Day One

First of all, thank you, thank you to everyone who wished me good luck! I really appreciate it. It means a lot going into this knowing that people are rooting for me.

Last time I came out of the state day feeling pretty darn good about myself. Today...it's a toss-up. This morning was actually pretty awesome. First was the MPT. I'm pretty sure I spotted the appropriate issues, analyzed the cases well, etc. etc. Then we had a little break and then the 3 Rhode Island essays. Which I'm pretty sure I rocked. I left for my lunch break feeling sooooo much better than I did when I showed up this morning.

Then came the afternoon and the 6 Multistate Essays. I've decided that I kind of hate the National Conference of Bar Examiners. They're the ones who wrote those things. I was basically talking out of my a** for 2 1/2 of the 6 essays. Question 1 in particular sucked, which is not a very nice way to open up an essay exam. NCBE, I'm looking at you.

I told Jason about the 2 1/2 essays and he pointed out that everyone else was probably making stuff up too. At least I was definitive about my BS. I wrote like the law I was making up on the spot was true and correct.

I felt a little better when I heard one girl say to her friend, "It's easy to leave early when you don't have anything to say."

The good news is, the MEE questions are graded locally. So I just have to hope other people in Rhode Island were as befuddled as me. The other good news is, I'm pretty sure I rocked the other 3 MEE questions, including one on Civil Procedure which is pretty awesome since as of 2 days ago I knew little to nothing about Civil Procedure. Let's hear it for short-term memory! I just have to hope that the morning's performance, plus the 3 MEE's I think I did well on, get me through to passing. Oh yeah, I still have the Multistate tomorrow. I will probably be a pile of goo on the floor after that, so don't expect to hear anything from me.

Rhode Island is, shall we say, not so professional as Massachusetts when it comes to administering the Bar. There were probably about a third of the number of people taking the entire RI Bar as take the Massachusetts Bar in Boston (they also administer it in Springfield). Instead of the standard one hour lunch break the proctor took it upon himself to only give us a half hour because he wanted to get us in and out of there. They ran out of copies of one of the Rhode Island essay questions. Um, you did know how many people signed up to take this test, right? They gave us ID badges and the date I signed it and half my signature was cut off, as well as part of my forehead in the picture. So, yeah, not really a top-rate show.

My hand is tired.

Things I Am Looking Forward To After the Bar

• Massage on Thursday
• A big giant treat from Cold Stone right after the Multistate on Wednesday
• Maybe a steak from the Texas Roadhouse
  
• Going to Block Island with some friends on Friday without the Bar hanging over my head
• Cleaning my apartment (ongoing struggle between Jason and me. We have different ideas of clean, in that as long as there is enough space somewhere for him to sleep and check his email, he is A-OK. Said space being sanitary is not a prerequisite)

Put A Fork in Me

Today I reviewed and outlined about 16 essays and did some Property Multistate questions. I also reviewed my Agency and Partnership notes and then went over some Agency and Partnership essays and thought, "I think I get the concept."

I plan to go to work with Jason tomorrow and finish cramming bits of state law into my short-term memory. I also have a couple of lists to memorize and I plan on reviewing the last essays in the essay books because they are the most recent ones and thus will hopefully be a good indication of what is to come on Tuesday.

I have a stack of books and notecards sitting next to me that I will load in my backpack and take to Brown tomorrow. Tonight I'm going to watch my usual Sunday night cartoon line-up and get a good night's sleep. I'm sure I'll wake up at 6:45 tomorrow morning like I have the last couple of mornings.

So 1 day and about 12 hours until I show up at the convention center and do this whole Bar thing again. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this whole thing, here's what I have coming up:

Tuesday
3-hour morning session
1 1/2 hours for 3 state essays (yes, that's a half hour per question)
1 1/2 hours for the MPT (a practical test that I'm actually looking forward to. They give you a scenario, law and cases and you have to write a memo to a partner or a letter to a client explaining the issues. So it's kind of like what I've been doing as an associate attorney. I have done one practice MPT and nailed every single issue they mentioned in the model answer. Thus, I have spent the rest of my time learning law and not worrying about the MPT)

3-hour afternoon session
6 Multistate Essay questions (again, a half hour per question)
On the state day they can test us on Wills, Trusts, Agency, Partnership, Secured Transactions, Commercial Paper, Civil Procedure, Federal Jurisdiction, Torts, Property, Contracts, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence, Constitutional Law, Conflict of Laws, Equity aaand...I'm sure I'm forgetting something. But, you know, a lot of stuff.

Wednesday
2 3-hour sessions of 100 multiple choice Multistate questions
Multistate topics: Contracts, Torts, Property, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence

In Massachusetts the state day is on Thursday. While it's kind of a bummer to lose a day of studying this time around, it will be nice to be done a day sooner.

I feel okay and am just hoping that the state tests on things I actually know and that I really do know enough about the Multistate topics. This time I think I'll sleep okay the night before (versus last time when I got 2 hours of sleep before the first test day), but I know that I'm a bit stressed because my shoulders feel like a solid chunk of tensed muscle and if I sit still for too long, I kind of have to roll my neck around a little to get it to turn properly. I'm getting a massage Thursday afternoon.

{Deep breath}

Failure is Not An Option

So I've hit this point where I have convinced myself that I know nothing and that I'm going to fail because I haven't done nearly enough to study. I don't remember if I felt like this 3 years ago. I'm sure I must have, right? Those of you who knew me then, did I? Was I convinced that failure was imminent?

I have spent today condensing the Multistate topics into tidy 2-page outlines with just the very basic ideas. After finishing that I thought I should try some Multistate questions because since I've just spent 8 or 9 hours reviewing and condensing these topics, I should do pretty well on those questions, right? Not so much.

I'm trying to decide if I really know nothing or if I'm just kind of burnt out for the day. Maybe I have hit a Multistate saturation point. I'm doing worse than I was a couple of weeks ago. I think in the past week or so I've done about 800 Multistate questions. I've probably done 1200 total.

I think I'm going to have a big bowl of popcorn and stew in my panic for the rest of the evening.

Friday

Today I:

Either outlined or read 32 essays
Reviewed Domestic Relations, Wills, Trusts, Conflict of Laws, Equity and Corporations
Did 20 Torts MBE's

It doesn't seem like much, but I'm kind of pooped. I have a goal to get 20 more problems in each MBE topic done tonight, but we'll see. I mean, I still have 3 days, what am I worried about?*

We're baby-sitting for some friends tonight and I'm kind of excited because the baby might actually be awake when we get there instead of asleep like usual. He's a really cool baby.

Usually when we baby-sit it entails entertaining ourselves while the baby sleeps. Our friends are always really grateful, but we tell them, Hey, we could watch TV at your house or watch TV at our house. Doesn't really matter.

* That would be heavy sarcasm because ohmygosh! 3 days?! That's all?!

I Don't Know Nothin', Coppers

If watching Netflixed reruns of Alias has taught me nothing else, I think I can affirm that my house is under surveillance. Or maybe the neighbors' house. There has been a big white van from the electric company parked next to our house for several hours now. I haven't seen any work being done, although they did make a small effort by scattering some random orange cones in the general vicinity of the van. Yeah, I won't believe it until someone either starts digging, or scurrying up a telephone pole.

Sadists

Just to give you an idea of the insanity, I just finished a Property problem set in which I was only supposed to get 16 out of 35 right. I wound up getting 17 right (but most of those had second choice answers that I was really close to picking). I just have to keep reminding myself that not all of the real Multistate questions will be impossible and evil - only some of them.

Impatient

Yesterday was panic day. One of the attorneys I work with who took the Bar last summer loaned me his PMBR books so I could have some more Multistate practice questions. I bombed. So last night I was panicking. I only have a week left! I'm going to fail! What have I been doing with my time?!

This morning I emailed the attorney who loaned me the books and asked what sort of percentages he was getting on the questions when he did them. He wrote back and said Haha and told me not to worry. He and all of his friends felt good to get half the PMBR questions right and they all passed the Bar. PMBR delights in picking obscure little tidbits of law and asking about them.

So that made me feel better. Because honestly for about half of those questions I did yesterday I read the question and answers and then read them again and then thought, "What are these people talking about?!" That doesn't feel good when you've supposedly been reviewing this stuff for 7 weeks.

