. Baffling, isn't it? Take another gander at that picture and tell me what about it makes you long to spend thousands of dollars renovating your kitchen. Honestly. I find myself deeply concerned about the mental state of the marketing department at DuPont, because they have got to be seriously messed up if they think this is a successful way to market their quartz countertops.

Anyway, The point is that, yup, I'm thinking about the kitchen. I have finally decided on a color scheme. I'm going for red. Red with creamy white. My inspiration - other than my pots - is a set of coasters I found at Target last week.

My other inspiration is this little piece of art from Patricia Zapatra. It's called "Hiding". I bought it for myself as a reward for all of that painting I did a couple of weeks ago. To see more work by this artist, go to her website: ALittleHut.com

Inspiration isn't everything, though. At some point you have to do something. I decided that new countertops are just a little too expensive for us right now, but there are other things I can do. I finally got sick of looking at the old navy blue, pock-marked backsplash, so I covered it in primer. It took 4 coats, but the room looks brighter already. Also, Tim and I ordered our new over-the-range microwave to replace the one that died last summer. Thanks to the advice from a timely issue of Consumer Reports, we ordered a highly-rated model by LG. Gotta love LG. They make the best stuff. Did you know that they even make quartz countertops now? It's true! And based on my research, their marketing department seems far happier than those poor souls at DuPont.

Whoa Baby!

Lately, Wednesdays have been pretty crappy for me. And Thursdays even more so. And why? Because my *&%!$#%+* cable company does not carry Bravo. Hence, I cannot watch Project Runway.

But this week I don't care. Even Time Warner Cable cannot diminish my glee. Because this week our dear Rhiannon had her baby! Little Amelia Elanor arrived Wednesday afternoon. Hooray! Another girl in the family! Many congrats to Rhiannon, Poppa Ed, & big brother Max. I can't wait to see the new addition!

Back when Rhiannon gave birth to Max, Tim and I celebrated by raising a toast - or rather, we raised slices of toast - in his honor. Unfortunately, this time we found that we had eaten all of our bread. What should we do instead, we wondered? Tim suggested that we have a real toast with alcohol and everything. But when I saw the Bailey's and butterscotch Schaaps, it struck me that Buttery Nipples were not the appropriate way to welcome a baby girl into the world. So I'm sorry, dear Amelia, but we didn't do anything special in honor of your birth ... other than send you and your family the very warmest of wishes.

No Knead Bread

Painting the living room has got me thinking creatively. Or at least it has got my fingers twitching. I find that I want to make things and change things and improve some of the basic little details in my life. So in the last week I've started on a few little projects. Today I'll talk about my latest success: homemade bread.


As much as I adore bread and baked goods, the idea of making yeast bread has always seemed too fussy to me. Actually, anything that requires me to flour a surface and [gasp] touch the dough with my bare hands just seems wrong. I don't like having sticky dough all over my hands. Nasty. So last year when all of the food & cooking blogs started talking about No Knead Bread, I thought, "Hooray! A bread for the rest of us!"


Well ... here's the thing. At one point in this recipe, you do have to dump the dough on a floured work surface. And you do have to touch it with your bare hands. But ya know what? It wasn't so bad! It was a lot neater and easier than my previous experiences with doughs that require actual kneading and rolling.


Yes, that's right. I touched that. And it wasn't messy. The key: wet hands! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This recipe really delivers. It's easy and yummy and costs oodles less than if you'd bought it at the store. The only draw-backs:
1. You need a big pot with a heavy lid
2. You need to let the dough sit for 12 to 20 hours. Yes. Really.
The good news:
1a. You spend less than 5 minutes actually fiddling with the dough, total.
1b.You don't have to do anything to the dough during that long resting period. It just sits there on your countertop.
2. Four ingredients: flour, yeast, salt, water. I like it when I can easily pronounce the ingredients in my food.
3. Fresh baked bread smells fabulous.
4. It tastes lovely, too. Especially if you eat it warm with a bit of butter.

Want to make some for yourself? Here's a great step-by-step tutorial: SteamyKitchen's Tutorial. This person had her 4 year old son make the dough for her. It's honestly that simple.

Note to Le Creuset: You seriously need to made a rectangular pot with a lid so that people can make sandwich bread with this recipe. Please! I'll be your friend forever!

Painting madness: Living room and hallway

Every time I've spoken to my mom over the past week, she has asked me if I've put pictures of the new paint job on my blog yet. Well, Mom, this post is for you!

Unfortunately, I've been having some trouble posting pics. Until I get this straightened out, just click here to see the before & after shots.

