A long, hard year
In the past year, we have grown a beautiful garden, pickled and jammed and canned, celebrated M's senior project (Honors!), his graduation (High Honors!), and just this past Friday he accepted a job offer as a Software Engineer at a company in RB. We have made new friends, and lost some old, weathered any number of storms -- metaphorical or real -- and most recently survived the 2014 May fires.
It has been a busy year.
I haven't found time to write mostly because I haven't found time to clear my head enough to write. Yet here we are: M is graduated, celebrated and gainfully employed. What an amazing and crazy journey.
Showing posts with label House. Show all posts
Showing posts with label House. Show all posts
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Too many herbs
This year we have a 4' x 4' raised garden bed, just tall enough to keep it safe from Raggie. We optimistically planted out bush beans, tomatoes, a bell pepper plant, lettuce seeds, cucumber seeds and some herbs. Since starting out the garden in mid-March, we have quickly learned the difference between determinate and indeterminate tomatoes, designed and built a cucumber trellis, and jerry-rigged some extensions to our existing tomato cages (see also: indeterminate tomatoes).
While our lettuces did not make it past one harvest -- overshadowed too soon by the over-zealous tomatoes -- and everything else in the garden is still building up to harvest time, our basil plants and flat parsley have been growing like mad since day one. We harvested and pruned back the basil this weekend, and had to come up with a scheme for putting up eight cups of basil leaves. The tomatoes are still green and growing, so bruschetta and caprese weren't an option for the weekend. We also had an ample parsley harvest, and plenty of time to grill this weekend so I whipped up a big batch of pesto (sans cheese) for the freezer and a smaller batch of chimichurri sauce to accompany some grilled steaks. Yum.
Pesto Genovese, sans cheese
Cheese does not suffer the freezer very well, so we opted to leave it out of the base pesto here. To serve with pasta, dilute pesto slightly with the pasta cooking water and add Parmesan to taste.
7 cups basil leaves, washed and picked over, no thick stems
10 medium cloves garlic
1 cup pine nuts
1.75 cups olive oil
Blend in food processor until desired texture. Ours made about 6 cups of pesto, which we packaged in 1/2 cup portions and froze. We held out one portion for meals this week and tried some with dinner tonight. I left the salt and pepper out so I could salt it to taste after adding in the cheese, as Parmesan is somewhat salty on its own.
Chimichurri Sauce
2 cups parsley (we used a mix of grocery store curly leaf and garden flat leaf)
2 Tbsp dried oregano
4 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (less if you'd like yours milder)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp coarse ground black pepper
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Combine all ingredients except olive oil in bowl of food processor and blend, stopping to scrape down sides
once or twice. Add oil in steady stream and blend until emulsion forms (or, if you have terrible pour-spout aim like me, in small additions). Place in a sealed container and allow flavors to mingle for one to two hours before use.
 |
| M helped me build it. Isn't he awesome? |
This year we have a 4' x 4' raised garden bed, just tall enough to keep it safe from Raggie. We optimistically planted out bush beans, tomatoes, a bell pepper plant, lettuce seeds, cucumber seeds and some herbs. Since starting out the garden in mid-March, we have quickly learned the difference between determinate and indeterminate tomatoes, designed and built a cucumber trellis, and jerry-rigged some extensions to our existing tomato cages (see also: indeterminate tomatoes).
While our lettuces did not make it past one harvest -- overshadowed too soon by the over-zealous tomatoes -- and everything else in the garden is still building up to harvest time, our basil plants and flat parsley have been growing like mad since day one. We harvested and pruned back the basil this weekend, and had to come up with a scheme for putting up eight cups of basil leaves. The tomatoes are still green and growing, so bruschetta and caprese weren't an option for the weekend. We also had an ample parsley harvest, and plenty of time to grill this weekend so I whipped up a big batch of pesto (sans cheese) for the freezer and a smaller batch of chimichurri sauce to accompany some grilled steaks. Yum.
Pesto Genovese, sans cheese
Cheese does not suffer the freezer very well, so we opted to leave it out of the base pesto here. To serve with pasta, dilute pesto slightly with the pasta cooking water and add Parmesan to taste.
7 cups basil leaves, washed and picked over, no thick stems
10 medium cloves garlic
1 cup pine nuts
1.75 cups olive oil
Blend in food processor until desired texture. Ours made about 6 cups of pesto, which we packaged in 1/2 cup portions and froze. We held out one portion for meals this week and tried some with dinner tonight. I left the salt and pepper out so I could salt it to taste after adding in the cheese, as Parmesan is somewhat salty on its own.
Chimichurri Sauce
2 cups parsley (we used a mix of grocery store curly leaf and garden flat leaf)
2 Tbsp dried oregano
4 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (less if you'd like yours milder)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp coarse ground black pepper
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Combine all ingredients except olive oil in bowl of food processor and blend, stopping to scrape down sides
once or twice. Add oil in steady stream and blend until emulsion forms (or, if you have terrible pour-spout aim like me, in small additions). Place in a sealed container and allow flavors to mingle for one to two hours before use.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Spring
I had great plans to write all about Thanksgiving, and our recipes, and our family fun, but then time passed too quickly and all my plans got away from me. Thanksgiving was wonderful. There was a requisite turkey-related mishap, but it was very small and didn't impinge on the holiday. We had an abundance of cheesecake and just enough leftovers. We liked the turkey thing enough that we made another for Christmas, and then learned that a turkey for just the two of us is way, way too much bird.
We're still using up the frozen turkey stock, eight cups to go.
Christmas was lovely. Instead of a mountain of presents from my grandparents, we got exactly what I'd hoped for: hand stitched ornaments for our tree. Little things to treasure, and pass down, and celebrate. It's worth more to me than a bunch of stuff.
We have an abundance of stuff.
My mom spent a lot of this winter telling me about the mountain of stuff at her mother in law's, which my mother and her husband are sorting through and fighting with E's sister about. It sounds terrible. Stacks of old, unopened toothpaste. A lifetime supply of Tums. I don't remember the specifics, and the truth is that they don't even matter -- there's just too much stuff. Too. Much. Stuff.
In some sort of reflexive reaction to these stories, M and I made a stab at organizing the garage room this weekend. It is going to take many, many weekends for us to really get a handle on that space, but we're started now and that's very important. The bad part is that we're trying to get the space organized so we can put more stuff in that room and less in the rest of the house (which ultimately leads to more stuff everywhere, I'm pretty sure).
This is the closest to Spring Cleaning I get, people.
Outside of the Stuff Wars, we're doing okay. We sort of mid-review on a lot of different levels. We're two-thirds done with our taxes, reviewing our investments and savings plan, waiting to see what my raise is going to be and how last year's bonus will pay out -- February seems to be when I clean house financially, if not literally. M's rounded the half-way mark on school, and that's sitting better with everyone. We've earmarked a few house projects for this year, and bought our plane tickets for this summer's vacation.
I've also had a few unsubtle reminders to keep in perspective how much seemingly little things can affect other people for the positive. Sometimes we downplay the effect we have on other people's lives, or miss acknowledging it entirely. It seems to be an object lesson at the moment, one the Universe has on repeat.
