Drama!

Yesterday was, how shall I put it, not so great in Primary. Actually, there were only about 15 minutes of bad, but it has stuck with me.

Now that I'm in the Primary presidency, I have to put together a Sharing Time one or two times a month to entertain and teach the kids for one of the hours of church*. I thought this would be no big deal, but the Church basically gives you three sentences about a very vague theme and some pictures and wants you to run with it. Since we have Junior Primary (where the ages range from 3-7) and Senior Primary (right now 10 and 11 year olds), that means I'm taking a pretty vague theme and trying to talk about it for a half hour or so in two completely different ways. The little kids are NO problem. I ask them simple questions and do little games with them and it's good.

However, the older kids are rough. These are the kids that were in Jason's and my class before. I have seen this deterioration in attitude with two of them as they get closer to turning 12 and leaving Primary. I know they feel way too old for Primary. I remember that feeling and I don't blame them. But they just sit there, staring at the floor, motionless and surly no matter how much we try to engage them. And they're dragging down the 10 year-old who used to be little mister volunteer and is really smart. I hate to see him taking on that attitude.

One of the 11 year-olds is extremely bright. He would probably be able to make some cogent points in Elders Quorum with the adult men. When he first showed up in our class he was eager to participate, always raised his hand, always had something to add. However, several months with the kids in our ward and he doesn't care and stares at the floor. I suppose it's cooler to not care.

The 11 year-olds who were there yesterday will be turning 12 in December and will be out of Primary. I think that's better for them because they're so over Primary, and I'm really hoping it improves the all-around mood in Senior Primary.

So yesterday I'm giving my little lesson and I'm asking them questions and trying to get them to participate. They gave me some perfunctory answers once they realized I did, in fact, expect them to speak. Then one of them raised his hand and I called on him. He said, "So don't be offended, but this is really boring."

I just stood there. Then I told him that was a very rude thing to say and turned the time over to the music leader.

I sat down in the back, but could feel the tears coming, so I hurried out of there and into the bathroom. Frankly, I felt like an idiot for getting so upset, but it hurt, especially considering that I had spent hours the day before trying to find things that they might be interested in talking about and looking through materials in every source I could think of.

The thing that just kills me is that the kid who said it is a complete little punk, but has always liked me, and has delighted me with these happy smiles when he gets an answer right, and who I have defended to the skies when other people have written him off. I feel like whatever ground we had gained with him has completely disappeared.

I knew he was right, of course. It is boring. A lot of what happens at church is boring and there are only so many ways to spice things up.

So I felt deflated, but then the Junior Primary came in and the adorable Sunbeams made me smile.

Several of the other ladies in Primary comforted me after church, and the music leader reminded me about the day when the Senior Primary refused to sing. Just refused. What are you supposed to do? She looked so despondent that day that I gave her a big hug afterwards.

One of the ladies talked with the kid and he "apologized" to me. Basically what he said was, I'm sorry I said it was boring, but I only said it because it was boring. Great.

I was telling Jason about it after church and one of our friends said that basically sounds like what having kids is like. Ungrateful punks.

*Hi, non-Mormons. We go to church for 3 hours. It can sometimes be excruciating.

Free Dr. Pepper!!!

Apparently Dr. Pepper promised everyone in America a free Dr. Pepper if Guns N' Roses released their newest album in 2008. Now they're making good. Click here for your own coupon.

I hate GNR, but I love Dr. Pepper.

The offer is good until 6 PM Eastern tonight.

(I'm trying to get mine and the site is moving reeeeally slowly. Just FYI.)

Again with the Crock Pot

Have I mentioned how the crockpot is my new best friend? Sorry, old best friends. You have been replaced.

Yesterday I made Applesauce Chicken from A Year of CrockPotting. It was outstanding! Jason wanted to finish the pot, but I made him take a breather so that I would have some leftovers for lunch today. I doubled the recipe and used my homemade applesauce. It may be a little sour for plain eating, but it was perfect on top of some chicken with spices.

Applesauce Chicken
--4 frozen chicken breast halves or thighs
--1 1/2 cups of applesauce
--1 small yellow onion, chopped finely
--1 T apple cider vinegar
--1/4 tsp cinnamon
--1/2 tsp black pepper
--2 cloves garlic, minced
--1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional, although I highly recommend as they gave it a nice kick. I probably put in a whole teaspoon)

Put the frozen chicken pieces into your crockpot. Add the onion. In a bowl, mix the applesauce, vinegar, garlic, and spices together. Pour on top of the chicken.

Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours, or on high for 3-4.

The recipe recommends serving over rice or quinoa, and while I served quinoa, I didn't serve it so much on top of the quinoa. However, the sauce was pretty watery and next time I'll probably just serve it on top of the quinoa. What I did do was make Quinoa Pudding. I halved the recipe and there was plenty for me and Jason, plus some leftovers, I used apple cider rather than juice, and I used craisins instead of raisins.

Quinoa Pudding

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups apple juice
• 1 cup raisins
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste
• salt to taste
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Place quinoa in a sieve and rinse thoroughly. Allow to drain, then place quinoa in a medium saucepan with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover pan with lid, lower heat, and allow to simmer until all water is absorbed and quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes.
2. Mix in apple juice, raisins, lemon juice, cinnamon, and salt. Cover pan and allow to simmer for 15 minutes longer. Stir in vanilla extract. Serve warm.

Loser

I just had to admit to a client that the secretary has left for the day and I don't know how to put her into my boss's voice mail.

Sunday Night Dinner

Jason's mom came out for a conference at Yale this weekend, so we got to spend a few hours with her Thursday night and again this evening before she caught her plane back to Utah. I made Azorean Beef Stew in the crock pot. It was super tastey. The aroma coming off of it was pretty amazing after only an hour of simmering. The spices are an interesting combination of cumin, allspice, cinnamon, red pepper and bay leaves.

Note: it just barely fed all 5 of us. If it had been just Jason and me eating, we would have had leftovers, but the 5 of us licked the pot clean. If I was going to make it again for more than 2, I would double the recipe. As it was, I used an extra cup of beef broth, an extra cup of water and an additional potato to bulk it up a bit.

Another note: I put in the full 2 tablespoons of salt, and I would suggest cutting that in half.

I supplemented the stew with a loaf of Italian bread from Whole Foods. I really want to get a bread machine, however, first we have to come up with a place for Jason to put his radio that is currently sitting on the kitchen table, which would be a perfect permanent location for the crock pot and bread machine. However, Jason seems to think we need a radio in the kitchen, despite the fact that in the 2 years he's lived in this apartment, we've never used it. Plus, he never cooks. So who's in the kitchen more? Me. Who should have more claim to how space is used in the kitchen? Again, I would have to say me. I usually listen to music or podcasts on my iPod with my headphones so I know I don't need a radio in the kitchen. It's an ongoing struggle.

Anyway, the point is, I highly recommend the stew.

