a little whacky?

Ok, so I'll be the first to admit it. Perhaps my New Year's Eve party decorations are getting a little Dr.Seuss-y!!

snaps on saturday

Crafternoon today at TheNewDiggs!

First of many, I hope!!

vintage me.

More holiday-ish vintage photos, compliments of my folks (pardon the ink bleed-through!).
At Santa's Villiage in Lake Arrowhead, CA....circa 1979 (so me, age 12), my sis in the background.

one really strange time warp

We've spent very little time over at TheNewDiggs in December.  Sad, but there was so much going on every weekend it just didn't work out quite right.  I've only been popping in and out over there, but had not spent any real significant time there.

Today TheMostImportantGuy and I headed over there to do some much needed yard work and house cleaning.  It's not that the place is a mess, it just gets that layer of dust that needs to be wiped away is all.  I am hosting a "Crafternoon" there on Saturday, and we're also gearing up to have some friends over for New Year's Eve, so some rearranging, decorating, checking the pantry, and plotting and planning was in order. 

But today I was there for, ohhhh.....I don't know....close to 6 hours or so??  And while I did do a few little things in the craftroom and kitchen....I really spent my time cleaning the sun room, which is also the dance studio and meditation area. 

So, if you think about it, I spent 6 hours cleaning a room that basically has very little in it.  I'm not quite sure how I managed that, but I can tell you that the sun room is sparkling cleeean.

TheMIG on the other hand, was like a little whirling dervish!  He mowed the lawn, did some other yard work, cleaned both bathrooms, dusted and vacuumed the whole house.  And so tomorrow I have to have go back and clean up my share of the rest of the place!! hahahaha   I hope I don't slip into the time warp twice!  Sheesh!

'cuz i got nothin' else...

...I am going to share with you TheMostImportantGuy's favorite joke.


What are red and invisible?
....
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....
....

No tomatoes.

my little tradition

Enjoy the irony of my little holiday tradition.

I watch the "Yule Log" (which is hours and hours of a fireplace burning set to holiday music) on television....

...whilst my television sits on top of my fireplace.

;-)

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edited to add: Ya' know, it's probably worth mentioning that the fireplace itself is fake, too!! LOLOL
It's one of those big wooden boxes with a metal insert that you plop anywhere in a room, and you insert these flaming cans of some sterno type substance.  It looks great in the room, holds the tv nicely, and has a perfect match to bookcases that flank it on either side.  The downside is that I have only used it twice.  That gel stuff left a chemical scent in the room, and I had to open a window while burning it! How dumb is that! I wished I had bought an electric fireplace.  Drats.  

and then we dry out...

Early morning sunshine on the first dry day in awhile, the water soaked fence drying, water evaporating...and really hard to get a good photo of!  It was rather mystical, though.


I just finished the last of the elf-ing and am off to bed!
Happy Holidays, y'all.

sunday slacker!

This is the first time in weeeeeks that MyFavoriteKid has been off at his dad's for a few days. I love him so, but it is nice to have a break sometimes....no so much from him, but from the constant feeding of a male teenager!
It was pouring rain today, another excuse to stay in.
I did cook, but mostly read and watched movies. I did have to venture out to the market at one point for rations (not so much for today, but preparing for the holiday store closures).
And I am still so slacky that I couldn't even get out of bed to grab the laptop...it's all happening here on the ipad. LOL. Tomorrow I need to step up to the plate and lead practice at the zen center and visit the convalescent hospital with a few gifts, then home to wrap some presents before meeting my folks for dinner out.
It's sounding pretty good to me ;-)
-----
Sent from my iPad

snaps on saturday and a little story

Okay, not taken today...but instead taken Thursday morning when the CSA box was delivered.

I used to get deliveries from Farm Fresh To You years and years ago, long before moving up into the area we live in now.  They didn't deliver in our new location. It was a bummer. But I recently discovered that they expanded their delivery area, and was super stoked to find out we can now be included! 

Since the box came, MyFavoriteKid has snacked on the mandarins and apples, I have had a couple of really great salads (and still have lettuce for a few more), I have roasted that there fennel, and had leeks join my store-bought spinach in some scrambled eggs.  Tell you what I do need though, is a suggestion of what to do with one ginormous head of purple cabbage.  Any ideas, gang??

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A little story.
I hope this sounds as funny in type as it has sounded every time I've retold the story live and in person to people today.

As I mentioned in the prior post, MyFavoriteKid was a little stressed about the world coming to a destructive end yesterday.

Well, last night, I had a dream that I was over and over again explaining to MyFK why the world was not coming to an end, and I was debunking the myths with all sorts of factual data and showing him documented proof as to why we'd still be here on 12/22.