On outside matters, our tiny garden has started looking like Spring. There are lettuces peeking up and the Apricot's in bloom. M bought a lawnmower with some of the Christmas money, and keeps hacking at the palm trees in his spare time.
I wax in and out of love with my job. Right now I am very much in a holding pattern, waiting to transition into the next stage of my life once M graduates and our opportunities free up again. I don't know if this job will be part of that next great adventure, but it's still integral to our Now. Part of this great journey is finding reasons to love it until we don't need it any more, and that's easier some days than others.
I had great plans to write all about Thanksgiving, and our recipes, and our family fun, but then time passed too quickly and all my plans got away from me. Thanksgiving was wonderful. There was a requisite turkey-related mishap, but it was very small and didn't impinge on the holiday. We had an abundance of cheesecake and just enough leftovers. We liked the turkey thing enough that we made another for Christmas, and then learned that a turkey for just the two of us is way, way too much bird.
We're still using up the frozen turkey stock, eight cups to go.
Christmas was lovely. Instead of a mountain of presents from my grandparents, we got exactly what I'd hoped for: hand stitched ornaments for our tree. Little things to treasure, and pass down, and celebrate. It's worth more to me than a bunch of stuff.
We have an abundance of stuff.
My mom spent a lot of this winter telling me about the mountain of stuff at her mother in law's, which my mother and her husband are sorting through and fighting with E's sister about. It sounds terrible. Stacks of old, unopened toothpaste. A lifetime supply of Tums. I don't remember the specifics, and the truth is that they don't even matter -- there's just too much stuff. Too. Much. Stuff.
In some sort of reflexive reaction to these stories, M and I made a stab at organizing the garage room this weekend. It is going to take many, many weekends for us to really get a handle on that space, but we're started now and that's very important. The bad part is that we're trying to get the space organized so we can put more stuff in that room and less in the rest of the house (which ultimately leads to more stuff everywhere, I'm pretty sure).
This is the closest to Spring Cleaning I get, people.
Outside of the Stuff Wars, we're doing okay. We sort of mid-review on a lot of different levels. We're two-thirds done with our taxes, reviewing our investments and savings plan, waiting to see what my raise is going to be and how last year's bonus will pay out -- February seems to be when I clean house financially, if not literally. M's rounded the half-way mark on school, and that's sitting better with everyone. We've earmarked a few house projects for this year, and bought our plane tickets for this summer's vacation.
I've also had a few unsubtle reminders to keep in perspective how much seemingly little things can affect other people for the positive. Sometimes we downplay the effect we have on other people's lives, or miss acknowledging it entirely. It seems to be an object lesson at the moment, one the Universe has on repeat.
On outside matters, our tiny garden has started looking like Spring. There are lettuces peeking up and the Apricot's in bloom. M bought a lawnmower with some of the Christmas money, and keeps hacking at the palm trees in his spare time.
I wax in and out of love with my job. Right now I am very much in a holding pattern, waiting to transition into the next stage of my life once M graduates and our opportunities free up again. I don't know if this job will be part of that next great adventure, but it's still integral to our Now. Part of this great journey is finding reasons to love it until we don't need it any more, and that's easier some days than others.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Voila!
These are some of the embellished IKEA pillars. They look a lot better than $3.50 finds and were kind of fun to make. I just finished the biggest one tonight. In order of decreasing size, they're decked out with a vintage pear garland image, Debussy sheet music, an antique dictionary page scan, and the first paragraph of a German fairy tale (from a book I bought in a Castle's bookshop).
The picture's kind of askew because I snapped it quickly on my cellphone.
These are some of the embellished IKEA pillars. They look a lot better than $3.50 finds and were kind of fun to make. I just finished the biggest one tonight. In order of decreasing size, they're decked out with a vintage pear garland image, Debussy sheet music, an antique dictionary page scan, and the first paragraph of a German fairy tale (from a book I bought in a Castle's bookshop).
The picture's kind of askew because I snapped it quickly on my cellphone.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
More preparations
The families are coming. Now that the guest list is sort of settled, and I'm not too terribly worried about the meal planning bit, I'm trying to get the house in order for a holiday gathering. Stop Laughing. It's possible.
And by ready.... I mean that it should look a little more finished after three and a half years of occupancy. So I'm sprucing up some simple stuff: Restore the front door, hang sheers on the front window, evict the cardboard box garden growing in front of the window, unearth M's rocking chair (possibly recover M's rocking chair), find a storage solution that works for our DVD mountain, hang a picture above the piano, dust the piano, corral the music, find Inez's metronome...
That's just the living room. It's not so much decorating as it is Acting Like A Grown Up And Putting My Shit Away.
In the kitchen/dining room, we have a lot more of ALAGUAPMSA to do, and I need to find/hang some wall art, clean up the sawdust from having the door/windows installed, move out the curio to make room for a sideboard, repurpose the white table/sewing table/guest room table into said side board, and clean clean clean.
The bathroom is pretty lovely, so that just needs to be clean-clean-clean-ed. And the hallway can be decluttered and as long as we shut all the doors no one will notice too much that there's chaos brewing within.
The back patio needs to be cleaned up, too, but that may be beyond the scope of the holiday. The front entry needs to be cleared off, swept, the metal entry door needs to be cleaned and repainted. The trim below it is ugly ugly ugly, but filling/sanding/painting that out is more handy-man work than K-work. The gross wicker chair thing needs to go to the dump, either in pieces in the trash or on one good haul with a borrowed truck. (If the latter, then we should also dispose of the pruned tree limbs and other clutter in the back yard).
I'm getting tired just thinking about it. Phew. But I love all the areas we've cleared up lately. And I'm hoping we'll be able to keep on clearing up spaces, and eventually get to the painting of walls and fixing of electrical outlets and other little repairs we need to do.
The families are coming. Now that the guest list is sort of settled, and I'm not too terribly worried about the meal planning bit, I'm trying to get the house in order for a holiday gathering. Stop Laughing. It's possible.
And by ready.... I mean that it should look a little more finished after three and a half years of occupancy. So I'm sprucing up some simple stuff: Restore the front door, hang sheers on the front window, evict the cardboard box garden growing in front of the window, unearth M's rocking chair (possibly recover M's rocking chair), find a storage solution that works for our DVD mountain, hang a picture above the piano, dust the piano, corral the music, find Inez's metronome...
That's just the living room. It's not so much decorating as it is Acting Like A Grown Up And Putting My Shit Away.
In the kitchen/dining room, we have a lot more of ALAGUAPMSA to do, and I need to find/hang some wall art, clean up the sawdust from having the door/windows installed, move out the curio to make room for a sideboard, repurpose the white table/sewing table/guest room table into said side board, and clean clean clean.
The bathroom is pretty lovely, so that just needs to be clean-clean-clean-ed. And the hallway can be decluttered and as long as we shut all the doors no one will notice too much that there's chaos brewing within.
