It Feels Like Florida

Posted on November 15, 2008 by Frog

It’s in the 70s here and humid. I feel like I’m in Florida. Luckily a cold front will be moving through later today and then we’ll be sitting pretty with cool temperatures. The better-half purchased a whole chicken the other day and we’ll be roasting that tonight. It seems odd to be making such a warm and comforting meal when it’s balmy outside. I’m sure I’ll get over it when that chicken comes out of the oven.

This morning, to mix things up, we made an omelet with mushrooms, onions and some peppers that have been encased in olive oil. The peppers are a mix of jalapeno and habanero from our garden. The peppers aren’t hugely spicy–they’ve been roasted and as I said, sitting in a jar of olive oil so there’s a quiet heat to them. I need to practice my omelet making but this one was good. I think next time I’ll make two so they cook quicker than one giant one. Both Julia Child and James Beard say that omelets should cook in something like 30 seconds. Mine took longer and had a tiny crust.

Posted in Eating | 1 Comment

I Need To Get A Life

Posted on November 13, 2008 by Frog

I’m kind of bummed today because I don’t have class.

I’m tired of the BS and think I’m going to have to take Thanksgiving week off. It’s a lot of little things that are annoying the everliving out of me and I see nothing changing so I need some time off. Luckily we already have 2 1/2 days off already so I’ll only be giving up a few hours for a week’s worth of vacation. In fact, I’m wishing I had the nerve just to say I’m using up some of my sick leave and will see you in January.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I’m not sure what we’re going to do. We’ve been invited to both sides of the family and herein is the rub: my father is still not talking to me (which is just fucking stupid) and the better-half has no desire to spend a huge amount of time with his extended family (could be because one of them owes him money for work he did and it could be that others are boorish).

Well, this is a rather whiny post isn’t it?

Speaking of whiny, I can hear some Bob Dylan in the background and I’m becoming irritated. Props to Bob and all, but his nasal whine in the background may as well be a pack of cats in heat.

Posted in Generic Thoughts | 4 Comments

In a better place

Posted on November 10, 2008 by Frog

Tonight I presented my piece of the presentation and I think it went really well. Usually I can tell when I do a lousy job presenting something and it didn’t suck tonight. However, at 5:10pm while the class was working on a small group activity, my partner leaned over and started asking me something about his part of the presentation. I flat out told him that he can’t, at 5:10 in the middle of our presentation, ask me if he should do X, Y or Z. I then smiled and went back to observing the groups. Seriously. Not even making it up. Gah.

The better-half used leftovers to construct a lovely meal tonight. It rocked and now I’m full and happy. I’m in a much better place than I was at the beginning of the day.

Posted in Generic Thoughts | 2 Comments

Rustlin’ Up Little Doggies

Posted on November 9, 2008 by Frog

Tonight we’re having pinto beans, specifically Frijoles a la charra. We’re serving State Fair sausage from Belmont Butchery, grilled. And, then mixed greens from our garden. We have some Flour Garden bread from the other day so we’ll also be downing some of that with butter.

In honor of the Texas theme of the meal, we’re listening to:
The Austin Lounge Lizards
Shawn Colvin
Sara Hickman
Billy Joe Shaver
Lyle Lovett
Chris Rea (I know, he’s not a Texan but he has this song)

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Monkey Mind and Extreme Planning

Posted on November 9, 2008 by Frog

Last night we had a wonderful meal with some friends. They’ve been dealing with parental health issues since this summer: her father has been in the hospital or rehab for five months and, of course, we have the MIL. I suppose some people sit around and talk about their kids’ bathroom habits but since we and our friends are childless we talked about our ailing parents and their bathroom habits. It’s funny but when it comes down to it what’s important? Eating, excreting, making sure they are safe and comfortable. I guess caring for older parents is a lot like caring for kids except you don’t necessarily live with your parents (will never happen for us).

This morning I woke up and before I got out of bed I realized I’d been dreaming about school and what promises to be a hectic day tomorrow. In addition to regular work, my classmate partner and I will be providing feedback to people within my organization on a consulting project we’ve been conducting. Our findings mostly point to how one person isn’t handling the problem well and that’s the source of the problem. Can hardly wait to have to process that with her.

Then, there’s my presentation in class. The one that I’m just not sure my partner (not the same classmate as in the paragraph above) is going to be able to uphold his portion of the presentation. We’ve talked, he’s done little work that I can tell and he keeps asking me the same damn questions. I’m supposed to call him later today. I’m ready to tell him he’s just going to have to do his part and to get over it. The people in my graduate program are some of the most welcoming and understanding people. We’re all in this together and we make it so easy for people to present. We know it’s harder for some people than others and we’re cool about it. We go out of our way to make it easy so I’m not sure why he’s so paralyzed. Maybe I’m projecting too much.

In addition to fretting and preparing for the presentation and the consulting meeting, I’ve been thinking ahead to the week of Thanksgiving because I’m seriously thinking of taking it off to work on a bunch of end of semester work and maybe, just maybe, getting started on some projects I’d like to get done over winter break. So, yeah, I’m already planning what my life will be like between now and the middle of January. I probably won’t be able to resist the urge to make a To Do List. I usually hate these things but, honestly, I think if I write them down I’ll be able to move on and my monkey mind will be able to settle down.