Cranberry Pork Deliciousness

SOME people might say that using onion soup mix in crock pot recipes is a cop-out. Maybe I thought that myself, but it is seriously a great all-around seasoning choice. Plus, it was on sale at the grocery store.

Yesterday I made:

Cranberry Pork Tenderloin
2 lb. tenderloin
1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
1/2 C. water
1/2 C. apple cider
1 packet onion soup mix
Salt
Pepper
2 T. corn starch
2 T. water

Brown tenderloin on all sides in a skillet, seasoning with salt and pepper. Place tenderloin in crock pot.

Mix together cranberry sauce, water, cider and onion soup mix. Pour mixture over tenderloin. Cook on low for 8 hours.

Remove tenderloin from crock pot. Spoon about 2 or 3 cups of remaining sauce into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Mix together corn starch and water and pour into sauce, stirring. Continue simmering until sauce has thickened into a gravy. Serve gravy over sliced* tenderloin.

I served this with sweet potato fries and peas. It was a smashing success as dinners go.

Then this morning I made us blueberry pancakes from a recipe on All-Recipes. See, when I don't have to work like crazy, I can be little wifey extraordinaire.

On the other hand, we get bonuses based on our quarterly billable hours and based on the fact that I billed over 200 hours in the first 5 weeks of the quarter, and the work is really ramping up, I think I'll be getting a bonus.


* In reality it's super tender and sort of falls apart into not-so-neat slices. But it tastes so good that it doesn't really matter what it looks like.

Happy Birthday to Us

I've been behind on my picture posting because it's been busy at work. Last night we were just waiting to get some documents back from a client and even though I had a couple of contracts to write, I was tired, so I took the 6 PM bus home and posted pictures on my blog.

My birthday was 10/10
This is my ice cream cake that Sarah made for me. I wanted a cookies and cream ice cream cake, but to be honest I really don't care much about the cake part and, I don't know if you know, but ice cream cakes are expensive! So Sarah got some Oreos, ice cream, Cool Whip and chocolate sauce and voila.
It was fantastic!

Just hangin' at my birthday party with Angie, Jessica and Naomi.
Jason's birthday was 11/11
I threw him an awesome birthday party. First a bunch of us went bowling. The lighting in the bowling alley was weird, so we wound up with a bunch of blurry pictures.

Here's Jason in action.
Here's me telling him how my score isn't that far behind his.
Here we verify with the big score screen.
Then it was back home for many rounds of Rock Band.


Getting ready to blow out the candles.
I got him a raspberry coconut cake from Gregg's, which has become our go-to dessert place. I know, raspberry coconut sounds weird, right? It was awesome.

I don't know if you can see Jason's shirt, but it has a yellow Easter Peep on it and says "Where my peeps at?" It's kind of my favorite shirt ever.

Autumn

The lovely leaves have almost all fallen now. A couple of weeks ago I walked to work and snapped some pictures.

First, though, the Brown observatory next door had a Halloween party. Every Tuesday night the observatory opens to the public and you can go look through the old telescope. We're at the highest point in Providence and I'm sure when the observatory was built 100 years ago there was much less light around.

So we went over to the party where they had treats and pumpkin carving. Several of the employees dressed up and stood like mannequins in the corners, waiting for groups of kids to walk by, which is when they would jump out and scare the kids. It was hilarious. We also got to look through the telescope at Jupiter.

The next day all that remained of the party was this happy fellow hanging over the front door.
These bushes are in front of the park at the observatory. I meant to take pictures of them last year, but the leaves fell off pretty quickly after they turned bright red. I got pictures this year.

Looking up the hill from downtown. The white steeple sits on top of the oldest Baptist church in the country.
Rhode Island state courthouse.
I love the graduated colors on this tree.
About a mile from our apartment is this small park that looks over the state Capitol, which is a very impressive building for the smallest state. It's the 4th largest unsupported dome in the world. I took this on a foggy morning.

Crockpotters Unite!

This site has about 47 million crock pot recipes, and a lot of them sound really good. I might just start working my way through the list, making a couple recipes a week.

Happy Birthday Jason!

Everyone on Facebook go say happy birthday to my husband. He's the cat's meow*!


* I think the fact that I bought myself a cloche this weekend is affecting my vocabulary.

Cut my hair

I cannot even begin to express how much I love it and how unfrumpy I now feel because of my sassy 'do.

We went bowling for Jason's birthday. Behind me in lane 23 you can see the lovely split that my orange bowling ball just sailed through. Overall, I bowled pretty well (for me) and even beat Jason in a game. I didn't beat him overall, though, because that's a sign of the Apocalypse and the world did not end this weekend.

Clothes

First of all, everyone is dissing Michelle Obama's election night dress, which I do not get at all.
When she walked out on stage, I thought, "That is so pretty and bright and original and not your normal stuffy and staid First Lady-to-be dress!" Michelle Obama is awesome for a lot of reasons, and I include her election night fashion choice in those reasons.

Second, I'm happy to say that I single-handedly instituted Casual Fridays in my workplace. There are only 3 of us so one Thursday afternoon a few months ago I asked my boss if we could do Casual Fridays. He said sure and I've been wearing jeans on Fridays ever since. The Boston office, however, has to be business casual to business professional all the time. To which I say, "Ha, ha!"

Any Cat Whisperers Out There?

I don't know if you've heard, but we have a cat. His name is Tiny and he's the sweetest kitty with a lot of personality, but also kind of a pill sometimes.

I've been pretty good about reigning in some of his worst craziness, although he still eats any carbohydrate we happen to leave out on the counter while we're gone, and he can't be in the same room with us when we're eating sushi. Generally though he actually listens to me when I say things like "No" and "Get down". Sometimes he gives me lip in the form of a pitiful meow in protest, but he does what I say.

However, I can't figure out how to curb this one behavior of his that drives me up the wall. Specifically, as soon as there is any sort of movement from Jason and me in the morning indicating we might possibly be awake, Tiny starts meowing for us to feed him. This has gone through stages. He used to yell and yell, even going so far as to stand on our headboard and yell while looming over our heads. But that just got him thrown out of the bedroom.

I think he finally figured out that if he's sweet, he's treated more nicely. His latest thing has been to utter a few purry meows and then snuggle up right next to my face, purring as loud as possible in a "Look how cute and sweet I am. Don't you want to feed me?" kind of way.

However, he may have recently determined* that being sweet doesn't get him fed any faster because this morning he made several quiet meows, and then jumped on the bed and walked over the hill of Jason, into the valley, and then over the hill of Kelly in the quest of waking us up. This was all done quietly, but insistently. The second I got out of bed he started meowing hysterically. It's like he thinks if he doesn't yell, we will never feed him.

This happens when I come home from work too. Hysterical meowing. On weekends if I'm home during the day it starts about mid-afternoon because Tiny sees that it is getting dark and I'm home so it must be dinner time. I ignore him and have even gone so far as to locking him in the guest room so that I could get some peace for the couple of hours until dinner time. And since I'm the one who feeds him most of the time, I'm the one who gets pestered.