The back patio needs to be cleaned up, too, but that may be beyond the scope of the holiday. The front entry needs to be cleared off, swept, the metal entry door needs to be cleaned and repainted. The trim below it is ugly ugly ugly, but filling/sanding/painting that out is more handy-man work than K-work. The gross wicker chair thing needs to go to the dump, either in pieces in the trash or on one good haul with a borrowed truck. (If the latter, then we should also dispose of the pruned tree limbs and other clutter in the back yard).
I'm getting tired just thinking about it. Phew. But I love all the areas we've cleared up lately. And I'm hoping we'll be able to keep on clearing up spaces, and eventually get to the painting of walls and fixing of electrical outlets and other little repairs we need to do.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Preparations
My mom has hosted Thanksgiving every year in memory. Sometimes family comes. Sometimes family is pointedly excluded. Sometimes it's themed. Most years it's duck. This year, she's mired in transitioning E's mom through a rather substantial lifestyle change and doesn't feel up to hosting. Which means, for the first time in my adult life, I could actually host Thanksgiving.
So I volunteered.
And M didn't leave me.
Mom & E, Russ & Elaine, me & M, and possibly a couple last minute additions to the roster will be falling in around our gorgeous (yet impossible for us to find linens for) dining table. And then it struck me: I don't have eight of anything, as far as linens go.
Since I have recently discovered top stitching, and how it makes things survive the washing machine better, I decided to make my own. They're a bit eclectic -- just like everything else in our house -- but they're colorful and should cheer up the table under all that stylish china and crystal. Good thing we picked a neutral tone pattern. :)
My mom has hosted Thanksgiving every year in memory. Sometimes family comes. Sometimes family is pointedly excluded. Sometimes it's themed. Most years it's duck. This year, she's mired in transitioning E's mom through a rather substantial lifestyle change and doesn't feel up to hosting. Which means, for the first time in my adult life, I could actually host Thanksgiving.
So I volunteered.
And M didn't leave me.
Mom & E, Russ & Elaine, me & M, and possibly a couple last minute additions to the roster will be falling in around our gorgeous (yet impossible for us to find linens for) dining table. And then it struck me: I don't have eight of anything, as far as linens go.
Since I have recently discovered top stitching, and how it makes things survive the washing machine better, I decided to make my own. They're a bit eclectic -- just like everything else in our house -- but they're colorful and should cheer up the table under all that stylish china and crystal. Good thing we picked a neutral tone pattern. :)
Friday, October 14, 2011
October
It's no big secret that we had a difficult Summer, and that that Summer is bleeding into a tense-yet-resolving Autumn. M's school situation took longer than we'd hoped to sort itself out and instead of joining the flock of undergrads at UCSD this year, he's working through his CS program at National.
A lot has changed at UCSD since I graduated, and not all of it for the better. After watching the admissions process from the outside, I think I'm happier that M's at a school that addressed his goals directly, offered him a clear path to graduation, structures their coursework for people with real lives and other commitments and genuinely seems to want to see him succeed. I can't say that about UCSD. That disappoints me sorely. When the alumni letter arrived, asking for donations, I almost wrote Chancellor Fox a pointed letter instead.
Ultimately, I refrained.
We go through phases, at home, of trying desperately to become more organized. And failing miserably at it after making one or two valiant stabs at progress. I cleaned out a corner of the office today. I found the other half of my desk -- it's disorientingly empty right now, and yet "messy" by any one else's standards. I had enough space last night to procrastinate by playing with watercolors while M was in class.
It's occurring to me, maybe for the first time, that the things I take for granted in their solidity and ability to endure actually require maintenance. A solid wood door, for instance. Growing up with just enough abundance to lose touch with the idea of things that last for generations, I think many people my age have to hard-reboot some part of their brains when it comes to home ownership. I now have things that I have personally bought and owned for fifteen or more years. Some of them are in great shape. Others have started to wear.
We chipped one of the green bowls in the dishwasher the other day.
The front door looks remarkably better after an hour of work and some elbow grease. (Though I doubt anyone but me will notice. And M, because I pointedly instructed him to notice.) ... (And also my mom, because she reads this, and she'll feel compelled to comment in hopes that I will actually do more pride-of-ownership home repairs if given sufficient positive reinforcement.)
I feel like some of the cobwebs in my head are starting to loosen up, unbind, let go. Restarting a sewing project -- bright colors, bold patterns -- and clearing out some of the unnecessary, unfortunate background noise is helping. I'm learning to balance the fact that I married M, and I love him, with my refusal to adopt his almost ascetic way of interfacing with the world. In my life there's bright colors, rich textures, adventurous foods, deep and thought-provoking conversation, good music, craft beers or nice wines, and a lot less digital-anything. Rather than waiting for him to want any of these things, maybe it's okay for me to just go enjoy them and hope he comes along now and again.
I've been angry, sad, frustrated, indifferent, passive aggressive, plain old aggressive -- you name it -- for the last several months. Maybe it's because I don't really believe there's any challenge out there that determination, ingenuity and hard work won't fix. Which doesn't really jive with the economic-jobs-wall st.-politico scenario of the times. I have a solid job, we make our ends meet, we've refinanced into an even more affordable house payment, we have more stuff and food and opportunity than we really need but I'm just not one of those people for whom sufficiency is enough. For the last couple years we haven't really had a mission statement. It is depressing to be an Architect without anything to build.
So I've decided I'm just going to build stuff. Sometimes it'll be great. Other times we'll throw it away and ... never speak of it again. But if I don't have projects, milestones, things to conquer or achieve, then I'm unhappy. Even if I have to change paths multiple times, or delve into things I don't know yet -- especially if I have to recalculate, rethink, rework, improve -- I'd rather be working on something than sitting idle.
Blame it on my parents. One's a perfectionist and the other has to know everything about everything. I've struggled through figuring out that sometimes good enough is just that, but I can't shake the need to know-and-understand just about anything that comes to my attention. And maybe that's okay. Maybe it's also a little unrealistic to expect that other people want to know everything about everything and spend their web hours working toward just that. Maybe I should give my husband a break for not exhibiting this borderline-madness/voracity for new things and new topics and new experiences. Because, hey, somebody in this household needs to know how to slow things down now and then.
Right?
PS: I'm doing M's C++ homework on the weekends, after he's already finished with it. This way I can finally actually learn to program. But I don't benefit from getting to attend lectures and my grasp of algorithms is really rudimentary, so I'll fall behind fairly quickly. For now, though, it's great fun.
It's no big secret that we had a difficult Summer, and that that Summer is bleeding into a tense-yet-resolving Autumn. M's school situation took longer than we'd hoped to sort itself out and instead of joining the flock of undergrads at UCSD this year, he's working through his CS program at National.
A lot has changed at UCSD since I graduated, and not all of it for the better. After watching the admissions process from the outside, I think I'm happier that M's at a school that addressed his goals directly, offered him a clear path to graduation, structures their coursework for people with real lives and other commitments and genuinely seems to want to see him succeed. I can't say that about UCSD. That disappoints me sorely. When the alumni letter arrived, asking for donations, I almost wrote Chancellor Fox a pointed letter instead.
Ultimately, I refrained.