I feel pretty good in Criminal Law and Procedure, Property and Torts (yeah, Torts. The class I did the worst in my 1L year. Who knew?). I feel middling in Evidence and Contracts. Constitutional Law is hit or miss. Oddly, most people do the best in Con Law, but it's always seemed elusive to me.

I told Jason tonight I know there are a few things I still need to memorize and solidify, mostly for the state day, but generally I'm getting antsy and just kind of feel like, let's do this thing already. I want to get back to my life.

Today's Events

Today was Contracts. I met the marks that Barbri set for their Multistate questions so that's good enough for me. I have officially decided that 1 1/2 columns in a 2 column page is too long for a hypothetical question. That's all I have to say about that.

When the temperature inside my apartment hit 87 (and muggy) I had to escape to the air-conditioning of Jason's scientific lab type building. It was glorious. I also ran into another person with a Barbri book whose spouse works in the building. I suppose that happens when you're in a state this tiny.

Tonight we're going to one of our favorite fancy restaurants for Restaurant Week. Last year their chocolate dessert blew my mind and they have the same one on the menu this year. I can't wait!

Property Queen

Last time I took the Bar I was a Criminal Law expert. This time, it appears Property is my subject. I did one of the hard sets yesterday wherein I was only supposed to get 45% right to be doing well, and I got 65% right. Including all 3 questions based on a kind of insane fact pattern. I was particularly proud of those.

The only problem is, I did so well, that I was kind of a slacker for the rest of the evening. Today is Contracts. I have a feeling I'll be more humble by this evening.

My Eyes Are On Fire!

This morning I took the train up to the Boston office to get my picture taken for the firm's website. I got my hair and make-up done and when I got home I promptly scrubbed all the make-up off. Gah! So. Much. Color. On. My. Face. Though I'm sure it will look lovely in the pictures.

The make-up artist was great, but she was a bit heavy-handed with the mascara and eyeliner. I used about 10 eye make-up remover pads so now my eyes are red and a little burny.

I took my Property flashcards with me and studied on the train. I kind of feel like I've got Property except for that whole Future Interests/Rule Against Perpetuities hullabaloo that I will never ever ever need as a real-life attorney. I reassert that the Bar is just a big hazing ritual.

I Heart the Internets

I have been tucked away in my apartment studying Evidence all day, with a mid-day trip to the grocery store to pick up some necessary items. And then I got home and realized I forgot something. I hate that.

Anyway, I've been memorizing flashcards and doing sets of multiple choice problems. I did really bad on my last set. Really bad. So I was sitting here, feeling like I was going to cry, and then I decided to do a Google search for "Barbri" "impossible questions" "screwing with my head" or something like that and came across this message board of people who are also studying and griping about Barbri.

Someone mentioned that in the back of the HUGE question book is a single page telling you how many of each set you're supposed to be getting right. Apparently on that most recent one, I was only supposed to get 45% right. I checked the Evidence sets I did today and the other subject sets and I'm pretty much right on target. That's a relief.

Something else to keep in mind is how impossible the Barbri model essay answers are. They quote cases and obscure law and total a couple of pages per essay. Hi, I will have 3 hours to write 6 essays. That will not be high-quality writing, I can guarantee. I will be spewing out whatever I can think of that might possibly relate to the fact pattern and moving on to the next question.

In other news, the landlady picked yesterday to begin the large project of stripping the exterior of the house and reshingling. Which needs to be done, but what a way to kick off the two weeks before the Bar. The pounding is so hard that pieces of caulk are falling out of the kitchen tiles onto the countertops. It's kind of disconcerting to go into the kitchen and have two guys standing outside the window pounding away at the house. Eventually they and their ladders wil. come around to where I'm sitting in the living room and I'll have to change rooms since we don't have blinds.

I'm pretty good at tuning out the pounding, but at a couple of points today it got a little intense. Time to head to either the beach or the library I think.

Nose to the Grindstone

Jason thinks Multistate questions are fun. He likes having me read him the questions and answers and he chooses which ones he thinks are right. He gets about 50% right, which is a little annoying considering I'm the one who spent 3 years in law school and then 3 more years (mostly) as an attorney. However, I have the chance to feel superior when the question hinges on some arcane bit of law that I know because it's written on one of my flashcards.

Anyway, tonight I finished writing a mini outline for Equity and then I sighed a deep sigh of relief and said, "I'm done!" Jason asked, "You're done?" I said, "Well, I was going to do a set of Multistate questions tonight, but it took me a long time to do all the mini outlines so I think I'm done." Jason said, "Oooo, yeah, let's do Multistate questions!"

Then I figured out that I've been at this for about 11 hours today (if you include my 3-hour class) and I made the executive decision that I was done for the day. I think that's reasonable.

At least I started my day with a good swim. I need it to work off the stress and help me sleep at night.

Studying

Tiny has very definite ideas about when studying should and shouldn't be happening. Usually when I've been hitting the books for 2 or 3 hours, he will let me know that it's time to take a break.

Like so:

Yesterday he plopped down on my book, but I still needed to do some work, despite what kitty thought. So I moved him down to my lap and he sat there purring for the next hour or so. Jason was at work so I took this picture to show him how Tiny was helping me out.
Tiny's a giver.

PS Please pay no attention to the mess in the background. In two and a half weeks this will all be over and I'll have time to clean the house again.

PPS Saying this will all be over in two and a half weeks kind of makes me hyperventilate a little.

Score!

Today is my last day of work until after the Bar exam. I've been organizing my desk, making piles of files for our secretary to refile*, removing my shoes from my shoe box under my desk where they live so I don't have to lug my dress shoes back and forth every day since I like to be comfy on my way to and from work.

Well, I opened up one drawer of my desk and discovered a bag of Extra Dark Lindt chocolate truffles that I had completely forgotten about. I bought the bag a few months ago and have been gradually eating one here and there when I wanted a treat. There was one left. I just ate it. It was awesome.

I wish every day could be a discovering Lindt truffles kind of day.

* I know this is all part of being an attorney, but it's kind of weird to have a secretary. I have to keep reminding myself to let her format the letters and type in the edits and such. My boss gave me back a letter I wrote one day with some mark-ups and I diligently entered them in and asked if I should go ahead and print it on letterhead. He said, "I just gave that to you to show you what changes I made. You should have had P make the changes and print it out." Oh. It's become this game with myself of figuring out what I need to spend my billable hours working on and what I need to give to her.

Um, So the Stressing Out Is Starting

The Bar is 3 weeks from today. Holy cow, where did the time go?! I spent so much time after I got this job thinking I didn't have to worry about the Bar yet that it has been kind of hard to convince myself that no, really, this is the time to worry.

I did a bunch of practice questions on Saturday and did well enough on all subjects to pass. However, this morning I missed a bunch in Criminal Law, which last time I took the Bar was my GOOD subject. So I spent some quality time with my flashcards. It's just a matter of cramming all of this information into my head. It was in there 3 years ago, surely it can go back, right?

My last day of part-time work is Friday. I decided to take off 2 whole weeks to study, and I'm really glad I did. I'm not going to class for the first few days of this week because it's a review of the practice test we took last week. They gave us a book with explanations in it, so I decided to save myself the hour and a half drive and just go over them on my own. However, in the morning I go for a swim and settle in to study and hit a nice groove and then all of a sudden it's time to get ready for work. It will be nice to have the whole day to study.

FYI, having a really super smart husband who basically remembers everything he ever reads is not helpful at this point. He doesn't understand why I don't already know everything on the flashcards. I mean, I made them, after all, shouldn't I know what they say? I got really ticked last week actually when I felt like he was critiquing my study methods. I had to explain that unlike him, I don't remember everything I read the first time I read it. Or write it. Or hear it. Or whatever. Flashcards worked the first time, so I'm sticking with what I know.

Rock

Jason bought Rock Band on Saturday night. Then Jason, Marissa and I stayed up until 3 on our world tour.

Suffice it to say, we rocked the house.

Matt

This video makes me happy

What?

Sports Guy Hurts Himself With Pillow

OK, so I'm not trying to be all judgey here, but while everyone else is focusing on the fact that this baseball player hurt himself adjusting a pillow, and, oh isn't that delightfully funny, I'm more weirded out by the fact that his son sleeps with him and his wife.

"I have a 3-year-old son who sleeps in the bed with my wife and me," Inge said. "I was trying to push the pillow down behind his head..."

Not, my 3-year-old son had a bad dream and was sleeping with us. Not, my 3-year-old son was sick and we wanted him close while we all slept. It's my "3-year-old son who sleeps in the bed with my wife and me." Period. End of sentence.