Jason doesn't mind it as much as I do, but the incessant meowing when I'm trying to get that last 10 or 15 minutes of precious sleep Drives. Me. Crazy.**

So what do I do? It's not like other behaviors where I can either say "No" or ignore the annoying thing he is doing rather than giving him his way. I can't starve the cat. So every morning and evening I'm reinforcing this bad behavior because all he knows is that he yells, he gets food.

Any ideas?

*And I fully acknowledge that I may be giving my cat a little too much credit here.
** However, we now have this little routine in the mornings. I get up and feed him and then go to the gym. When I get home from the gym, he follows me around until I pick him up, and then he purrs and purrs and lays his head on my shoulder. He really is a love.

Facebook

The more people I add to my Friends list on Facebook, the more freaked out I get. Seriously, I haven't talked to some of these people in 20 years.

I should not be old enough to say something like that.

I did just find out that a boy I had a crush on when I was 10 turned out to be a pretty cool man. A gold star to me for good taste.

President Obama!

To reiterate what I said on Twitter: amazing on so many levels!

Family Guy is Tacky

If you have never watched Family Guy, there is no way in good conscience that I can recommend it to you. It's crude.

HOWEVER, it has its moments. Brilliant pop culture reference moments. Like when the Hawkmen from Flash Gordon showed up to help Stewie take down the Luftwaffe when Stewie and Brian traveled back in time. I was the only one in my house who got that one.

Another classic moment was the complete reenactment of "Shipoopi" from The Music Man.

Family Guy - Shipoopi
Again, only one in my house who got it. Either Jason was very sheltered or we watched a LOT of movies when I was growing up.

The fact that the show is based in Quahoag (read: Providence), Rhode Island endears it to me in the weirdest way, especially since half the people I come across in a day sound just like Peter and Lois.

I think that one of the best moments I've ever seen on TV happened this past week when the family visited Ground Zero in New York and the following exchange took place:

Awesome.

Boys!

You know, people talk about how women are confusing. We're not confusing. Just do it our way and it's all good. Simple, right?

Last year after the wedding, I chopped off my hair. I had been growing it out for the wedding because I knew I wanted to wear it up. My hair was beautiful that day, but a few weeks after, the hair had driven me to the brink of insanity and I chopped it all and had a very cute, very professional hairdo.

Of course all those scrunchies in my top dresser drawer had become superfluous, but I felt free of the scraggly, frizzy hair. My hair has JUST enough wave in it to frizz out and kink when there is a touch of humidity in the air. Alternatively, it's flat and lifeless.

However, several months after the wedding Jason and I were looking through honeymoon pictures and he said, "Oh, your hair was so long and pretty there."

Oh.

Not that I am a slave to my husband's preferences, but I had been thinking about growing my hair out again (because I'm a glutton for punishment apparently) and besides, who doesn't want her husband to think she's pretty? And Jason so rarely expresses a preference for anything I do regarding my appearance that when he does*, I want to indulge him.

So a couple of days ago I had reached that point where my hair was driving me nuts and felt flat and blah and when I looked at the pictures of my short hair again I thought, That was super cute! I should do that again.

Last night I casually mentioned to Jason that I was thinking about cutting my hair short again like I did right after we got married.

He nodded enthusiastically and said, "Yeah, your hair looked really good like that."

...

Oooookay.

So I'll be making an appointment to get my hair cut because, as usual, Jason doesn't really have a preference. He just likes me no matter how I come I guess.

Anyone want a scrunchie?


* Don't get me wrong, I know he's attracted to me and he says I'm pretty and all that, but he never really points out specific things he likes.

Knitting

Question for crafty people out there. I'm knitting a baby blanket and it's coming along nicely except the sides are curling. Is there any way to make that stop? Am I doing my end of the row stitches too tight or something?

Items of Note

Item 1: The forecast is calling for mixed rain and snow tomorrow. Seriously? Can't we at least wait until November for those kind of shenanigans?

(So I'm kind of secretly excited because I do love the snow, despite my 8 hour commute in the December Debacle of '07. However, by March I will be wanting to punch my excited self in the face.)


Item 2: Although I kind of like having longer hair, I'm taking a poll as to whether I should chop my hair again. Because it was pretty cute.

Hello from Maine!

Yesterday Was Also My Anniversary

Thank you, everyone, for your congratulations! I'm so glad everyone else was so confident for me. As the results day got closer I felt more and more convinced that I didn't pass. I mean, I literally MADE UP the law on 2 1/2 essays. Apparently that's A-OK in Rhode Island.

Yesterday morning I couldn't find my keys and was frantic because I wanted to leave earlier so I could stop by the Courthouse and see if the results were posted yet. While I was searching for my keys, I heard both the 8:02 and the 8:03 buses* go by. Jason very sweetly pulled himself out of bed and drove me over to the Courthouse and then to work.

I went to the Clerk's office and one of the ladies there said the results would be posted outside at around 1. To which I thought, "Come ooooon! I know you have the list right there behind that counter with you."

I had lunch with a friend and went to the Courthouse afterward. When I saw my name on the list, I realized just how stressed I had been because I almost started crying right there. Then I called Jason and my parents and sent emails to a bunch of other people. Who also said that they had never doubted me.

Also of note: yesterday was Jason's and my first anniversary. I'm so glad I passed the Bar and didn't have any reason to rain on the anniversary parade. We're going out of town this weekend, so we focused more on the Bar yesterday and went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with Brandon and Sarah. Then we bought Rock Band 2, which has more songs with women singers**, and went home and rocked out. I'm getting better on the drums. Rock Band 2 actually had a couple of songs that almost stumped Jason on Expert guitar***.

Jason and I confirmed with each other that we are still glad we got married. We still deal with issues that when boiled down turn out to be mainly roommate issues. We've both made concessions in that regard, although I'm still pretty insistent that the house needs to be sanitary and the litter box needs to be changed on a regular basis. Call me anal.

We've always known that in many ways we're very different from one another. He's not really that romantic hero I used to dream about when I watched way too many romantic comedies, but then, who is? I'm not so much the logical science-type girl. I think our differences help to balance each other in the areas where we as individuals tend to be extreme. And he surprises me all the time with how sweet and attentive he is in ways that I didn't even realize I needed. This whole marriage thing is turning out to be pretty nice.


* Yet there's not another one until 8:25. What's the logic behind that one, RIPTA?
** Though not my favorite rockin' out song, "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", which apparently has already been snatched up by Guitar Hero. Lame. You can't even sing along with Guitar Hero. What's the point of having awesome singing along songs when there's no singing?
***Yes, he is a super overachiever in pretty much every way you can think of. Yes, it gets annoying.

Results

I passed the Bar!!!

Suggestions?

Question: Where is a good place to drive to from Providence for a short trip?