New year, new happenings

Neil Gaiman wrote the following in his on-line journal:

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.

Lovely, yes? What a wonderful thing to hope for. And how wonderful when you see it all start to happen to you.

This young year has been extremely busy for me, which is why it's been 10 days since I've posted.
1. I painted the downstairs hall and living room, which makes me happier than a very happy thing. Photos to come. Tim is so impressed that he told me multiple times that I am wonderful & even called me "SuperWife".
2. My friend, Laura, organized a Ladies Night for a bunch of our new female friends & acquaintances, so I got to spend many fun hours with 12 great ladies.
3. We played Rock Band for the first time at Laura's house. I'm a better singer than I knew! Or at least my pitch is pretty good. Tim had a great time playing bass and has the blisters to prove it.
4. We finally - FINALLY - had our regular little group of friends over for dinner and gaming. Kevin & Shawna even brought Hedgie with them, so Jennifer and I took turns cuddling the wee widdle hedgehog for much of the evening. Sadly, it's been many months since we've done this (Kyle had not even seen our house before last night! Shocking!), but now that most of the painting is done, we hope to have them over at least once a month.

A pretty promising start to the new year, wouldn't you say?

Finally home

Two whoooole days of driving. Again. And I survived it! Hooray! I felt a bit sick at the beginning of the trip, but I fought through it. Now it's all over and we're back in North Carolina. Maybe next year I can convince Tim to fly. If we get tickets early enough, it might even be cheaper that way, let alone faster!

Strangely enough, I'm actually glad to be back. I think this is the first time I've felt this way about returning to NC. Perhaps I feel differently because we were returning to our home - our very own lovely house. Or maybe I was just relieved to get out of that car! Either way, it's nice to be home.

We're pretty exhausted from the drive, but before I head off to bed I thought I'd post a few pics from Christmas day.

My mother decided to get me yet another wacky Christmas tree ornament. I thought we'd retired the tradition after the lobster ornament from 2 years ago, but when she saw that frog she just couldn't resist it. They look like they were made to be together, don't they?


Here's Dad minus one mustache and plus one paper crown from our Christmas Crackers.


The princess poses. And no, I can't remember why I was staring at the ceiling.


I am such a sucker. I simply had to get an ornament commemorating the purchase of our house: "First Year in the New Home - 2007".


And here is my gift from Mom: a stained glass window that she made all by herself. She was thinking of selling it, but since this is her first window I think it's nice to keep it in the family.

Dec. 26th

So I'm at the 'rents house. We left NC on Thursday afternoon and arrived on Friday night. This means I survived a 2 day car trip - a truly signifigant and amazing thing. The only thing more amazing is that I'll have to do it again next week. Oof. Trying not to think about that.

Anywoo, I don't have my laptop with me & can't upload any photos, so like the rest of the blogospere I'm going to abandon the internet for a bit and enjoy real life for a change. Hooray! Hope you all are safe and warm and enjoying your holidays!

Dining Room: After

On Saturday afternoon I made a roast chicken with potatoes for lunch. While everything was cooking, I started cleaning up the dining room with the idea that we could eat lunch in there. The chicken was ready before the room, but that's okay. The point is that by Saturday afternoon, we finally - FINALLY - had our dining room back. Here's what it looks like now. And I must say that I am in LOVE. My love for this room now surpasses my adoration of my washing machine. Didn't think that could happen, didja.

The sad truth is that, for months now, the only table we've eaten around is the coffee table. We haven't even had friends over because we had no place to put them. Well, we did feed Kevein and Shawna in the living room that one time, but it was a bit of a headache. But those days are behind us now! We wasted no time in taking advantage of our new dining room. On Sunday night, Kevin and Shawna came over for dinner, video games, and a movie (the last in the Bourne series. The four of us have been catching up on them together). Very fun & a great way to break in the new room. And they were impressed by how nicely it turned out. Yay!

The other great thing is that we now have our breakfast nook back, too. For months it has been crammed with furniture from other places, but no more! Now we have two proper tables where we can eat! Will the wonders ever cease?!?!

Painting madness: Success!

This, my friends, it what is commonly known as a vast improvement.

This is a before & after shot all in one. Above the chair rail is the original color. Below it is the new lovely green. I think the old color looks a lot better in this photo than it does in reality. Just please believe me when I say that it was foul.

And here's a bit of what the dining room looks like now!

I still have some work to do on the ceilings so I can't completely remove the rosin paper yet, but I thought I'd pull back a corner just to see how the wood looks with the green. Don't worry about the white stuff on the floor to the right; that is NOT paint! It's leftover dust from when I scraped the ceiling.


