Drop it like a trig class

Saturday Link Roundup

2012-01-28T09:57:00.000-08:00

I accumulate links and keep them just because I love them. So instead I am going to share them here.

This one is for SCB. It's adorable. Although most Julie Andrews-related things on the internet are adorable.

This one is for people with kids. Or people who know kids. Or people who are and/or were kids.

This is awesome even though I am not a Bon Jovi fan at all and I don't get terribly excited about Bon Iver either. This makes them both better:

This is a nerdy yet amazing photoshoot. Rachel Sussman traveled around the world to take pictures of the oldest living things, most of which are either trees or fungi. It makes me think of my favorite coffee table books, both of which I regularly want to cut up so I can hang the pictures on my wall. But I just can not be one of those people. So clearly, I need to travel to see some spectacular trees soon.

I just finished this fascinating book. The author was in his early twenties when he got a job working for the British government in one of their code departments, yes, One Of, there is a ton of infighting and he finally makes the point that when he is trying to help his field agents by getting their codes printed on easily hidden, easily destroyed-after-using silk, that for these agents being infiltrated into enemy territory, that for them it could literally be get them these good codes, or they will be taking their cyanide tablets to avoid being tortured for what they know. There is an ongoing alarming theme when he is convinced that the agents in Holland are all under German control because they are only sending perfectly coded messages (he has a whole crew of ladies devoted to breaking indecipherable messages because they have been sent under less-than-ideal conditions and the agents in Holland are the only ones that never send a miscoded message) and it turns out that every single agent they are dropping in is being captured on arrival and he has to keep sending messages to them just to keep the Germans from killing them all. And the whole book is like that. It starts slow but I ended up not being able to put it down because I wanted to know which of all of his coding inventions end up get used and if they help his agents and if they survive. So it is a long read and I may have glossed over some of the more detailed coding explanations but overall I highly recommend Between Silk And Cyanide by Leo Marks.

And apropos of that, I'm not positive Nancy Wake was in that book but she would have fit right in with some of the characters that Marks works with, like the astonishing Noor Inayat Khan.

And now I will stop with the links (for now). They were just piling up so I had to share with people who I think would be appreciative...

Not Exactly Unexpected, But Biggish

2012-01-21T14:18:00.000-08:00

So I may or may not have complained about the front yard on here in the past, there were two sad trees and a lot of lawn with no sprinklers. That we were failing to keep up with on the hand-watering during the summertime. And one hedge that I dug up and replanted with some agaves and random succulents. Still happy about that.:

Right now the trees in front of this are gone and we are waiting for a quote from a landscaping guy to come and rip the lawn out. He is also hopefully going to put in hardscaping and till in a big pile of soil amendments. We are hoping to add more paths since there isn't a giant tree dead center in the yard and that means you can walk through the middle of the yard now. And then we are hopefully going to add more trees. Not big trees, not sick trees, and not in stupid places, but yes more trees.

And welcome to California, I swear one of them is going to be an orange tree. Yes, succulents, agaves and an orange tree. There is a plan...but unfortunately all I have is a pdf scan of it now, so hopefully you can click to embiggen. The upper right corner is house and the lower right side is driveway, of course I forgot to label that. The existing paths are light grey and we want to add the dark grey bits. The stripes will be brick, also added to the old ones to make them semi-match. There will also be machines that rip out the existing lawn and till in a bunch of new soil. This is all the theoretical work that will get done if the quote is not unreasonable, and for which I most devoutly hope. Partly because bare-root fruit trees are on sale and it looks SO empty right now.

I am not trying to do anything exciting or artistic here, this is not my place and I just want something that will be solid and low-maintenance with lots of bees and butterflies. The landlord is prepared for a reasonable investment that will be an increase in the home's value in the long run. He's also seen me work and knows it will be cheaper if I do the planting and somebody else does the heavy stuff (realistic, that). I hope to include some sturdy plants like Mexican sage, California lilac and fuchsia and plenty more of those wacky succulents that I love so much. Along with some of the usual suspects like rosemary and lavender. I keep going back to this for inspiration and wishing succulents weren't so expensive. And debating with myself whether I could work in a few kangaroo paws... they did it here and I love it. I am wondering why all of my inspiration links are from Southern California gardens but I do have a full sunny western exposure here so I am going to go with it.

Things New Zealand Could Have Mentioned Sooner

2012-01-09T19:25:00.000-08:00

Not much to report here right now, there are no Ngaio Marsh books available for the Kindle (sigh) but I am not allowed to take it to work anyways. This is the current lunchtime reading, a bit dry so far but perfect for 25 minutes a day. Then I get to read my Kindle when I get home. I just finished a series of short stories by modern authors trying to capture some of the magic of classic Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Some of them are fun, most of them are weird, a couple of them are quite excellent (the Lost World themed one was pretty hilarious in its weird way). I am considering investing the $6 in the whole set but unfortunately (the Kindle conundrum) I'm not sure if they're really keepers. The ones I read were fun but there is a reason I like to go to the library. Less commitment. And the library, so far, is pretty slow on the e-book front.

The only time I ever went to a Spike and Mike animation festival there were about three shorts that stuck with me. This one popped up again recently and I still love the combination of retro music and animation with total bonkers weirdness. I may post the other two yet.

Bonkers weirdness may yet be the theme of the week.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T21:03:00.000-08:00

What Has Been Up
The party turned out really well, this is the first year we have run out of cider (but thankfully half of the guests brought wine so we made do). Some people were sick so we missed them but this is officially the first year when everyone who RSVPed actually showed up. Go figure.

I still haven't mailed holiday cards or peppermint bark. I figure at this point anything this late counts as a pleasant surprise. If it gets mailed out at all. Bleh. And I took the tree down tonight but I don't want to take down the rest of the decorations yet. I like them!

We spent Christmas without anybody's family and I know Matt missed the kiddoes in Reno but we didn't have enough vacation time to go see them. My sisters came down after Christmas so we mostly got our fill of their rugrats. It is interesting to see how they grow and change but a couple of them are still little nightmares to be around so it is a mixed bag.

I got a Kindle Touch for Christmas. It was a big surprise and quite a treat. And when I have a job that doesn't suck I will be buying books for it left and right. So right now it is classics like all the other cheap people who got Kindles for Christmas. My current favorite source is Project Gutenberg but I hope to selectively add some new stuff soon. Until then, it's Wilkie Collins and Jane Eyre (I have been told SO MANY TIMES to read that book). So far I am amazed that Masterpiece Theater has not gotten hold of Armadale yet.

Yesterday we went to meet Matt's parents on the boat and had a New Year's sail. It was a lovely day and there was plenty of wind so we had a grand outing. But it was sure cold! And then we slept on the boat and it was definitely not meant for tall people. I ended up crawling out of our little cubbyhole in the middle of the night and trying to sleep on the cushioned benches at the little kitchen table. So basically that whole night was awful and I need to go to bed around NOW.

And the job is still coasting along at Better Than Unemployment levels, but good lord do I hate being at work at 6 am (almost as much as I hate having a job that doesn't challenge me or require me to use my brain in any way). I am still waiting to hear from one real job and have found a couple more to apply to but the current job sucks up a lot of my energy that I would rather spend on job-hunting. Grr.

Projects For The New Year
Replace blinds in kitchen, drapes in living room. These are all antique and icky.
Find a rug for the bedroom? We have two small ones that make it much nicer but they slide!
Get rug pads for all area rugs small enough to slide. This is a must!
Clean out closets, possibly paint them? This has been something I have been avoiding since we moved in and I painted most of the house. They are pretty sad but also quite full and I need a better system for dealing with all of them!
Take more pictures for le blog.
Post more regularly now that work is less crappy and there might be more to talk about as the weather warms up and I do more stuff, theoretically.

I hope everybody had a wonderful holiday season and 2012 is a much better year for everybody than 2011 was! I am so over 2011!

It's That Time...

2011-12-18T07:30:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's party day! I still have to make one last batch of cookies but otherwise everything is under control (or so I keep telling myself). I am going to the Farmer's Market this a.m. too if I am organized enough, just to have some vegetables for this week. Also their pomegranates are about eighty times better than any from the store.

Other than that, this house is probably as clean as it's been since we moved in. Nothing like a party to get us to actually put stuff away!

With any luck I will update this post with pictures tonight....

Party Planning

2011-12-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

So there are a few benefits to getting up in the dark. One is, now that I'm adjusted, having time to run all kinds of errands and things at the end of the day. This week I successfully attended two yoga classes, made unusually good banana bread, went to the library, got a haircut, and went to Costco, all things I would have failed at in the first months of this job. So that's good. I am almost stocked up for the holiday party, so this weekend I can start making candy.

Except, this weekend I have three parties and a concert. Argh! The concert was this afternoon, and it was fun, if not totally stylish:

Pit Black by ajftuba featuring tall pants

I had to add a little bling to save myself from dying of boredom. But I do love playing good Christmas music!

The parties are ALL on Sunday. The first one is my next-door neighbor's 90th birthday, followed by my best friend's gingerbread house making party. And then we are going to dinner in Berkeley for my sister's birthday. So it is going to be a tight schedule.

Better Homes And...

2011-11-20T14:27:00.001-08:00

So I got to have a little time to myself to be domestic this weekend. So I whipped up a batch of granola loosely based on this recipe for easy breakfasts (for Matt, I have eggs every day before work because otherwise I am starving by 10am). This batch used agave nectar, applesauce and molasses as sweeteners/stickifiers and I think the recipe is honey, applesauce and brown rice syrup. So let's just say it is very loosely based. Like, the measurements are the same but the actual contents aren't always.

And a pot of spicy curry coconut carrot soup. Which is perfect with some buttery toast on a rainy day. It is rich and sweet and spicy and warms you up inside. This is even more loosely based on any kind of recipe, I just looked at a couple of carrot soup recipes and then made this instead. It is a hit, as orange gruel goes.

And I am starting to organize my thoughts and recipes for our holiday party. I am trying to figure out a reasonable time to have it based on the fact that people down here a. live farther apart and b. have crazy schedules. So I am trying to figure out if I should just have a Sunday afternoon open house and people can come have snacks and cider and hang out instead of having a Saturday night rager where people mix their own cocktails in pint glasses (ah, Reno).

Would my bloggy friends theoretically come to a Sunday afternoon cocktail/housewarming/holiday open house? Or should it be Saturday afternoon since that's less weird for a party day?

Movie Tidbit

2011-11-17T18:04:00.001-08:00

This is fully in the category of Movies I Want To See Just To LOOK At. Although it actually does look quite entertaining. But those sets! Those costumes! Julia Roberts finally letting out her inner evil queen! Now it's just getting Matt to go. Oh well. Maybe it's a girls' night type of film. Although this is the same director that just released The Immortals, maybe I can do a quid pro quo deal if I go see that with him (but it looks SO violent). Quandary.

Roundup/Update/Just Some Stuff

2011-11-10T06:43:00.001-08:00

I need to blog about more stuff, clearly! Sorry about that. The tree guy came out yesterday and he is going to take out our front trees (dying, badly pruned, etc.) and we have to go through the rigamarole with the city to replace the street tree... it literally took MONTHS to get the permit to take it out when it is obviously dying. Here's the fun part: if a branch falls on somebody, it's our fault, if it lifts up the sidewalk it's our problem, but we need their permission to do anything to/about it or they will ticket us. And we have to replace it with the same kind of tree. The plus is that there is a nonprofit that will give us a free tree but we have to go to some sort of class in order to get it so now we just want to get it over with ASAP. Then we can replace it and start fussing with the actual front yard instead (I plan on a minimum of one fruit tree).

Also, we are going to a show this weekend! It is a group Matt loves, the guitar player was a child prodigy that stuck around and the mandolin player has been playing hippie music since Jerry Garcia was around and now they play jazz and gypsy jazz together. It is at a cool club in Jack London Square and we are going to get all dolled up and go early and have dinner there (if you eat there they will reserve you seats, otherwise you have to wait in line outside for hours and then other people have already gotten seats reserved for them, it's a complete scam but at least the food is good).

And I get to dress up instead of wearing khakis and a polo shirt like the rest of the week...

Edited to add: Aarean at The Color Issue is having ANOTHER giveaway. Please don't go enter, I want to win ;)

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T22:07:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a lovely Halloween. We stayed in and drank wine with friends and gave candy to little kids and made them all tell us what their costumes were. Yes, we're those people. And tiny kids dressed as superheroes and fairy princesses ruled the neighborhood. The leftovers will be abandoned at work tomorrow for other people (Whoppers and Almond Joy, we are keeping the leftover Twix and Heath bars).

And I have clearly been listening to the radio too much while driving around for work. Because right now I am irritated at the pop music industry and their need for maudlin love songs (ahem, paging miss Adele?) There are more things to sing about than luuuurve. Which is why I have to post this new Florence and the Machine video. She is one of the only things I am hearing on the radio right now that I am excited about at a Neko Case level. As in, I think she is as talented and as weird and I am excited that she is on the radio as much as she is. And this new video is awesome.

Also, pretty!

The other favorites of mine that I can't believe are getting as much radio play as they are are The Black Keys. If you're going to sing about love, this is the way to do it.

They have such a good, gritty sound and that drummer makes me want to dance! What are you listening to right now that you are excited about?

The other thing I am loving right now is a blues musician named Rory Gallagher. Sometimes Matt will say, "oh, you should listen to this, you'll like this" and be completely correct and it will be somebody I never would have known about otherwise. So this is the song on repeat on my iPod this week:

God I Am Terrible At Titles

2011-10-24T05:57:00.000-07:00

Had a nice weekend with my dad, my mom is in Utah visiting her granddaughters and Matt is in Reno checking on the house. We hung my mailbox (finally!) and got plants for both our yards. And then last night my neighbors were throwing away camellia bushes because they were mislabeled white/full sun when they were really pink and didn't care for sun at all. Which sounds like most of my yard. So those are going in back hopefully after work today.

Also, I have a job interview today! Cross your fingers for me, it's a soils job similar to one I had in Reno for FOUR YEARS so I am optimistic. Based on info from a friend that works there it would mean some annoying office politics but it would be work that I am good at, plus a salary, benefits and a 10 MINUTE COMMUTE.

WANT.

And since I miss Matt:

I love Peter Gabriel. Also my husband.

Hi Again

2011-10-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

So it seems like this is a once-a-week blog lately. That's about how exciting my life is right now. If one of these other jobs pans out and I suddenly get a normal sleep schedule and a normal commute I could see going back to three or four posts a week but I am just not doing projects like I have been in the past.

I come home, do some laundry, clean up the kitchen and take a shower. Then I have dinner and fall asleep, usually to reruns of The Big Bang Theory. My garden projects are in limbo until we decide what to do. And the house is getting painted, one bit at a time, but it is all neutral colors or colors that don't show up on my camera (mad photography skills here).