Um, I think toddler boy needs a big-boy bed of his own.

CONTAC

That's the acronym I invented for self-authenticating documents 3 years ago while reviewing Evidence. If anyone else is studying for the Bar, hi, feel free to use it.

I'm starting to feel a little stressed. I am making all my flash cards like a good girl, but I haven't actually had a chance to study them yet. I've completed about 3 of the practice problem sets (out of 26), turned in one essay, and completely missed the fact that I was supposed to turn in another essay yesterday. Whoops. Whatever, the essay grading is kind of a scam. They score your first essay low and then the second essay a little higher and by the third essay you're a rock star. How do I know it's a scam? I turned in a pretty flawless first essay. I wrote it and then checked the answer in the back of the book and it matched pretty closely. They gave me a 4 out of 6, but didn't really mark anything as being wrong.

Next Thursday we have an all-day Multistate practice test. Just FYI, Barbri will tell you that the average is 125 and most people raise their scores by 10 points by test day. They tell you that to psych you out. I got a 104 on my practice test. One of my friends got a 90-something. Most of my other friends were also in the very low 100's. We all passed.

Anyway, I don't know if you know, but next week is July. The Bar is July 29th and 30th. I know I've passed this mother before, but it wasn't fun. It's still not fun. I don't think I'll get as freaked out as I did last time, but maybe I'll feel differently the evening of the 28th. I am feeling kind of overwhelmed by the class and working and studying. I was planning on taking the week before the Bar off of work, but I may change that to 2 weeks.

Also, it's hard having a husband through all of this. I mean, it's great in a lot of ways, but he's a very useful distraction. Oh, have to watch TV with and cook dinner for the husband! Bonding time! Got to keep that marriage strong!

How You Know You're Settling Into Marriage

When you sniff your fingers after cooking a delicious supper for your husband that involved mincing 5 cloves of garlic* and say "Ewww, I smell like garlic!" and your husband who is sitting on the other couch 6 feet away from you looks up from his computer and says, "Yeah, you do."

Thanks.

* I heart the garlic press.

Look!

Teeny tiny tomatoes!

99

Right this second it's 99 degrees. In Providence, Rhode Island. Saturday it was 90-something, yesterday was 90-something, tomorrow is going to be 90-something.

My family in Tucson is saying pish-posh and that I am whiny. This has nothing to do with dry versus wet heat.* It's just really hot outside and the majority of people (read: me) do not have air conditioning in their homes. It was 87 degrees in my apartment yesterday and there wasn't really anything I could do except lie prostrate on the couch.** Tiny would wander into whatever room I was in, give a pathetic little meow, and then collapse on the floor, enjoying the relative coolness of the hard wood floor.

This morning I went swimming and now I'm trying to soak up all the coolness while I'm at work.

Anyway, between the heat and the wind that will not die and makes it impossible to wear skirts if you're going to be outside for any protracted period of time, I say that's quite enough, New England.

Srsly.

* Because, really, when you open your front door and feel like you just opened a 400 degree oven, it's really hot, even if it is the desert and a "dry heat".
**Actually, I think we have an AC or two in the basement, but I can't lug one up two flights of stairs by myself. Those things are heavy! Jason is back today so maybe that will be our project for the evening.

Reshuffling

I forgot about Chemerinksy's puns. I totally respect him as a Constitutional Law genius, but I stand by my assertion that puns are not funny. Especially a lot of them over the course of 3 hours.

After three days of the crazy schedule, I realized something was going to have to give. Yesterday, I had a discussion with my boss and we decided I would come in 4 days a week instead of 5. I'm going to take Wednesday afternoons off to do catch-up studying. Except for I have today off since I just came up with the idea yesterday.

I can't tell you how relieved I feel, just to know I'll have that one afternoon to study, and have that one day when I'm not going going going for 16-17 hours straight. I will need to be sure to get in at least 5 hours per day at work so that I am literally there part-time, but now that I have some scheduled time to catch up, I feel better about being at work a little later.

So Wednesday afternoons and Saturdays will be catch-up time, and I'm going to get as much done as I can on the other days. Sunday is for rest, because that's how I roll. Also, it's really only a rest day after 1 PM, after Primary is over.

Speaking of which, in addition to studying tomorrow, I need to write a talk and prepare my Primary lesson.

Kitty Needs Attention

Tonight I got home from work, ate dinner and started making my Criminal Procedure flashcards*. I fed Tiny as soon as I got home, but I didn't cuddle him like I usually do. After he eats, he likes to be picked up. It's very endearing since he lays his head down on my shoulder and purrs and purrs.

After pacing around for an hour or so, meowing, and weaving in and out of my feet while I made my cards, he finally jumped up on the table and stood right in front of my face. I gave him a few rubs and he went nuts and started purring so loud and head butting me. I told him I was almost done, could I just have a few more minutes? In response, he took a few steps to the left and plopped his bum down squarely on my notepad. You know, with my notes from today's class in it. Since I was on page 16 of 17, I didn't feel too guilty picking him up and putting him on the floor, but I made sure to give him some love as soon as I was done.

He's kind of needy.


* As a side note, with my schedule so booked solid, I'm not sure exactly when I'm supposed to memorize all these flashcards, but I'll worry about that later.

Bar Study Methods

Well, it's after 11 PM now and I just finished talking to Jason after completing my Criminal Law flashcards. I nearly laughed out loud today when the Barbri rep explicitly advised against NOT making flashcards. OK, lady, whatever. Flash cards got me through heavy memorization as a History major and they served the same purpose 3 years ago when I studied for the Massachusetts Bar. I'm sure not everyone thinks like this, but when I think of each topic, I actually picture the card in my mind. Which is one reason I like using colored index codes and red ink to mark the really important stuff. I mean, if I'm going to have a picture, I might as well make it interesting.

The Barbri lady also said today that the best thing to do would be to go home and make a mini outline of the notes we took today. Actually, I found that making mini outlines worked really well at the END of the studying process. About 3 days before the exam I whipped out these 1 1/2 to 2 page outlines for every subject. By that time I had the details memorized, and I just wrote out the major elements of the subject matter in the outline, knowing that I could fill in the details. On test day, during the essays, I would figure out what subject they were testing and what aspect of the subject and then write out that section of the mini outline in the margins just to make sure I didn't forget anything.

I think the moral of the story is that you just have to do what works well for you.

I talked on my other blog about the importance of staying healthy through this whole process. I honestly think one of the best pieces of advice I ever got pre-Bar study was to be sure to exercise often. It kept me sane. So this morning I swam 80 laps first thing.

My schedule is going to be pretty crazy for the next two months, as I'm realizing. Very different from the last time, when all I had to do was study. Today:

• 6:10 Wake up, sort of. I have become a morning person by necessity, not by nature.
  
• 6:30-7:15 Swim.
• 7:15-8:30 Get ready for class/work, put together meals, pack bag.
• 8:30-9:15 Drive to class (Bristol is far away. Well, not far really, just inconvenient since the majority of the drive is on a two-lane road. I understand having the class at the only law school in the state, but it would have been awesome if they had a class in Providence too).
• 9:30-1:30 Class (they won't all take the full 4 hours, thankfully).
• 1:30-2:25 Drive back to Providence and look for a parking spot since I refuse to pay some exorbitant amount for a parking garage for only a few hours. Gradually realize that I'll probably need to park near Brown.
• 2:25-2:40 Walk to work from parking spot.
• 2:40-6:30 Work like a crazy woman.
  
• 6:30-7:15 Walk back to car and drive home with a quick stop at Whole Foods for a few things I'm out of.
• 7:15-7:45 Cook dinner and do some dishes.
• 7:45-8:30 Eat dinner and enter calories into SparkPeople. Watch about 30 minutes of TV.
  
• 8:45-10:30 Make flash cards from Criminal Law notes.
• 10:30-10:45 Put together part of breakfast, lunch and snacks for tomorrow. I'm realizing it takes me WAY too long to do this in the morning so I'm going to start doing it at night instead.
  
• 10:45-11:00 Call Jason to say good night.
• 11:00-Now Hop on computer to read a couple blogs and write a little.
• Soon - go to bed.
  

And that's pretty much how it's going to be in June and July. For now, long distance marriage is kind of a bonus. At least I don't have to feel guilty for ignoring Jason. We'll see what happens when he gets back next week.

Let the Insanity Begin...Again

Barbri starts tomorrow.