Posted in Thinking | 1 Comment

I’m Not Pleased

Posted on November 6, 2008 by Frog

Seriously, California, what’s wrong with you? You are supposed to LEAD this country in social reform. Instead you just showed us you are full of small-minded people too. As for the other states who slammed shut the door to same-sex marriage I didn’t have much hope for you anyway. But, this should be a call to arms for all of us. I heard on Morning Edition today a leader of a large black church who favored Proposition 8. He refuses to see the similiarity between same-sex marriage and mixed-race marriage. I was the crazy lady talking to the radio this morning, perhaps you saw me and steered away from me. He won’t see that similiarity because it doesn’t work in his narrow little world.

Other things that annoy me and probably shouldn’t be lumped into this post but I will anyway? Fellow students who refuse to step up. I’m sick of carrying your tired ass through a project/presentation. If you can’t do it, drop out or leave me the hell alone. If I tell you that I don’t think I can take the lead on a presentation because that’s what I believe and because the professor also said she didn’t think my talents lie in that area then fucking believe it and step up. I’ve carried your ass through 4 other class presentations and I’m totally sick of doing it .

Posted in General Spleen Venting | Comments Off

And We Stood

Posted on November 5, 2008 by Frog

Last night after the President-Elect gave his acceptance speech, we stood up to turn off the teevee and go to bed. But, we just couldn’t do it and so we stood there watching the Obama and Biden families mingle on stage. It seemed right to stand. I looked at the better-half and said quietly, “Maybe this feels like what people experienced with Kennedy.”

Having grown up in the shadow of all things Boomer and as a reaction to that oppressiveness (seriously look at how tiny Gen X is and how we’ve been rolled over and squeezed out), I’ve not given one fig about Kennedy, except perhaps I have admired his push to the space race. But last night as we stood and watched Obama celebrate and then walk off the stage, I thought I finally got it–all that youthful enthusiasm but mostly the feeling of Hope.

Posted in Thinking, Watching | Comments Off

Hallefuckinglluiah

Posted on November 5, 2008 by Frog

Our country has been taken back. I’m so proud that Virginia turned blue.

I stood on our front porch and gave a yell and then we set off a few bottle rockets in the back yard. The Republican neighborhood remained silent. Whateves…we won. They won:

Posted in Generic Thoughts | Tagged | 1 Comment

I Did, Did You?

Posted on November 4, 2008 by Frog

My sister was late dropping off The Niece this morning because she had to wait over an hour to vote. When they got to my house I told The Niece there were two things I really wanted to do and she said, “Let me guess, vote.” Right she was but first we went to Ben Franklin and then to Target to replenish the arts and crafts supplies around here which had decidedly gone down hill this year. After we loaded up on all manner of pencils, paper and projects we went to my voting place. Both times we drove past my sister’s polling place (to and fro the craft load-up) the school was packed. I guess there are tons of people in that area.

The better-half voted around 8am today and he called to tell me he was something like the 377th person to vote. Those numbers never happen at our little polling place. The Niece and I got there around 11 and there were more cars in the parking lot than I’ve ever seen so I told her there may be a wait. When we went into the firehouse, there were more voting stations than before and the longest line was to put the ballot in the machine (we fill in bubbles and then feed them into a scanner). I had to wait for the person in front of me to get their ballot, then went through the Yes I Am Who I Say I Am process and then I filled in the bubbles. We were out of the polling place in 5 minutes. I was voter 750 something which is amazing. I think when I voted in the primary there had been less than 100 people to vote.

I’m hoping tonight we’ll find out that we just got our country back and that we won’t have to go through some rigmarole like the last time.

Posted in Generic Thoughts | Tagged | 2 Comments

My kingdom for a battery

Posted on November 2, 2008 by Frog

So yesterday was beautiful and we went out to the garden with the intention of picking things and thinning the turnips. We should have thinned them weeks ago but we’ve had huge things going on in our lives lately and so there hasn’t been time. They are well thinned now so hopefully we have enough grow-friendly days left before the cold really sets in.

I picked radishes again. I left some in the dirt so if it isn’t raining on Tuesday when I spend the day with The Niece we can go out and pick some more. After I vote, of course.

We didn’t save the radish greens this time because we picked a boatload of other leafy greens including kale, turnip greens from the thinned plants and mustard. Here’s a shot of a recycled vegetable bag filled with mustard:

I wish I had pictures of the other marvelous vegetables but the batteries in the camera died just as I was about to take those shots.

I steamed some of the mustard last night with shallots, garlic and lemon juice. Delicious. We had the mustard with gyros. We found frozen gyro meat at a local Mediterranean bakery about a week ago and we made tzatziki with that Greek yogurt we can now find in our area. I would have taken a picture of the lovely gyros but in addition to dead batteries in the regular camera the old back-up camera had no juice either. I was racing around the house trying to find batteries to stuff in the old camera but couldn’t find enough rechargeable batteries that had a friggin’ charge in order to take pictures. Last night we had three chargers going with various types of batteries.

The cabbage is looking like it is about to head up and the broccoli looks pretty good but no florets have formed yet. It may be that we were too late and we’ll just eat leaves and stalks or they are about to burst out. I don’t know, we’ve never grown those before. The spinach is limping along but the seeds I put in a big pot are starting to come up and look like tiny little spinach. The potted kale is also starting to show it’s curly ways.

Posted in Gardening | 2 Comments