Meanwhile, back in the non-dream state of reality, while I was dreaming away about debunking, a huge thunderstorm was hitting.

Right in the middle of my dream, a HUGE burst of lighting and thunder hit, and I swear it hit right over the house, because I bolted upright, the house was aglow, and the house was sort of "buzzing" as if it was vibrating.  Because I was coming out of deep sleep and my 12/21 dream, my mind, for about 3 or 4 seconds did this:

"THAT was an explosion. OH MY GOD it's still really the 21st. We're gonna die."

Then the sky opened up and the rain started pouring down harder than I have ever heard it before, and then my brain said, "Wait. That was thunder, wasn't it."

LOLOL

Well, by that point, I was a little....awake.
I laid there in the darkness for a few minutes, because I wanted to hear thunder again to confirm that it really was thunder that woke up my and not a bomb or the sound of the earth opening up.  It was almost 20 minutes before there was thunder again, and I spent that whole time freaking out.

LOLOL

What a dork.

Anyway, I was little tired today as a result.
But it's the 22nd, and I'm still here ;-)

sometimes it's hard to be convincing

MyFavoriteKid is quietly a wee bit paranoid that the end of the world is near. 

Every rational conversation I have had with him (and there have been many) about 12-21-12 has been cancelled out by his dad's best buddy.  See, that buddy of his dad's owns a parcel of land up in the Sierras where he has built a bunker and filled it up with cans of soup and plenty of ammo and things like that....and that same friend took off work a few days ago to ride things out up there.

Thanks, dude.
So helpful.

(this should also illustrate why TheEx is THE EX, by the way)

Anyways. This morning, MyFK woke me up by pulling up all the blinds in my bedrooom and announcing to me that he thinks the world is on fire.

real photo of today's sunrise, totally untouched

To which I say, "...Red sky at morning, sailors take warning. It's just raining is all, dude."

He believed me.  Or at least he acted like he did.
Poor kid.
 

circle up....

Tonight is dance class, and because 'tis the season, we are circle dancing for the winter's solstice.
(hmmmm....or are we dancing our last dance together before the apocalypse...?  LOL)

Anyhow, I am running a little late, and the dancing usually takes us later into the night, and tomorrow I have an earlier than usual morning, so....

have a nice night.
And we'll all meet here tomorrow.  Right?  ;-)
  

three times. in a row.

I saw this video over the weekend at some point while lounging in bed.

I was so sucked in by it that I bowed in deep thanks to the inventor of the DVR as I rewound it and watched it three times in a row.

And I just watched it again twice more while typing this.  LOL

(blogger is quirky sometimes with embedded videos and it might cut off some of the screen....if that is happening for you, get yer full screen view on over here)

more vintage me.

That would be our Chanukah Bush ;-)
LOL

i'd make this again.

It's pretty nippy out, my tummy has been a little oogy from too much pre-holiday indulgence (we start early LOL), and TheMostImportantGuy is coming down with a cold, so this evening I made a big pot of warm and healing veggie soup.

I love soup.  

I have always loved soup, but my love of soup deepened tremendously while I was in culinary school. I had so much fun playing with soups back then, and got so good making them, that when we had to work together in groups on a menu, I always took the soup course in addition to my other duties.  Thanks to culinary school, I have made some very precious soups in my time.  But really, precious soups are not what I love the most. What I have always had the most fun doing is making a big steaming pot of WhateverInspiresMeInTheMoment.

Tonight's soup was quite delicious. It was ridiculously basic, and my apologies that it didn't photograph well in the poor light of the kitchen at YeOldHouse. But I wanted to enter it here on the blog so I can find the danged ingredient list so I can make it again.  It was that good that I know I am going to want more :-)
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The 'Cuz I Made It Up As I Went Along But I'd Like to Make It Again Soup:

I sauteed 2 thinly sliced leeks (white/light green parts) in olive oil, along with 4 thinly sliced carrots, and 3 sliced stalks of celery. While sauteing, I added the leaves off of a few sprigs of thyme, plus some salt and pepper.
I then deglazed with...ohhh, I dunno...a half cup or so of white wine (I used the leftover sauvignon blanc in the fridge). 
Then I added 2qts water and fingerling potatoes that were cut into 1" pieces and simmered.
Meanwhile, I roasted 1lb of butternut squash in the oven. It had been cut in 1" cubes and they were tossed in olive oil, s+p. I roasted them on a sheetpan at 450F for...well...until they were "roasty" ;-)  
I added the roasted butternut and a 6oz bag of baby spinach to the soup pot, and because the broth needed a little help, I tossed in a good rounded teaspoon of my secret weapon: veggie "Better Than Bouillon".

And it was yuuuuuuummy.

vintage me.

More from the archives (thanks, Dad!)