Speaking of Scooby Do, I ordered a rug off of Overstock.com. My hope is to put it in the living room. I'm a bit nervous, though, since I wasn't able to touch it first, but Laura says that she's bought tons of stuff on Overstock before & has always been happy with her purchases. Fingers crossed!

And speaking of Laura, I went to her house on Wednesday and met a bunch of REALLY wonderful ladies! A couple of them asked me if I'd be interested in having lunch with them sometime which thrilled me to bits. Two others have invited me to their home to watch Project Runway. And Laura and I decided to organize a tea party at a local tea house for sometime after the holidays. Talk about a successful evening! I'm especially thrilled because it means that I have something to look forward to after returning from Oklahoma at the end of the month. Leaving "home" & returning here can be so difficult for me, but I think me new-found friends will make it easier.

Must run. Tim's work place's holiday party is tonight & I need to make sure there's no more paint stuck in my hair.

Painting madness: Buying!

I made a decision. I bought paint! Wee!!! I was inspired by a video I watched on the TED website about the paradox of choice ( Click here to watch it ). Basically, he talks about how sometimes when we have too many options, we become paralyzed & cannot decide which choice is right for us because we're so worried about getting it wrong. If you've ever been to a home improvement store & stood in front of a wall of paint chips, you can understand why this message resonated with me. So I just said, "Screw it! I'm buying paint!" Maybe I'll start working on the dining room tonight. We'll see.

In other news, the weather madness continues. My parents & about 600,000 other people in the Tulsa area still do not have power. Dad says that most of their trees are damaged. At least George and Derek still have power ... or at least they did when I spoke to Derek last night.

On the other side of the coin, it has been extremely warm here. Yesterday's high was 81F - an all-time high for the entire month of December. And here's the forecast for the rest of the week.

It's suposed to be much cooler this weekend, so I better get all of this painting done quickly!

Painting madness: Testing

My mother called this morning to let me know that they have no electricity at their house. An ice storm hit Green Country last night & she is trapped at home with nothing to do but watch the icicles grow.

Meanwhile, it is unseasonably warm here. Check out the weather forecast for Raleigh & Durham this week.

Madness! Yesterday we went to the Durham Chorale's Christmas Concert (Jennifer was singing) and it was so warm that we didn't need jackets. Some members of the audience were wearing shorts. Granted, I'm grateful for the warm weather because it means I can get a lot of painting done this week, but it certainly doesn't feel Christmas-y.

Speaking of painting, we tested some colors this weekend. I am in love with Oklahoma Wheat! Or rather, "Safari". You see, there's a particular type of paint that I want to use (Benjamin Moore's Aura). It's very durable, washable, & has low fumes. In the Aura line, Oklahoma Wheat is known as Safari. It's the same color (the paint chips look exactly the same) so I'm just going to keep on thinking of it as Oklahoma Wheat.
Anyway!
I put some patches of it in the living room, downstairs hallway, and upstairs hallway. It looks 1000% better than the dreary beigey-lavender-grey that we currently have all over the place. It's warm and homey, while also feeling light. It's yellow, but it isn't YELLOW, if ya know what I mean. The house is going to feel so much happier & more welcoming when we're done. I can't wait!


Meanwhile in the dining room, we're tinkering with different shades of green. We've tested 3 so far & found a lighter green that Tim likes (Croquet - the color on the right in these photos), but I'm afraid it has a little too much grey in it. Honestly, I'm so sick of looking at paint that I feel an urge to just paint that room Oklahoma Wheat, too. Kevin & Shawna were over on Saturday night & we asked them what they thought. Kevin was noncommital. Shawna said shes like the old color. Clearly these people cannot be trusted.

Maybe I should look at the other side of the color wheel. A part of me thinks that a warm pink could be a great color for a dining room. Or not. Hmm.

Painting madness: inspiration

Once upon a time, I worked in a costume shop for a university. We made all of the costumes for every play, musical, dance, and opera that went up on our university's stage. It could be stressful, but we had a blast. I worked with 3 flamingly gay men, which made it all the more interesting. Just me, a drag queen, a couple Bears, and all the fancy, creative costumes you could possibly imagine. How could that not be fun, ya know?

My specialty in the costume shop was hand sewing - or as the boys loved to say "hand jobs". As in, "Hey Mary, I need you to give me a hand job [snicker]". Note that only gay men speaking to their beloved fag hags can get away with this kind of humor. Note also that this never. gets. old.