We go through phases, at home, of trying desperately to become more organized. And failing miserably at it after making one or two valiant stabs at progress. I cleaned out a corner of the office today. I found the other half of my desk -- it's disorientingly empty right now, and yet "messy" by any one else's standards. I had enough space last night to procrastinate by playing with watercolors while M was in class.
It's occurring to me, maybe for the first time, that the things I take for granted in their solidity and ability to endure actually require maintenance. A solid wood door, for instance. Growing up with just enough abundance to lose touch with the idea of things that last for generations, I think many people my age have to hard-reboot some part of their brains when it comes to home ownership. I now have things that I have personally bought and owned for fifteen or more years. Some of them are in great shape. Others have started to wear.
We chipped one of the green bowls in the dishwasher the other day.
The front door looks remarkably better after an hour of work and some elbow grease. (Though I doubt anyone but me will notice. And M, because I pointedly instructed him to notice.) ... (And also my mom, because she reads this, and she'll feel compelled to comment in hopes that I will actually do more pride-of-ownership home repairs if given sufficient positive reinforcement.)
I feel like some of the cobwebs in my head are starting to loosen up, unbind, let go. Restarting a sewing project -- bright colors, bold patterns -- and clearing out some of the unnecessary, unfortunate background noise is helping. I'm learning to balance the fact that I married M, and I love him, with my refusal to adopt his almost ascetic way of interfacing with the world. In my life there's bright colors, rich textures, adventurous foods, deep and thought-provoking conversation, good music, craft beers or nice wines, and a lot less digital-anything. Rather than waiting for him to want any of these things, maybe it's okay for me to just go enjoy them and hope he comes along now and again.
I've been angry, sad, frustrated, indifferent, passive aggressive, plain old aggressive -- you name it -- for the last several months. Maybe it's because I don't really believe there's any challenge out there that determination, ingenuity and hard work won't fix. Which doesn't really jive with the economic-jobs-wall st.-politico scenario of the times. I have a solid job, we make our ends meet, we've refinanced into an even more affordable house payment, we have more stuff and food and opportunity than we really need but I'm just not one of those people for whom sufficiency is enough. For the last couple years we haven't really had a mission statement. It is depressing to be an Architect without anything to build.
So I've decided I'm just going to build stuff. Sometimes it'll be great. Other times we'll throw it away and ... never speak of it again. But if I don't have projects, milestones, things to conquer or achieve, then I'm unhappy. Even if I have to change paths multiple times, or delve into things I don't know yet -- especially if I have to recalculate, rethink, rework, improve -- I'd rather be working on something than sitting idle.
Blame it on my parents. One's a perfectionist and the other has to know everything about everything. I've struggled through figuring out that sometimes good enough is just that, but I can't shake the need to know-and-understand just about anything that comes to my attention. And maybe that's okay. Maybe it's also a little unrealistic to expect that other people want to know everything about everything and spend their web hours working toward just that. Maybe I should give my husband a break for not exhibiting this borderline-madness/voracity for new things and new topics and new experiences. Because, hey, somebody in this household needs to know how to slow things down now and then.
Right?
PS: I'm doing M's C++ homework on the weekends, after he's already finished with it. This way I can finally actually learn to program. But I don't benefit from getting to attend lectures and my grasp of algorithms is really rudimentary, so I'll fall behind fairly quickly. For now, though, it's great fun.
Sunday, September 04, 2011
Apple Butter
My mom came over and helped us strip down the apple tree. We got the last of the apples off and into the kitchen, then mom pruned down the tree as much as possible, and M helped bag up the green waste. You can see the fence through the tree now, and there are a few stragglers left at the very heights, but we're otherwise done with apple season.
Mom took away a bag full of apples, and Mary (M's Mom) sent us her apple butter recipe to try. I gave it a chance, even though I'm not a fan of apple butter -- or thought I wasn't a fan. This stuff is tasty. And easy! Between letting the crock pot run overnight, and using the food mill to seed and skin the resulting sauce, I think there was more prep work in canning the butter than making it. Then again, maybe I only think that because I'm pretty much on autopilot while chopping apples now.
While we were out looking for canning jars -- which are harder to find than you'd think -- I got a cheap fat quarter to cut up for fabric lid covers. They look so much cuter with a little (red) gussying up. (I updated the picture now that we have some 8oz jelly jars too -- K, 5 Sept).
On the front lines of the kitchen counter, we're down to nine apples. Two go into muffins for the week, so that brings us to seven. We've got a second batch of apple butter in the crock pot that I hope to use for seasonal/holiday gifts, and don't forget the twenty cups of apple sauce. We apple-wood smoked some pork chops at dinner, too, to use up some of the thickest cuttings. When I measure out the rub recipe, I'll put that up too.
Mary's Overnight Apple Butter -- very slightly adapted
Makes 4 pints.
**5 lbs apples, cut into large chunks
1 1/2 C. packed brown sugar
3/4 C. apple juice or cider
1 T. cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
Combine all ingredients in a 5-qt or larger electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 10 hours or until apples are very tender. Ladle apples a cup or two at a time into a hand-cranked food mill and process to remove skins and seeds. Repeat until all apple mixture has been run through the food mill. Return to slow cooker and cook on high for 1 1/2 hours or until mixture is thick, stirring occasionally. Ladle apple butter into clean hot jars leaving 1/2 inch head space. Seal. Process in a boiling water bath canner 10 minutes for pints, 5 minutes for half pints.
**Moment of truth: I didn't count, measure or weigh the apples. I kept cutting until our slow cooker was almost full-to-the-brim, and then I dumped in the rest of the ingredients and hoped there was enough head space for all of them. After 30 minutes, I gave them a quick stir. At 1hr, I gave them another stir. Then I left them alone until the next morning. Ours took 2 hours to thicken up enough after going through the food mill, but the extra time gave me a chance to boil the jars. Our first batch filled 4 pint jars, with enough left over to spread generously on a couple pieces of stale ciabatta.
My mom came over and helped us strip down the apple tree. We got the last of the apples off and into the kitchen, then mom pruned down the tree as much as possible, and M helped bag up the green waste. You can see the fence through the tree now, and there are a few stragglers left at the very heights, but we're otherwise done with apple season.
Mom took away a bag full of apples, and Mary (M's Mom) sent us her apple butter recipe to try. I gave it a chance, even though I'm not a fan of apple butter -- or thought I wasn't a fan. This stuff is tasty. And easy! Between letting the crock pot run overnight, and using the food mill to seed and skin the resulting sauce, I think there was more prep work in canning the butter than making it. Then again, maybe I only think that because I'm pretty much on autopilot while chopping apples now.
While we were out looking for canning jars -- which are harder to find than you'd think -- I got a cheap fat quarter to cut up for fabric lid covers. They look so much cuter with a little (red) gussying up. (I updated the picture now that we have some 8oz jelly jars too -- K, 5 Sept).
On the front lines of the kitchen counter, we're down to nine apples. Two go into muffins for the week, so that brings us to seven. We've got a second batch of apple butter in the crock pot that I hope to use for seasonal/holiday gifts, and don't forget the twenty cups of apple sauce. We apple-wood smoked some pork chops at dinner, too, to use up some of the thickest cuttings. When I measure out the rub recipe, I'll put that up too.