I hope to get some projects taken care of this weekend and have some pictures to show for it. I just pulled my squash plants out and about half of my tomatoes as it has gotten wet so they are just sad and sloppy now. So once I finish cleaning up out there I want to redo the foundation plantings around where the veggies will go again in spring. Roses, lavender, gaura and loropetalum are the current front-runners as this is only a moderately sunny area and I want to keep the back comparatively more traditional. I have fantasies of dogwoods and rhododendrons for the full shade...

The front, I have other ideas for. We are waiting for a permit to take out the street tree and once that is out we are taking out the sad fruitless mulberry too. And the lawn. It is going to be a big project. And a decent amount of it hinges on what I can get the landlord to fund. There is a nonprofit that will replace the street tree but I want to replace the mulberry with a (very fruiting) navel orange, with a Western Redbud on the side. Currently it is 90% lawn with a couple of small beds up against the house that I have mostly filled with succulents. I want to do a nice mix of low-water stuff like ceanothus and more lavender with succulents. I have some volunteer agaves in pots that will be going in, and the "fence" between our yard and the neighbors is made of yuccas and I want to break that up a little bit and clump them around other places in the yard so they don't look completely random over there (ha).

And I just wanted to share a cute new blog I found, The Color Issue, it is full of fun inspiration (just what I need right now as the holidays loom).

Pictures soon, I promise!

I Was Over It, But Now I'm REALLY Over It

2011-10-13T07:17:00.000-07:00

Years ago I saw the Keep Calm poster somewhere and ordered one from Barter Books. I actually took it down because I got so sick of it, and stopped reading a snotty decor blog after she started printing her own and selling them with no effort to give Barter Books any kind of credit. Somebody in the UK has also started doing this, but they have also attempted to sue Barter Books to stop 'em from selling the posters. Crazy? Yes. But there has also been a decent writeup of the whole story, here. And I have decided that I really like The Hairpin. I think it was what xojane.com was kind of going for, but it doesn't piss me off. And my new favorite decor blog is here. Any new favorites, ladies?

I am trying to pay off some stuff so I am between projects and not doing much exciting stuff right now but I am sure reading a lot! Gotta love the library! And whoever got me hooked on Ngaio Marsh, thanks again! By rights, my house should probably be cleaner, based on what I am reading about everyone else doing ;) Maybe this weekend...

Moving Slowly

2011-09-26T20:08:00.000-07:00

These 6-2:30 hours are not working well for me. I came home today and took a two hour nap. I need to get applying to jobs instead of watching The Big Bang Theory in reruns.

But I will say, I went to an amazing concert Saturday night. CAKE has an email list and if you are on it and were in the Bay Area you got access to tickets to what basically amounted to a private show on the San Francisco Belle on a cruise around the bay. And for the same price they are playing next month at the Fox theater with two other bands. Who I don't care about. So this was the show for me!

It was an interesting show - they played a lot of their new album and very few of their biggest hits. And the crowd knew all the words to every song! And it was some good people-watching, one of the first shows I have been to since moving back to the Bay Area and a very stereotypical SF-looking crowd (as opposed to the last show I saw, which was Prince).

Also I came home with a limited-edition letterpress poster from the show! Now I just have to figure out where it can go in my house...

And in garden news (someday there will be pictures) I think my tomatoes are going to be a failure. Too much water. They are finally ripening now and the ones that got hit by the lawn sprinklers are weirdly squishy while not being ripe enough to pull off of the vines yet. My expectations are not high. The one tiny bush that didn't get hit by the sprinklers at all is half their size and is successfully producing awesome tomatoes, interestingly enough.

Musical interlude (not CAKE):

Breaking The Blog Silence (Ooh That Sounds So Serious)

2011-09-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

So the truth is, my job is less than "all that". It is a good starter job, but overall, there are a lot of things I don't love. The hours right now are making me an antisocial non-blogging lame-o, but hopefully those will change in a couple of weeks. And I am trying to decide if the job is making me feel racist, or if the people I am seeing are really just the racists. I work with plants. It is a maintenance job. Thus, the three people that have trained me so far have all been Hispanic. Very nice and good at their jobs too. Now we work with plants, so people come and ask us plant questions (somebody asked me a cleaning question my first week but he was a total douche so I just said "I'm not a cleaning lady, I just do plants"). Whenever somebody white or Asian has a plant question, they ask me. I think it's fairly clear that I'm the trainee, but maybe not. Whenever we are dealing with demanding little ladies who want their plants Just So, they tell me. However, whenever some other maintenance person in the area or secretary we have a question for happens to be Hispanic, it's like I don't exist because I can't talk to them in Spanish. Is this weird? Or do I just need to be practical and learn some Spanish?

In the "good stuff going on", Matt is meeting people and being social. He has been a shut-in ever since the accident except for when Reno friends visit, so this is really exciting. He is starting to really enjoy his job and is staying late tonight for a blues jam (because all the guys there are into blues jams, apparently). Tomorrow night he is off to the city to see a show with a buddy. I had to get on his schedule for date night Friday night! No idea what we will do, but it will be together, and sans guitars.

And I am getting lots of food for my plant obsession! Today I brought home some leftovers that can't be reused, three bromeliads and three phalaenopsis orchids that are still mostly blooming. They sell "color bowls" and the color has to be kept up-to-date and while with the bigger foliage plants they can often be reused, the color really can't be. So free purple orchids for me! It is still to be seen what will survive in this house... my current orchids have been blooming for a month and a half now and my grandmother used to keep her cymbidium orchids outdoors so I am tempted to try doing the same with these fellas when they are not in bloom.

AND I am fantasizing about what to do with these paychecks I am going to be getting! Note the key word, fantasizing. Apparently fall means neutrals and navy for my imaginary living room.

Living Room Update by ajftuba on Polyvore.com

UrbanOutfitters.com > Mid-Century Rocker Chair
$288 - urbanoutfitters.com

Modern-Weave Storage | west elm
westelm.com

Ceramic Cube Table Lamp | west elm
$99 - westelm.com

Hand-Blocked Leaf Pillow Cover | west elm
westelm.com

Work It!

2011-08-31T21:21:00.000-07:00

So today I got my first paycheck since October. It was a relief. The job is not my favorite, I am epically overqualified but until I find something that uses all my skills it is sure better than nothing. I get to go to malls and offices and model homes and all different places like that and take care of the plants. We bring new orchids when the old ones are done blooming and make sure everything is pretty and healthy and shiny. So I get to drive to all different places and meet new people every day and be active and busy and walking around a lot. And now I don't have to apply to the cheesy $10/hour Part Time Administrative Assistant jobs just so I can feel like I am making an effort. I am making an effort, so I can just apply to cool lab jobs and eventually I will find the right one.

But I don't love getting up at 6:15 every morning when Matt gets to sleep in. Waah. He also may have talked himself into a job at a super fancy boutique local guitar shop. I don't know how he does it, he just has a knack. I need to get him to work some of his mojo on my lab cover letters.

Also, here are some pretty pictures from my last Friday at Filoli with my mom before I rejoined the working world. It was apparently my day for peachy flowers. Isn't that last zinnia amazing with the color gradient? I couldn't do justice to most of the dahlias and roses but I am sure getting tempted to plant some! I am mostly all low-water and pro-natives but they sure are purty. Such inner turmoil!

Recommendation Roundup

2011-08-21T11:57:00.000-07:00

So I have been collecting recommendations for authors on the lines of Dorothy Sayers and Josephine Tey. Last week I went to the library and got a stack of books for my trip. So here is the short version:

Ngaio Marsh - Final Curtain
I had never heard of her stuff, and I really enjoyed this one. Very thorough on the characterization and there were fun and sympathetic characters while the plot wasn't totally implausible. I will be looking for more of her stuff. It may not be representative, as the first half is told from the perspective of the Detective-Inspector's wife and I don't know if she ever shows up again, but she is a particularly enjoyable character.

Margery Allingham - Black Plumes
This was the darkest in tone and there was a complete dearth of sympathetic characters. It was a little dated, but my real problem was there were just too many miserable, uninteresting or unbelievable people and I thought the twist at the end was a little too out-of-the-blue. I may try a different one before I write her off completely, but so far I have to say she may just not be my style.

Patricia Wentworth - The Ivory Dagger
I am trying not to hold it against her that in her first book that I grabbed, the butler did it. But there were well-drawn characters and an interesting story and I liked the combo of Miss Silver and Inspector Abbott. It is a little fluffier than the others and everyone ends up happily ever after (other than the murderer, and the murder-ee) but not too twee to be enjoyable.

Alan Bradley - The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Flavia de Luce started out as an irritating character, but she has definitely grown on me. As a modern comparison to these older writers, this stood up well. It is similar in tone, and the overly descriptive writing sometimes gets wearing, but the characters are written well enough for me to give the next book a shot.

And now my mom wants to give me some Simenon. We'll see how he stacks up.

Also, as a logophile, I am trying to arrest the decline of my vocabulary as I get farther away from all of my English classes. Here are the new words I collected from the most recent batch:

rubicund - of a reddish color; ruddy; rosy

epergne - a large table centerpiece consisting of a frame with extended arms or branches supporting holders, as for flowers, fruit, or sweetmeats

verjuice - the acid juice of unripe grapes, apples, or crab apples, formerly much used in making sauces, etc.

tumulus - the mound of earth placed over a tomb

All definitions from here. Not the most useful batch this time, but enjoyable all the same. And spellcheck hates them all.

So Far, So Good

2011-08-17T22:12:00.000-07:00

We went back to Reno this week. It was interesting. We called the renter and left him a message telling him we were coming by the house the next day. This is reasonable as the lease only requires 24 hours notice. Then apparently he sat on his phone and called me with his butt, as I was treated to part of a conversation between him and one of his kids explaining that someone had better be there, and if nobody was there we were likely to open the doors of their rooms and see the litter box.

There is no cat on the lease.

Then he actually called me and we had a nice chat about the state of the garden and the sprinklers. We told him we wanted to come check on the yard etc. and Matt wanted to change the air filter in the A/C and the water filter under the kitchen sink. He was gone camping all weekend with the dog, but conveniently, there would be a kid there.

So we go.

The house is pristine. You couldn't tell there was a dog living there, let alone a cat. It looks like they shampooed the carpets that week. In fact, it looks like they just moved in and WE shampooed the carpets last week.

Keep in mind, this is a single dad with two sons, a dog and a theoretical cat. And our cream-colored carpet. And they have been living there since April.

I think we scored in the renter department. It's so nice when something goes really really right. Also, they seem to be aware of what is going on in the garden. There looked like there had been a hurried cleanup but when he said on the phone that the sprinklers were all working, he knew what he was talking about. And there was a weird wet spring with a lot of late snow and most of the plants survived (which is awesome, considering we turned the sprinklers on in April too). So I did some pruning and cleanup so they wouldn't have to, and so if they did they could tell the weeds from the ground covers.

But the doors to the kids rooms were both shut. I think we will cross our fingers and try to keep away from the gift horse's mouth for now.

Also, somebody made Ikea instructions on how to build your own TARDIS. I love it.

And I Don't Even Like Nirvana

2011-08-09T21:25:00.000-07:00

Some people say electric cellos are cheating. I say, as long as they don't have pedals and effects, I am still in. Also, shaggy lead cello dude? You are adorable.

Normally I hate cover bands. But I love me some cello rock, apparently. That Welcome to the Jungle vid cracks me up.

And just for some cred. This is also gorgeous. And not a pop song. At least, not from this century.

Rereading Elderly British Mystery Novels Is Good For The Vocabulary

2011-08-04T19:28:00.000-07:00

pertinacity - persistence

intransigent - uncompromising, inflexible

infra dig - below one's dignity

compunction - guilt, moral scruple felt after doing something bad

callow - inexperienced, immature

serried - crowded or pressed together, esp. in rows

The last two I was shaky on but the first four I flat out went and looked up. I had a much better vocabulary when I was in school. Somehow Dorothy Sayers and Josephine Tey go together well. Some research shows that they were born three years apart and Sayers only had a couple of years head start on the mystery novel writing game, I wonder why I always assumed Tey was of a later era? Maybe Lord Peter will just never be a modern character to me. It may also be his trappings of old-fashioned English aristocracy. There is nothing old-fashioned about Inspector Grant, and I am almost as fond of him as I am of Lord Peter.

Any other fun brainy mystery-writing ladies I should be reading? Also, is it interesting or just a sign of their times that both of these ladies had male protagonists to solve their mysteries? Barring Miss Climpson, of course.

Outings

2011-07-23T22:25:00.000-07:00

This has been a better week for outings and not spending too much money. Hakone Gardens is five bucks but sometimes that is a totally justifiable expense.

Sometimes you just need a change of scenery. I recommend clicking to embiggen. It is worth it.

Apparently the oldest Japanese gardens in the western hemisphere, Hakone is in the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains and let me tell you, I love their bamboo forest. This place is inspiring me to work in my yard, as unrelated as that may seem. Might have to plant some bamboo... in a pot. No room for a forest here!

Cooking Fail

2011-07-14T18:42:00.000-07:00

I guess it wasn't a total failure, as the soup was salvageable, but this was my downfall:

I got suckered at the new Farmer's Market last weekend into getting something weird out of sheer curiosity. It's bitter melon, and I soaked it in ice water and de-seeded it and put it in a nice soup and picked a piece out to taste and almost spit it out. So I guess the ice water did nothing to decrease the bitterness and I am just a wuss. I picked every single slice out of that soup and now I am going to go enjoy it.

I finally made stock today out of the turkey carcass in my freezer, so it has turkey, carrots, noodles, bok choy and ginger. And I think that will be just fine. We have been having a really mild July all of a sudden so I figure I need to make soup while I can get away with it. It was this or lentil soup, which I will post a recipe for soon because now it is my favorite new soup.

Also, Tuesday's apricot jam came out a little bit too liquid, but overall it was nice. Now I just need to get a lot more apricots. I decreased the sugar so I could taste the fruit more, so it didn't set quite as much. But it's tasty, and will stay on a PB&J, so I don't care. Although apparently I shouldn't go late to Farmer's Market and get the smushy ones for cheap, because they have less pectin and my jam will be even runnier. It's nice to be worrying about small stuff for a while instead of big stuff, let me tell you.

And the bitter melon failure? Cost all of $0.45. So I think I'll be able to cope.

Back In the Saddle Again?

2011-07-12T20:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the radio silence over here, the main occupation for a while has been calling insurance companies, taking Matt to doctor's appointments and changing his dressings. But things have started to settle down and I am getting back to the job applications and garden projects. And this week I have some cooking adventures to ramble on about!

I have under my belt this week an excellent batch of vegetarian chili, my first-ever batch of apricot jam and tonight, a harbinger of the zucchini overwhelmedness to come; fritters.