Here's the situation. Our first anniversary is Monday. We planned to go up to Maine for 4 or 5 days in a reprise of our honeymoon. However, last year the leaves changed a bit late and we hit Maine when it was still gorgeous. This year, the leaves are at their peak right now, according to Maine foliage sites. By next week a storm could come through and blow them all away. You never know in New England.

We're still fine with going there, but are considering our options. We have flexibility because we haven't made reservations anywhere since last year we had no problem finding rooms because we were up there late in the season.

So starting in Providence, and spreading out to, say, a 250-mile radius, where would be good places to go?

Lame to the O

I somehow managed to take 27 pictures of my cooking and the various stages of such this past weekend, but did we whip out a camera to take any pictures of my birthday party? That would be no. Darn it! It was such an awesome conglomeration of old friends and new friends. The fact that new friends came make me feel like I am actually settling into Providence.

Bus People

So here's the thing. Providence is a city of contrasts. They have done up the downtown area and built a big mall and have Waterfire every couple of weeks during the summer. The neighborhood we live in is really pretty and full of large Victorian homes*.

However, we live just barely on the "right" side of Hope Street, meaning we're about 3 or 4 blocks from the park where all the drug deals go down. Jason's cousin used to live on the wrong side of Hope Street and someone was murdered just down the street from him. He moved. It's weird because Hope Street really is a dividing line. I have been for many walks around my neighborhood, enjoying the big homes and nice gardens, and never felt unsafe. But all sorts of crazy stuff happens once you cross that street.

In Providence and surrounding areas you have neighborhoods like ours and then you have really, really depressed areas with old broken-down factories and mills. My boss lives in a really ritzy town. My church is located in a town that is, shall we say, not so ritzy. There are a lot of extremes.

Those extremes come together at Kennedy Plaza downtown. That's the big bus depot where I take the bus to and from every day. There are those of us who actually work downtown and then there are the people who just don't have anything better to do with their time so they hang out at the bus depot. Around normal morning and evening rush hours, it's pretty calm. However, sometimes I take the 7:00 PM bus and since most people leave work at 5:00 that means there aren't very many commuters on the 7:00 bus. So there are some interesting folks.

Also, I go over once a month in the middle of the day to get my bus pass and that's when I run into the people who really just hang out at the bus station. As in, "What are you gonna do today?" "Oh, you know, hang around the bus station."

I have stories.

A couple of months ago a man and a woman who, to use a friend's phrase, looked like they had been rode hard and put away wet**, got off one of the buses and started yelling at each other as they walked along the platform about 10 feet away from one another.

Woman: "You almost got me arrested!"
Man: "What?!"
Woman: "You almost got me arrested!"
Man: "What?!"
Woman: "You almost got me arrested!"
Man: "What are you talking about?"
Woman: "You made me so mad! I was gonna hit you and the bus driver saw me."
Man: "Yeah."
Woman: "He was gonna call the cops. You almost got me arrested! I was gonna hit you."

This conversation continued until they reached a bench and sat down next to each other, talking more quietly. But their conversation was occasionally punctuated by the woman exclaiming, "You almost got me arrested!"

Then last week I came out of my building and heard yelling. I thought someone was performing spoken word or something in the park across from the bus station because sometimes they set up microphones and speakers and people perform. As I got closer to the station I realized that, no, it wasn't someone on a microphone, it was a man yelling really, really loudly. REALLY loudly. My office building is a couple blocks away.

He wasn't really yelling at anyone, just kind of yelling towards the street. Loudly. I couldn't understand him at all, but he was upset about something. At one point he stopped for a minute, but then started up again. This continued for the entire 10 minutes I was waiting for my bus. All I could think was, I bet his throat is really raw at night.

I have to give kudos to the woman who was sharing the bench with him, calmly reading her book. Everyone else was standing at least 20 feet away.

One day I was on the bus and a teenager with a baby recognized another teenager with a baby and they started talking. Loudly enough that I could hear them halfway down the bus. One of them started explaining who her baby father was. Not "baby daddy"; "baby father". Did she think that classed it up?

Then we have last night, which is what got me thinking about all of this. I was standing on the platform, waiting for the 6:30, which is always late, reading, when this man walked straight up to me and, standing uncomfortably close, asked "What's she reading?"

I assumed by "she" he meant me.

I was kind of flustered at the close-talking and just said, "Dracula***."

He said, "Ah...Dracula. Okay then."

Then he squeezed my arm and said, "You have a nice day," as he walked away.

I said, "You too" because I never really know what to say in those situations, but what I really thought was, Hi, Stranger Man. Don't touch me.

So, yeah. Bus People.


* But rent is cheap. Woo hoo!
**I don't think the woman had any teeth.
***Really good book, but I'm at this point in the story where the rampant misogynism in the guise of chivalry is getting out of control. Makes it hard to concentrate on the story.

Sunday Night Dinner and More Apples Than You Can Shake a Stick At

Sunday's dinner:

Mustard-Glazed Pork Chops*

1/2 T. olive oil
1/4 small onion, minced
1/4 C. agave nectar
1 T. Dijon mustard**
1/8 C. cider vinegar
Pinch salt
1/2 t. ground black pepper
4 pork chops (or about 10 oz. boneless pork loin, whatever you have on hand)

Directions:
Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Saute minced onion for about 5 minutes, or until caramelized. Stir in agave nectar, mustard, and vinegar. Add salt and pepper. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and set aside.
Cook pork chops in a pan over medium heat, brushing mustard glaze on each side when you turn. Continue cooking until pork is cooked through - about 5 minutes per side, depending on thickness of pork.

The next recipe was inspired by us having picked about 10 pears at the apple orchard, some of which were starting to get mushy. I also had half a butternut squash left from my reprise of the Apple, Leek and Butternut Squash Gratin that I made last Wednesday.

Whipped Sweet Potatoes, Butternut Squash and Pears***

2 medium sweet potatoes, chopped
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and chopped
5 pears - peeled, cored and chopped
1 C. fat-free evaporated milk
2 t. vanilla extract
1/4 C. turbinado (raw) sugar
4 T. butter
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cloves
1/8 t. ground ginger
1/4 C. apple cider

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Bake the sweet potato and butternut squash slices either in the oven or in the microwave until soft. ( I put all the slices in a microwave-safe bowl, put a few tablespoons of water in the bowl, covered with a wet paper towel, and microwaved for about 10 minutes.) Whip sweet potatoes and butternut squash until smooth.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, gently cook the pears 10 minutes, or until tender. They should be tender enough to mash with a wooden spoon or potato masher.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, mix the evaporated milk, vanilla, turbinado sugar and butter. Heat until scalded. Blend into the sweet potatoes.

Mix in the pear puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and apple cider.
(I know, it looks kind of gross, but trust me)

Transfer to a large baking dish.

Bake in the preheated oven about 25 minutes, until bubbly around the edges. Remove from oven and let set for 5-10 minutes.
Yum!

On Sunday night/Monday morning, I canned applesauce.