Mary's Overnight Apple Butter -- very slightly adapted
Makes 4 pints.
**5 lbs apples, cut into large chunks
1 1/2 C. packed brown sugar
3/4 C. apple juice or cider
1 T. cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
Combine all ingredients in a 5-qt or larger electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 10 hours or until apples are very tender. Ladle apples a cup or two at a time into a hand-cranked food mill and process to remove skins and seeds. Repeat until all apple mixture has been run through the food mill. Return to slow cooker and cook on high for 1 1/2 hours or until mixture is thick, stirring occasionally. Ladle apple butter into clean hot jars leaving 1/2 inch head space. Seal. Process in a boiling water bath canner 10 minutes for pints, 5 minutes for half pints.
**Moment of truth: I didn't count, measure or weigh the apples. I kept cutting until our slow cooker was almost full-to-the-brim, and then I dumped in the rest of the ingredients and hoped there was enough head space for all of them. After 30 minutes, I gave them a quick stir. At 1hr, I gave them another stir. Then I left them alone until the next morning. Ours took 2 hours to thicken up enough after going through the food mill, but the extra time gave me a chance to boil the jars. Our first batch filled 4 pint jars, with enough left over to spread generously on a couple pieces of stale ciabatta.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Applesauce-Yogurt Oat and more Apple muffins
We have an abundance of apples. Yesterday, I filled the sink with apples from our backyard tree and proceeded to cook my way through as many as possible without descending into apple-scented madness. Yesterday was also the hottest summer day we've had in awhile -- excellent timing on my part -- but the tree waits for no one!
Twenty cups of applesauce later... I still have almost two dozen on my counter, and countless more on the tree. We've given them away -- more than two dozen to my mom -- made pies, crisps, apple pancakes and now muffins that do double duty at whittling away our applesauce stash AND the lingering apples on our counter.
While I'd like to say that the substitutions I made from the Cottage Cookbook original were driven by some healthy-eating ideal, the truth is that I just wanted to find something to put all this applesauce into. After changing around the recipe, I spent some time with google to learn just how virtuous we'd been. I'm sure I'm officially a grown-up now, because I found myself thinking "if we added some bran to these, they'd be down right healthy." Followed up by "maybe some grated carrot, too." I would try reducing the sugar, except our apples are so mouth-puckeringly green that it wouldn't work very well at all. If you use store-bought applesauce or red apples, please think about reducing the sweetener.
Gods help us.
Without further ado, I bring you today's adventure in breakfast (and apples... so very many apples).
Applesauce, Yogurt, Oat and Apple muffins
2 eggs
6 Tbsp softened butter
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1/2 cup applesauce (our homemade stuff is very thick)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup old-fashioned oats
**2 cups cored and chopped apples
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground clove
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a muffin tin. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, butter, yogurt, applesauce, brown sugar, oats and apples, mixing well. Add cinnamon, clove, baking powder, baking soda, salt, mixing well. Add in flour, stirring until just blended. Fill the muffin cups to the top. Bake for 25 minutes. The muffins will seem fairly moist, but do not overbake or they will get dense and dry. Let stand in tin for 5 min before removing to a cooling rack.
Makes 12-14 muffins (depending on the size of your tin).
**The original recipe calls for 3/4 cup raisins and 1 1/2 cups apples. I dislike raisins, so I left them out and upped the apples. Chopped nuts might make a nice inclusion too. I also leave the skins on my apples, but the original recipe says to peel them. I view it as a matter of preference, except in a few critical circumstances.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Closer to home
Every year the Stephanotis floribunda outside of our front door flowers, and there's a week of honey-and-jasmine scented twilights, and I think about how lucky we are that someone planted it a decade or more ago... And I don't take any pictures. Not this year!
I am trying to take more pictures, of things other than vacation. I made myself a new desktop background or two, too.
Every year the Stephanotis floribunda outside of our front door flowers, and there's a week of honey-and-jasmine scented twilights, and I think about how lucky we are that someone planted it a decade or more ago... And I don't take any pictures. Not this year!
I am trying to take more pictures, of things other than vacation. I made myself a new desktop background or two, too.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Around the House
Today's my first holiday off in awhile. Today's also the day Ivan's come down to help us with a few projects. Oh, and there's a landscaper stopping by to talk with M (just kidding, to talk with me while M is busy) about taming the wild place that is our yard. We're still getting ideas and quotes and such, so don't get too excited.
It's a busy day. It certainly doesn't feel like a day off. There's also filing and bill paying and sorting through the never ending stack of things destined for Good Will. If I can get just one more bag of clothes or box of books or something out the door before the weekend, it'll feel a bit less cramped in here.
We are trying to balance all sorts of goals. Like saving (always a huge goal), and fixing up the house (the projects list is endless), and travel. I did not get the promotion I was up for, so there's not a lot of extra discretionary money to squirrel away toward these things. Maybe next year!
We've been here three years and it astounds me how little we've gotten done. But we are forging a path back toward two working bathrooms, discussing forced air heat (woo!) and possibly creating a workable space in the backyard for hanging out. Add that to how the living/dining room has come along, and it begins to feel like progress!
Mom blogs and jokes about her ten year journey to transform her house into something more like hers. I think she'd made a lot more progress at the three-year mark than we have! I'm beginning to realize that this house is a great size for the two of us. It will probably be perfect with one kid, until they're school age. After that, we may feel cramped. But I want less and less to leave some day. I've finally got a place that really feels like home, and I like it!
Today's my first holiday off in awhile. Today's also the day Ivan's come down to help us with a few projects. Oh, and there's a landscaper stopping by to talk with M (just kidding, to talk with me while M is busy) about taming the wild place that is our yard. We're still getting ideas and quotes and such, so don't get too excited.
It's a busy day. It certainly doesn't feel like a day off. There's also filing and bill paying and sorting through the never ending stack of things destined for Good Will. If I can get just one more bag of clothes or box of books or something out the door before the weekend, it'll feel a bit less cramped in here.
We are trying to balance all sorts of goals. Like saving (always a huge goal), and fixing up the house (the projects list is endless), and travel. I did not get the promotion I was up for, so there's not a lot of extra discretionary money to squirrel away toward these things. Maybe next year!
We've been here three years and it astounds me how little we've gotten done. But we are forging a path back toward two working bathrooms, discussing forced air heat (woo!) and possibly creating a workable space in the backyard for hanging out. Add that to how the living/dining room has come along, and it begins to feel like progress!
Mom blogs and jokes about her ten year journey to transform her house into something more like hers. I think she'd made a lot more progress at the three-year mark than we have! I'm beginning to realize that this house is a great size for the two of us. It will probably be perfect with one kid, until they're school age. After that, we may feel cramped. But I want less and less to leave some day. I've finally got a place that really feels like home, and I like it!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
January, January
Month of resolutions. I try not to make resolutions as much as I make plans. Plans are fluid and accept that life and priorities change with experience and additional information. Examples of this year's goals*:
1. Return to a lifestyle of financial awareness and active saving. Having reviewed our budget, I propose we attempt to save an additional $200/month over what is going directly to the 401K and whatever our investments are earning. Bonuses will continue to go directly to savings, unless otherwise earmarked. From savings, we can talk to the financial planner about broader and more expansive goals. (Yes. M & I have a financial planner. It's called "recognizing your boundaries" and not wanting to shove everything under my mattress.)