That is all.

Alone, Alone, So Alone - But With A Cute Kid Story

Seriously though, don't worry, I'm not depressed. Jason is out of town this week and I am on my own until next Monday.

One of our little punks in Primary has totally endeared himself to me, even though he's still a pain about 2/3 of the time. Today I got to church late, as in I missed Sacrament Meeting and just headed down to Primary. I drove Jason to the airport this morning at 5:30 and when I got home I couldn't get back to sleep right away and then I finally did get to sleep and it felt so good to sleep, and Tiny thought so too because he curled up next to me all nice, and I just couldn't wake up when I was supposed to.

Anyway, the kid (I will call him Leo) came downstairs to the Primary room and saw me. He looked shocked and said, "Were you upstairs just now?"

"No, I got here late."

"Oh okay. 'Cause I didn't see you and I was all, please let Mrs. W be here, please let Mrs. W be here."*

So okay, awwww. Am I right?

Then he sat down right next to me. Later on when the little kids went to their classes, we all moved up to the front row. Leo scoped out two chairs that I think he wanted us to sit in, but was disappointed when another kid sat in one of them. I just sat down on the end of the row and another kid sat next to me. Leo sat down on the other side of the kid. Then he leaned over and tried to convince the kid to change seats with him, which he wouldn't. As soon as the kid got up to do something at the blackboard, Leo slid over to the seat next to me.

This is all very endearing, and makes me root for him when he has a hard time finishing the little crossword puzzle I made for the class, or can't read the picture captions perfectly.*** The two other kids in the class are pretty darn smart, and I think Leo has a tough time not measuring up sometimes. He really likes the plays we do, though.


* The whole keeping my last name thing kind of eludes these kids, so they all call me by Jason's name, which is fine.**

** The whole Mormon "Brother" and "Sister" titles elude them as well, so we are Mr. and Mrs.

*** Jason makes slideshows every week for part of the lesson and we let the kids read them in rotation. If they read perfectly, they get a sticker. Who knew a couple bucks at Staples would bring such joy?

Trust Your Gut

Neighbor Update: The worst one moved out Saturday. Hurrah! We dedicated our bi-weekly trip to the Texas Roadhouse to the moved out neighbor. The other ones are moving out at the end of the month.

Here's the crazy thing. We thought they were hoodlums, but we kind of thought we were exaggerating. Turns out, not so much.

Jason noticed a letter in the mail pile downstairs from the public defender so he looked up the neighbor in the court system. Domestic assault. Nice.

There was a no contact order, but it was lifted and I'm sure his little girlfriend went in and said it was no big deal, etc. She's this tiny thing and I'm sure he could really smack her around if he wanted. I've heard them arguing in the stairwell and I know there was some sort of drama, but I didn't know it was that bad.

So, yeah. If he hadn't moved out, Jason would have discussed this whole "assault" thing with the landlady and I think we would have been rid of them (or at least him) anyway.

Plants

Update on our in-home gardening:

Tomato plants

The taller one is a Patio tomato plant we bought at Home Depot, so it was already a pretty established little plant. The two smaller ones are those Roma seedlings I started earlier this Spring. I know I need to thin them out, but I feel guilty killing 5 of the plants to save one to flourish. But if I don't, they'll all die. Maybe I'll see if anyone at work wants a small tomato plant.

Cinnamon Basil

The AeroGrow


The dill is threatening to take over the kitchen. This picture was taken after I pruned it.

We have also started some cilantro, oregano and lavender seeds, which sort of poked their heads out and then went back under the soil. Jason tented them with plastic wrap yesterday to create a greenhouse, so we're hoping they sprout again.

I made a yummy tomato sauce for chicken and pasta on Sunday night where I used all 3 basils that we currently have growing in our house. It turned out great. I can't wait to actually have fresh tomatoes to use in the tomato sauce.

Happy Memorial Day!

First of all, I want to say hi to my Papa who was in WWII and carried on the fine family tradition of serving in the U.S. military and making it through.* I looked for a nice card and/or e-card to send him, but couldn't really find anything fitting for a veteran who was still actually alive. I know it's "Memorial" day, but can't we remember the service of the veterans who are still with us? I just want him to know that I love him and am proud of his service.

I also want to give a shout out to my cousin Greg and his wife Rosie who served in Iraq. It worked out pretty well for them because where else would a guy from Tennessee meet a girl from Minnesota? Love you guys.

We celebrated the beautiful Memorial Day here in Rhode Island with a quick road trip to Conanicut Island. Bit of trivia: Dan in Real Life with Steve Carrell was filmed there. We watched that movie several weeks ago and wondered where it was filmed because it looked kind of like the Cape, but not quite. Turns out, it was right here in Rhode Island, across the water from Newport.

We had lunch with some friends and then headed out. Jason, Marissa and I drove down and spent some time walking along the ocean cliffs in the state parks.

It was a bit windy.


I love this picture.

We drove to the other end of the island and wound up driving through some pretty houses and a wooded area. These two deer were just standing among the trees, watching us drive by.
Hope you all had a great day!

* Great-great grandpa Sam was in the Civil War and ended his years in the 1930's, giving cave tours in South Dakota. Great-grandpa Keith was in WWI, was gassed in the trenches at one point and lived to an active old age. He died shortly before I was born.

Hold the Phone

Ok, no one freak out quite yet, but it appears that one, if not both, of our neighbors is moving out. Could we really be that lucky?

This is actually perfect timing. Last night I told Jason it was time we gave the landlady an ultimatum: they go, or we go. As much as the idea of moving fills me with dread, I just can't handle it anymore.

After being woken up twice this week at 2 AM by someone dropping, I don't know, a bowling ball, right over my head, we came home last night to no parking spaces. Jason went upstairs and asked them to move one of their cars. He came back down and we waited.

And waited.

Finally after several minutes Jason went upstairs again while I waited in the car. He told me later that their conversation went something like this:

Rude Neighbor Guy: Yeah, I know, we're trying to find him.

Jason: Well, there are 4 cars down there so someone needs to move one of them.

Trying to find him? What, is the apartment so vast that they can't quite locate one person to move one car in the span of several minutes?

That's about the time I started honking loudly and repeatedly. The guy with the HUGE pick up truck that he always parks diagonally finally came downstairs, swearing and huffing and puffing, according to Jason. He got in his truck, pulled out violently and pealed out, narrowly missing hitting me. What exactly was he so ticked about? Two of those spaces are ours.

When we were grabbing our stuff out of the car I was seething and I may have uttered a swear word or two myself.

Well, we woke up this morning to a U-haul van in the driveway and they've been taking loads somewhere all day. Fingers crossed!

Fingers also crossed that this doesn't just mean they're going to be replaced by some of their punk friends.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday I got my birthday present from Jason. You might say, wasn't your birthday 7 months ago? Why yes, it was. The thing is, I told Jason not to get me anything last year since we got married just 10 days later and all of our spare funds and attention and everything were focused on that, which is what I wanted. He still managed to pull together some of my friends for a fun dinner at the Border Cafe on my birthday. Very sweet.

About a week ago he announced to me that my birthday present was on the way. What? He said it was actually something he was thinking about getting me and then it took a little while and that's why it's really late. Whatever the reason, birthday present! Yay!

Yesterday he got it in the mail, brought it home, and wrapped* it. When I opened it, I could see why it took so long.

It's a photo book called The First Two Years full of pictures of me and Jason (and Tiny) while we were dating. It's an actual, bound, hardcover book. The front has a picture from our engagement photos and the rest is full of pictures from the places we went and the things we did. I was kind of blown away and almost started crying.

My friend Natacha told me I'm never allowed to say Jason is not romantic again. I think she might be right.


* Angie, Chrissy, Deborah and anyone else at my 30th birthday party, he can learn!

Dill Veggie Dip

As I mentioned on my other blog, yesterday was not a stellar eating day. Or maybe it was, depending on if eating lots of yummy, fatty foods is a good eating day in your book. I guess it could go either way.

We were busy all day and I didn't cook some big production of a dinner. However, I did make a dill dip that turned out pretty well. The dip was inspired by the AeroGrow, which is completely out of control. I need to take another picture so you all can see. We've already enjoyed some GIANT basil leaves with tomatoes and mozzarella, and the dill is crowding out everyone else, so I figured for the good of the rest of the herbs I should cut it back a bit.