Applesauce

24 apples, peeled, cored and chopped
2 T. lemon juice
3 t. cinnamon
2 t. vanilla
1/4 C. apple cider
1/4 C. water

Cook in crock pot on low for 9-10 hours, stirring occasionally to mix the ingredients and to mush up the apples. Uncover and cook for 2 more hours to get rid of some of the liquid. Can. I got 5 pints out of this recipe.

The applesauce actually turned out pretty tart, which may just be a result of the fact that we like tart apples so that's what we picked. I didn't add any white grape juice concentrate to sweeten this, but I probably should have. Even so, Brandon liked it, so I'll be packing a couple of pints off with him and Sarah when they leave for California. Next time I'll use sweeter apples.

The canning bug has hit everyone. A friend gave me a little jar of raspberry jam at my birthday party yesterday. I can't wait to try it.


* Adapted from this recipe.
**If you have access to Blue Cheese Herb Mustard from Stonewall Kitchen or similar, I would highly recommend it. We got the mustard at a little shop in Camden, Maine on our honeymoon almost a year ago and I used the very last of it for this recipe, then supplemented with regular Dijon. I need to pick up some more Blue Cheese Mustard because it's kind of amazing.
*** Adapted from this recipe.

Birthday Weekend Extravaganza!

Friday I turned 32, which just feels strange. I am now solidly in my 30's.

My grandmas have always been inspirations to me when it comes to feeling or acting your age. When Nana was in her 70's she always told me she felt about 25. I'm starting to understand what she meant, and I hope that I still understand when I'm 70. I love that my 70+ year-old grandparents would stay up until midnight or 1 AM playing wild card games with their best friends, who were 20 years younger than them.

My other grandma, Mamaw, always had a convertible when I was young throughout her 50's and was totally bummed when she realized it just wasn't practical to get the convertible Firebird several years ago. So she got a Camaro.

I figure I have the genetic predisposition for a young attitude even as the years go by.

So Friday was the big day, but there was a surprise 30th birthday party up in Boston for our friend Deborah that we went to instead of doing anything for my birthday. I didn't mind because obviously she was celebrating a milestone. Jason said we would have a birthday weekend for me instead. When we got home Friday night there was a bouquet of pretty Autumn flowers to kick off the weekend.

Saturday we just had a nice day at home, watching our backlog of Netflix movies, while I canned some apple butter. Saturday night Jason took me to our favorite fancy French restaurant and then we went down to Waterfire and came home smelling like campfires, which I love.

Sunday morning we went to church and then Sunday afternoon we took a nap because we stayed up much too late Saturday night and apparently we can't rock like we used to. I made us a great dinner on Sunday night (recipes coming tomorrow).

Today, Jason, Brandon and Sarah banded together to throw me a great birthday party. Old friends from Boston and new friends from Providence all came to celebrate with me. Once it got down to the last few people, we played some Rock Band, which Kristen really got into. Then Jason's aunt and uncle who were in town came by for a bit. Now it's just me, Jason, Brandon and Sarah left. They're playing some Rock Band and I'm writing.

Good birthday weekend.

And guess what? Jason got me the towels!

Apples, Part 3

Yesterday's adventures included making apple butter AND canning it.

As you may or may not know, I'm trying to eat healthy (overlooking the Death By Chocolate cake I ate for my birthday) and probably half of my extended family has Type 2 Diabetes or is in some level of pre-diabetes. So my goal was to make apple butter that was, relatively speaking, healthy, and that didn't have a lot of - or any - refined sugar in it.

This was not easy. Most apple butter recipes call for 3 to 5 cups of sugar dumped on top of the apples. I'm sure the apple butters taste great, but apples are kind of sweet anyway, right? Whenever I buy applesauce, I only buy applesauce with apples and nothing else in it and it's perfectly sweet.

I found one recipe that mentioned substituting some type of fruit juice concentrate for sugar and I thought, of course! When I was in junior high my family stopped eating refined carbohydrates and we ate and made lots of things sweetened with fruit juice. This was before no-sugar stuff was so easy to find and before Splenda took over the world.

So this is my apple butter recipe, cobbled together from several recipes I found online and containing no refined sugar.

Kelly's Apple Butter

15 or so apples*, cored and chopped. I used a mix of McIntosh, Cortland, Empire and Liberty because that was what was all jumbled together in our bags from the orchard.
1 1/2 C. white grape juice concentrate
1 C. apple cider
1/2 t. nutmeg
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. cloves
1 t. allspice

Apples in the crock pot
Mix all the ingredients together in the crock pot.
Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Remove lid and continue cooking for an hour or two - long enough to cook away some of the liquid. I stirred the apples every couple of hours to make sure everything was blended together and to mash up the apples as they cooked.

Can the apple butter. I got 4 pints out of this batch because the apples cooked down a lot.
(1 pint is in the fridge. We ate some on toast this morning. Jason is a new apple butter fan)

This was my first experience with canning and I used directions from Southern Plate.** I really liked her directions because they were practical and didn't assume that I had all this fancy canning equipment (which I don't). I also liked them because she said you could get that fancy stuff if you want, but this is the way her mother did it. Good enough for me.

I'm going to put in a plug for one of my favorite kitchen accessories (probably number 3 behind the crock pot and the Whirley Pop): the apple corer, peeler, slicer.


This is a bit dark, but we wanted to show you the magic:
And on another note, Jason got me some lovely Autumn flowers for my birthday.
* Other recipes called for pounds of apples and I just thought, really, how much is a pound of apples? All of my apples are different sizes so there's no continuity. Basically I cored and chopped until my crock pot was almost full.

** Warning: this site contains a lot of amazing-sounding Southern recipes. I kind of want to just hunker down and make some buttermilk biscuits and slather them up with my apple butter on one side of the plate, and sausage gravy on the other. Because when you used to have a Southern accent, saying things like "hunker" and "biscuits" and "sausage gravy" all in the same breath comes naturally.

???

Why does Jason think I'm kidding when I tell him I want Calvin Klein towels for my birthday? Seriously, have you felt those things? It would be like wrapping ourselves up in clouds.

Small World

Dateline: Fall 1994
I am a college freshman at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. I have probably mentioned this before. I loved Vermont and hated Middlebury. I was not prepared for dorm life - particularly dorm life with no rules. I visited friends at other schools that year and they all had secure dorms with quiet hours. I lived in a dorm where people wandered in at all hours and the partying never stopped and my neighbors regularly played their electric guitars at 3 AM. Plus, I was this uptight little Mormon girl. Then there was the fact that the school was really remote and I had no car. Oh, and my roommate was literally a little crazy and her boyfriend (who the neighbors nicknamed "Scar") moved into our dorm room about a month after school started and wouldn't leave. Basically, I was miserable and sleep-deprived.

The one bright spot was the group of friends I made early on and who kept me from throwing myself off the roof of my dorm during that first semester. Mark, Rachel and Kirsten kept me sane, mostly because even though they weren't Mormon, they weren't into partying either. So while everyone else was drunk, we would hang out. Also, Kirsten and Rachel let me sleep on their floor when Scar moved in.