2. Trend toward smaller portions and healthier foods. M and I enjoy cooking and eating, but there's no reason we can't go back to having a reasonable amount of leftovers to tide him over through the week while I'm away.
3. Travel. This summer's goal is Scotland & Ireland. I want to go see Scott soon. M needs to get some stamps in his passport, and my new one is going to feel so empty.
4. Make peace with my job. 2010 was extremely frustrating, with the re-org and a new management structure to get used to, and a shifted region, and new responsibilities. My 2009 review was somewhat bitter, as I felt that my shortfalls reflected and resulted from my team structure as much as myself. I've had a year to fix those performance points, and hopefully my 2010 review will look a lot better. Still hoping for Sr. Engineer -- still expecting it not to go through. If I'm going to stick this out until M graduates, I need to find a way to focus on the parts of my job that I love. (Easier said than done when one is staring down two consecutive working weekends.)
5. Continue to make measurable progress on the house. (Oh, sub-lists, you are endless here.)
6. In the same vein of creative a sustainable financial plan, and reining in our unhealthier food choices, we've agreed to look into a cleaning person for a couple times a month. I can keep up with laundry, and M does dishes, but we can't really do the deep cleaning necessary to keep a house clean while I'm working this crazy job. There's also a serious amount of apathy towards housework in both of us.
7. Visit The Outside (tm) more. The quest to get out of the office more renews!
* Disclaimer: By no means an exhaustive list.
Month of resolutions. I try not to make resolutions as much as I make plans. Plans are fluid and accept that life and priorities change with experience and additional information. Examples of this year's goals*:
1. Return to a lifestyle of financial awareness and active saving. Having reviewed our budget, I propose we attempt to save an additional $200/month over what is going directly to the 401K and whatever our investments are earning. Bonuses will continue to go directly to savings, unless otherwise earmarked. From savings, we can talk to the financial planner about broader and more expansive goals. (Yes. M & I have a financial planner. It's called "recognizing your boundaries" and not wanting to shove everything under my mattress.)
2. Trend toward smaller portions and healthier foods. M and I enjoy cooking and eating, but there's no reason we can't go back to having a reasonable amount of leftovers to tide him over through the week while I'm away.
3. Travel. This summer's goal is Scotland & Ireland. I want to go see Scott soon. M needs to get some stamps in his passport, and my new one is going to feel so empty.
4. Make peace with my job. 2010 was extremely frustrating, with the re-org and a new management structure to get used to, and a shifted region, and new responsibilities. My 2009 review was somewhat bitter, as I felt that my shortfalls reflected and resulted from my team structure as much as myself. I've had a year to fix those performance points, and hopefully my 2010 review will look a lot better. Still hoping for Sr. Engineer -- still expecting it not to go through. If I'm going to stick this out until M graduates, I need to find a way to focus on the parts of my job that I love. (Easier said than done when one is staring down two consecutive working weekends.)
5. Continue to make measurable progress on the house. (Oh, sub-lists, you are endless here.)
6. In the same vein of creative a sustainable financial plan, and reining in our unhealthier food choices, we've agreed to look into a cleaning person for a couple times a month. I can keep up with laundry, and M does dishes, but we can't really do the deep cleaning necessary to keep a house clean while I'm working this crazy job. There's also a serious amount of apathy towards housework in both of us.
7. Visit The Outside (tm) more. The quest to get out of the office more renews!
* Disclaimer: By no means an exhaustive list.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
And then some grown up things...
It is more fun to write about kitchen witchery and traveling than it is to write about the grown up things we need to get done. I've noticed that M and I tend to get more done in the Winter than the Summer, but that may just be because we have a firmer grasp on our finances and planning and what not at the very beginning and end of the year, rather than somewhere in the middle. It's pretty arbitrary, but sometimes I like to try and find meaning in it.
My new driver's license came right after Christmas. Since then we have:
PHEW! If we keep this up, we may whittle down the to-do list this year faster than it grows back. (Hahaha... but I can hope.) M is quietly awaiting his UC transfer acceptance, and goes back to school on the 24th. We're both headed to ALA for booth setup the following weekend, and then he gets to play in the desert while I'm at Sales & Service the first weekend in February.
It's a busy start to the year, but it already seems calmer and more productive that 2010. Woo!
It is more fun to write about kitchen witchery and traveling than it is to write about the grown up things we need to get done. I've noticed that M and I tend to get more done in the Winter than the Summer, but that may just be because we have a firmer grasp on our finances and planning and what not at the very beginning and end of the year, rather than somewhere in the middle. It's pretty arbitrary, but sometimes I like to try and find meaning in it.
My new driver's license came right after Christmas. Since then we have:
- Changed my name with my employer
- Changed my name with the bank
- Changed my name with half a dozen customer sites requiring internal background/security checks
- Changed my name with about half the airline and hotel loyalty programs I use
- Downloaded and filled out the forms to change my passport (just need pictures, and to send it in!)
- Opened our joint savings
- Transferred the "savings" we have put away together into the new account to disambiguate pre- and post- marriage funds
- Reviewed our household budget and made some goals for saving for 2011
- Finally made a follow up appointment with our financial planner...
- Talked to my dad about something we've been collectively putting off since July
- REPLACED THE WATER HEATER
- Taken the old tv and an old monitor to the Recycling center for proper disposal
- Gotten rid of the door desk and 80% of what lived on top of it
- Moved a bookshelf into the office
- Framed and hung the posters we bought for the office in 2008
- Accepted some of our personal limitations and agreed that finding a house cleaner and gardener (each 1x - 2x a month) is better than NOT taking care of our home and yard and always feeling guilty about it
PHEW! If we keep this up, we may whittle down the to-do list this year faster than it grows back. (Hahaha... but I can hope.) M is quietly awaiting his UC transfer acceptance, and goes back to school on the 24th. We're both headed to ALA for booth setup the following weekend, and then he gets to play in the desert while I'm at Sales & Service the first weekend in February.
It's a busy start to the year, but it already seems calmer and more productive that 2010. Woo!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Around the house...
Well, we're back from Hawaii, and ended up jumping right back into the swing of things. I've been busy with work, trying to knock out end of the year revenue recognition and odd jobs that no one else can tackle (I don't actually believe I'm the only one who can do them... I think everyone else just waited for me to get back from vacation so they'd have somebody to dump them on). We're still re-organizing, and the re-org chart is tied up in red tape, so I still don't know what my job description or title will be when the dust settles. Fun times.
M's got finals next week, but he's technically finished two of his three classes already. Due to the inclement weather (and Murphy's Law), we may be acquiring a new/used/different vehicle soonish. No, we don't need suggestions, advice, or opinions on what to get. We're ambivalent enough already, and fully capable of doing our own research & comparison shopping.