The dip was also inspired by late nights in my old Chicago apartment right next to the El*, eating carrots and Marzetti's dill veggie dip with my roommates. The Marzetti's dip is amazing and also really bad for you.

I did a little online research to find a healthy dill dip recipe and just made up my own in the end because I didn't have light mayonnaise or fat free cream cheese on hand, but I did have plain yogurt.

Dill Dip
2/3 C. fat free plain yogurt (I'm partial to Trader Joe's or Stonyfield Farm)
1/2 t. lemon juice
A big pile of chopped fresh dill (I'm going to say 1/4-1/3 C.)
1 minced garlic clove or 1 t. garlic powder

When I made the dip, I just sort of tossed things in, so my measurements are rough, but I think they're pretty close. I haven't figured out the calories on this yet, but since 1 cup of yogurt is only 110 calories, I think it won't be much more than 75 or so.


* Seriously, right next to. Our apartment shook. Occasionally when the train slowed down before heading into the Addison station we waved at the people in the cars.

Meme-a Reme-a Ding Dong

I have 2 memes I've been meaning to do. Here's one from Beckie:

1.YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Topaz Elantra

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Cookies 'n Creme Molasses (that just sounds like a super ice cream flavor)

3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) K McG (in da house)

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Kelly Green Fish (Maybe that should be Kelly Greenfish. And no, the color isn't just because I'm narcissistic)

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) - Eileen* Boynton Beach

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Mcgke

7. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The" + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Crimson Mocha

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) George Thomas

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names ) Lynn Isham

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher's last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Peress Poughkeepsie

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Autumn Dahlia (awesome)

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you're wearing right now + "ie" or "y") Appley Sweatery

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Pumpkin Muffin Maple

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: ("The" + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + "Tour") The Swim Lightning Tour

So I'm not really going to tag anyone because I am so bad at doing these things myself. But if you want to do it on your blog, feel free.

*Yeah, family, I know I spelled it wrong. I'm trying to keep a little bit of anonymity.

I Am A Card Shark

I played poker last night with Jason and 2 of his friends from his lab and I totally dominated!

Have you ever noticed how with some people when they win it's all about skill, but if you win it was just "lucky cards" or lucky something? Yeah, Jason can be one of those people and it's very unattractive. Granted, I had good cards. Anyone who wins poker has to get good cards to some extent. But I also played well. Jason just really hates to lose.

At one point my chip pile was pretty big so I was matching one guy's big bet for big bet in the hope that I would get a flush. Then he went all in and I called it. The last card that flipped over was my flush and he was SO mad. Jason asked me why I kept betting when I didn't really have much. Well, A) I had a big pile of chips and even if the guy had won with his all in, I would have still been fine, and B) it's fun!

Apparently, "it's fun!" is not a legitimate reason to place bets in the very serious world of geneticist poker. Well, sorrrrrry.

I still won.

Saturday Night Dinner

Tonight I just made pork chops and baked onion rings. But last night I made relatively healthy moussaka and it turned out really well. Jason wanted to eat half the pan all by himself.

Moussaka
1 Eggplant, 1-1 1/4 pound
1 lb Ground Turkey
24 oz No Salt Added Tomato Sauce
1 C. Onion, chopped
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 C. Red Wine or Red Wine Vinegar
1/4 C. Flour
1 C. Skim Milk
2 T. Parmesan Cheese
1/2 C. Feta Cheese, crumbled
2 t. Cinnamon
8 Kalamata Olives , chopped

Slice eggplant very thinly.
Brown ground turkey with onion and garlic. Add tomato sauce and red wine. Let simmer for 15 minutes. Add chopped olives.
Layer eggplant then meat mixture in 13 x 9 pan, ending with meat mixture. You will probably have 2 layers of each.
Add milk to a saucepan on medium heat. Slowly stir in flour a little at a time until sauce thickens. Add feta cheese, parmesan cheese and cinnamon. Stir until well blended.
Pour white sauce over the meat and eggplant.
Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove foil and cook for 30 more minutes.

Number of Servings: 8, 204 calories, 7.6 grams fat, 280.6 mg sodium

I Miss Girls!

I was just whining about this to my sister-in-law, so I figured why not magnify the whining?

So I love Jason and all, but I miss my girl friends. I feel like most people who I've managed to keep a connection with in Boston since I moved to Providence are gradually moving away. Even those who aren't, it's not like we see each other every Sunday at church anymore and connect at there or at home (Hi Angie and Chrissy! I miss you guys). I live an hour away now and am just not included on those emails and phone calls to get together on the spur of the moment. It's a huge effort to figure out schedules and meet up, and while definitely worth it, the friendships just don't seem as organic anymore. It's become this one or two hour catch me up with your life, ok, bye bye, rather than easily flowing in and out of each others days and weeks.

There are a few women in my new ward who I wouldn't mind getting to know better, but they have kids. One in particular who seems really cool has 3 kids. Not that I don't like kids and I have no problem hanging out with the kids, but the kid/no-kid schedule doesn't really mesh that well. I can't make the playgroups because I'm at work, and they're busy in the evenings with dinnertime and sleep schedules.

And now, 3 of our Providence friends are moving away this summer. How do you meet friends as a grown-up whose not in school and works in a small office?

Anyway, just feeling a little lonely in Rhode Island.

Confession

Sometimes I think about starting another blog in which I post all the profane and dirty comments and observations that Evil Kelly keeps running through my mind. I usually keep her pretty reined in.

RI Bar

2 steps down to this whole RI Bar process.
1) Take and pass MPRE. Check.
2) Turn in Bar application. Check (yesterday).

The only thing left is to take and pass the Bar exam. Yeah. If any of you remember the last time I took the Bar, you know you'll be hearing ALL about this during June and July.

So Rhode Island is already on my crap list for a couple of reasons. 1) They're the smallest state in the country and they're making me take the entire Bar even though I've already done this before and passed. Passed well enough to waive into DC even. And even though their laws are really, really similar to the laws of Massachusetts because in a lot of ways they're like Massachusetts Junior. 2) They made me retake the MPRE because I hadn't taken it within the 2 years of taking the Bar, which was just adding salt to the wound. I'm not positive, but I think Rhode Island may be the only state with this stipulation.

You would think this would have prepared me for the ridiculousness that is the application for the RI Bar, but I was still shocked. Here's all the information I've been gathering for the last few weeks:

• Every place I've lived since I turned 21.
• Every place I've worked for more than 6 months since I turned 21, plus an employment verification form from each of these employers.
• 27 references. TWENTY-SEVEN. That's 5 people generally, none of whom are related to me, have employed me, or went to law school with me. 2 people to fill out affidavits of my good moral character (Thanks, Jenn and Dave!). And since I've been a practicing attorney for a few years, as an added bonus, 3 attorneys and 2 clients, plus 5 upstanding people in each of the jurisdictions in which I've practiced law (which is 3 jurisdictions).
• A handwriting sample certified by my law school. Which makes me wonder what the people do who are trying to get admitted when they've been out of law school for 20 years. Thankfully I work down the street from my law school 2 days a week and the lady in the dean's office was VERY familiar with the RI Bar process.
• A copy of my law school application.
• A certified copy of my law school transcript.
• A copy of my credit report.
• A list of all of my debts and credit cards (even if they have no balance).
• Criminal background checks from every state I've lived in since I turned 21, which for me is 6 states. Thankfully two of them will only give that information to government agencies (Thanks, Arizona and Vermont!), so I only had to get 4 of those.
• Certificates of Good Standing from the two jurisdictions where I'm admitted to practice law.

All of that, plus all of my general information about everything about me ever except my blood type. And then I paid them $450.00 (which I'm being reimbursed for by the firm thankfully).

There's another attorney at my firm who took both the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Bars and he assured me that the hardest part of the RI Bar is the application. So I still have the Multistate to stress about, but I think I'll be ok with the state part of the exam.

My Roots Are Showing

I admit it. I like dark meat.

It's juicier and more flavorful than white meat.

It's cheaper too.




I have also been known to eat a gizzard or two, particularly if they are from Fran's Chicken Haven. My Papaw would be proud.

Happy Anniversary!

To me and Jason, that is. Our 6-month anniversary was yesterday. I think we might finally use the gift certificate to a fancy restaurant we got as a wedding present to go out for a nice dinner this week.

Sometimes it seems like the time has flown by, but generally it feels like it's been longer than 6 months. Not in a bad way. In a comfortable way. I feel like we've worked through some key roommate kinks and are finding good ways to communicate with each other, though I know we still have a lot to learn.