They are always a hit but this time there was the added joy of roasted red pepper "aioli". Yes, I stuck a bunch of mayo in a blender with garlic and roasted red peppers. And it was SO GOOD.

Matt likes his with a shot of Tapatio but they don't even need it.

He wants more but the next zucchini project will probably be muffins, just to mix things up. Also, it is a Barefoot Contessa recipe so they are fried in a mix of oil and butter and there is only so much of that we really need.

I went on his hike with him for the first time today since we've moved here. When we got here I just pointed him at the local trail and said "go". And today I finally did it with him. It took about 2.5 hours round trip and based on the crappy map on the county website, I think we went around 10 miles. So that hopefully made up for some of the fritters.

I am feeling needy based on everyone's prettifying posts and I am debating the merits of spending my $$ on a haircut vs. an eyebrow wax vs. makeup vs. clothes. Odds are I would normally not be doing any of these things anytime soon but my grandmother's memorial is coming up and I am going to need to look respectable at the cemetery (just family) and the reception (friends and neighbors and people I went to preschool with). And for lots of photographs. So I am thinking I will start with a haircut and see how things progress from there.

Many Thanks

2011-06-13T20:56:00.000-07:00

It has been a crappy couple of weeks, thanks so much for all the well wishes everyone! Tomorrow Matt finally gets his first surgery so we are crossing our fingers that we have been doing everything right and it will be the first of very few surgeries that he needs.

The crappy bit is that he was scheduled to have it LAST Tuesday, but Monday when we were taking care of all the pre-op tests (he has an exciting medical history that makes doctors want LOTS of tests before they poke him) I was told at 9:30 that he was good to go and that the hospital and the insurance company were on the same page and everything was hunky-dory. That afternoon I got another call saying that the hospital was out of network and we were welcome to get the surgery done if we were prepared to pay cash-ola for the whole shebang. While currently both not employed. BUT INSURED. This seems to defeat the purpose of insurance.

So I spent an excessive amount of time on the phone and got a doctor who was in our network, and down the street. However, long story short, we met with him on Thursday and hated him, but scheduled another pre-op appointment for today because we thought he was our best option. And got home to a letter from the hospital saying the surgery at the hospital was totally approved and we should go do that. So I call the insurance and they say "yeah, go for it, why didn't you get that done Tuesday?" and when I call the hospital to schedule it they say "no, you're not approved, you can't schedule anything". So there were many hours on the phone and not yelling but repeat phone calls to see if somebody else could transfer me somewhere more useful instead of to the lady who works from 6:30 to 3 when I am calling at 3:15.

Who works from 6:30 to 3 when they are supposed to be helping people in the same time zone?

Anyways, things are getting sorted, surgeries with the nice doctor will be covered, well wishes are appreciated, and I promise there will be pictures soon of my adorable office (as soon as it is no longer covered in insurance papers on every surface) and the most attractive fabric I have ever found and been forced to buy even though I am scared to cut and/or sew it because it is SO GORGEOUS. Hopefully I will be functional enough as a human being to get back to the projects before any more of them accumulate. I also have four neglected tomato plants that need to get in the ground1

It has been a Caps Lock last couple of weeks. Hope everyone's June is going well now that it is almost half over. Yeesh.

To Top It All Off

2011-06-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

I flipped my car. Amazingly, there were no bones broken, I am sore but ok and Matt needs skin grafts on the back of his head because he got a bunch of window glass in the back of his head. We found a used Jetta with side curtain air bags so I don't have to freak out about side windows any more. We thought it was the sunroof but that is in one piece. Go figure.

Take home message? Don't rush, there is always time to get where you need to go. And I would totally get a Legend again if it had side air bags. This little car saved our butts. And most of the rest of us.

AND ALWAYS WEAR YOUR SEATBELTS.

Bad Weekend

2011-05-27T17:25:00.000-07:00

My grandmother died Saturday night. She was a HUGE part of my life. She was the only person that ever sent me mail, I always had to have stamps and stationery on hand just for responding to her letters. She would mail me any little clipping or picture that made me think of her, and in college when I was on my own for the first time I loved getting weird little things in my mailbox. When I was in college she would call and leave messages and my roommates would never be able to understand what she said, they'd just say "We think somebody called for you." When she called the house and Matt answered the phone she would just say "Where is she?" They had whole conversations about me and how grumpy I get and whenever I would be visiting her for too long she would send me home to Matt "so he doesn't divorce you."

When I was little I was jealous of all the other kids who had babysitters because she was my only babysitter for my entire childhood. I didn't realize how good I had it. We would walk to the park and she would hang out with all the moms while I played. Every weekend my parents would drop me off at her house and she would feed me totally unhealthy Hungarian food on Saturday night and we would watch old musicals on PBS and play card games. Then I would take a bath in her bathtub and sleep in her sparest spare room. In the morning I would go wake her up and she would make me eggs and bacon while I watched old Adam West Batman reruns on TV. Then we would go work in her yard all day. I mowed her lawn (the way it was supposed to be done) and planted and dug things up under her eagle-eyed supervision. I was never allowed to touch the azaleas. The fuchsias looked like little ballerinas and the camellias were the size of a baseball. The jade plants were bigger than I was. I didn't know anyone else with a garden like hers.

In junior high and high school she came to all my track meets, basketball games and concerts. She was my biggest fan. Even in college she managed to see one of my concerts. We had big family dinner at her house every Christmas Eve, and every Easter. This year we had Easter at her house again with the whole family for the first time in at least five years. I worked my butt off and she had a great time (so did everybody else, I'm told). We sat around and my sisters looked through all her old furniture and rugs and everybody took whatever they could fit in their cars. She loved seeing us with her stuff, knowing who was going to use what where.

In the last couple of years we tried to organize ourselves so everybody talked to her at least twice a week. She loved it. Whenever you called her she gave you the latest gossip on everybody else. She got all the news first and she would make sure everybody knew whether you were going to a concert this weekend or just planting a shrub. She was 104. When she moved into the nursing home last year my dad got her a cell phone. It was her lifeline. She racked up a HUGE phone bill. She had people calling her from Hungary, from the East Coast, from all over the place. And she called us all the time. In the last three months of me living here, she was never without that phone. In the hospital when she was too tired to talk I would tuck her in with her phone by her pillow and my sisters would call her and talk at her just so she could hear their voices.

Now I live in her house. I had to rearrange all the furniture and repaint the entire place so it wouldn't be weird. And I can prune the azaleas. But I'd rather have her here. The nursing home is two blocks away and it is so strange not having to stop there on my way home any more.

Totally Out Of Title Inspiration.

2011-05-19T00:35:00.000-07:00

So I am back. And pictures of the painted room will have to wait until the a.m. when it is light. But I just got back from a weirdly mixed/nice family trip. My family flew to Phoenix from our respective cities of residence, and then all got in one car (an Armada, and the back seat is NOT comfortable, I wish I got carsick so I could always get to sit shotgun) and drove to Prescott (say it with me, Pres-KIT), Arizona. It is a cute little town about two hours north of Phoenix and man, was that a long drive. I am the baby and my three sisters and I and my parents, sans partners or children, all went there for my grandfather's memorial.

We stayed in the historic and wacky Hassayampa Inn, and my oldest sister and I ended up getting a suite with a parlor. The parlor had its own door! We walked down the hall and our door was one down from the end of the hall and I looked at the door at the end and said "I wonder who gets the Parlor?" and then we walked into our room and they were connected. So nobody had as nice of a room as we did and we totally rubbed it in. But then everybody hung out there anyways.The memorial was very low-key, we just had a nice room with a slideshow and pictures of him and people stood around and told stories about my grandad. And then we went and hung out at the hotel bar.

I'd totally stay there again if I could be sure we didn't get one of the even wackier rooms. But it was awesome when people came to get us and we invited them in via the parlor door. Also, my aunt who got to clean out my grandad's house let us look through a whole pile of his mom's jewelry that she didn't know what to do with, so I wore one of her necklaces to the memorial. It was a very odd vibe but we all had a really nice time in the end.

And just to make sure I looked decent (and because I haven't found anywhere to get a cheap haircut yet), I got my brows done before we left. It's more expensive down here, but they also "fixed" my makeup afterwards, a.k.a. gave me a whole new face of stuff and tried to sell me on lash and brow tinting. I love a face of new stuff, but lash and brow tinting completely creeps me out so that was a little annoying. I am still totally tempted by the purple mascara, believe it or not. The brow stuff really fills in and tidies up my brows nicely and the mascara, cliche as it sounds, really made my eyes pop. The tinted moisturizer was nice, but I couldn't really tell if it was any better than the stuff I normally use. And the blush was horrible and dark and shiny and looked really bad. I mostly just thought it would fill out the little image roundup I've got going on.

Benefit Counter by ajftuba on Polyvore.com

Benefit Cosmetics : makeup : box o' powder
$28 - benefitcosmetics.com

Benefit Cosmetics : makeup : foundation
$30 - benefitcosmetics.com

Benefit Cosmetics : makeup : eyes & brows
$30 - benefitcosmetics.com

Benefit Cosmetics : makeup : mascara
$19 - benefitcosmetics.com

And the obligatory packing rundown.

AZ Trip by ajftuba featuring a short cardigan

J Crew vneck sweater
$88 - jcrew.com

J Crew vintage top
$80 - jcrew.com

Short cardigan
$60 - bananarepublic.gap.com

Old Navy sheer top
$13 - oldnavy.gap.com

Banana Republic jeans
$67 - bananarepublic.gap.com

GAP bootcut pants
$60 - gap.com

J Crew 50s style pencil skirt
$30 - jcrew.com

Patagonia
$49 - patagonia.com

Gap short
$40 - gap.com

Patagonia
$35 - patagonia.com

Indigo by clark
endless.com

Privo slip shoes
$50 - jdoqocy.com

Kenneth Jay Lane stamped jewelry
195 GBP - net-a-porter.com

Ten Thousand Things chain jewelry
$145 - ylang23.com

Bracelet
$120 - sundancecatalog.com

Patagonia MLC® - Maximum Legal Carry-On Bag
$229 - patagonia.com

Privo Gali at Zappos.com
$70 - zappos.com

Of course, these are all the Polyvore equivalents, the real deal had a lot more purple and a lot less J. Crew. It fit perfectly in the MLC though. The Patagonia Maximum Legal Carryon is perfect for a nice weekend trip. And it makes roaming the airports much easier when all you have is a big soft backpack with no frame.

I will take office pictures as soon as it isn't the middle of the night. And then we can discuss how the heck I am supposed to "finish" in here other than spending a bunch of $$$.

Biting The Bullet

2011-05-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

I am painting my office. The same color as most of the rest of the house. For now. It may change but right now I am starting to get the feeling that anything that is decent and clean-looking will be more restful to the eye than the array of big swatches of colors that I don't like. Sigh.

Pictures will be forthcoming.

Also, I love this website and I realized, I must share it with my fellow logophiles!

Miss Cookbook Got Me Thinking

2011-05-09T21:59:00.000-07:00

What are some of the weirdest things you have ever eaten? We went to Teske's Germania Saturday night and I got wild boar goulash. It was delicious.

I like trying something unusual on a menu. Especially if somebody else is buying ;) If I can't get it at an average grocery store, I am probably 30% more likely to try it at a restaurant. That may not mean I'll get it ever again though.

Rabbit and duck were both eh, I don't think I'd try them again. There is always the cute factor with those - as a proper Disney-watching American female, can I eat ducks and bunnies without a twinge of guilt? Yes, once. But I probably won't do it again. Venison, boar and elk I would all definitely try again. Pigeon? Sure, it's just all dark meat. I like dark meat. But skate? Terrible texture. Who thought that was a good idea? Apparently me AND a fancy restaurant. Boy were we all wrong.

What are some unusual dishes you never expected to try? And did you like them?

For Your Saturday Night Entertainment

2011-05-07T17:14:00.000-07:00

I love this site. We are taking my dad here for his birthday dinner tonight. I may paint my office tomorrow. But first we are having muffins and frittata for Mother's day brunch. And I'm done. Is a pre-dinner nap not the done thing? Because I feel like I will need the energy.

I Swear I Am Still Here

2011-05-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

Thus, a To-Do list to keep me in action in my poor little office:
Choose paint color
Paint walls
Continue to empty closet (this is the closet of DOOM right now, let me tell you)
Get rid of unwanted stuff so there is room to breathe (I am torn between making the effort to sell stuff and being lazy and donating it)
Edit out tiny things (Alana turned me onto this lovely blog and I am enamored of this post on editing)

I am not so in need of adding things (unless adding another closet is an option) so I am just working on subtracting. I put a pair of big nice throw pillows on Craigslist and am trying to decide if that is weird and if I should just donate them. They are nice though, and barely used at all.

And I finally found a band that I can go watch with both my parents and Matt. Hell hath possibly frozen over.

Matt loves the guitarist and I luuuurve the bass player. And I think everybody loves the fiddler, she is hilarious.

Totally Sidetracked. UPDATED WITH HOT PICTURE ACTION.

2011-05-01T23:20:00.000-07:00

Yet another project. The front of the house has siding on the bottom half of it and a bed that runs along it, and until recently it had a big hedge of crazy plumbago that crawls into the siding and under the house and the contractor hates it and the exterminator hates it and the landlord hates it. So it got ripped out and now I get to paint the siding and dig out the roots and replant the bed.

from here.

This is our awesome focal plant. It is a smoke bush, which normally comes in dark purple. That was my original idea, but the landlord convinced me it wouldn't show up enough, and this one plant happened to be on display at the nursery. The siding is the bottom half of the wall and it is dark green. So now I have a lime green smoke bush and some phormiums to accent it that should also show up well.

from here.

And a nice variety of wacky succulents to underplant with. A good low-water, full-sun combo. But it meant today I repainted the bottom half of the wall (the bit with siding) and then put up new house numbers. Before I could do any planting. And sadly, the old house numbers were almost invisibly small, because they were actual metal and not metal-colored plastic like my new ones (twice as big though and actually visible from the street). But of course I broke one installing it so now I have to return it and get a new one (right now it is held together with black electrical tape). I wish I could get metal ones again but I doubt they'd be in the budget.

Plants down here are much more exciting. Succulents are annuals in Nevada because they freeze solid with the first snow. Here, not so much. There will be real After pictures on this one, I promise.

Update: here they are!

Freshly painted green bits and no hedge.

Ta MotherF'ing Dah.

After all that buildup, this looks pretty tame. But it was a beast to dig out the stupid roots from that hedge. And that agave on the right really fought back. The succulents (other than the awesome greeny-purple one in the middle) were hand-me-downs from my sister, and the smoke tree and phormiums were purchased by the landlord (on the principle that, even if we don't stay, he gets to keep them so he might as well fork over), and those agaves were stealthily growing in my backyard. So now they get their moment in the sun. I don't even know why they were in the backyard, they were behind a shrub so you couldn't even see them.