We finally got a bedframe to go with the new mattress from February, so our bed no longer slides off the rails at annoyingly small hours of the morning. We replaced the oldest windows in the house with nice retro-fit ones, in time to get the tax rebate and before the worst cold of the year hit. It's been just over 24 hours since they went in, and the temperature in the house is infinitely more stable than before. Also, they look far less ghetto than the old ones.
It has been a frighteningly expensive year, and it's not over yet. Hopefully we'll get a nice end of the year bonus to offset the initial auto expenses, and a nice Tax Return, too. If we end up owing the government money at this point, I'll probably cry.
We have yet to start our Christmas shopping or bake any cookies. Happy Holidays? Well, I'll have time for all of that when I get off work on the 23rd. BUSY, busy, busy! That's how we roll.
~K & M
Well, we're back from Hawaii, and ended up jumping right back into the swing of things. I've been busy with work, trying to knock out end of the year revenue recognition and odd jobs that no one else can tackle (I don't actually believe I'm the only one who can do them... I think everyone else just waited for me to get back from vacation so they'd have somebody to dump them on). We're still re-organizing, and the re-org chart is tied up in red tape, so I still don't know what my job description or title will be when the dust settles. Fun times.
M's got finals next week, but he's technically finished two of his three classes already. Due to the inclement weather (and Murphy's Law), we may be acquiring a new/used/different vehicle soonish. No, we don't need suggestions, advice, or opinions on what to get. We're ambivalent enough already, and fully capable of doing our own research & comparison shopping.
We finally got a bedframe to go with the new mattress from February, so our bed no longer slides off the rails at annoyingly small hours of the morning. We replaced the oldest windows in the house with nice retro-fit ones, in time to get the tax rebate and before the worst cold of the year hit. It's been just over 24 hours since they went in, and the temperature in the house is infinitely more stable than before. Also, they look far less ghetto than the old ones.
It has been a frighteningly expensive year, and it's not over yet. Hopefully we'll get a nice end of the year bonus to offset the initial auto expenses, and a nice Tax Return, too. If we end up owing the government money at this point, I'll probably cry.
We have yet to start our Christmas shopping or bake any cookies. Happy Holidays? Well, I'll have time for all of that when I get off work on the 23rd. BUSY, busy, busy! That's how we roll.
~K & M
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Parental approval, still motivating after all these years
M's dad and Elaine are coming to visit next weekend for a round robin of meet-the-folks gatherings at our house. Our fixer-upper, rather "lived in", filled up with work boxes, work-in-progress house. And it's Memorial Day Weekend, so the obvious options for entertaining include... Outdoor Grilling!
In a panicked attempt to get our backyard patio acceptable for parental approval, M and I cleaned the outdoor furniture, swept the patio, knocked down all the weeds between the pavers, researched wasp removal, viciously pruned back the bush beside the kitchen window, stomped a disturbing number of spiders, wielded the weed whacker and collected three black bags of fallen soldiers from the Dandelion Army.
We now have a radius of sanity extending from the backdoor to the edge of the red patio, and maybe another two feet into the yard. Looking beyond this area brings you face to face with the Wyld -- last winter's pruned branches that are still waiting to be taken to green waste, a cockleburr of epic proportions, broad swaths of foxtails, relentless plum suckers, and the stone circle shrouded in weeds. Further around toward the side of the house, the Wisteria is trying to close off access to the side-yard by tipping its garden arch into the walkway.
But the birds are happy. And our fruit trees are alive. And the front yard is starting to look a bit more organized thanks to a mutually beneficial arrangement with one of our elderly neighbors.
Tomorrow we're cleaning and organizing the inside spaces, in hopes that we can go from Chaotic to Acceptable in one weekend. We're a long way from Beautiful or even Organized, but we keep trying. Mostly in fits and starts when people come to visit, or stay, or look critically around our living room.
I had imagined that one year into our house would look a lot different, and that all of these projects would move faster. I suppose all that matters is that we're happy, and that our families visit often enough to spur us into fits of extreme efficiency now and then.
M's dad and Elaine are coming to visit next weekend for a round robin of meet-the-folks gatherings at our house. Our fixer-upper, rather "lived in", filled up with work boxes, work-in-progress house. And it's Memorial Day Weekend, so the obvious options for entertaining include... Outdoor Grilling!
In a panicked attempt to get our backyard patio acceptable for parental approval, M and I cleaned the outdoor furniture, swept the patio, knocked down all the weeds between the pavers, researched wasp removal, viciously pruned back the bush beside the kitchen window, stomped a disturbing number of spiders, wielded the weed whacker and collected three black bags of fallen soldiers from the Dandelion Army.
We now have a radius of sanity extending from the backdoor to the edge of the red patio, and maybe another two feet into the yard. Looking beyond this area brings you face to face with the Wyld -- last winter's pruned branches that are still waiting to be taken to green waste, a cockleburr of epic proportions, broad swaths of foxtails, relentless plum suckers, and the stone circle shrouded in weeds. Further around toward the side of the house, the Wisteria is trying to close off access to the side-yard by tipping its garden arch into the walkway.
But the birds are happy. And our fruit trees are alive. And the front yard is starting to look a bit more organized thanks to a mutually beneficial arrangement with one of our elderly neighbors.
Tomorrow we're cleaning and organizing the inside spaces, in hopes that we can go from Chaotic to Acceptable in one weekend. We're a long way from Beautiful or even Organized, but we keep trying. Mostly in fits and starts when people come to visit, or stay, or look critically around our living room.
I had imagined that one year into our house would look a lot different, and that all of these projects would move faster. I suppose all that matters is that we're happy, and that our families visit often enough to spur us into fits of extreme efficiency now and then.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Time capsules everywhere, yet so little time to reminisce
The struggle against the occupying forces of Boxia continues at our house. M and made a valiant push to recapture the living room and guest rooms, declaring them nearly box-free zones late last night. The three remaining boxes in the living room are all work-related, and two will ship out sometime mid-week for Switzerland. The other will find safe haven somewhere in the office, seeing as it's full of potentially useful items.
In sifting through my belongings, it became clear to me that I've been very lucky with the people who've come into my life. See if you can place any of these items, or ask if you want to know where or who they're from.
1. A cross-stitch and patchwork pillow, with a Chinese character in the middle. I think its creator must be clairvoyant, as we're trending toward blue & green for our guest room colors.
2. A hand-drawn pastel still life, paired with a poem about the enduring and invaluable qualities of friendship. c. 1997. Hint: made by Nobody. It will also mix nicely with the palette for our guest room. Yay.
3. Note cards that were once tucked into my lunchbox to remind me that someone cared very much, even though times were rather rough.
4. Hand-made dream catcher and medicine shield, looking for a place to hang in our new home.
5. Diaphanous purple-and-green fabric from 1/3 of the world away, purchased on a combat faerie outing (the outing where that phrase first came into our vocabulary... while discussing some horrid neon-pink and camouflage fabric).
6. Signed Wyland print from a gallery event in La Jolla. Did I mention I got it for free?
Oh... there are so many other little things I've unearthed this weekend that made me stops and smile, or sniffle, or something, but I don't have time to tell you all about them now. Suffice it to say, I've been very blessed with friends and family, and all the little reminders have made for a rather sentimental and special weekend.