It's been a good 6 months.

Dressing My Age

I went to a store today and tried on a couple of dresses. I abstained from trying on several others that I liked because I questioned whether they were appropriate for me. I know I couldn't wear them to work, but could I get away with wearing them to church?

It's a question I have. I'm 31, married and a lawyer. Can I no longer wear cute black and white toile sundresses?

I have a couple of dresses at home that I'm debating getting rid of for just this reason. Are they too young for me? Do my crow's feet make a twirly skirt look stupid? Do I look like I'm trying too hard to grasp the last vestiges of my waning youth?

Sunday Night Dinner: I'm So Thrifty

After we had our pre-Christmas turkey dinner, I cooked down the turkey carcass with some veggies and make my own stock, which I then stored in a few containers in the freezer. Jason has been griping about the tupperwares of turkey stock in the freezer for some time, which I don't understand since it's not like he ever buys anything for the freezer. I think he just wants to make sure there's space for his Homer Simpson frosty mug.

This weekend I used the stock to make black eyed peas. I also cooked down the two hambones we had left over from Easter and was able to get the rest of the ham off the bones to use in the black eyed peas. I am thrifty cooking wife extraodinaire, which should appeal to Jason's frugal spirit.

Black Eyed Peas

4 C. turkey stock
2 C. shredded ham (approx)
2 lbs black eyed peas (2 bags)
2 cans diced chiles
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 C. cooked rice (approx)
1 t. canola oil
Chili powder

Rehydrate peas overnight. Pour into a large bowl and cover with water about 3 inches above the top of the peas. Set out overnight and watch the rehydrating magic happen.

I had to cook down the ham bones so I put them both in a large stock pot with the turkey stock and enough water to almost cover them. Simmer for about an hour, or until the meat is falling off the bone. Cool and shred the meat, removing as much fat as you can in the process. Then skim the fat off the top of the stock (I heart my fat strainer).

If you're not cooking down hambones, just shred the ham and combine it with the peas in the stock and about 4 cups of water. Add green chiles.

Saute onions and garlic in canola oil over medium heat until onions are clear. Add to stock. Shake in about 1/2 T. of chili powder. Actually, if you like it spicy, I would add more than this. I didn't think there was enough.

Turn heat on medium until your stock starts simmering. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2-2 hours. Serve over rice. The consistently will be a bit thicker than stew.

This makes a LOT. I sent some home with Jason's sister and we still have a large tupperware of leftovers in the fridge.

An Open Letter

Dear Women's Clothing Manufacturers,

Why is it so impossible to make a white button-down shirt that is not completely transparent? For that matter, why can't you make an upscale plain white tee that is not completely transparent? Can you not spare the thread count? I would think that having women actually buy your clothes would make you more money in the long run than shaving off a few cents during the manufacturing process.

Today I went to the mall. I tried on a 3/4 length sleeve white button-down shirt that fit me so fantastically I can't even say it enough. It pinched in at just the right point on my waist and made me look so trim and sassy. However, the fabric was so thin that the arms looked more pink than white because my skin showed through. I've actually been looking for a decent 3/4 length sleeve white button-down shirt for about a year and would have willingly paid the $40 they were asking if only the shirt hadn't been completely see through. Take note.

Also, could someone make a solid tee of any kind that isn't paper thin? I used to be able to buy decent tees with some actual fabric involved. I don't want to have to layer in the summer, but that's really the only way to get away with wearing these super thin shirts. Unless you want to look slutty. I realize that's appealing to some, but I just want a nice tee to wear with a skirt and sandals to work or church in the summer heat.

In conclusion, shape up.

Sincerely,
Kelly M., Esq.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

It's warm! And sunny! Amazing!

It's been gray and blah for days and days now and it's going to be gray and blah in the near future and get cooler again, but that does not change the fact that I was driving down the highway this morning with my sunroof vented.

Sunday Brunch

We went to a friend's house for brunch and I tried to find something semi-detox diet friendly to make. I wound up with a Cooking Light recipe for a Frittata with Black Beans that I tweaked a little to add some more detox foods.

2 teaspoons canola oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
3 ounces baked tortilla chips (about 3 cups), coarsely crushed
4 large egg whites, lightly beaten
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small can diced chiles
1 cup fresh spinach, shredded
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded Cabot reduced-fat Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Preheat broiler.

To prepare frittata, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onions and saute until onions are only slightly opaque. Add chips; sauté 2 minutes. Remove from heat and spread the onion/tortilla chip mixture over the bottom of the pan. Combine egg whites, eggs, beans, chiles and spinach; pour into skillet. Sprinkle with cumin. Wrap handle of skillet with foil; place skillet in oven. Broil 2 1/2 minutes or until center is set. Sprinkle with cheese. Broil 20 seconds or until cheese melts. Cut into wedges; serve with salsa.

First, our friend's broiler hadn't been used in some time so we heated the oven to 500. Thus, it took probably 10 minutes or so for the center to set. Then I put it in for about 2 minutes to melt the cheese.

We wound up using a stainless steel skillet rather than nonstick, which worked very well since the onion and chip crust is coated with oil. The source recipe says it makes 4 servings, but I cut it into 8 pieces - and then had 3.

I was thinking that a way to make it a little lighter on the fat and sodium might be to just use cornmeal instead of corn chips. I think it would probably take 1/2-3/4 cup of cornmeal to equal the amount of 3 oz of smushed corn chips. I just figured it out in the SparkRecipes calorie calculator and that decreases the calorie content by 20 calories (from about 160 to 140), sodium by 52 mg, fat by 2.4 grams and saturated fat by .5 grams per slice. Also, I may use just one egg and add 3 more egg whites the next time I make it, which would decrease the cholesterol significantly (currently 81.6 mg per slice).

The Cooking Light recipe has directions for making your own salsa, but I didn't have any jalapenos and I did have a jar of Trader Joe's salsa. The whole thing turned out really well and I'm definitely adding this to my cooking rotation.

I'm Detoxing

I've sort of been neglecting this blog in favor of my other blog because I've been really focused on the healthy eating and exercising thing. I'm also doing a detox diet with a friend right now. Today is Day 7 of Day 11 and so far, so good. The first couple days I was fine, but then the third day I felt SO tired and the fourth day I got a headache, which I think was my body really kicking in with the detoxing thing. Since Day 4, I've felt great.

In other news, my tomato plants are growing like crazy. I'm going to Home Depot this weekend to buy big containers and the proper potting media. I've read some about container gardening and have a pretty good idea of what I need, but would love to hear any tips you might have.

And in more other news, Tiny the cat ate a bunch of cooked onions, celery and zucchini last night. He made a swipe at Jason's plate when we were finishing up dinner, so Jason put his plate containing a few remaining vegetables on the floor with the admonition that kitty wouldn't like the vegetables.

Turns out, he did. Weirdo.

Of course, this just adds to the list of foods we can't leave out because Tiny will devour them.

Sprouts!

I have sprouts in my little seed pots! The tomatoes are growing like crazy. Observe:

Saturday morning:


Sunday afternoon:


I'm going to have to buy bigger containers soon.

The cinnamon basil is also pushing above the soil, but it's not nearly as dramatic as the tomatoes.

Mmmm, Tomatoes

In the depths of winter I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and immediately wished I had a small farm where I could grow all my own food for a year too.* I've been itching to grow something - preferably something edible - ever since.

I had Friday off of work and ran some errands, including going to the Home Depot to get keys made. While they were making the keys, I wandered over to the gardening section to pick up a new pot for a plant I want to bring from home to work. I found a pretty red pot and as I was walking back to the key station I passed the many racks of seeds, which lured me over.

See, I've had this idea for awhile that since we don't even have a yard, maybe I could try indoor container gardening. We have a HUGE window in the dining room that faces north and is already starting to get full sunlight for the majority of the day.

So I grabbed some cinnamon basil seeds and some Roma tomato seeds. When I got home, I planted the basil in one little pot and the tomatoes in two little pots that we had hanging around for just such an occasion (thank you Target dollar bin). Now I'm anxiously waiting to see if I can get them to grow. Fingers crossed.

We also have this awesome thing called an AeroGrow that some friends gave us for a wedding present, which will ostensibly produce an entire herb garden with no muss or fuss. We were just waiting until after the holidays and our trip to India to set it up. Actually, we wanted to do it this weekend, but ran out of time. Maybe tonight.