For Thanksgiving, Kirsten invited Rachel and me to her family's house in Massachusetts. That weekend she took us on excursions to Harvard Square in Cambridge and Thayer Street in Providence. That was the first time I had ever been to either city.

At the end of fall semester, Kirsten transfered. I transfered at the end of the year.

Now fast forward 14 years to today. Guess who I just ran into at a downtown Providence lunch spot? Kirsten. Turns out she's an attorney too and we work across the street from each other. We're having lunch next week. Can you say random?

Apples, Part 2

In my continuing effort to use all of our apples, I made the following for Sunday night dinner:

Apple Pork Tenderloin

2 1/2 to 3 pound tenderloin
1 onion, halved and then quartered
4 medium parsnips, chopped
2 medium sweet potatoes, chopped
4 apples, peeled and chopped
6 large sage leaves, chopped
1/2 C. apple cider
3/4 C. water
1 T. apple cider vinegar
A little salt and pepper

Brown the sides of the tenderloin in a skillet. Place all ingredients in the crock pot and cook on low for 7-9 hours.

Before cooking:


Ready to eat:


Not to be all happy homemaker, but I really do think the crock pot is a brilliant invention. We had to be up in Boston for the day so I just turned on the crock pot and left it to simmer away while we were gone.

Also in the happy homemaker vein, I got the tenderloin for a steal. They opened a new grocery store kind of near us and had Cokes on sale, so of course we had to go by and restock. Here's a picture of our soda tower:


Jason is very dedicated to the entire Coca Cola catalog. I am dedicated to organizing the sodas by flavor and making sure our soda runs include a few 12 packs of Diet Dr. Pepper.

Anyway, on our way there I flipped through the store's weekly ad and discovered they had tenderloin for $1.77 a pound. They meant serious tenderloin. The one we bought weighed ten pounds and was longer than my arm. However, we paid $18 for it, while the regular price was something like $54. Let's hear it for bargain shopping. And we have 3 more 2 1/2 to 3 pound tenderloins sitting in the freezer.

Next up for the apples: apple butter. After some searching and some asking around, I got a call yesterday from a friend, who informed me that she spied a ton of canning jars at Benny's*. We didn't get a chance to stop by there yesterday, but I plan to go tomorrow and pick up a bunch.

* Benny's is kind of like Pic 'n' Save or The Christmas Tree Shop, only more ghetto. They have a little bit of everything in the world, but if you poke around, you can find some good stuff. It's where I got my tomato plant stakes for $1. Benny's is Jason's favorite store. Piles of crap on shelves for cheap prices. It's his Shangri-La.

Apples, Part 1

What do you do with two giant bags of apples?

Tonight I did this:

Apple, Leek and Butternut Squash Gratin

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 medium leeks, white part only, trimmed of roots and tough outer leaves, thinly sliced crosswise, well washed and dried
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage, plus leaves for garnish
• 1 pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and sliced 1/8-inch thick
• 1 pound apples, such as Gala, Cortland, Baldwin, or Macoun, peeled, halved, cored, and cut into 1/8-inch thick slices
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a 10-inch skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Add leeks and 2 tablespoons water; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to brown, about 10 minutes. Add sherry and sage and cook until liquid is reduced to a glaze, about 3 minutes; set aside.
2. In a 2-quart shallow baking dish, arrange squash in overlapping layers; season with salt and pepper. Spread leeks evenly over the squash.
3. Arrange apples in an overlapping layer over the leeks. Brush apples with remaining tablespoon oil. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake 45 minutes.
4. Uncover and sprinkle cheese over the top. Raise the oven temperature to 450 degrees and bake 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and is golden brown. The tip of a paring knife should easily pierce the gratin. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

I can't even describe how yummy this was. Jason and Brandon agreed and proceeded to eat the whole pan.

Recipe from Whole Living.

We also had shrimp cocktail and Prince Edward Island mussels made using this recipe. Also yummy.

Debatable

I thought both Biden and Palin did fine last night. Palin much more so than I thought she would.

However, I found myself getting really annoyed by her relentless "folksiness" and cutesy-pie moves (winking, "Say it ain't so, Joe."). As a woman, honestly, that kind of stuff annoys me in real life too. The cute girl who makes men melt by tilting her head to the side while looking wide-eyed. I'm hoping the American public is too smart to simply melt, but sometimes I'm not so sure.

I was also annoyed by the fact that I don't think she ever really answered one question that was actually asked. She got close with some of the energy questions. I think one of the reasons she did "well" is because she stuck to her talking points and said the same things over and over again, whether or not those talking points happened to answer the question. Biden also obviously had his own agenda to get through to people, but I thought he did a much better job of framing his points in the context of answers to the questions the moderator asked.

I know people love folksy, and want someone to lead who they can go have a beer with. I don't understand that rationale. When I think of who I want leading the country, I want someone who I think has a brain and knows something about diplomacy and what is going on in the world. Thus, I have never understood the appeal of George W., a complete buffoon on his best days. But, hey, you can go hang out on his ranch and shoot the sh** with him any day. At least that's the perception.

So if we're talking about the person who I want "a heartbeat away" from the presidency, I'm going to have to go with Biden.

Interesting fact-checking article.

V. Important

I finished the 3rd (and last) season of Veronica Mars last night while eating Chinese food with Sarah and Brandon (Jason had choir rehearsal). Sarah warned me about 2 episodes ago that the ending was kind of unsatisfying. She is the queen of the understatement.

The episode ended and Sarah said, "Yeah, so that's it."

I said, "No, there's another disc."

Turns out Disc 6 was just special features.

Okay, I understand the producers/directors/writers hoped that it would be renewed for a 4th season, but they must have had some inkling that it might not be and would resolve a couple of things for their loyal fans who had stuck with them through 3 seasons. But they resolved NOTHING! EVERY main character and plot point was left completely open. Up in the air. Forever.

And even though I enjoyed the show, I am a little miffed that I just spent, um, a LOT of time watching 3 seasons of it for such dissatisfaction. I'm going to pretend that everything resolves nicely and that she ends up with the boy I want her to be with and THAT's how it ended.

Happy October!

It's my favorite month. I kicked it off last night by having some pumpkin and molasses ice cream from Kimball Farm.

I'm hoping for a great month. The 10th is my 32nd birthday (holy crap. 32.). The 18th is my parents' 33rd anniversary. The 20th is Jason and my 1st anniversary AND the day I find out if I passed the Bar AND the day my mom will hopefully* be having shoulder replacement surgery.

The leaves are starting to change a little around here. We went up to Massachusetts to pick apples a couple of days ago and just a little bit north of us the trees are bursting into color. I love it.