Next weekend: The Great Furniture Swap, wherein we divest ourselves of the full bed & frame and gain a piano and guest room furniture. Also in upcoming episodes, How The Monster Was Slain, and returned to Switzerland in (comparatively) small pieces. Perhaps also a sidebar on M's Hawaiian Adventure, or a Tale of Two Birthdays. Stay tuned!
The struggle against the occupying forces of Boxia continues at our house. M and made a valiant push to recapture the living room and guest rooms, declaring them nearly box-free zones late last night. The three remaining boxes in the living room are all work-related, and two will ship out sometime mid-week for Switzerland. The other will find safe haven somewhere in the office, seeing as it's full of potentially useful items.
In sifting through my belongings, it became clear to me that I've been very lucky with the people who've come into my life. See if you can place any of these items, or ask if you want to know where or who they're from.
1. A cross-stitch and patchwork pillow, with a Chinese character in the middle. I think its creator must be clairvoyant, as we're trending toward blue & green for our guest room colors.
2. A hand-drawn pastel still life, paired with a poem about the enduring and invaluable qualities of friendship. c. 1997. Hint: made by Nobody. It will also mix nicely with the palette for our guest room. Yay.
3. Note cards that were once tucked into my lunchbox to remind me that someone cared very much, even though times were rather rough.
4. Hand-made dream catcher and medicine shield, looking for a place to hang in our new home.
5. Diaphanous purple-and-green fabric from 1/3 of the world away, purchased on a combat faerie outing (the outing where that phrase first came into our vocabulary... while discussing some horrid neon-pink and camouflage fabric).
6. Signed Wyland print from a gallery event in La Jolla. Did I mention I got it for free?
Oh... there are so many other little things I've unearthed this weekend that made me stops and smile, or sniffle, or something, but I don't have time to tell you all about them now. Suffice it to say, I've been very blessed with friends and family, and all the little reminders have made for a rather sentimental and special weekend.
Next weekend: The Great Furniture Swap, wherein we divest ourselves of the full bed & frame and gain a piano and guest room furniture. Also in upcoming episodes, How The Monster Was Slain, and returned to Switzerland in (comparatively) small pieces. Perhaps also a sidebar on M's Hawaiian Adventure, or a Tale of Two Birthdays. Stay tuned!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Found a penny in the parking lot
Heads up.
I'm pretending it's an omen
Of good things to come.
We had another busy weekend: bought our new mattress, reserved the photographer for the wedding, and had dim sum with Mom for New Year. Next weekend we'll take delivery of the bed, and trek up to Julian to taste cakes. The following weekend, I'll try to get the last of the boxes in the guest and living rooms sorted while M travels to Hawaii for work. Then we'll have guests, and the great furniture swap, on our long weekend. And finally we'll have the whole wedding party together four weekends from now to try and nail down some details and enjoy each other's company.
Then we've only got a florist and officiant to find, our rings to design, the engagement photos to shoot, invitations, and a million other little things to sort out for the wedding.
Meanwhile, the list of things to do around the house grows. And I will be heading back out into the field soon, meaning my travel schedule will get thrown into the mix once more.
We finally got around to returning the extra shower curtain, but immediately spent that store credit on new sheets for the bigger bed. I did get the paperwork in the office more or less sorted, and shoved anything marked "Important Tax Document" into a manilla folder for easy identification when I sit down and tackle my 2008 returns. Not that I'll be seeing anything from CA but an I Owe You.
I <3 the state budget crisis. With bricks.
M intermittently makes fun of me for my excel sheets, graphs and file folders, but it's the only way to keep track of what goes on in our very busy lives. I've made the 2009 versions of our budget, savings, and utilities spreadsheets so we can get a snapshot of how our costs vary month-to-month, keep track of our wedding budget, expenses and outstanding payments, and try to plan for becoming a single-income family this fall. You'd want graphs, too, if you were juggling all of this!
One year ago this weekend we saw the house for the first time, and kissed our free time goodbye. What a year it's been! One more busy year like this, and then I'm ready for quieter times and rediscovering my social life.
Heads up.
I'm pretending it's an omen
Of good things to come.
We had another busy weekend: bought our new mattress, reserved the photographer for the wedding, and had dim sum with Mom for New Year. Next weekend we'll take delivery of the bed, and trek up to Julian to taste cakes. The following weekend, I'll try to get the last of the boxes in the guest and living rooms sorted while M travels to Hawaii for work. Then we'll have guests, and the great furniture swap, on our long weekend. And finally we'll have the whole wedding party together four weekends from now to try and nail down some details and enjoy each other's company.
Then we've only got a florist and officiant to find, our rings to design, the engagement photos to shoot, invitations, and a million other little things to sort out for the wedding.
Meanwhile, the list of things to do around the house grows. And I will be heading back out into the field soon, meaning my travel schedule will get thrown into the mix once more.
We finally got around to returning the extra shower curtain, but immediately spent that store credit on new sheets for the bigger bed. I did get the paperwork in the office more or less sorted, and shoved anything marked "Important Tax Document" into a manilla folder for easy identification when I sit down and tackle my 2008 returns. Not that I'll be seeing anything from CA but an I Owe You.
I <3 the state budget crisis. With bricks.
M intermittently makes fun of me for my excel sheets, graphs and file folders, but it's the only way to keep track of what goes on in our very busy lives. I've made the 2009 versions of our budget, savings, and utilities spreadsheets so we can get a snapshot of how our costs vary month-to-month, keep track of our wedding budget, expenses and outstanding payments, and try to plan for becoming a single-income family this fall. You'd want graphs, too, if you were juggling all of this!
One year ago this weekend we saw the house for the first time, and kissed our free time goodbye. What a year it's been! One more busy year like this, and then I'm ready for quieter times and rediscovering my social life.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Too Much Stuff
Two more boxesThree more boxes, an old DVD player and a DSL Modem, ready to AmVets/Good Will, and the old computer desk is gone! We're slowly making progress toward the great furniture exchange, in which my piano comes home (YAY) and we swap our full-size mattress & boxspring for Mom's guest room bed & trundle. Then we can actually invite people over to stay in our guest room.
Also... the fewer boxes and bags of stuff we have lying around, the less I worry about spiders. M had to kill a brown widow in our pantry/laundry room this week, and while I know she came in from the outside (there's a floor level vent not far from where she died), I'm now TERRIFIED of them lying in wait throughout the house.
Did you know that spiders love cardboard boxes? So Sayeth The Intarwebs. What better motivation to purge the cardboard from our living room than arachnophobia!
Also... the fewer boxes and bags of stuff we have lying around, the less I worry about spiders. M had to kill a brown widow in our pantry/laundry room this week, and while I know she came in from the outside (there's a floor level vent not far from where she died), I'm now TERRIFIED of them lying in wait throughout the house.
Did you know that spiders love cardboard boxes? So Sayeth The Intarwebs. What better motivation to purge the cardboard from our living room than arachnophobia!