So, anyways. Ta Dah!

Sidetracked: Easter.

2011-04-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

Easter was at my house again this year. In my family this is a completely secular, food-oriented holiday. This was the house we traditionally always had Easter at when we were little kids, so this is the first time everyone has been here since we moved in. All my sisters came with their children, and Matt's brother came with his kids too. This was hilarious because their mom put them in adorable matching lavender Easter dresses with little white dress shoes and cardigans and all my sisters' kids were running around in jeans and thrift store dresses. It makes for a good contrast in pictures, half a dozen little towheaded terrors and two misleadingly perfect-looking little black-haired angels. Anyways, here's the rundown:

ham,
smoked salmon,
banana nut muffins (everyone thought these were from the bakery, but I made them),
fruit ring (this was from the bakery, it got inhaled in about 30 seconds, some people didn't even know it existed),
fruit salad,
green salad (sisterly contribution),
quinoa salad (my aunt brings this to all potlucks because everyone requests it, I am waiting for the recipe),
three loaves of bread (one wine-wheat-walnut, two challah, from the awesome bakery),
spinach-mushroom-and-potato frittata (in a big Pyrex, this is great for a big crowd but I think I overdid the potato component a bit),

and no chocolate. WTF was I thinking?

Incidental Easter-related/ non-Cure house purchases included a bunch of ranunculus that has lasted really well for $3.99 (I will SO be buying those again), as well as a gorgeous Marimekko-esque tablecloth and some cute new dishtowels from my soon-to-be-defunct favorite kitchen store. The auto spell checker does not like me today.

And incidental benefits included being the recipient of a ton of flowers so now my house may be messy but it smells like heaven. And my sisters finally dragged away about half the contents of the garage. Thank goodness. I anticipate actually being able to park in there in the relatively near future. Crazy? Possibly.

Decisions, Decisions (edited for Alana)

2011-04-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

I am trying to decide if I should just paint my poor office a neutral color and let it be, at least for now. But everything in it is wood or green except the big loveseat (which is a boring neutral taupe) so I worry it might be too boring. Which got me surfing Etsy for un-boring pillow covers for the loveseat.

This is the front-runner, obnoxious and bright but still modern enough to not bother me:

This is a little pricier than I like, I just love the color and the big peacock feather. It also comes in a gorgeous eggplant color that doesn't go with anything, sigh.

And this is totally the wrong colors for everything in my house but I adore the pattern. Somebody go buy this!

I am not changing the curtains anytime soon, so I feel like the pillow cover is a good spot for a little pop of obnoxious color. The rug will play well with most patterns as long as they have a little bit of green...

Somebody opinionated, help me!

Also, Easter roundup will be forthcoming, once I fully recover.

Edited to add: this is the room as it stands. Loosely, but the wood tones are right and the art is all correct. My curtains are lined thermal "linen" from Country Curtains or somewhere like that, they are respectable (a.k.a. not going to change) but have a very yellow tone to them (I think it's from the lining). This is what I am thinking about that nice flowery pillow to jazz things up a little bit. And leaning away from painting the walls green (I don't want it to be dark in there with all that dark wood).

Office Sketch by ajftuba on Polyvore.com

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T07:59:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone has a wonderful day.

Musical Interlude.

2011-04-22T12:17:00.000-07:00

It's review time! I was going to put in a bunch of books and the current albums I have on repeat, but I decided that this one should get its own post because it is so rad.

Anais Mitchell - Hadestown
This is apparently a Folk Opera. Point is, it's a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, with Greg Brown as Hades and Ani DiFranco as Persephone. Eurydice is the adorably-voiced Anais Mitchell (a girlish, 1940's type of voice I normally despise, but she absolutely pulls it off) and Justin Vernon from Bon Iver as Orpheus (his voice is made to stand out with an interesting chorus effect). It is brilliantly produced by Ani DiFranco's bass player, Todd Sickafoose and the Fates are the awesome Haden Sisters, a trio of triplets with some serious vocal chops.

The orchestration is very enjoyable and surprisingly complex (see clip #1). I am usually more neutral on the folk/Americana/bluegrass but this has enough good ingredients that I like that it makes for a delicious musical stew. Ok, so that was not my best metaphor ever. Let us just say, somebody sent us this album via the internet and I had to go out and buy it at an actual record store because this is the music I want to support with my cash monies.

Orpheus (the broke musician) and Eurydice

The devil's offer...

Is it silly that I assume anyone reading my blog is familiar with the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice? Because I totally do.

In Lieu.

2011-04-21T17:07:00.001-07:00

Update

2011-04-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

So the projects continue apace. Right now I have some interim shots so you can see what I am up to... painting the bedroom. Just so we remember, here is a Before:

Enthralling, I know. Here's a During:

And the closest I have to an After:

Like my office chair? It's for clothes stacking. I know these are not the best pictures, but it is mostly to show that I have been DOING something here. And tragically, this color that I love in here, looks like poo in my office, which is the room I really need to paint now.

Monday Morning, You Gave Me No Warning

2011-04-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

I'm back! Had to go to Reno this weekend for a memorial service (sad, but nice) and to turn on the sprinklers - we have a renter! And this morning I had a job interview... cross your fingers for me!

Week 3: Research Furniture and Services

--What are you going to buy, how much and where can you find it?

--Start a list of Interior changes you want to make (use the Interior design worksheet)

--Identify cool room and warm rooms.

--Decide on window treatments

--Apply the 80/20 colour rule

--Research and call in help

1. Found the magazine holders on sale at the Container Store, I can see that is going to be a place I have to avoid. Picture frame was via amazon.com. Rug pad will be from West Elm, most likely, because I have a coupon and they have the size I need.

2. Interior changes mainly involve organizing, repainting and moving some stuff around. I have a small side table that might get put next to the loveseat, and art is continually being rearranged. More storage ideas may still be pending.

3. This is a warm room. The rug has a lot of colors in it but the floor is a distinctly orangey oak and the curtains are a "linen" that looks pretty yellow to me (this is not from age, they are relatively new and pleasantly clean). All the other furniture is warm wood tones except for the loveseat which is a neutral taupe (also warm).

4. These are staying.

5. I have totally forgotten the 80/20 rule. Which is bad because it probably says something about the paint color I am thinking about. It is a light yellowy sort of lemongrass which I think won't fight with all the wood or overwhelm with all the green accents. I am on the fence. My mom is rooting for me to use the shade I just picked out for the bedroom, which is a darker sort of khaki green, but this is not as bright of a room and more of the accents are green so I am thinking it might be green overkill.

6. This is my room and I am doing it on my own. Research is ongoing.

Also, I am thinking about putting this on the wall. What do we think, too dark? I kind of love it so I may be biased.

Whoops! Meant To Post This...

2011-04-13T11:19:00.001-07:00

Life is full of distractions. Yesterday's post is now today's, due to some quality time with insurance people (yuck) and exterminators (double yuck). My cute little car got sideswiped and it took a week to get the guy's insurance to admit it was all his fault and send an appraiser. Thankfully the appraiser realized HOW NICE MY CAR IS and gave me a good deal (it is a 1995 but he was so impressed he said it could pass for a 2005). And now it will be another week until I can get it fixed. Ugh.

And of course the roof rats are all excited now that somebody is living here and keeping food in the house and it is horrible. And as soon as the exterminators arrive it starts raining on them, poor guys. I really like them though, they are totally poison-free and are climbing around the roof "excluding" the rats from the house - they trap the ones in the attic and then no more can get in because they are closing off all the holes from the outside (knock on wood). So it will be nice to get that over with. Yuck.

Anyways, onward and Cure-ward.

Week 2: Develop floor plan and Shopping List

--What activities will this room house? (given the overall space)

--Make a floor plan

--Name your vision

--Build a shopping list

Um, this room is too small to have much of a floor plan or a "vision". It houses my desk, where I work, and a loveseat, where I plan on sitting and reading. There is ideally room on the floor for an air mattress for guests. That's it. It's small and square and full of bookshelves so there is not a lot of rearranging leeway. The wall with the entry door also has the closet door, so there is a bookshelf between the doors and that is it. The facing wall has a big window and the loveseat pretty much has to go there due to bookshelf/door configuration. My vision is cozy and somewhere I can hang out and have room to read or work on my computer or practice my tuba. And hell if I can find any cozy green office pictures to go with it.

Shopping list:

paint- I have actually found a pleasing sort of a lemongrass shade that I think will go great with the existing furniture and my awesome new rug.

picture frames

rug pad

closed storage for magazines and desk stuff

Enthralling, I know. But stuff needs doing. This version of the Cure seems to leave out a lot of cleaning and decluttering but you can assume I will be doing that anyways. The closet is my secret stash area of things I have no way to deal with right now, but eventually it will hold stored desk and crafting stuff as well as sheet music. So it can't be overflow linen closet and garage storage, oh no it can't.

Here's a shot of my only new purchase for this room - it is the green rug on the bottom. And it is much more pleasingly vibrant and variegated in situ, so I am happy with it. It just desperately needs a rug pad as it slides around on the wood floor and this makes rolling a chair around on it really annoying.

Working On It.

2011-04-09T19:17:00.000-07:00

I forgot that the one-room cure is much less overwhelming than the full cure. So, yay! I get to collect inspiration and gather a style tray. But since my budget and room are both teeny, I will likely not be buying furniture for this room so much as organizing and rearranging it. That and I like all the furniture I have, huzzah! So the style tray, while not totally superfluous, is less crucial. But it is optimally inspirational, if I can find some decent office photos that I like. So far, pickings are slim.

So, inspiration. I posted more posters before, but I need to add this one as it is a great color inspiration and I may or may not have just ordered a new frame for it. Again, this is from a festival that I attended. In high school. I had no idea what I was getting into. I just liked Bruce Hornsby. And I still love this poster.

Some closed storage for magazines and miscellaneous crap that won't fight with everything else would be nice too. This stuff is tempting as West Elm has just thoughtfully sent me a coupon. But trust that the art will not be black and white.

Also there will be some hiding of electronics, at the very least the router and shredder do not need to be on display for all their aesthetic glory. There is a ton of organizing that will happen as well, and some stuff will disappear completely come yard sale day...

Faking It (Curing Without My Book)

2011-04-07T16:43:00.000-07:00

Alana and SCB have already thrown down the gauntlet, so I will follow along as best I can. Like Alana, I hate being forced to pick actors and actresses as representations of my style. As much as I enjoy movies and TV, I find them completely irrelevant to my life in general. So let it suffice to say I'd like my home to be Modern, Multicultural and Tidy. I am sick of the word "ethnic" as a grab-bag of cultures so I feel like Multicultural encompasses our tapestries, statues, rugs and art like I wish Modern would encompass our furniture and overall style. And good lord do I want it to be TIDY in here. I have never done the one-room cure and without a book, I am going to wing it from Alana and SCB's answers. It's not quite cheating.

Art styles that I like are Art Nouveau and Deco, ornate but not in-your-face about it. Artists I enjoy are more of a mix, including Michelangelo and Henry Moore, I like sculpture with clean lines and a little heft to it. I like Asian-style wood block prints and music posters for their firm grasp of shape and space and what I now think of as retro styling. And I love a nice botanical or otherwise vaguely academic-looking print.

This is in my office. From Aesthetic Apparatus. I love CAKE.

I look to the past for my style cues more than I look to popular culture. My current love is old WPA posters and Bauer pottery and I want to get a job so I can invest in some new decor for my new casa! Also, I find it weird to advertise for things I am not a fan of - thus I have a CAKE poster that I love but I would never have, say, a Justin Bieber poster, no matter how attractive the typography. Same with the WPA posters - I desperately want the Lassen poster because I love driving through there, I would feel weird with a Mt. Rainier poster instead as I have never been there.

Delving into my personal history doesn't tell me much. My last place we lived at for about five years and I was happy there. Painted everything and fixed it and puttered around making it my little nest. Before that I was single and rented random rooms, I usually painted or shampooed the carpets but I wasn't at any of them long enough to really make any serious conclusions about those places. Furniture was from Tarjay and disposed of via Craigslist when no longer needed, the things that stayed were art and it is all always framed and matted. No pants hangers to hang art from here!

Anyways.

What are its problems?
1. It's not coherent. It needs to be a room that can function for multiple purposes, and storage is NOT one of the main ones.
2. It is cluttered. Still.
3. I don't love the layout or the lack of light sources. It's really a one-person room right now. Antisocial, maybe.

If the house could speak, what would it say?
Pick a paint color, all those random swatches look silly in here. And get a Swiffer or something, my corners get dusty where the rug doesn't cover me.

What do I want to do more of?
Relaxing. I want to be able to read comfortably in here and do projects, not just sit at my computer.

How would I want someone to describe my ~~home~~ room eight weeks from now?
1. Relaxing
2. Serene
3.Comfortable (is this redundant with relaxing? maybe.)

And so it begins...

Everybody Is Doing It

2011-04-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

The Cure, that is! Officially an invention of Maxwell Gilllllingham-Ryan of AT fame, now less fun on the website and more fun among the blogs! There is a whole-house version and a one-room version and I am definitely going to pick a room to do. But post-move, there is so much to do! So I have to decide:

The office, which needs a wall color, a rug pad and general increased levels of organizing and coherence,

Or the bedroom, which likewise needs a paint color, but also a rug and a tv stand and a bunch of art (or a tapestry?) and even more organizing and whatnotitudes. I am thinking this might be a case of biting off more than I can chew right now.

Picture Post!

2011-03-31T23:34:00.000-07:00

So this is the living room with our giant couch in situ. When people come over we pull chairs up on either side of our wacky hexagonal coffee table. It's wacky. But free. And if we leave the chairs in place then you can't walk around. It's weird. The desk on the left is on wheels so it isn't always there. And those speakers look TALL. Art is really coming soon, I swear.

The view of the stereo corner from the drumset. Can you see the banjo?

There's the drumset. Kitchen/dining area hasn't really changed. But there is art up in there. Some of it is a little small but I like it.

Still the kitchen.

Still need a cabinet/buffet over in that corner, it is a disaster.

That stuff up top doesn't look terrible. It kills me that the cabinets don't go to the ceiling, though. WASTED SPACE.

Paint swatches in action. And a bedskirt. Still no art here either, though. I am debating a tapestry on that left-hand wall. And I love the shape of that lampshade. The tv is on a nightstand that my dad made in woodshop when he was in school. I never made anything that cool in woodshop, sigh.

Dresser needs a lot of love, still. And the current paint swatch front-runner is actually to the right of the mirror, whether you can see it or not. So this room needs a lot of work. Once I commit to a paint color this will be the first room to get painted.