Circa 1970 (the groovy pants should be a clue)....
Christmas morning at grandma's outside of Boston.

snaps on saturday

Realllllly crappy photos today, taken at the Be A Blue Devil for A Day Workshop .

The kids were polite about it and just grinned at me when I said, "You really don't want me hangin' around here, do ya'."  So all I could get was a photo of one of the four trucks full of instruments that pulled up as I was leaving.

Well, ok.
I snuck in a picture from my car (yay zoom lens!) while the kids were awaiting instructions about helping unload ;-)

And then I came back 4-1/2 hours later and watched the last 15 minutes of the finale when they got all the sections together in one room for a little musical finale with a whooooole lotta musicians.

Auditions on January 6th, and it's sounding like MyFavoriteKid is gonna go for it.  He'd be trying out for B-line, but he fears the competition will be heavy. He said today there was about 30 other snare drum kids.  They will only need 9.  Either way, he's excited to just try out and gain the experience. And if he gets in, it's going to be a loooooong January through August for this here Band Mom (because really, when they recruit the kid, the recruit the parent, too...ya know.)

And I'd be happy to do it :-)

there's more where that came from!

See?  I have always loved Santa!
Even my sister couldn't ruin it ;-)

The photo is compliments of my dad who sent me a whack of them an in email today (thanks, Dad!!)

Expect a slew of these photos as I knit my way through the holiday season (try not to laugh, but I am the only person in the room, and I sittin' here watching Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer as I type this! What a goober, huh?!!).

first at our table

...at TheMostImportantGuy's company holiday party (and that's my delicious vodka beverage).

more vintage me.

Look at dorky me!  LOLOLOL  (I'm the one on the right...the one on the left is my now invisible sister)

I've always loved Santa :-)
More proof here and here (and sorta even here, where I play dress up).

garter stitch in da houuuuse

Miles and miles of garter stitch!

I have knitter friends that complain that garter stitch is a complete snooze-fest, and if it were all the knitting I ever did, I'd have to agree.  But garter stitch is perfect for watching television, and it is perfect for those times when I need to not be thinking about my knitting but instead just dropping into TheKnittingZone.

Garter stitch (and simple stockinette) shawls and scarves are the things that I reach for over and over again as I fly out the door because they are soft, squishy, not fussy looking, and always look great. Because they're not lacy, I'm not worried about shoving them into my bag when it gets warm.  The trick is to use fabulous yarns and colorways.

This one I am working on now is going to be really good sized stole/oversized scarf....and even though I'm having a nice chilled out time knitting it, I can't wait to be done, because I can hardly wait to wear it :-)

vintage me.

One really big tree, and one really whacky sweater!

the passing of the baton/spatula

The ending to a lovely Chanukah dinner tonight at mom and dad's.


Just a stab in the dark here, but I'm assuming this might be the last time they host this family holiday gathering.  My gift from my mom this year was my very own Latke Server....

...which I can only take as the biggest hint ever that she is passing the baton to her 45 year old daughter who keeps relying on her mommy to make the latkes, right?? LOLOL

It's true.  Me.  45 years old.  I'm even a trained culinary professional and former chef.  And I've never made potato pancakes for Chanukah nor hosted the dinner for any of the Jewish holidays.  I think I'm overdue.  Next year, my place.

snaps on saturday

I know that what should be on my blog tonight is a photo of us lighting the first candle on the menorah.....
but leave it to me to do the least Chanukah-ishy thing I can do on the first night of Chanukah, right??

The Polar Express train out of Sacramento.  What a hoot.  Have been wanting to do it for years.  What a blast.
And I believe :-)

Tomorrow I'll set it all straight.   Latkes at mom's ;-)

let the holiday festivities begin

I feel "the season" coming on!

New hat off the needles, and freshly blocked....

The pattern is Cyclone, by Anne Hanson.  Details here ;-)

Friday morning knitting with the ladies, where the bubbly started flowing at 10am.  At noon we moved on to a favorite lunch spot for the annual holiday luncheon and gift swap (and it's the kind of swap where everyone picks a number, and you can steal a gift away from your neighbor).

I stole some wonderful plum jam that was made by Jan, and she had used the plums off of Kimberly's plum tree (I know what's going on my english muffin in the morning!)  The jam also came along with this totally cool thing called a recipe rock that holds papers up for easy viewing.  I can't wait to use this for cooking, as I've been trying out lots of recipes I've pulled off the internet lately and I'm always getting the gooped up.  Or if the recipe is laying flat on the countertop it is hard for me to read easily because I'm often in the wheelchair and the paper is then at the wrong level.  I have to pick the paper up to see it, and if my hands are covered in food already that can be a pain.  So I can't wait to use this thing. (I'm also thinking this might be cool for knitting patterns)


After lunch I came home for just a wee bit, then then it was out again to Vallejo Comedy night.