I'm so in the spirit that I let a saleslady talk me into buying a dark orange sweater. I have never liked orange, but it is a pretty shade and when I tried it on to get Sarah's opinion as to whether I should take it back, Jason saw it and told me, completely unsolicited, that I looked awesome. Then he followed that up with saying how all my other clothes are such boring colors**, but the orange was interesting. I've found I need to take the compliment and overlook the foot in mouth that sometimes follows with Jason.

* I say hopefully because this surgery has been put off and put off and put off for almost a full year now. So amazingly frustrating!
**Um, I'm wearing a bright turquoise sweater today. Monday I wore a bright green top. My clothes are so not boring colors.

Market

On the floor where I work is a wealth management company. Today I got on the elevator with a man who pressed "6" and asked me what floor. I told him I was going to 6 too. He said, "Ah! A fellow investor!" I said, "No, actually I work on that floor." He said, "Oh." [pause] "I kind of wish I wasn't an investor right now..."

Poor guy. He sounded so down.

A Facebook friend put as his status yesterday that he's glad he converted his 401(k) into cash on Friday. Smart.

I feel kind of guilty because Jason, who has been investing for about a year now and is good at profiting when the market goes down, was traipsing around an apple orchard with me, Brandon and Sarah yesterday while the market was collapsing. He told me not to worry about it, but I know he's been waiting for this moment. We left the house just before it was announced that the bailout didn't go through. It's kind of funny that we're excited in our home when the market goes south. I don't really understand all of what Jason does, but he's getting pretty good at it, and my not-so-secret plan is for him to get really good and for us to both be able to quit our jobs. I can dream.

Tina Fey is a Rock Star

Tina Fey's response to the bailout question is eerily close to what Sarah Palin actually said.

What?

Watch CBS Videos Online

Oooookay...

Alternatively,

Not So Fresh Feeling

I need tips. See, I like to eat veggies throughout the week, but do not like to take the time in the morning or at night to prepare for the next day. So over the weekend, I do my prep work for the week. I'll wash some celery, which I can then just grab in the morning along with some peanut butter in a tiny little container for a great snack. Or like on Sunday I had a bag of romaine and a bag of spinach. I washed them, I spun them in my salad spinner and I divided them up into a couple of containers for a lovely mixed greens medley. I let them sit with the lids off for awhile to let any extra moisture evaporate AND I folded a paper towel and put it on top inside the container to soak up excess humidity.

I had a salad Monday and Tuesday, but by this morning the majority of the romaine was brown and I was picking out several spinach leaves that had turned that slimy dark green that rotten spinach does.

So what do I do? I have tried buying the greens and then prepping them the day I'm going to eat them, but more often than not I won't have the time in the morning to wash and dry and pack and I'll end up leaving the bags in the veggie drawer until they take on a life of their own. Is there anything I'm missing in my prep work, or will I just have to accept that salad greens only make it a couple of days?

On a side note, I'm very excited that my prior navel-gazing post brought some delurkers out of the woodwork. I admit to lurking on a bunch of blogs, maybe commenting once in a blue moon. It's fun to see who all is out there reading.

Blogging Times

Sometimes I think about quitting this whole blogging business. I still enjoy it, but my ego is tied to my site meter, which has spiraled steadily downward since I got married. I know. Married people are boring. I know! I was much more entertaining when the blog was full of single-girl angst - at least that's what I'm assuming. Who wants to read about the married girl and her cooking and gardening and crafting adventures. Major yawn.

However, sometimes I remember all of the things that I now have because of my blog and I appreciate it a little more. Seriously, it's quite the list.

First, a husband. Does anyone remember how back in 2005 I was all in strong single girl mode and I took the Bar and I was moving to DC and I was going to make it after all? Well, while I was on my post-Bar trip to California I may have written a late-night single girl rant in which I said I figured I was never going to wind up with a Mormon guy because they didn't ask me out. The next day I had a comment left really, really late at night from a guy who said that was a shame and he had seen me and thought I was cute and did I want to go out during the 6 days between coming back to Boston and moving to DC.* I thought, "Heck, I'm moving to DC. Even if this guy is a total freakshow, I'm moving to DC. Free dinner. Woo!" Then we emailed for the rest of the time I was in California and I started getting a little concerned because, over email at least, we were really clicking. And now we're married.

Second, a job. Not my current job, but my last job that gave me some of my selling points to get my current job. I was up from DC visiting Jason (because of the blog, see above) and went to a choir rehearsal with him at my old church building. I went to the bathroom and as I was washing my hands a woman who was also standing there gave me a sideways glance and asked if I was Kelly. Turned out, she read my blog. Also turned out that her husband was a health care attorney. A couple months later when I moved back, I worked that networking** magic and he wound up giving me some occasional work, which then became part-time work that wound up continuing for over a year and a half and ended just last month.

Third, an awesome bag. This is the latest amazing thing I got from my blog. Kelley in DC, who is also an attorney and has been reading and commenting and emailing with me for the last few years, was irate when I told her that the Coach outlet in Leesburg, Virginia, which was selling the bag I coveted for $300 less than retail, refused to ship it to me***. Kelley is apparently something of a bag afficionado and is already looking forward to next season's bags. So she offered to send me her beautiful Coach bag. I protested and she said it was her pleasure. Yesterday I got the package and opened it up. The bag was wrapped prettily in tissue with a ribbon. I told her it felt like an early birthday present! Seriously, how amazing is that? I am still kind of floored. I loaded it up this morning and carried it to work, feeling all posh and professional. AndI honestly thought as I was dressing myself, "Hmm, is that nice enough to be seen with the Coach bag?"

So when I remember these things I feel really bad for not giving my blog its proper due, and I apologize and pet it and ask it to please just keep doing its good work.

*As I found out later, Jason almost immediately regretted that comment.
**By the way, I hate networking. There is nothing more painful to an introvert. I went to a conference yesterday wherein I was charged by my boss to be sure to take business cards. I managed to hand out two and felt incredibly awkward while doing so. The conference was good though.
*** Hi, stupid people at the Leesburg Coach outlet. Way to lose a guaranteed sale.

New Calling

Just to keep you all in the loop, Jason and I are no longer teaching the 10 and 11 year olds in Primary. Instead I'm now the 2nd Counselor in the Primary presidency. And Jason received a mysterious call from the Stake presidency a couple of days ago requesting a meeting with both of us. Would anyone like to take a guess at Jason's mystery calling? We can't meet with them for a couple of weeks at least so I'll let you know when we do.

We were actually still teaching up until last week. Today was the first day the new teachers taught and they are awesome! Although the kids asked me to stay in the room when I poked my head in to make sure everything was transitioning smoothly. How cute is that? I told them I would see them in Sharing Time. I conducted today so I asked them how their class was and they said good, but they wanted us back. I said, "Hmm, well if I remember correctly you guys didn't want us to be your teachers in the beginning either..." They all said "Nuh-uh!" and one kid said, "For the first 30 seconds I thought, I don't like these teachers, but after 30 seconds I liked you guys." Hee.