And the office, with my ratty chair. I am terribly tempted to sell that loveseat and get a comfy armchair in there instead. And you can barely see my new awesome rug. But it is what is slowing me down from immediately painting this room green like my old office. And I still need more storage. Lots more storage.

So there's some action shots for ya. Now I just need to calm down and pick a room and deal with it. I want to do everything at once so now I just work in the garden while the sun shines. And there will be pictures of that too, soon!

The Literary Antidote

2011-03-29T22:41:00.000-07:00

This is lush and hilarious and I am really enjoying it. Call it a palate cleanser after the bleak and grim. It is set in Peru in the 40's and so far I am a huge fan. Apparently there was a movie version made in the 90's with Keanu Reeves. Go figure. Hilarious and South American are two phrases that do not come to mind. I will update when I finish but so far this book is just what I needed.

Also I swear I will take During/After pictures tomorrow.

I Might Have Joined A Book Club

2011-03-28T00:09:00.000-07:00

And I may or may not regret it. At the very least there will be food and I get to play with the baby. And meet new people. However, the book is The Girl With The Freaking Dragon Tattoo. I know there have already been several reviews posted among my blogging buddies so based on a vague recollection of them I traded some used books in so I didn't have to pay for it (no library card yet, lazy me). And I will trade it right back in. I did a power-read this evening so I am maybe 60% done with it. And OY. I forget how much I dislike violent books. My mom did try to explain it to me at one point because she couldn't decide if she wanted to recommend it to me or not, and she was hung up on exactly what I am hung up on. How is it drawing attention to the violence against women by luridly describing it and using it as a major plot point for the whole book? Would you not have to write the book if there was no violence against women or would you not be able to?

And yet, little bits of information keep getting revealed so it is a total tease and I want to know whodunit. Ergh.

Is there a word for a male Mary Sue? The Indiana Jones/Robert Langdon charming ~~academic~~ reporter who is loved by all the ladies and can do no wrong? And of course all the female characters are beautiful, if troubled, and they all adore him.

I fear I will derail the book club discussion. I will have to see if they have a reading list of their past choices so I can make an informed decision if I stick with them. Although, meeting most of them might help, too. If it's just an excuse for a girls' night and they are cool ladies, I might be able to roll with it. But I sure have to get a library card if that's the case.

Anybody want to send me links to their old reviews so I can back up my potential rant?

Oh There Will Be More Pictures Soon

2011-03-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

But before that, a question. What is your favorite thing to do with lentils? Soup? Grain salad-type things? I have lentils that need using and am stymied by their existence. Or just uninspired. They make me think of split pea soup and bland green mushy things. But I know this is just my lack of imagination.

Last load of stuff comes tomorrow. This includes the barbecue, patio furniture and bicycles, but more excitingly, the rest of my kitchen stuff (I miss you, knives!), the loveseat, and the rest of the art. So there will be pictures, and they will include art on the walls! Right now they are too bare to photograph. Also the rest of my lamps are coming, so it won't be so darn dim.

Still No Pictures, But At Least A Return To Updates.

2011-03-13T20:01:00.000-07:00

I have been in this house officially for almost a week now. Here is what I've done:

Bummed around and watched the first half of the new season of the Venture Brothers. It is getting progressively weirder.
Celebrated my nephew's eighth birthday.
Investigated several grocery stores and used furniture stores. No furniture finds yet. Grocery stores are hit and miss. Whole Foods is even more expensive here, the Raley's is weird and dirty (it was the nice one in Reno) and the local option (Lunardi's) is shockingly expensive for some things and perfectly reasonable for others. Trader Joe's is exactly the same as in Reno. So it is a mix between Lunardi's and Raley's for respectable produce so far and TJ's for soy products, juice and other random specialty items. WF may be a better deal for bulk stuff. Also Lunardi's has THE BEST BREAD EVER. God I love being back in bread country. Also I need to find my local farmer's markets since they are year-round here.
Rearranged the living room so the stereo and speakers will fit. I don't love it.
Begun hanging up art, whether it is in places I still need to paint or not. It still looks better than bare dirty walls.
Begun testing paint colors for rooms that still need paint. So far my blue is not gray enough. Baby blue was not the goal. But it still needs to dry more before I can write it off completely. It is drying darker...
Un-papered and painted the entire linen closet. This was the first project before Matt got here. It was bright green with flowered wallpaper. And spiders. Now it is white with white acrylic liners and looks nice and clean. Clean is big here.
Done a mild amount of yard cleanup, planted an azalea and some herbs.
Made a few real meals, including possibly my best-ever batch of curry cauliflower soup. I need to get new bulk spice sources.

I need to take some before/during pictures of the garden. More interior pictures will ensue sooner than later, probably once I've decided on a paint color. It should rain all week so that will keep me out of the garden for a bit.

And as a closer, here is a little friend that I have inherited. He is not really that little, standing almost 6" tall, but he is a good reminder of how I remember this house, full of love (and knick-knacks). I need to corral the existing knick-knacks and give them good homes, but right now this little guy is on the windowsill right above my computer to keep me company.

Because There Are No After Pictures Worth Posting Yet.

2011-03-01T14:17:00.001-08:00

Picture Time!

2011-02-23T15:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday and today have been moving-of-furniture days but Monday was Moving In day so here are some Before photos. I came down and took out a lot of old furniture and painted the living room and the hallway so they are not 100% Before, but they will still be a good comparison for the After photos I will take in approximately 5 years.

This is the view from the living room. On the left you have the dining area and the right has the entryway and the kitchen area.

Closeup of the dining area. With any luck there will be something more useful under that window soon, perhaps a cabinet or credenza of some sort. The bar cart is cute but that area just invites clutter.

Hello, kitchen. This was a gut job by the landlord so everything is very basic but new and clean and very functional. But man, how did I not realize how much storage space I had before?

Living room from the entryway. On the left is the hallway entrance and on the right is the patio door. Thus, not a lot of ways to arrange furniture in here. On the plus side, I painted it before we moved big heavy stuff in!

My office. Small and I inherited an awesome desk and bookshelf. The tippy standing light on the right is the only room light - there is no overhead light. This means the window always stays open. However, the view is a narrow little patch of fence where I can't plant anything exciting so I am contemplating a white roman shade so I can leave it shut and have it be light but with no ugly view.

Tiny bathroom. Redone before renting. Art will probably get changed.

Master bedroom. Enthralling, eh? Desperately needs painting, this room will get a color. I also inherited the awesome dresser on the left that needs A LOT of love. Not a full-on refinish, but probably a gallon of elbow grease...

Master bath. Also freshly remodeled and painted. This was a disaster area as of a couple of months ago. Now it is pretty much all stock and plain and clean and that (not stock) shower door makes it look SO fancy.

Garden pictures will come eventually, right now I am painting things and putting things away and flattening boxes. Very exciting. So, any thoughts? I know I scored on the bathroom/kitchen fronts but the living room is incredibly awkward, so we'll see what happens there.

Still Plugging Away

2011-02-14T14:52:00.000-08:00

There is a dearth of furniture in my house right now, and a looming snowstorm is not looking good for our moving prospects in the next couple of days. So tonight we are hunkering down for a little dinner at home. Possibly sitting on the floor. It would have been fancier but I have packed 3/4 of my kitchen stuff already.
So, the menu:

Roast chicken, asparagus and carrots with a mushroom sauce,
Green salad with caramelized pecans, beets and gorgonzola crumbles,
and baguette (there was going to be polenta but this will be ok as long as I don't eat it all before dinner)
with some kind of nice white wine,

followed by:
Haagen Dazs rocky road ice cream (Matt's fave) with milano cookies and fresh raspberries.

Best I can do is still not too bad. Also WAY cheaper than going out. And we have free movie passes that we might use for True Grit if we are so inclined. Sticking with the cheap theme, can you tell?

Also there may or may have not been a small jaunt to the outlet mall to perk up my poor sad wardrobe. Not only is it in piles on the floor, it is sad and saggy in the winter sunshine. So I now own some new shirts in BRIGHT colors (F you, winter) with cute stripes and embroidery and ruching and whatnot. My wardrobe was boring me so I was not allowed to buy anything plain or black. Also, ruching: hideous in theory, super-flattering in practice!

Also, because there is more than one song on The Lady Killer album.

She Advocates Dirty Books...

2011-02-11T16:36:00.000-08:00

Some music for your weekend:

Chaucer...

Rabelais!

BALZAC!

Aah Nostalgia.

2011-02-10T21:03:00.000-08:00

We're sleeping on a mattress on the floor for the next few days, the giant captain's style bed frame is in storage for now. This also means we are also surrounded by piles of our clothing as the bed frame was also most of our clothing storage. I feel like I'm back in college.

Also because Matt is listening to Weird Al in the other room.

Still Moving...

2011-02-08T09:51:00.000-08:00

The move is fully underway and my house is a wreck. The next phase is taking the dining room table/chairs and the futon up to the storage container, as soon as the in-laws are back in town and we can use their vehicle. Then the big move will be on - the couch, loveseat and big living room rug are my big priorities (and the CD racks because right now all our CDs are in crates in my new office). Once those are down there we can figure out what we need and don't need and generally get the place sorted out.

The house is a lot cleaner and I finished painting the living room this trip. Thus far, the kitchen and bathrooms are pretty much good to go, having been renovated when my parents were going to rent the house to somebody other than me. Matt's office, the hall, the entryway and the living room are all now a respectable neutral color called "Bone". And I may have successfully chosen a color for the bedroom. It is BM Nantucket Fog and I think it will look really good with the wood floors (fingers crossed).

These lovely people used it to great effect and I am only mildly worried because all our trim is already semigloss Bone and I hope it will look as good as it does with the white. It has a lot more gray in it to me than this picture does, too.

So I am consoling myself for the whole can't-move-in-until-the-in-laws-decide-it-is-convenient factor by making lists. Lists comfort me in my time of need. So now I have a nice master bedroom list to go with my paint color:

Paint walls (Nantucket Fog?)
Paint trim, doors and closet doors (semigloss Bone)
Find a rug?
Wipe down closet interior, possibly stick a runner in there (we inherited a couple of random small runners and I don't know where else to put them, so hey, why not?)
Find a headboard for the bed (oh Bay Area Craigslist, don't fail me now)
Get a bedskirt (depends on the headboard situation)

this is our existing duvet cover, of course there are exactly ZERO pictures of it showing it with a bedskirt.

Refinish existing dresser (huge, old and cool but the finish is basically gone except for misc. rings from perfume bottles left on top).
Put drawer liners in dresser (anyone know where to get nice ones?)
Find some sort of blackout shade for the window (our bed is under the window and it is pretty light and a little bit drafty, but the window is single-paned and I wonder if the moisture build-up would be bad for whatever shade we stick in there).
Find something skinny to put the TV on (not much floor space compared to our old bedroom).

Not a bad start, eh? There won't be a list like this for every room, and it sure isn't all going to happen in a hurry, but it is SO good to get it all written down somewhere.

And just because it's Tuesday:

Pardon the general objectification and 80's-ness, and just enjoy that groove.

I Hope Everyone Has A Wonderful Weekend.

2011-02-04T07:05:00.000-08:00

Also noted, when looking for Bobby Van + Jump on youtube I also got this:

Alex Van Halen is such an underrated cutie (he's the drummer). And David Lee Roth just cracks me up.

Not Dead.

2011-01-28T21:01:00.000-08:00

Not cooking, either. Not doing much other than putting things in boxes and going out drinking instead of having normal meals. The second truckload of stuff is rolling over the hill tomorrow, I had dreams of fitting two bookshelves and a loveseat in among other things but had to settle for one bookshelf and a side table for now, along with maybe 40% of my kitchen in boxes. Good lord, I don't want to get rid of any of this stuff. I want it all in my new kitchen so I can cook in my new house!

Also trying to repress the plant-buying urges re: the new place. I am not allowed to move or plant any plants there until we are living there full time so I need to calm down. In the meantime I am reading this and making plant lists.

It is dated, but beautifully written. And the garden I am inheriting is decidedly old-fashioned so maybe dated isn't so bad. And for her day, she sure was into organics and composting!

Pictures of the new place may ensue this weekend... cross your fingers!

Urges.

2011-01-18T10:15:00.000-08:00

I am having one last dinner party out of the blue Friday night. Guests know I have already packed my wine glasses so they are bringing the wine AND the glasses. I have plans for a nice pork roast but keep having urges to pair it with some sort of vegetable gratin. And then I look for a recipe and am overwhelmed by all the cream. I just can't do it. Looks like mashed potatoes it is. Possibly popovers too, just so we can be a little bit decadent. This is the general plan, just with some more Hungarian spices so my grandmother isn't too offended. And then her mashed potatoes and some kind of vegetable. I am always drawn to roasted carrots but am wondering if that's too root-vegetable heavy. But I do love me some roasted carrots, mmm. Maybe I will just make them tonight. Is it too early for decent asparagus? That might balance things out better...

Using an old desk so I don't have to sit on the floor (but I need to Craigslist it too...) and I just made an appointment to sell my dresser Saturday a.m. It's a start!

Probably Not Ideal.

2011-01-15T21:54:00.000-08:00

I sold my desk this morning. So now I am sitting cross legged on the floor at my computer perched on its little stand. The pile of boxes is getting bigger...

However our storage thing has not yet been delivered (it is going to live at Matt's parents house and we can stash our crap behind their barn) so we aren't getting furniture out of here like I'd like to. But he is doing his darndest to pawn off his gear on his friends. It's not my favorite thing to watch. This was the comparison. Why is she wearing a garbage bag?

Not Much.

2011-01-13T12:39:00.000-08:00

Listening to the new Cake album:

And thinking of Eddie Izzard- one of my favorite routines of his:

And putting miscellany and whatnot in boxes. All my boxes are too small. Ugh. Pre-move trip down to the Bay Area next weekend will involve lots of little boxes and a call to the Salvation Army. Now that's excitement!

Weekend Earworm

2011-01-09T23:18:00.000-08:00

Thinking of you, Alana. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Not Exciting.

2011-01-08T21:39:00.000-08:00

Pardon the radio silence, there is not much going on here. I am trying to cook vegetarian and put things in boxes for a preliminary trip to the new place (which will hopefully occur next week). I am trying to think of ways to speed up the emptying of the current house and the future house. Salvation Army, I'm sure you're breathlessly awaiting my call. And no, I don't agree with all their practices but they are the only ones who seem to pick up. And there will be a bed, a hideabed couch and some other large pieces that need a loving home and nobody in my family is attached to enough to keep. Also they are large and heavy and I am sick of stupid Craigslist people.

And I am already starting to fantasize about a garden somewhere temperate where everything grows! Everything! And what would look good with the existing plantings, which include fairly massive jade plants and tons of azaleas. It should be interesting, I have epic plant lists and a preemptive shopping trip to both the local Farmer's Market and the Santa Cruz Arboretum on my To-Do list. And the first thing I am going to do is plant tomatoes! In February! I am SO excited.