The reason why I became Queen of the Hand Jobs is because I have meticulous attention to detail. If something needs to be done just so - if you really truly care about the placement of every single stitch - I am your girl. The only drawback is that perfection takes time. Also, there are very few things in stage costuming that require fine detail work (the audience was always at least 20 feet away from our university's stage). And yet, I had this urge to make ALL of my work perfect. Therefore, I was slow. My boss, Robert, learned this sad fact about me. Whenever he gave me a job that needed to be done quickly, he would tell me to be a Speed Demon. If he saw me poking along on my machine on some silly sleeve for a supporting character, Robert would bellow, "I need you to be a Speed Demon, Mary! Speeeeeeed Demon!" & I'd wake up from my reverie of obsessive focus & pick up the pace.

Ah, if only Robert was still in my life now, for I have gotten myself wrapped up into my little perfectionistic world again & I need someone like him to come over, slap me around, and remind me to stop sweating the small stuff.

The small stuff in this case is painting. I know, I know, I picked out paint colors ages ago, right? But getting started on the painting project is scaring me. Paint costs money! Plus, this is Our House - a major investment! And if I spend all of that time preparing the walls and painting and then I don't like the results, then that could affect the value of the house! Plus it's a lot of money & time wasted. Never mind the fact that I'm already wasting a hell of a lot of time agonizing over this. At least I'm not wasting money yet, right?

My biggest hang-up in the paint department - the sticking point that is causing me the most grief - is the kitchen.



Oh, the kitchen. Why must it torture me so. There are lots of things about it that are ugly, but we aren't in a position to change out things right now (well, except for the dead microwave/hood seen in the breakfast nook in these pics. We got rid of that last week). We can paint, though. And boy does this room ever need painting. I hate the blue paint in the kitchen with a loathing that I usually reserve for Jefferson Starship and The Eagles. However, I can't settle on a new color. And seeing as the kitchen is connected to the living room, hallway and dining room, I feel that the color I paint the kitchen has a major influence on the colors I paint the other areas. So of course I can't paint anything in any room until I've nailed down a final color pallet, yes?
Bah.

Anyway. I know this is getting long, so I'm just going to post some inspirational pics. You see, I've been feeling a leaning towards happy, colorful prints for the kitchen. Madness, I know. But the stereotypical yellow kitchen is such a boring cliche & I want to avoid that. I want something a little different. So here are some inspirational pieces that have caught my eye.

First: The sheets I recently bought at Target. Cuter in person, too. If you are smart you will buy some today. Only $20!


Concert poster for everybody's favorite band that features a trumpet, Cake! I don't own this poster, but I'm thinking about getting it despite the fact that I've never been to Milwaukee.


Third, this print from The Black Apple's on-line shop on Etsy. I don't own this yet, but I fully intend to. I've bought other things from Emily before & I think she's super fab.

Lastly, my Le Creuset cookware.

Luckily for me, I do own this. I have 5 pieces of Le Creuset cookware. And I LOVE their gorgeous red color. I have enough storage that they don't need to sit out all the time, but I don't mind at all if one is sitting on the stove just 'cause.

So that's my color story. But what does this say? What should I do? Well, besides paint the kitchen cabinets white (don't go there). Decisions, decisions ...

Amazing happenings

An amazing thing happened today, children. I had telephone conversations with three people and NOT ONCE did I erupt into a coughing fit during said calls! Not one single time! This is a huge milestone, people. I have been coughing soooooooo damn much over the last month. I have avoided going out with people & calling friends on the phone because talking - simply talking! - caused me to repeatedly hack and cough and spit up phlegm. It's been nasty. But now! Now I'm actually starting to sound like a person who is NOT dying of consumption! Imagine that! I mean, I'm still coughing a bit so it's not like a Healing Fairy flew down & hit me on the head with her magic wand or anything. But seriously. The difference is amazing.

Other amazing happenings:
1. My father shaved off his mustache for the first time in 35 years. No really. I have never ever seen my father without his mustache. Color me highly intrigued.
2. My brother, Mike, is currently in Los Angeles on a photography job. This is the same guy who got laid off from his old, sucky job a couple of months ago. Now he is pursuing his dreams & traveling around the country. How cool is that?!?
3. The house next door (dubbed "Scary House" by george when she was visiting last spring) was painted over the weekend. It is now a clean, cheerful white & doesn't look the least bit scary anymore.
4. I found a video game I like. The last time I liked playing a particular video game was back in 1983 when I played the Smurfs game on our ColecoVision. This new game - the game that sucked up almost my entire weekend - is Lego Star Wars II for the XBox 360. Tim doesn't seem to like it as much as I do, which is a shame, but he's still managed to log in many an hour playing the game with me.