So close by, so affordable, so cool that there is no age requirement (so MyFavoriteKid could join us).....and sooo danged funny.


And my last little photo is of a motorcycle that was parked out front that was completely wrapped up in holiday paper and then covered with lights.  And it had indeed been ridden to the comedy place, it was not just there for decoration.

because i had to

my pear and gorgonzola pizza 

(that I didn't finish, 

but only because it appeared after the bowl of tellegio polenta I dug into) 

note that this was served with a couple of glasses of sparkling wine 

(omg I almost typo'd "whine" hahahaha)

I did not go to dance class tonight. 
I played hookie.

I needed to stay home.  Because honestly, I have a negative attitude about the whole danged thing.  I could go on a rant here about it, but honestly, I need to not do that....because who the heck knows who else reads this damn blog.  I had already gone off on the very same rant a couple of hours earlier with my dearly beloved and tolerant co-teacher, KarenTheDancingLurker. I was not ranting at her about her, as she is not the problem.  I was ranting about the future direction of our class, as we are all aware that a shift is in order.

Let's just say that I am horribly conflicted about teaching (well, I am conflicted about what I am teaching, and why I am teaching it), and I'm really conflicted about how to work with the existing troupe members while marketing and expanding to new students.  One of the big issues is that these things seem to be at odds, and there is also a problem where our existing student base is quite used to being cared for and catered to in a way that no longer serves my needs as a teacher.  I am done doing what I am doing. I do believe a big change is in order. 
Because I am just. Not. Happy.

And today the shit really hit the proverbial fan.

So instead of class, I decided I was better of at home...but really, I did not want to be at home either, thank you very much, and so I had a very impromptu dinner with my friend Brooke up at The Oxbow Public Market, which is where we meet for knitting every other week.  I kinda could not even believe Brooke was available. She is one busy woman, lemme tell ya'.  Anyhow, I texted her at 7pm-ish, and lo and behold, she was actually free to meet up on a whim.  She was finishing teaching a  knitting class at 7:30 and we met up for dinner at 8.  It was grand.  We talked about all sorts of stuff. And it true "oh my god I love my girlfriends" fashion, she gave me tossed me a really good piece of fat to chew on about class.  She called me out for some of my habits and how I operate, and she held up a mirror so I could really see why I am so unhappy.

It's all good.  And a little not so good, because change is in order, and change is hard. 

I keep typing, "change is sometimes hard"  and "change can be hard"....but dude. Change is hard.

Even when it's required, or a relief, or forced upon me by life, or even when it is easy....
I cannot think of one time it has ever been comfortable for me.


Oy vey, too much bubbly talking.  What a lightweight!
Early morning with the kiddo tomorrow, and knitting with the ladies followed by the winter holidays celebration and gift exchange, so I am off to bed now....

for the birds

naptime deconstructed

shh.

The artwork I did not purchase at Ikea last week, but maybe should have, because maybe it would have reminded me to keep my big mouth shut.

I've been a real pest for about a week, boosted with pms rocket fuel to boot.

Please tell me menopause will be easier than pms.  I don't deserve to have both (and neither do the people around me! LOL).

ratta tat tat all day

I didn't sleep very peacefully last night.  I am feeling much better than Thursday/Friday, but my gut is still not 100%, which didn't helping any...but what really had me lying awake was the pounding rain!  Oh my gosh, it was just slamming into the side of the house (we were all YeOldHouse last night) and I didn't sleep a wink after 5am.  Instead I sat in bed and cast on a new hat (appropriately called Cyclone), and occasionally got up to look out the windows and watch the rain swirling around and the gutters in the streets flooding up.  It was crazy.  Rain pounding like crazy.  Kind of like drums.

Then MyFavoriteKid practiced snare drum all day (on a practice pad, but still...it's pretty danged loud).  More pounding like crazy.    And then he and I watched the movie Drumline together (seemed like the only way I was going to get any quality time with him, so hey).    And because that movie is nothing like drumline, mommmmm.... we then watched an hour of the 2012 DCI (Drum Corps International) Finals and various things like that on YouTube.  He even had Teeny watching at one point.

From the looks of things, Teeny probably wasn't enjoying it as much as he may have liked ;-)

I love my kid. I love it that he is in drumline.  I love that he is totally focused and into the whole experience. I even love marching band stuff---totally, I do. Love it. 
But today I was tooootally over-saturated!  By pounding rain and pounding drums!

It stopped an hour ago, and I swear my ears are still hearing a ratta tat tat.

snaps on saturday

Itchy scratchy dirty dogs do not want baths.

(but get them anyhow).