From here.

But seriously. These jade plants are like trees. You never see jade with other plants, you see it indoors, in a pot. Or tiny ones in with a bunch of succulents on top of a table. For "interest". Maybe I need some tropical-looking stuff or something. With the azaleas.Yeah. And I am incredibly sad for all of the cymbidium orchids that used to be there. She couldn't take care of them so she gave them away. So sad.

Back In The Saddle Nevada Again

2011-01-03T10:30:00.000-08:00

It was an interesting trip to California again. I went down last Monday and got to spend some time with my sisters and the kiddoes. I also got to spend some time cleaning out my grandmother's house. Specifically there is a semi-built-in old grotty plywood desk in the room that will be Matt's office that needs to come out. But it was my grandfather's, and it is FULL. We got to see old birth certificates, a ton of old black-and-white photos, and my grandmother's immigration papers - she was coming for a six-month visit. That was over 60 years ago and she's still here. Thankfully there was a lot of duplication and a lot of the good photos were already in my grandfather's albums, so we got to go through and do a lot of clearing out and consolidating. It was good to make a dent, as next week the bathroom is getting demo'ed and the desk is coming out at the same time. I still have to go back and do a number on the closets and see if the Salvation Army will come and pick up some of the furniture. There is some good wood stuff that I would like to use but there is some stuff that we can't use that has no sentimental family value so it is out!

It was a relief to come back to Reno, even though I flew (tip: 7am New Year's eve is not a bad time to go to the airport). Thank goodness for Southwesst frequent flier benefits! We had a nice NYE at a friend's and watched fireworks from his balcony, and then New Year's day we had hot pot at my sister-in-law's house with mushrooms and noodles and dumplings and shrimp balls and, oddly enough, lamb. It is always really tasty, there is a sesame dipping sauce involved that I swear is like crack. So this week we are going vegetarian. At least, until next weekend, which is my new nephew's 100 Day celebration, although sadly we are going to a buffet instead of a big Chinese dinner. For my eldest niece's 100 Day we went to a Chinese restaurant where my sister-in-law is friends with the owners and had a feast of all the stuff I could never find on the menu (like duck with the head still on, whole fried fish, all AWESOME). But it is supposed to be the best buffet in town so I know I won't be hurting for options. I just have to have a little post-holiday self-control. Bleah.

Goin' To California

2010-12-27T09:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas was a blast with Reno family, now I am off to CA to see LG family and start cleaning out my grandmother's house. Weird. Christmas Eve the turkey turned out wonderfully and my stuffing (first time ever) was a massive success! And my sister-in-law brought her big book of Christmas carols and we had a big post-dinner sing-along/dance party (we sang, the little guys danced). Our friends brought a chocolate cake they made out of one of the Ina Garten cookbooks, and it was kind of ridiculous. A pound of butter and a pound of chocolate and it was still kind of dry. Tasty though.

Christmas morning we went and watched the kiddoes open presents. I got a high-tech flashlight and some fancy smelly lotion (surprisingly nice), as well as a vacuum wine cork thing (from the wine drinkers) and a fleece that didn't fit, boo. Matt got me the Jack Spratt books (funnier than Thursday Next, in my opinion) and this awesome print:

which will be the first thing on the wall in the new house. I got him an awesome Van Halen shirt and some CDs, but the biggest excitement was his coffee press, which he adores. The relatives all got homemade apple butter and other tasty perishables wrapped in a nice dishtowel from Williams Sonoma, we'll see if they get used. Hope everybody had a lovely Christmas and got nice stuff (but not too much stuff)! I'll be back for the weekend...

Have Yourself A Merry Little Pagan Winter Celebration?

2010-12-24T17:28:00.000-08:00

I may have posted this before but it is another of my favorites and vaguely holiday-related so Merry Christmas everybody! Off to baste the turkey!

More Pictures! Holiday Roundup.

2010-12-23T21:41:00.000-08:00

Homemade swag.

Nerdiest swag ever. It's a tiny tuba.

This is my awesome tree. I paid more to get it from the Boy Scouts instead of the grocery store but then they trimmed the trunk for me and loaded it in my car without getting needles everywhere. Also it is a much nicer tree than I have ever had before and has hardly shed at all in almost two weeks! No idea how the fancy decor bloggers get such good tree pictures, however I imagine it has to do with proper lighting and big white walls to shoot against instead of busy red brick and speakers. Now I remember why I am not a fancy decor blogger.

Hungarian ornaments. Oddly enough I have a heart and an umbrella. They were from one of my sisters, years ago.

Hummingbird from my aunt. He has a matching peacock buddy, too. You can also see my beloved cranberry wood garlands in the background. I think these are so pretty, I got two last year and had to get two more this year because I love them so much (and they are pretty short).

My oh-so-festively decorated mantel. If I wasn't getting ready to move I would acknowledge that it needs bigger art or something as everything is slightly too uniformly short. But right now it just has to hold all the holiday cards. There is some hand-me-down silver garland action here too. Not as cool as the cranberry garland. Also tiny felt trees from my sister and silver candlesticks from the in-laws.

And this is my centerpiece. Every year it gets a different combo of ball colors, but the dish is always the same. It is a random wedding gift from I-have-no-idea-who and once a year I bust it out and fill it with balls.

Now back to cooking!

Pictures! Also, Recipe Roundup And Peppermint Bark Recipe!

2010-12-21T12:32:00.000-08:00

This is peppermint bark. It is pretty simple to make. I melt a bag of milk chocolate chips in the microwave (30 seconds, then stir, repeat 3-4 times until there are no chips visible). Spread it in a foil-lined cookie sheet and put it in the fridge until it hardens. Put six standard-sized candy canes in a bag and bash them with the bottom of a pint glass (or other convenient hitting implement) until they are a mix of small chunks and powder, nothing bigger than about 1/2 inch. Melt the white chocolate just like you did the milk chocolate, then before you spread it on, stir in the candy cane bits and spread away. Once it has all hardened, break it into chunks and enjoy! It may not look like much but it tastes like pepperminty heaven!

Bourbon balls from Cookbook's recipe. No Nilla wafers here! Tempering chocolate is still not my forte but they taste a lot better than they look!

Honey caramel nut bars via Sunset magazine. These need to cool COMPLETELY before you try and cut them. Not as in wait until they're just warm. Like, the next day.

Nuts with sea salt, garlic powder and Italian spices. Easy, but these need a lot of olive oil or all of your spicy goodness will fall to the bottom of the bowl once they've cooled off. So sad. Until you get to the bottom of the bowl... These are ridiculously tasty when they are still hot.

Snappy little gingersnaps. Yum.

I Swear Pictures Are Really Forthcoming

2010-12-19T22:01:00.000-08:00

So the party Friday night was generally a success. And I slept all day yesterday, just about. We missed a couple of people because a storm blew in Friday afternoon and they decided to stay in. But the overall turnout was still great! People brought candy and cookies and little pesto cheese pinwheels. Also vodka, tequila, wine and beer. We always end parties with more booze than we start them. I am drinking leftover cider with gingersnaps right now.

In a hierarchy of homemade popularity we had :
bourbon balls,
peppermint bark,
my grandmother's korozot (nothing like the recipes you find on the internet, hers is WAY better)
gingersnaps,
hummus (had to explain how to make it at least twice)
nut bars (should have sprung for cashews instead of subbing in walnuts)
roasted red pepper/artichoke dip (didn't need to compensate for not using marinated veggies by adding too much garlic, whoops)

We killed the soft cheeses and the Irish cheddar (mmm, Trader Joe's I love you) and still have a solid chunk each of gouda and apricot stilton (to serve for Christmas Eve, not eat all up). I have been sending visitors away with care packages of cookies and am doing my best to defend the rest of the candy for specific recipients. Also somebody brought some candy cane taffy from Whole Foods and it is shockingly good. It's like saltwater taffy and so pepperminty and delicious! The big bowl of veggies was almost completely cleaned out (and now I am craving more radishes), as was the antipasto platter (Matt was so sad to not have any leftover salami). The secret smash hit was TJ's pigs in blankets. They were a late addition and stuck to the pan coming out of the oven but once people spotted them they disappeared in minutes. Overall it was a great party and I am still tired!

Next up, Christmas dinner!

Recipe/Spread Pictures Pending

2010-12-17T17:30:00.000-08:00

I want some action shots of the spread tonight before I post some how-tos. So probably tomorrow. The second cookie option turned out to be these and in retrospect I should not have cheated and subbed out the salted cashews for some walnuts I had on hand. Matt called them hippie cookies and I think that's why. The cashews would have made them richer. Although the shortbread is nice and buttery. They aren't super-sweet either.

Next time, not more sugar, but a little more in the spice dept. and no cheating on the expensive nuts. Then they will be worth popping that Benadryl for.

Flash Of Genius

2010-12-13T14:33:00.000-08:00

No, not me. The person who designed the functional Christmas tree stand I now own. Pictures to follow shortly. I used to think it was just me having trouble getting the tree up. This new stand makes it clear I was completely incorrect on that front. It took about 5 minutes and there wasn't ANY swearing.

Also my house is so full of candy I am not sure what to do about it. Oh yeah,that's right. Make another batch of bourbon balls.

So Maybe I was A Tad Unrealistic

2010-12-09T13:36:00.000-08:00

...because although I offered to join the cooking party, I am also preparing to cook for an actual party. It is a week from tomorrow and it is LARGE. We throw a Christmas party every year and this is our last one in Reno. I am expecting 30-40 people (it's hard to predict).

So here is the initial rundown of what I plan to serve, and thus, have to prepare in the next week:
hummus
artichoke dip
roasted red pepper tapenade
this awesome looking thingy (as a replacement for my usual)
along with a regular cheese plate, some fruit (with the cheeses) and veggies (with the dips), crackers, baguettes and an antipasto plate with olives and salami and whatnot. But that stuff just needs assembling. Also super-awesome fancy pigs in blankets from Trader Joe's, as well as their delicious olive tapenade.

and on the sweet side:
gingersnaps (would it be weird to put in chunks of candied ginger? I love that stuff)
peppermint bark
bourbon balls
snickerdoodles? Is that too much? I can't skip either of the candy options as they are two of my biggest hits, and I LOVE gingersnaps so I am thinking these are the ones to scratch.

People always bring sweet stuff and it doesn't move as fast as the savories so I am not going all out here. I am trying to think of a couple more hot options. I'd do Cookbook's awesome-sounding hot artichoke spinach dip but I am without a crock pot. In the past people have also bought chips and seven layer dip as well as shrimp w/cocktail sauce so I am inclined to skip those two things. I am trying to keep it not totally heavy, too.

But I am also tempted to make my grandmother's korozot as it is a huge hit as long as I tell people what it is. All the recipes I find on the internet seem to have a stick of butter. Hers is blue cheese mashed up with cream cheese, grated onion, mustard and paprika. Maybe instead of the artichoke dip? But I already have all that other cheese going on too...

Opinions VERY welcome! What do you look forward to at holiday parties?

And after this is Christmas dinner, and my mother-in-law has already announced that SHE wants to do lamb (even though it was totally awesome last year when I did it). Maybe I can do the korozott then instead.

Dangit!

2010-12-07T20:13:00.000-08:00

Ahh measuring tapes, the bane of my existence. I finally got my dad to send me a floor plan, and while it is good to know that we really can't bring our giant couch, it still puts a couple of kinks in some of my theoretical plans. But it sure is nice when you find out a room is a little bit bigger than you thought it was and suddenly planning everything out gets a little bit easier. However, our living room is still a totally wacky shape and it will be interesting to see if I can make it comfortable without succumbing to the siren song of a more size-appropriate Craigslist couch (do they have bedbugs in the Bay Area?)

Also, despite the Blogger picture issues driving me bonkers, I found a Christmas present for the new place. I just can't post you a picture of it. Not even from my own Flickr account. Stupid Blogger. Does anybody know how Blogspot lets you post pictures? Or at least if it sucks less?

Also, ginger carrot soup is very good for colds but my entire head is still blocked up solidly. SOLID. LY. I feel like I am descending in a plane and my ears will not pop. Ergh.

In Theory

2010-12-06T20:35:00.000-08:00

I should be posting my list of cooking challenges, how awesome my job hunt is going, and how productive I am being. Instead I am watching old Doctor Who (as in, Eccleston-era, not OLD Doctor Who) and sniffling a lot while feeling very congested/sorry for myself. I hope this goes away soon. Matt's has lasted for almost a week and he had a good three-day head start on me. Can anyone recommend good time-wasters from Netflix streaming? Hey, how about a pretty picture?

I am going to miss my blue walls. Also, I would like a lime green lounge-y chair for Christmas please, Santa.

Opinions? Also, Gloating.

2010-12-01T17:29:00.000-08:00

So I succumbed to Cyber Monday. Endless.com had a deal where if you spend over $100, you get $30 off. So if I buy two pairs of shoes (like I usually do, assuming there is NO WAY both of them will actually fit) they are $54 each, instead of the normal-sale $72 or the full-price $90. And I have been hunting for a pair of dressy flats for pretty much all of 2010. Also, free shipping AND returns (crucial for how many shoes I return). Then I can return the pair that doesn't fit (there's always at least one) and still enjoy my discount, ha!

So these are the front-runners. I am pretty pleased with them. They are not 100% comfy but about 85% and that is good for me as Clarks usually take a little breaking in. They also are awesomely gunmetal gray with STUDS and a tiny (a.k.a. comfortable) wedge heel. How could I not love them?

This was very cheering after wasting most of my day at the Nevada Job Connect office. They seem to be catering to people who have no idea how to use a computer or write a resume. I feel like I should be able to find a job without the help of anyone there. Yeesh. It seems weird to be talking about this and shopping in the same post. But that's also why I can't buy shoes unless they're at least 40% off. It's weird how I can justify spending money sometimes even though I haven't had a job in a month. But I am working on it. And I have been hunting for shoes like these for at least a year now. Also, I am attempting not to purchase clothing until I have employment to justify it. I can get through holiday parties etc. on the wardrobe I have. But not the shoes.

Weekend Update

2010-11-29T13:58:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a happy T-Day (or a nice weekend, Canadians). This was one of the nicer Thanksgivings in recent memory, we drove down to my aunt's house in Winters (outside of Sacramento) bearing pies and apple butter (Xmas presents for people we won't see later). I helped with potato mashing and Matt led a family jam. Winters relatives have a musical bent so there are generally percussion items for small people to bang on. And guitars and pianos for big people to bang on. My mom's sisters are nice and mellow and only one of my sisters was there (we are less mellow and there are a million nieces and nephews) so it was a refreshingly peaceful day.