Luckily Tiny shows no interest at all in my plants, unlike every other cat I've ever known. He likes to share the sun with the plants, but that's about it. So I don't have to worry about him nibbling any shoots that might pop up.


* Although I would probably be a little squeamish about killing the chickens and turkeys for food. Yes, I'm an omnivore and a hypocrite.

My Taste is Too Posh

Jason gave me the go ahead to buy these pretty blue sheets that I saw this weekend* because I really want some lighter bed linens for Spring and Summer and my former lighter linens went with my former bed, which is currently being used by Jason's sister.

I got the nice blue sheets. I would rather not just have the down comforter by itself on top of the sheets since it will get cat hair and such on it. What I would really like is a white or off-white mattelasse coverlet OR some white, off-white, blue and white or blue and off-white duvet cover. Something light, but removable that I can wash.

I went looking on the Crate and Barrel website and found this.

Brushing aside the whole floral thing, which Jason would probably not be too keen on, although he might be okay with it since it's subtle, the queen duvet cover is $279.

!!!!

So I will not be getting the pretty, pretty duvet cover.

This never fails. I can look at a whole catalog of stuff and without even looking, I will fall in love with the most expensive item. I really should have been an heiress.


* Downside of marriage they don't mention that much: having to, like, check with another person before making big purchases. Especially if those purchases involve something that the other person will be dining on, sleeping on, bathing with or cooking in. Total drag.

Sunday Dinner

Happy Easter everyone! A little late, but yesterday was very busy. Jason sang at the Saturday night service and 2 Sunday morning services up in Cambridge so we swapped houses on Saturday night with a friend who lives in Belmont, but had to sing Saturday night and Sunday morning down in Providence. It was nice to go back to Christ Church and I really love the Easter services. As I was leaving the 9 AM service on Sunday I saw the rector who married us and he gave me a kiss on the cheek and asked, "Off to more church?" I said, "Yep, I've still got a couple of more hours. But so do you." He said, "Yes, and then I'm taking a nap!"

So while Jason sang at the 11 AM service I went over to the singles ward down the street and caught up with several friends. I didn't realize how long it had been since I had talked with them since a couple of them didn't even know about my Providence job. I now have tentative dinner plans with 6 or 7 people on the days I'm working in Newton.

Jason picked me up right after he finished and we booked it down to Providence so I could start cooking. Jason took a little nap (Holy Week is busy for singers) and then tidied up the place before our guests showed up. We had 8 adults, 3 babies and a toddler. Jason said I did white people everywhere proud.

All of our friends' kids are awesome, but we get so worn out after just an evening with them. All the babies and us teaching in Primary is proving to be effective birth control. I said to Jason last night, "We're not doing that for awhile, right?" To which he replied, "Sounds good to me."

I made two hams yesterday, which was too much. But I wasn't sure if one would be enough, and at least now we have leftovers and sent leftovers home with people. I also made my famous sweet potatoes with the pecan topping. My mom actually invented them, but I've developed a reputation for them now since I make them at any opportunity.

Our guests brought spinach salad, quinoa salad, corn, cinnamon rolls, trifle (made with amazing Swedish cake that I really need the recipe for, Jessica), Jello with fruit and Italian cake. Everything was so good.

I glazed the hams with the following (measurements are for one 5-10 lb ham):
1/4 C. brown sugar
1 C. honey
2/3 C. unsalted butter
1/4 t. ground cloves

Warm all the ingredients over low heat, stirring frequently, until the butter has melted and everything is mixed together. Place the ham in a shallow baking dish lined with foil. Baste with about a third of the glaze mixture. Bake at 350 for about 8 minutes per pound, basting with the reserved glaze every 20 minutes (I turned the heat under the glaze off between bastings and then warmed briefly again before basting). After the final glaze basting, turn the heat up to 425 and bake for 8-10 minutes to harden the glaze.

The front couple pieces of ham got overglazed and a little burnt, which I'm not quite sure how to remedy. But we just peeled those off and the rest of it was fabulous.

I need to start taking pictures of the food I make.

Anyone have any good ham leftover recipes you want to share?

Happy Spring!

And in the spirit of renewal, last night I went downstairs to do a load of laundry (I try to space it out over the week so I don't have to do 6 loads on Saturday or something ridiculous like that) and there was another note from the neighbor at the bottom of my note.

He said, "I understand. But this time it was different. I had just put the clothes in.* It was my old roommate who used to leave the clothes down here all the time.** SORRY."

* Um, no, since as I pointed out I left for an hour and when I came back the clothes hadn't moved.
** The quiet roommate moved away a couple of months ago to make room for one of the noisy roommate's noisy friends. Way to pass the buck, though.

So I guess we got a sort of apology. I was laughing with Jason last night over how he underlined "this" and "different" as if we were supposed to know that this time was not like the others. Anyway, at least I'm not afraid he's going to key our cars. I call that a good day.

Grrr The Neighbors Grrr

So Jason and I have these upstairs neighbors. They’re punks. We try not to tick them off because we’d rather not have our cars keyed by them or a member of their hordes of friends who come over to party EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.

We have had to go up a few times to tell them to turn down their bass. We have also had to go upstairs while one of us waits with the car so one of them or their friends can move their cars enough to allow us to park. There are 6 parking spaces and 4 tenant cars (2 of ours, 2 of theirs). However, since one of the neighbors habitually parks diagonally, that takes us down to 5 spaces. Then their friends come over to party and they take whatever is left. So imagine how annoying it is to come home to a 6 parking space lot, of which you’re supposed to have 2 spots, and realize you have nowhere to park. Never mind that their friends can park on the empty street just as well as in the lot. The neighbors always apologize and turn the bass down or move their cars, but apologies mean nothing when you KEEP DOING IT.

After a particularly raucous night several months ago, the screen on the back door had a large gash in it. Another time we came home to a drawing of a p*n*s and some profanities scrawled lovingly to one of the guys upstairs. They have friends running in and out of there constantly and they do not walk softly up and down those stairs. Or in the apartment for that matter. Actually, I’m kind of convinced that they rearrange their furniture regularly based on the noises coming through the ceiling.

Another fun thing they do is mess up the laundry area in the basement with piles and piles of their clothes for days at a time. Their clothes will be everywhere and in order for us to do laundry we have to move their clothes out of the washer and/or dryer. I have personally removed damp clothes from the washer that had been there so long they seriously smelled of mold. Our landlady recently replaced the free, but broken, washer and dryer with new coin-op machines. It’s only 75 cents per wash and dry and I would gladly pay that for working machines just downstairs from us.

The pay factor seemed to have thwarted the neighbors’ laundry efforts for awhile. I figured they had just stopped doing laundry and were living surrounded by their own filth. However, this past week, they’ve started doing laundry again and, yes, I’ve had to move their clothes again.

So that brings us to yesterday evening. I came home from work and got ready to go to the gym. I figured I would start a load of wash before I left since I would only be gone a little longer than the wash cycle. I went downstairs and true to form, pulled some wet clothes out of the washer and started mine. When I came home AN HOUR LATER, the wet clothes I pulled out were still piled on top of the dryer. So I moved my stuff out of the washer and into the dryer (oh and unloaded the neighbor’s stone cold dry clothes from the dryer in the process).

I went down about 45 minutes later to get the clothes out of the dryer and found my still wet clothes piled on the dryer with the neighbor’s clothes now inside the dryer, churning away. On top of my clothes was a note from the neighbor that started with the line, “Sorry, but I was here first.” He finished it by saying, “PS I put in my own 75 cents.” Well, good for you. But I put in 75 cents too and you wasted it.

I was livid. After all we have put up with, especially with the laundry!

I flipped his note over and left him a note of my own in which I said, “Yes, you were here first, but I left the house for an hour and when I came back your clothes were in the exact same place. There have been many times when your clothes have been left down here for days. I had no way of knowing when you would be back.

I set a timer to let me know when I need to get my clothes out of the washer or dryer. Let’s agree that you will do the same thing or else you will not touch our clothes. We are not going to wait around indefinitely for you to get around to doing your laundry.”

What I really wanted to do was go upstairs and give him a good swift kick to the head.

And here’s the kicker. The sanctimonious brat LEFT while his clothes were in the dryer. He was gone for several hours and I once again had to move his stuff out of the way to dry mine, thus proving my point exactly.

I was fuming! You can ask Jason. Little punks! Who do they think they are? See, I’m getting angry again. And that kid owes me 75 cents.

