| Thursday, November 12th, 2009 |
| 12:49 pm |
Life is kind of like riding a motorcycle. It's important to keep focused on where you want to go, not all the pitfalls you don't want to run into. |
| Friday, November 6th, 2009 |
| 1:25 pm |
I'm sitting and looking at our new-to-us dining room table and chairs which finally got delivered this morning. The movers who delivered it even showed up when they said they would. *happy dance* Off to work now. |
| Thursday, November 5th, 2009 |
| 2:07 pm |
I am totally winning the getting stuff done game this week. That's worth mentioning given how often I feel like I lose that game. I've signed up for a CPR and first aid class on Sunday. This will get me the certificate I need in order to register for the EMT classes next term. Yay! |
| Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 |
| 10:33 pm |
Duck
Last night when I went to Whole Foods to get some turkey backs for pies I discovered that while they were out of turkey they had duck legs at $6/lb... so of course I bought them out. The question now is, pies? stew? roasted? or something else? |
| Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 |
| 4:04 pm |
Ew ew ew ew ew
( Cut for the squeamish )Definitely the most disturbing thing I've ever encountered before breakfast. I called my landlord who's going to send someone over to take a look. Meanwhile, I am feeling kind of freaked out and just need to say: "Ew ew ew ew eeeeeeewwwwww!" Current Mood: freaked out |
| Saturday, September 12th, 2009 |
| 2:18 pm |
Wishing for berries
Nick's mother gave me a gift certificate to a garden supply company for my birhtday (it disturbs me slightly when Nick's family gives me birthday presents; my family doesn't do birthday presents. But that's another topic) so I've been browsing through gardening catalogues trying to decide what to do with our pathetically tiny backyard. I've never actually had a back yard before, except for a couple months ten years ago when I rented a room in Sunnyvale during a summer job. But in that case, it wasn't really *mine*. It didn't take me long to decide that a covered compost bin was the way to go. But I kept looking through the catalogue anyway, tempted by goji berry bushes and raspberry canes and asparagus and other things I don't have enough space for. But what I'd really like is gooseberry bushes. You can't get fresh gooseberries anywhere near here that I've found. When I lived on Newbury St., a neighbor across the street and up the hill a ways had gooseberry bushes. I'd stop and chat with her on my way home if she was out gardening and snack on her berries. I first met her the time that Raphi went missing and I went around to every house in the neighborhood with a picture asking if anyone had seen him. She hadn't, but she told me she'd pray to St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost things, for me. When Raphi turned up a few days later, I stopped by again to let her know and thank her. She knew a lot about the Catholic saints and lore and had a saint to recommend for everything. In turn, she was curious about Unitarianism and liked asking questions about what we believed and what church was like. I don't remember her name. But I think of her whenever I think of gooseberries. Sadly, it appears that it is too hot and dry around here to grow gooseberries. I suppose I should have expected that, since they're native to England. |
| Thursday, August 27th, 2009 |
| 2:39 pm |
Boston 8/30 - 9/6
Nick and I will be in Boston, arriving very late Saturday (8/29) night until Monday morning (9/7). Give me a call if you would like to do get together. |
| Monday, August 17th, 2009 |
| 2:10 pm |
Tomatoes
The deluge of tomatoes has caused me to search out new recipes. So this weekend I consulted my trusty Way With Vegetables cookbook and found a recipe that called for halving fresh tomatoes, dredging them in flour, frying them in bacon fat and making a cream sauce out of the pan drippings to serve them with. That was really tasty. The book really should have warned that serving these with anything heavier than a salad and poached fish was not recommended though. |
| Saturday, August 15th, 2009 |
| 4:55 pm |
Gardening Hazards
I really need a cat door with brushes that automatically clean the cats whenever they come in. Short haired little Miss Luna is no trouble, but His Fluffiness, Raphael tends to bring about a cubic foot of mulch in with him whenever he comes in. |
| Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 |
| 7:26 pm |
Garden
My rosemary is spreading and flowering like mad. The first few baby peppers have appeared on the pepper plant. The one verbena looks like it's recovering. I went out and trimmed the parts that clearly weren't going to make it. Everything else is doing pretty well. I get nervous whenever Miss Luna goes into the garden. She sniffs around, but I haven't seen her trying to eat any of it yet. Maybe I should plant some catnip for her. |
| Friday, August 7th, 2009 |
| 2:58 pm |
Lately I am begining to suspect that Fridays are out to get me
I took my car into the shop this morning for oil change, A/C service and to get the annoying noises fixed, which turned out to require a new water pump. Unexpected maintenance, but not too horrible for a 11+ year old car. All that was under $600. I also needed the drivers' side sun visor replaced, since the little plastic piece that holds it on had broken and it fell down... it turns out that the whole visor and plastic holder is sold as a unit and Nissan wants over $200 for a new one. WTH??? So the garage is going to call around and see if they can get one from a junkyard cheap. Meanwhile, I may see if I can fudge a repair. My drive home from work in the evenings is nearly due west, so I really, really would prefer to have a sun visor. This is also being a bad arthritis day, and I don't know why. Current Mood:  grumpy |
| Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 |
| 8:24 pm |
Garden
I got the rest of the plants in the ground and watered. They all fit nicely in the space I had once I realized that the *dead* tree stump didn't need any room for its roots. One of the plants is looking very unhappy and wilty though and I don't know why. The cats knocked it over when it was sitting waiting to be planted and it looks like it has a few bent stems as well. |
| 1:54 pm |
Tomatoes
I love my weekly farmshare. I really do. I love the fact that it encourages me to cook more, that I've been eating more vegetables and that the variety of fruits and vegetables that I eat has gone way up. I end up eating things that I would not have bought for myself. Still. Sometimes I have to wonder... was it really necessary to give me *nine* tomatoes? I like tomatoes and all but... 3 would do. Really. I hesitate to contemplate how many I might have gotten if I were getting the large box. |
| Sunday, August 2nd, 2009 |
| 8:56 pm |
Gardening
Today I went to OSH and bought a pitchfork, some soil amender, some cedar mulch, a drip watering system and a lot of plants. Then I went home and dug up nearly half my back yard and added the soil amendment. At that point, I discovered I should have bought a shovel. All I have is a little trowel. Also, my foot is so very done. I need to remember to be nicer to it. It's still healing. I'm pretty happy with that progress. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get some actual plants in the ground. I chose my plants by the simple process of going to OSH and saying "I want some plants. Native Californian ones that don't need a lot of water. What should I get?" since I knew that if I tried to research and plan I'd get bogged down and never get anywhere. I am too late in the season for most vegetables except peppers apparently. I got one pepper plant (thai chilis... the only non-native plant in the bunch), a couple of rosemary, a lavender, a few verbena, some sedum and a few flowers. I think I have enough dug up to plant 8/10 plants I got if I give them plenty of room. I could probably get them all with a bit of squishing. I need to decide what to do. Thank you Sam for the encouragement :-) |
| Friday, July 10th, 2009 |
| 6:11 pm |
Home Again
I'm back home again. I had a wonderful visit with my family and got to meet my brother's new girlfriend. It was good seeing all of you back in Boston, and I'm sorry I didn't get to see more of you. Hopefully next time I'll get to see the people I missed. Thanks especially to vibrantabyss for driving me around when I couldn't walk (including to the emergency room at 7AM). |
| Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 |
| 10:50 pm |
In Boston with a broken foot
I'm in Boston for about a day as a stopover on my way up to Maine. I managed to break my foot in Dallas on the way here. No, I didn't plan ahead or let people know I was coming. Mostly because I've been lazy, but partly because I'm only going to be here for a day. Nick and I are going to do another Boston trip later this summer to get visiting time with you all. But if you happen to be free, let me know. |
| Monday, June 22nd, 2009 |
| 1:17 pm |
Today's vet visit
I took Raphi to the vet today because he had a swollen lip (which turned out to be a minor infection, probably because of the immune suppressing drugs he's on for his skin condition) and was limping. I've mentioned to the vet a few times in the last couple of years that he seems to be limping a bit, but of course he never has done it when the vet was watching and the vet hasn't felt anything wrong with his legs when they've looked. This time the vet shaved his hind legs to get a better look and discovered the joints were swollen. Possibly this is a complication from his existing autoimmune condition. They took a sample of the joint fluid to analyze and some blood to do a complete blood analysis. Raphi got really pissed when they started pulling at his legs. I think they're probably causing him a fair bit of pain. Hopefully the vet will be able to do something useful for him. Current Mood:  worried |
| Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 |
| 11:57 am |
Know any good self help books?
Does anyone have any books to recommend, especially ones that deal with improving interpersonal relationships and communication? I'm looking for suggestions.... |
| Friday, March 27th, 2009 |
| 6:14 pm |
Oh, the headaches
I am counting the days until I get my work glasses back from the optometrist... |
| Thursday, March 19th, 2009 |
| 7:48 pm |
Blame
When something bad occurs, it's human nature to search for someone to blame. People can spend an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to identify the person at fault and arguing about who to blame. In almost all cases, that energy would be more productively spent fixing the problem or trying to help the injured people. Almost everyone would agree in theory that fixing the problem is more important than assigning blame. But when called into practice, these same people almost invariably wind up squabbling about who to blame. The urge to blame someone is just too strong. Sometimes there is no one to blame. Sometimes no one is at fault, and yet something bad still happened, by chance or accident. This doesn't stop people from finding someone to blame. People can't abide the feeling of powerlessness that comes from the realization that things happen outside of our control. And when this happens, the lives of perfectly innocent people can be hurt or destroyed by the mob. I find this tragic. And I can't quite wrap my mind around it. |
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