The potatoes were a mix of generic yellow (yukon gold?) and purple potatoes so they came out a delicious shade of lavender. The apple pie was declared by the five-year-old to be the best pie he had ever had. So overall a success. That night we crashed in Davis and went back for breakfast the next day. And can I say, baking leftover mashed potatoes with cheese on top until they get crispy edges has to be one of the better uses of leftovers in our family.

Then we trucked back to Reno and sat around on the internet looking for jobs. The rest of the weekend mostly involved being cold and going to other people's houses to eat their leftover turkey soup. Now I am sad that I don't have my own leftovers. I might just have to pick up some purple potatoes. Also my whole family is excited for me to move into my grandmother's house. All I have to do is communicate that I am not attached to any of the big dark old paintings even though they are of family. And that I could really use some of the furniture. I am also back to collecting inspiration photos.

Unlike my (cozy, brightly colored) house, the new place has wood floors and white walls (gasp!) and white curtains. So we will see what we can do to make it feel like home.

Thanks

2010-11-25T08:52:00.000-08:00

I am thankful for all my loving crazy family and friends, and for the new adventure to come! Hope all my readers/crazy friends are having a happy T-Day full of love and good food.

Drop in the Bucket.

2010-11-24T13:11:00.000-08:00

In between applying for jobs I am starting to attempt to clean out the house. I just got rid of a lounge chair/ottoman thing via Craigslist and it took so long. Curse you, winter storms. I need to have a garage sale here! Can it please not be 35 degrees out this weekend? Talk about bad timing to start getting ready to move.

I want to take about half this stuff with me. Matt wants to store way too much of it for just-in-case purposes, which might kill me (esp. in the cases of a lot of the random crap we've NEVER used). But at the very least it is not getting trucked to California. And he knows that. So it's a start. And he knows we are not paying to store anything. And his dad (of the 5 acres of sagebrush with plenty of spare room...) knows that too.

I figure, if we really need it we can come get it out of "storage" or replace it via Craigslist because the Bay Area CL is so much better than the Reno one. And I am realizing how many people I have missed that I will be able to see again down there. Not the least of which is my grandmother, but also my parents and sister and Reno peeps who have moved down there and LG peeps who have never left. So I am getting excited!

Tomorrow we go talk turkey with my dad, see what kind of shape the stuff in the house is and what of it we can still use. Also, eat real turkey. I am bringing a pair of pumpkin pies and an apple pie with obligatory homemade crumble crust. Pumpkin pies are done, pain-in-the-butt pie is all that's left to do other than pack the car and get a haircut. Matt has been taking videos of me with his new phone and other than generally objecting to their existence, they showed me that I really need a haircut. So I guess their existence isn't completely offensive, just mostly.

Also, does anyone know how to put pictures in Blogger now? I have some home inspiration photos I really like and it wants me to put them in Picasa so I can upload them. It seems silly to not be able to upload directly from My Pictures any more. And posts with no pictures are exponentially less fun :(

Wow.

2010-11-21T21:03:00.000-08:00

We just called my parents and asked them if we could move into my grandmother's house. They offered in the past but now it's serious. Also it is a lot smaller so we are really going to have to do some cleaning out now. We will store some stuff with Matt's parents unless we can get somebody we like as a renter and then we might be able to rent this place partially furnished. But we are still moving somewhere smaller and even though the job market is WAY better I still don't have a job.

SCARY.

Canning Success. I Guess.

2010-11-19T20:53:00.000-08:00

A big chunk of Christmas is now taken care of. The second batch of apple/pear butter was much more successful. However, I am unable to keep my stove at a low enough simmer so I have to turn it off and give it an extra stir periodically so it doesn't bubble to enthusiastically. This would be fine if it didn't have a tendency to blorp a lot and make a big mess. And spit scalding brown liquid IN MY EYE. It's gonna be a cranky Christmas, I can just feel it.

From somebody much more organized. I got about a dozen jars of this size as I made two separate batches that were both small enough to do in my Dutch oven. They will probably just get a nice ribbon and a little label pasted on and be good to gift.

However, peppermint bark is thankfully pretty much idiotproof. I will post a recipe as soon as I make a batch and remember all the things I always mean to write down. I am so lazy I tend to gift this in a ziploc bag with ribbon tied around it. But I assume everyone else eats it as fast as we do so I figure it's not a big deal.

That Was Interesting

2010-11-15T22:52:00.000-08:00

Had a nice visit home this weekend. We are looking into renting this place and moving down to the Bay Area. I still can not wrap my head around that. My grandmother is in a care home and we would rent her house from my dad, and then we could go see her more. But I think the whole landlord-in-law thing is freaking Matt out. BUT, I can't even find jobs to apply for here. So we will see how things work out.

Current free time projects are thus a. job hunting and b. getting this place potentially rental-ready. Which kind of kills me since I just repainted my office and it looks nice and green right now. Sigh. We will put that bit off for a while. Maybe we can find a renter who likes a little bit of color.

Also, a tiny little part of me is excited about leaving the allergies and the cold and getting to decorate a new place and whip a new yard into shape. Even as a renter. Am I crazy? Maybe.

I Am Still Terrible At Titles

2010-11-08T16:06:00.000-08:00

Sunday turned into a very fun day! Beauty and the Beast was a very well-done production, and I have never seen the Pioneer Theater so full! It was a matinee, too, so there was a very high percentage of little girls in princess dresses too. My niece made it through the whole thing,but she did spend most of act one on her grandma's lap and most of act two on mine. I think her mother was probably aghast. But there were lots of other kids sitting on people's laps so I figured it was no big deal.

Anyways, the show was fun, but they definitely didn't add much in the music department. I recognized most of the songs from the movie and they were solid but the filler songs that were added were all pretty weak and the kiddo and I both got fidgety during those (they were all ballads too, ugh). Costumes, sets and effects were all lovely. There were some neat bits when they're being attacked by wolves in the snow in the forest so they had a transparent scrim come own at the front of the stage and then projected blowing snow on it and they had people in black behind it doing big wolf puppet things that looked pretty darn cool. That was a terrible explanation.

You know what else was terrible? The sound, dammit. I swear all the sound guys in this town are deaf! The whole show is very lyric-heavy and a lot of the big numbers are already a little hard to understand but when the pit is miked and totally overpowering it is kind of annoying. For the prices of these tickets we should be able to hear and understand at least the leads, if not the chorus as well. Although understanding the chorus is a pet peeve of mine, and also why I wish all English operas had supertitles, especially Gilbert and Sullivan.

Overall, a fun show, and suitable for modern wannabe princesses of all ages, although clearly 4.5 is a hair on the young side. Belle is interesting and proactive, always trying to stand up for herself and what she thinks is right. There are a lot worse Disney princesses out there to choose from. Also kudos for a show with both male leads NOT being tenors. I love me some baritone goodness.

And then Matt and I went to a gorgeous, mostly vegetarian dinner party. I need to replicate the non-veggie bit, it was this amazing shrimp in a cream sauce but it involved flambe'ing them in Sambuca first and it was so subtle I never would have been able to ID the flavor if it hadn't been for the big poof of flame. Then there was an amazing Thai-inspired beet soup and zucchini fritters in homemade tomato sauce. Personally I like a fritter to be crispier, but it was a grand showing from someone who would normally prefer to feed us steaks and things stuffed with cheese.

Now I just have to figure out what to make next time we have him over. Last time if I recall the starter was a creamy corn chowder (very time and calorie intensive but worth it, only in corn season though) and then a ridiculously nice piece of halibut from Whole Paycheck. I love dinner parties.

Hoo Boy

2010-11-07T08:13:00.000-08:00

I have been a bum this weekend but I will make up for it by getting out and being sociable today. I get to go to the touring Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast with my mother-in-law, my sister-in-law and my completely princess-obsessed four-year-old niece. Can a four-year-old sit through an entire musical in a possibly stuffy and hot auditorium on a rainy Sunday afternoon? I guess we'll find out.

Also, any excuse to get dressed up. Boo yah. I wonder if I have an outfit that justifies my grandmother's pearls? I might have to go work on that. I wonder what my junior high tomboy self would think of me now? She'd probably be pissed at me for not figuring out how fun dressing up is years ago.

Now I know I could totally rock a shiny silver muumu. Partially because I think I am about a foot taller than the pixie in the picture.

Or I could rock my grandmother's best striped teapot. Also, I wouldn't need a raincoat!

The Pros And Cons Of Netflix

2010-11-05T22:06:00.001-07:00

I have been watching some fun stuff on Netflix Instant recently. And some not-so-fun stuff, too. Recently I clicked on Easy Virtue, a Noel Coward play made into a movie with the awesome Kristin Scott Thomas and the normally adorable Colin Firth. However, this is apparently not a comedy originally, and they attempted to make it into one. Colin Firth is a depressive war veteran and Jessica Biel, of all people, is the sassy daughter-in-law trying to stand up to Kristin Scott Thomas. Kristin Scott Thomas, people. Seriously. She could pick her teeth with Jessica Biel. I gave up about 20 minutes in, after JB sat on KST's dog and tried to hide the expired carcass in a throw pillow. Pathetic.

Then I remembered a movie that SCB has mentioned in the past:

This is Noel Coward done properly. Jeanne Tripplehorn is the scheming soon-to-be daughter-in-law and the matriarch is the fabulous Julie Andrews. There is a minor Baldwin brother who isn't terrible, and Stephen Fry is the obligatory butler AND Colin Firth is the much more entertaining nephew. This is much more fun and a much better way to spend an evening. Clearly I need to get some Noel Coward plays from the library.

Also, apple butter updates are forthcoming, the first attempt will probably be tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Facing The Holiday Onslaught (And A Question)

2010-11-04T08:50:00.000-07:00

I know the holidays aren't really that bad, but I am trying to do my prep EARLY. The goal is to spend minimal $$$ while not appearing cheap and/or neglectful. Top three candidates for adult friends/family presents are:

1. apple butter
2. herbed sea salt (for the cooking-inclined, but is this too chintzy?)
3. peppermint bark (mine is way more awesome than Willams Sonoma's and also much cheaper to make!)

That way we only do actual shopping for the kiddoes, and since I am up to EIGHT of them now we will optimally be coordinating with other family members on some group gifts. So they get good stuff instead of just junk in mass quantities.

T-Day will be hosted by another family member so I am off the hook for that other than for a couple of pies. But that is when I will see most of my family members before Xmas so the goal is to give most of them their misc. perishables then instead of after the fact. So this month I will be making apple butter for sure (and I also owe one fruitcake).

So I finally get to bust out my handed-down apple butter recipe and do some real canning! It doesn't look that scary. Right?

Quote of the Day, Week, Month...

2010-11-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

I believe that if life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade. And try to find somebody whose life has given them vodka, and have a party.

- Ron White

Or maybe I should go with Dory instead -

Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim.

Now it's time to turn that resume into GOLD.

It's Already Tuesday!

2010-11-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, I early voted and NO it wasn't for crazy Sharon Angle. Also, I am so tired of applying for jobs and not hearing anything back from anybody. So I just got a nice email from my old boss with lots of good tips on re-formatting and polishing up my resume and that is the project for the day. I've got another half dozen jobs to apply for so I am just going to keep on plugging away...

Weird Schedule = Bad Updates

2010-10-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

I am not doing well at updating now that I am back! For reference, I am planning on being a bum this weekend and hiding out in the dark watching movies instead of giving candy to children or dressing up and going out to spend too much money on alcohol with a bunch of strangers. Bah humbug, I say! Or is that too soon?

However, tonight is dinner party night! I love a nice dinner party! It's nothing too exciting, here's the menu:

Appetizers
ciabatta
smoked gouda
hummus
red pepper and artichoke tapenade

Mains
from here.
nice piece of wild sockeye salmon (probably just gently sauteed with lemon and white wine and a bit of garlic)
the last of the green beans (possibly roasted, possibly not)
salad (with the last of the tomatoes, sigh)
roasted vegetables (carrots, mushrooms and tiny potatoes)
and whatever ciabatta is left if I don't finish it before they get here...

Dessert is being brought, so that will be fun! Our guests are pros in the dessert dept. so I figured that was safe to delegate ;)

That is pretty much the big excitement for the weekend. I am going to lay low and stay away from candy and probably skip out on family Sunday dinner early so I make sure not to miss my new favorite show. Masterpiece Theater, how I love you so!

Also, Martin Freeman has become my new favorite Watson! I will refrain from writing more drivel about him with excessive exclamation points, but suffice it to say, I am a fan.

On Pleasant Surprises

2010-10-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

I was cleaning out my cupboards this weekend and just happened to find all the makings of a pumpkin pie. Yay pie! So I knocked up a couple of pie crusts using my standby recipe (I cheat and use my food processor so it takes about four minutes) and my mother-in-law happened to be doing a turkey for Sunday dinner so we went all out. It was ugly but tasty. But now I have a spare pie crust.

So I am thinking pasties. My favorites while we were in England were the Cornish pasties but I have also had interesting ones involving pork and apples. So right now I am contemplating carrots and potatoes, to be traditional, but maybe with some of the chicken sausage I have stashed in the freezer. Too weird? I guess I'll find out... I love having all the fixings to make something right in my kitchen without having to run to the store for ONE THING.

It Must Be Fall

2010-10-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

because I am having cleaning urges. I've started on the pantry and have cleared out some old bottles and jars that expired/were never going to get used. What I really need to do is de-grime my horrible old avocado green stovetop. I get compliments on my retro green kitchen but it is so hard to keep clean. More photos and trip recap once I get this out of my system. Ugh.

Well maybe a picture or two. We are still jetlagged, I am coming home and taking naps before dinner and then waking up raring to go at 5 am. It's not terrible, apparently I am more inclined to be productive in the mornings than in the evenings.

And last night we went to a lovely recital (after my nap), to "celebrate" that my job ended yesterday. So my house is going to be really clean soon. And all the house projects I have been putting off will be done. Right?

I'm Alive! With A NYC Recap And Pictures, Too!

2010-10-20T19:19:00.000-07:00

And good lord is it nice to have water pressure again. The Brits do many things well (ask Matt about cask-drawn ales sometime), but water pressure is not a high priority. And when it takes a half an hour just to get the soap out of my hair, it makes me think, are we really the wasteful ones here?

Anyways, trip recap part 1:

We drove down to the Bay Area and I got to have a nice visit with my grandmother, followed by a girly afternoon with Kari and pedicures and wine tasting. In retrospect, this was a GOOD idea. By day two in NYC, my dogs were barking! We got to have a chill evening with some friends instead of the reunion fiasco, and then we were off!

We flew into Newark first to see some cousins and had a couple of gorgeous days in the city:

We walked through Times Square (oops) and Central Park (aaah).