Jason and I love our apartment and really hope we can wait them out. They have to graduate at some point, right…? Supposedly they go to Providence College, to which I say, Why are you living near Brown?! Wishful thinking? Housing is cheaper near Providence College so it doesn’t make much sense. I seriously doubt their student status though since they party every night and never sleep.

Unfortunately the rental market is pretty stagnant and even though the landlady knows most of what goes on, she’s not about to get rid of paying tenants. And it’s not like they’ve done anything evictable. They’ve just done their best to be large pains in our behinds.

Crazy Kids

As I mentioned before, Jason and I are the new teachers of the 10 and 11 year olds in our Primary.* As I also mentioned before, this sort of scared me to death.

We have 5 boys and supposedly 2 girls. I say "supposedly" because I've only seen the girls once and that was the Sunday we were just helping out, not actually teaching. And, you know, it's great that ALL 5 BOYS have been coming to church, but that means we have ALL 5 BOYS in the class. 2 of them have ADD, I'm pretty sure a 3rd does as well and besides that, they're 10 and 11 year old boys.

A week ago was our first week. The lesson was on King Benjamin.** I had this bright idea to make a crown out of cardboard (a cut up Kleenex box) and aluminum foil, then have the kids come up and each play King Benjamin by wearing the crown and reading one of the king's teachings from the scriptures. Jason made a Power Point presentation with pictures that we showed at the end.

I figured the kids would either love the whole crown thing or think it was totally lame. Turns out, they loved it.

In concept, this was all orderly and nice, but in reality the kids would be quiet for oh, about 2 seconds, and we would only get through the first few words of the scripture before we would have to tell someone to be quiet or sit down or put his chair down on the floor. But they loved wearing the crown and being the king and saying things like, "Silence! The king is speaking!" before they started reading, which cracked me up.

I totally understand. They're kids and this is the 3rd hour of 3-hour church and they're about ready to jump out of their skin after having had to sit for 2 hours already. I mean, sometimes I find it hard to get through 3 whole hours of church.

This week Jason gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting*** so I planned the whole lesson. I was thinking that the best thing to do would be to get the kids out of their seats. This week the lesson was on Abinadi and King Noah. So I brought the crown back and 3 of the boys played King Noah, Abinadi and Alma. Then one of the other boys was a narrator. Right off the bat, one of the boys got really mad that I didn't pick him for King Noah. Whatever. Eventually he joined in when I told him he could be a guard and lead Abinadi to prison. He liked that.

I labeled parts of the room "Prison", "Wilderness" (where both Abinadi and Alma got to run to and hide, which they interpreted to mean huddle in the corner and cover themselves with coats. Ooookay.), and "Court", as in the King's Court. King Noah and Alma sat in the court area (Alma was wearing Mardi Gras beads to signify his riches and jewels obtained from King Noah's heavy taxation of the people). After running away and hiding, Abinadi came back in disguise (a ski cap and dark sunglasses). The boy playing Abinadi also identified himself as "Bob" because, see, he was in disguise. All the boys totally dug the fact that Abinadi and King Noah got burned alive and we had some dramatic death scenes (I taped construction paper flames on the wall).

I had a whole script written out, but I think we probably got through a third of it, maybe. We got the whole story out, but we skipped big segments of this nicely scripted stuff I had written. There is no script when you're surrounded by chaos.

And there was chaos. They all LOVED it, but they went a little nuts, running around and yelling. I figured it was better than trying to keep them quiet and seated, but it was definitely draining. I told them at the end that we need them to act good in order for us to do fun things like this. I don't know how much sunk in. We also had a member of the bishopric there to help and he gave them mini lectures periodically, which were fine, but I feel like it's giving the impression that he's the real authority because, as Jason noted afterwards, "They seem to listen to him more than us." Maybe we're just not commanding enough. Maybe it's the fact that he's in the bishopric. Or maybe it just signals to the kids that we're not really the ones in charge.

After class, the kids left and Jason went to go put the Books of Mormon away and I just sat in the classroom, reveling in the silence.

We have next week off, but we'll be back in 2 weeks. I really like doing creative lessons and getting these kids active, and they really like it too, but Jason and I apparently have no clue how to keep the chaos under some semblance of control. Any ideas?


* Mormon Sunday School
** We're studying the Book of Mormon stories right now so apologies to those who aren't Mormon and don't know these stories.
*** And it was great!

Sunday Night Dinner

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We had a few friends over last night for corned beef. Easy meal.

Put 3-4 lb. corned beef in 8 qt stockpot with 3 quarts of water and either the contents of the spice package that comes with it, or about 1 1/2 T. of pickling spice. Simmer for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Add 1 lb. carrots and 1 onion, sliced in half and then quartered. Simmer for 45 minutes. Add 2 lbs potatoes and 1 head of cabbage, cored and cut into wedges. Simmer for 45 minutes. Remove beef from pot and slice. Remove vegetables with slotted spoon into large bowl.

Our friends made chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

Come Ooon!

I am big fan of winter and snow and such generally, but always about this time of year, I start itching for warmth again. I'm grateful that Boston is pretty sunny and keeps the Seasonal Affective Disorder at bay the majority of the time, as opposed to Chicago where I felt like it was cloudy for 9 months of the year and wanted to shoot myself by May. So the sun is great, but I'm getting irritated with putting on my big coat and getting smacked in the face with cold every day.

It's not like it's THAT cold either, I've just reached my limit for this year.

I want it to be warm and I want to wear sandals and cute skirts and tops and go skipping down the street with a basket of flowers. Or something.

I also want to start swimming laps again, but the idea of waking up early on a cold morning to go jump in a pool isn't appealing. Regardless, I think I'm going to try to swim laps at least once next week. If for no other reason than I'm getting a little tired of the elliptical.

What I would really like is if somewhere in New England there existed an outdoor lap pool. I miss outdoor pools. Indoor pools are just dank, but at least the one I go to now has a lot of windows so it doesn't feel quite as much like a chlorine-scented chamber of awfulness.

Anyway, my point is, weather, get warm. Oh and no more of this wind nonsense. I am so over wind chill.

Sunday Night Dinner

Edited to add a recipe.

Cranberry Orange Glazed Pork Chops - this was sort of experimental and it turned out really good.

• 8 pork chops, about 3/4-inch thick
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup cranberry juice
  
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons cranberry-orange marmalade (I got mine from a cranberry shop in Plymouth, but you could probably use orange marmalade, up the cranberry juice and decrease the orange juice a bit, throw in some chopped craisins and call it good)
  
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar

In a large, heavy skillet, brown pork chops on both sides in hot oil. Season pork chops with salt and pepper. Drain off excess fat.

In a bowl, combine orange juice, cranberry juice, brown sugar, marmalade and vinegar. Pour over the pork chops. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue simmering for 15 minutes, or until pork chops are tender and glazed. Turn off heat and let sit for 5-10 minutes, in an effort to thicken up the sauce (which didn't happen that well for me, but it still tasted good)

Remove pork chops to plate and spoon sauce over pork chops.

Serves 8, or 4 hungry people.
Adapted from this recipe

Braised Carrots
Baguette (from the store)

I am making some bread as we speak. It's rising.

Um, I'm making a LOT of bread, kind of inadvertently.

See, I wanted to make 3 loaves this time, only I got my wheat bread recipe confused with my pumpkin bread recipe. The pumpkin bread recipe makes 1 loaf. The wheat bread recipe makes 2. I tripled everything. So we're going to have 6 loaves of bread. I realized this after I had already started mixing everything. This time the Kitchen Aid mixer couldn't do all the work and I had to turn the dough out on my counter and actually knead by hand.* Kind of cathartic.

Currently our freezer is chock full of Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches and Healthy Choice fudge bars**, so there's no room to freeze an extra loaf of bread or two. We're going to need to either eat a lot of bread or a lot of frozen treats in the next few days.

If anyone wants a recipe, let me know and I'll post it.

* For those of you who have seen the cat walking on the countertops, rest assured, I sanitize the counters before I cook ANYthing in there.
**Have you tried the Healthy Choice fudge bars. SO good. And 100 calories.

Bunny

I love me some lolcats. Even when they're lolbunnies.

Dismissed

The case against the old woman at church was dismissed yesterday. Yay! That is great news and unexpected at this point in the process.

Both my boss and Jason said, "Now she can sue!" Um, yeah, I think she just wants this behind her. My husband is litigation happy.