I know they'll love the new teachers soon (especially since they're awesome), but it's nice to know that even when it was tough and they were being big pains in our keisters, they did like us. One of the kids always wants to sit next to me in Sharing Time. He can be a total pill, but I know in reality he is anxious to please. One day he was being especially bad and I got mad, and he could tell I was mad, and it really upset him. In fact, since then, he's been much better at listening. I found out today that he has a church music CD that he listens to almost every day, which I would never have guessed of him.

I really do feel a calling with these kids. Some of them have such tough backgrounds and those couple hours we have them may be the one time in the week that they have really positive influences around them. This past week I went with the Primary president to visit a couple of kids who haven't been there in awhile. We managed to see both of them, which was good, and kind of surprising since we just dropped by randomly. At one house we got an earful about some Church politics that I would rather not know about, but other than that it was good. One boy showed us his new hamster.

A couple of weeks ago we went to a Stake Primary meeting and it really showed me how different our ward is from the rest of the stake. The other wards are in Newport and Narragansett and other posh areas. I actually laughed out loud a couple of times, which probably wasn't very good, but we operate at a very basic level in our ward.

And in other news, I'm completely ticked off that the names of two of my favorite characters have been co-opted for what looks like a really crappy movie.

Spooky

I've been doing research at work on regulations for laser hair removal facilities. Seems that one of our physicians wants to buy a big laser and start removing hair. I asked my boss if we would get a discount.

Well, just now I was on Facebook and their special tailored-just-for-me ad was about laser hair removal. And I haven't even worked on that project on my home computer. My MacBook is psychic!

Either that or Facebook thinks I'm hairy.

Happy Little Homemaker - Who Also Practices Law

I've taken up knitting. I taught myself to crochet years ago and kind of learned to knit at a Relief Society activity a few years ago, but completely forgot all the knitting because I made one baby blanket and haven't done anything since. A couple of weeks ago at our weekly crafty night, one of the ladies taught me how to cast on and the basic stitches. This past weekend I went to Wal-Mart and bought some needles and a knitting basics book. I also bought this pretty yarn called Earth and Sky that combines browns and aqua, which is one of my favorite color combinations. I'm making myself a scarf to go with a nonexistent coat in either brown or aqua that I hope to own in the future. In the meantime, I'll have a kickin' scarf.

So instead of getting a lot done with the house cleaning and organizing, I've been sitting on the couch watching Veronica Mars and knitting a couple of projects. Never mind the 47 unfinished crocheting projects sitting in the guest room. I'm all excited about the bright and shiny new thing I'm doing. And never mind about the house. It's still tidier than when Jason left.

I'm kind of concerned that my tomatoes are not going to ripen before it gets too cold in the apartment. The plants are huge, and last night I noticed that one of them has officially reached the ceiling. There are some baby tomatoes, but mostly there are blossoms all over. Apparently they grow much more slowly inside, which I will take into consideration when planting next year. So while people are talking about all the fresh tomatoes everywhere, my tomatoes are still mostly in the flowering stage.

Once it gets cold, I think it will be too cold in the apartment for tomatoes to grow into healthy red fruit. See, we don't believe it heat in our home. Actually, it's more that we don't want to pay for heat. It's going to be pricey this year, in case you hadn't heard. We have a lot of blankets and a fireplace and a vast assortment of candles. Surprisingly, a bunch of tealights and a big jar candle will raise the temperature in a room by a couple degrees. However, since I'm getting up early to go to the gym in the mornings I may have to get a little space heater to give me the will to drag myself out of the toasty warm bed.

Last year, while we were in India the cold almost killed my diffenbachia plant. I brought it back from the brink and it's doing very well now. I'll be bringing it into the office this winter because I don't think it will survive two Rhode Island winters in our apartment. In the meantime, it's cooler and the tomatoes haven't fruited yet. Oh well. It would be a shame to only get the 6 I've already eaten from those two giant plants, but since this was my first foray into gardening, I can't expect everything to work perfectly.

The herbs we're growing are doing great. I love to run my fingers through the lavender because it smells so good. I transplanted the purple basil and the Italian basil from the Aerogrow into pots several weeks ago and the purple basil is going absolutely crazy. I wanted to transplant the dill too, but I didn't get to it before it completely died, which is sad since the dill was my go-to herb for easy fancy fish dishes. I bought some at the store a week or so ago and used it a couple of times before it rotted in the fridge. The Aerogrow plants are only supposed to last for 3 or 4 months, but we got a good 6 months out of them, so I'm pleased. We'll definitely plant the Aerogrow pods again next year.

Time Time Time

I don't know how this works exactly, but this has been a really long, yet really short week. I feel like the week has lasted forever, but the individual days have been going pretty fast since I've been so busy at work. Today we went to court, which was interesting. I took a trial practice class in law school, which only served to solidify what I had pretty much always known: I am NOT a litigator. But I like to go to court and watch, especially when I've worked on the case. Our co-counsel even presented a chart I made to the judge and opposing counsel to emphasize some statutory fine points.

Woo hoo! Regulatory lawyers are party animals.

Today was busy with me finishing up two rushed projects, only to have another one land on my desk. My Outlook Task list currently has about 20 things on it in various stages of completion. Plus, yesterday the health care partner in Boston requested that I do a presentation at our health care department meeting tomorrow morning. Yes, I got about a day and a half of notice. I thought I might be able to work on that some this afternoon, but instead I was doing this new rushed project. So I brought home a big stack of papers on my presentation topic that I printed off the web, and just finished my presentation. It doesn't have to be too involved, but I'm just hoping no one asks me any in-depth questions. Because I didn't really have a chance to go in-depth with this.

I'm nearing the end of the first of two weeks of being home alone. Jason and Marissa are driving across the country to take Marissa to grad school and then Jason is going to hang out with her in Seattle for a bit. Although it's always nice to have Jason rattling around here with me, I have kind of enjoyed being alone. I've been able to get a bunch of cleaning done, although there is still a lot to organize. I figure we should have this apartment looking perfect just about the time we're ready to move out. It feels like a never ending process. My goal is to get done with all of this mess by the time it gets really cold.

Speaking of which, it's been chillier at night. I know by the middle of winter I'll be aching for some warmth, but right now I love the fact that I can feel Autumn coming. Last night some friends came over for our weekly craft night and I burned a clove-scented candle, which filled the whole house with a lovely spicy scent. I also switched the bedding, which is always a sign of new seasons for me. I pulled the down comforter out of the rubbermaid it's been sitting in for several months. The bed now has my cozy red sheets (with the high thread count) and the down comforter covered in my velvety brown duvet. I love it. All summer I've been all about aquas and yellows and light, airy colors. As I start looking forward to Autumn I start wanting everything to be red and brown and deep green and other dark colors.

Another perk of it getting cooler is that Tiny starts sleeping with us again. For the past two mornings I've woken up with him curled up on my feet. Of course as soon as I stir he walks up me and stands on my chest, meowing at me to feed him, but it's nice to have those first few moments of cozy kitty time before he notices I'm awake.