We hoofed it all the way up to the Lincoln Center neighborhood for free awesome jazz at the American Folk Art Museum AND over to Grand Central Station just to do some ogling. That is one gorgeous building.

Instead of walking back through Times Square we cut across Fifth Avenue and Matt patiently let me wander through H&M (I find that to be a highly stressful store) and I found a ridiculously large mauve circle scarf that I then wore every day for the entire rest of the trip. Also for one of the only photos of me, in front of Rockefeller Center (not very exciting).

Among the other highlights of the NYC portion of the trip were High Line Park, a converted elevated train line that is now a nice park for walking around (maybe better when you haven't already walked 100-odd blocks, though) with some neat views. It is in one of those weird neighborhoods where it looks kind of rough and is down by the water but then you walk by a store and realize it is Diane von Furstenberg. There are some cool views from up there. If you click that is Lady Liberty right in the middle there.

And some ugly buildings, too.

The Empire State Building has an amazing lobby but we were too cheap to go up to the Observation Deck. Story of my life. I guess the views aren't what they once were with all the taller buildings there now. But still, sigh.

We also walked to Greenwich Village for more awesome free jazz at The 55 Bar and just happened to walk by a Brooklyn Industries store. I now officially LOVE this place and wish I had more money to spend there. I got an adorable purple skirt (with studs! very mild-mannered ones, though) and a yellow wallet with birds on it (I will never lose it). The shirts were on the thin side but the dresses and skirts and bags were all eminently covetable. Also, lovely service and coats to die for.

We stayed with cousins in Hoboken and took the Path into the city, which was nice and easy. We didn't have much in the exciting food dept. overall, whenever we went somewhere touristy we regretted it. We found a great little Jewish deli right behind the Empire State Building where we were the only ones aside from the staff not wearing yarmulkes. We also had nice Thai food and tasty pizza in Hoboken close to where we were staying. We were trying not to spend boatloads of cash as England is pretty pricey, but we still had a lovely time. Staying with family was highly entertaining, the new wife is an ex K9 cop and current dog trainer and has a gorgeous black German Shepherd who only responds if you talk to him in German.

Next up, Earby! Also Manchester, Skipton, Carlisle is awesome and Heathrow sucks.

I'm Still Here. Barely.

2010-09-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

I am trying to finish everything up before my trip. And pack. And find a suitable pair of shoes to bring. Everything else is pretty much under control.

But I told my coworkers that I was going on my trip with only a carry-on and to a woman, they were aghast. Is this so crazy? I think I can do it. It's not a big partying trip for which I will need lots of fancy outfits, we're staying with family the entire time and they all have washing machines. My only worry is shoes. I was just going to bring one pair but I am really wishing I had room for a cute pair, maybe to go with one dressy outfit?

Odds are in favor of the weather being crappy for the most part and there are zero dressy events planned, but cute clothes are sure cute. I'm torn. I am bringing not-totally-hideous sneakers for the walking but I am really tempted to toss in a cute pair of heels and a skirt just in case. they wouldn't take up that much space, right?

Not the most fab shoes ever but at least they are comfy and I can waterproof them somewhat (also, at least they're not white).

Books for the trip have been a major triumph though: my mom loaned me a biography of Gertrude Bell, I just obtained the complete stories of Dorothy Sayers and the author of one of my FAVORITE BOOKS EVER just put out a new book that I am not allowed to crack until I am safely ensconced on a plane.

SCB's Book Meme

2010-09-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

The Rules (for there must always be RULES):

1. Go through the alphabet, and for each letter, think of a book you've read that starts with that letter (A, An, and The do not count).

2. You must write down the FIRST book you think of for any given letter. This may make for some odd choices, but them's the breaks.

3. You must have actually READ the book. (I thought of lots that started with some letters, but I hadn't read them.)

4. If you think of a more impressive-sounding book for a particular letter, but you've already written your first thought down, you CANNOT change to the more impressive-sounding book. As an example, you have to leave "Fifty Famous Fairy Tales" (the Whitman Publishing pink and white one) on the list, even if you come up with fifty more impressive books afterwards.

5. If you can think of a book for X, you win... my lasting admiration (I can't afford real prizes!)

6. You can then tag as many people as you like. The more the merrier.

Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery
Busman's Honeymoon - Dorothy Sayers
Coraline - creepy kid's book by Neil Gaiman (is it sad I thought of this randomly, before one of my FAVORITE books, The Count Of Monte Cristo?)
Deerskin - Robin Mckinley
The Emerald City of Oz (I read so many Oz books as a kid I can't tell them apart any more. Pretty much uniformly good, as I recall)
The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand (yes I read it, that doesn't men I agree with it)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (I am usually skeptical of super-popular stuff but I really enjoyed this one)
The Hounds of the Morrigan - Pat O'Shea
The Inn at Lake Devine (look this one up, it's a fun read)
Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne
Kitchen Confidential (I have a soft spot for foodie books)
Lord of the Rings (then I don't have them as three/four separate options)
The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins
Notes From a Small Island
Of Mice and Men - Steinbeck again
Provenance (see my previous post about this book)
Q
Rue Tatin (my current fluffy travel/food read)
Sweet Thursday - John Steinbeck
Tam Lin - Pamela Dean
Under The Tuscan Sun (cheesy)
Can I count Vanity Fair? I read a LOT of it but I am fairly sure Thackeray was getting paid by the word as man, that book is LONG.
Where the Wild Things Are
X
Y
Z

I am kind of disappointed that I still can't think of anything for Q,X, Y, or Z but I figured I might as well get the ball rolling and maybe I will think of something for them later. And I'm going to attempt to tag Lojo, Lauralynne, Cookbook and Kerry, if they have time.

Edit: I actually like this meme more than the BBC book list one as I have read a lot of those, but ALL of these.

This Is A Fascinating Book.

2010-09-22T21:31:00.001-07:00

I highly recommend it. Art forgery has always intrigued me and this is a whole new avenue of forgery, forging a picture's history and background by altering archives at major museums. So even if the picture is a mediocre example of the genre, it will be highly marketable due to the extensive paper trail proving how really real it is. They make it sound easy (if I was the Tate or the V&A I don't think I'd like that). And the forger now makes a career of selling "Genuine Fakes' and does exhibitions etc. "in the style of". So I guess points for making lemons out of lemonade. Or prison time.

The Hunt Doth Continueth. Eth.

2010-09-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

The trip goals have been few. Have a good time. Bring some awesome books. Don't have to buy too much gear before you go. However, attempt at walking shoes #1 was a complete failure, and jacket #1 was much too bulky. Am I a picky person, or what? Yesterday attempt #2 at a jacket arrived from REI.com and didn't look remotely water-resistant. Or warm. Or comfortable (thus, no linky-link). So I dropped it off at REI and found this instead:

Moderately warm and waterproof and fits decently. I put on a sweater and a fleece under it in the store and it was still comfortable. So it doesn't need to do the heavy lifting in the keep-me-warm dept. but I think it will do the job overall.

Today attempt #3 at shoes also showed up. I am DYING here, people. Not Martha and Mighty Girl post adorable travel roundups but I seriously need some solid walking shoes that are waterproof and not too heavy/bulky (ahem, not you, stupid big running shoes with mesh panels, thankyouverymuch). MG's modus operandi of "we’re walking on cobblestones in the rain here, so these are cheap, destroyable flats from Target" does not work in my world. And I coincidentally have the same pair of cute flats that NM wore on her big Paris trip (and I am trying to EBay them if anybody thinks they're cute and wears a size 12).

I hate shoes. And shopping. And especially shoe shopping. Especially shoe shopping for all-day walking in rainy cold places. How do people who live there do it? Probably much like I do here when it snows, by getting in the car. Sigh.

Reno Has Its Points

2010-09-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

Although in this case they are more round.

Or sometimes lumpy.

And there are a LOT.

It's the great Reno Balloon Race!

It sure does brighten up your morning to see this on the way to work.

I promise more posts with content soon, but until then, I am super busy, so pretty pictures! And you can clickity-click to embiggen if you like.

The Itinerary...

2010-09-08T07:59:00.000-07:00

This is going to be quite the multi-part trip. Part one is theoretically a high school reunion in the Bay Area. That will be a weekend with my family and friends and should be quite nice. The weather should also be respectable. If there is time, I would like to go see the Post-Impressionist exhibit at the De Young in Golden Gate Park.
from here.
Then we fly to Newark. Matt has a cousin in Hoboken who got married this summer. We missed the wedding, so we will stop there for about three days before we head out. I hope to hit a museum or two while we are so close to NYC. I am trying to think of a wedding gift or at least some sort of hostess gift as we will be crashing there. The happy couple didn't register as they are both older and have kids from prior marriages and tons of stuff. And I think they may have eloped and we may have just missed an after-party of some sort. I'd just bring some nice wine but we aren't checking bags, so no liquids :(

THEN we fly to Manchester and take a train to Skipton and a cab or something to Earby. This is in North Yorkshire, a.k.a. the Yorkshire Dales, as made famous by James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small. Depending on who you ask it may be in Yorkshire or Lancashire because apparently they changed the boundary years ago and the locals didn't appreciate it very much. We will be staying with Matt's grandad in a large old cold damp house so that is one more thing to pack for. We are having some quality family time here and helping out around the house, I am not sure what I will do so I will probably offer to do some cooking or gardening if there is anything I can help with.

from here. This is down the street.
Lastly we are having a bit of time on our own - Matt is a rabid atheist but adores cathedrals (go figure) so we are taking a weekend trip of our own to Durham. I figure a nice weekend pottering around town looking at castles and staying in some little B&B sounds like a nice end to a big family trip.

from here.

So don't ask me how I am going to do all this with only a carry-on. My two saving graces are 1. I can leave the warm-weather stuff in Los Gatos (no need for sandals anywhere else), and 2. we will be staying with family almost the whole trip so I can do laundry. So I really only need to pack for maybe five days at a stretch. Five cold, damp days.

Why Is It Always...

2010-09-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

As soon as I buy a plane ticket somewhere, I realize that I need decent walking shoes and a raincoat? What do I do here when I have to walk somewhere really far away? Or when it rains? Well, get in my car, in both cases. Sigh.

Wishing for this:

Seriously considering this:

More trip details to come...

I Really Am Back

2010-09-04T21:10:00.000-07:00

And I keep thinking about things to blog about... and then forgetting them. So today I will just say I have made minor progress on the bedroom front: not much, but I found a decent pair of sheets today. We had a shopping expotition to investigate some holiday-type sale options and I found a lovely soft sateen set in a nice latte color. I might be tempted by this duvet cover if it was on sale or if they had an actual picture of it on a bed. But it's a start. I'm enjoying that dark brown, and it would look nice with my new sheets...

I'm still scared to refinish the dresser. But that's mostly because I'd much rather try and Craigslist it and use the cash to replace it with something slightly more tall and skinny. So I am not going to mess with it just yet.

What are you up to this holiday weekend (or normal weekend, you Canadians)? I aim to spend the rest of it in my garden...

That ridiculous thing on the teepee in the middle is my beans. Or lack thereof. I am wondering if I just planted them really late this year or what, because I have gotten almost NO beans this year! We had a very cold wet spring so I planted them very late and I have no idea what else could be affecting them.

Them's some tomaters. Or at least the plants. Somebody helpfully watered the living bejabers out of them while I wasn't around so they are huge and lush and full of flowers and almost no fruit. It's a little surreal, they are so huge. The orange cherry and yellow pear tomatoes are going nuts though, so I have plenty to harvest now that I stopped watering them. It's just all the tiny ones. I've had two of the big purple cherokees so far and it is almost silly how sweet they are. I hope we don't have an early frost, I want more of them!

Fall Fantasy

2010-08-29T21:08:00.000-07:00

There is a chill in the air. I LOVE it. Wool coats and scarves, come to mama! I stocked up on t-shirts and wool socks, and I'm ok for sweaters, so now I just have to wait for a sale to stock up on the last few gaps in my wardrobe:

Best bottom layer ever.

I love corduroy. Fall means corduroy, people! It's a wonderful time! Ignore the model's ridiculous shoes and moldy sweater, please.

These SO need to go on sale. Nobody needs eighty dollars worth of pants. And seriously, are those supposed to be fall sandals? To wear with your cords? Come on, stylist people, be serious.

I really just need to win the lottery. and apparently I am much preppier in my fantasies than in real life.

Anyways, tomorrow is back to work in the greenhouses, where all of these clothes will be totally inappropriate. And it should be 90 again by next weekend. So there will be time for one more barbecue before fall really hits. And hopefully much tomato harvesting. But right now, I am fantasizing and enjoying the rainy weather.

What's your favorite season? I say summer is best for barbecuing but fall definitely wins out on the cute outfits. I am a corduroy and sweater girl! Also, scarves. I can't get behind scarves when it's above 65 degrees out, sorry Urban Outfitters. But right now I have a crazy purple and fuchsia ombre scarf on that I found at Junkee. Apparently I can only find accessories at thrift stores. And also picture all of this preppy stuff with loopy hippie accessories, will you? I wouldn't want to give the wrong impression...

Hopping on the Bandwagon

2010-08-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

I'm in the summer squash boat now... not the zucchini overload, but these little alien pattypan things.

The zucchini needed a little more sun, I think. But these monsters are doing just fine.

So the first option is always Z bread. This one had chocolate chunks so it was a gift, that's a bit much for us here.

The next option is Ina Garten's recipe for zucchini "pancakes" (I don't know why they aren't fritters). So the question is, what next? I can always toss them on the grill or saute them up and dump them in pasta.

What are your favorite things to do with abundances of zucchini/squash?

Oh Media.

2010-08-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

Not even mass media. Just media in my house. I just spent an excessive amount of time trying to a. get a decent cell phone plan for all the minutes we never use and b. bundle my cable tv, home phone and internet so we can get decent service without being overcharged just because we have different services from different providers who keep slowing down our internet or taking away our channels. This is not the fun kind of shopping, let me tell you.

I am not even going to look at any more cell phone BS until our contract is up so I don't need somebody to buy us out. I like Charter for all the home stuff but then somebody just told me they're in bankruptcy or something. So that makes me sad and curious as to how they can still totally try and sell me lots of services if they are going under. Yeesh.

So instead I need to spend some time working in my garden/taking pictures of it. Because this photo is now woefully inaccurate. I have weeds taller than that, let alone tomato plants. My cherry tomato is just heading into that nice bonkers time of year... I'll be sick of it by the time the rest of them start to fully go nuts, but by then my sister will be sad enough that her tomatoes froze that she will be happy for a pile of spare toms, cherry or otherwise.

Edit: Yeesh, I need to find somewhere to recycle wood pallets. And plastic plant pots. What a messy picture.

Edit Edit: Charter is coming next week to de-crappy my internet. Matt will be here, I will not. We will see what is done/functional by the time I'm back...