It's 11:22 pm, so I'm kind of pushing the envelope on having this be the FRIDAY Five, but sermon avoidance continues and this is as good as any distraction I know.
1) Did you cook or bake anything for Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving was at our house this year, with a motly, delightlful assortment of about a dozen others who've washed up on the west coast. It was just a wonderful, relaxing time. Everyone brought stuff, so I made turkey and Grandma Kandi's cranberries and Martha's cranberry chutney and brussel sprouts (instead of the green bean goo everyone seems to eat.)
2) How was it received?
The turkey was, truthfully, not the best I ever tasted, and no one said a word about it, so I'm thinking most everyone else felt the same. The main problem was, I didn't make enough gravy. (When I explained this solemnly to mom on the phone, "Well who DOES make enough gravy?" Right on, mom. Never enough gravy...)
The cranberries, everyone was like "Oh, very nice," but really, who EATS cranberries? I had a regular sized bag, made two different things with them (Martha says twice what I made was supposed to serve 8) and still had piles of leftovers.
Everyone's crazy about brussel sprouts, which are so seldom served that they're like something really exotic. And so thrilling to find that they are delicious! What is your secret? (half a stick of butter, friend, but don't go telling just ANYONE that).
3) Anything left over?
Cranberries, of course. 3 brussel sprouts which I bull headedly saved in tupperware and will throw away in 10 to 12 days. A little turkey. And (woo hoo!) since we were hosting, we got lots of pie! And the yummiest mashed potatoes ever eaten (more butter secrets - melt it first! - thank you Adrian!!)
4) What's the best use of Thanksgiving leftovers you have ever seen?
I'm on the pie for breakfast bandwagen.
5) And the worst?
This year's turkey travesty - sob! Left out the carcass and all the yummy meat on the bones all night because of being so easily distracted by, you know, life. I've been looking forward to that amazing turkey stock from last year for months. I'm already planning when I can try again to roast another turkey.
Still Friday, and I'm signing off.
Friday, November 25, 2005
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Fogged In
It's been foggy for 4 days at our house.
Just a few miles away, the sun is shining.
I'm trying not to be too metaphorical about it, or anything. But it definately has become an excuse to sit at the computer all day and stare dreamily out the window.
At least there's a little excitement out there. The cats and squirrels have discovered our bird feeder. So there's lots of cross-species drama. Yesterday, a squirrel who obviously had a higher degree in physics, was swinging on the fushia, trying to get the right tragectory to bounce into the bird feeder. Didn't work yet, but I have no doubt he will. If the cat doesnt get him first.
Just a few miles away, the sun is shining.
I'm trying not to be too metaphorical about it, or anything. But it definately has become an excuse to sit at the computer all day and stare dreamily out the window.
At least there's a little excitement out there. The cats and squirrels have discovered our bird feeder. So there's lots of cross-species drama. Yesterday, a squirrel who obviously had a higher degree in physics, was swinging on the fushia, trying to get the right tragectory to bounce into the bird feeder. Didn't work yet, but I have no doubt he will. If the cat doesnt get him first.
Monday, November 21, 2005
Only real sci fi geeks need apply
The Top 100 Things I'll Do If I Ever Become an Evil Overlord
Really, it's the cumulative effect of a thing like this that makes it worthwhile, but in case you want a peek, a few favorites are:
#5 The artifact which is the source of my power will not be kept on the Mountain of Despair beyond the River of Fire guarded by the Dragons of Eternity. It will be in my safe-deposit box. The same applies to the object which is my one weakness.
#24 I will maintain a realistic assessment of my strengths and weaknesses. Even though this takes some of the fun out of the job, at least I will never utter the line "No, this cannot be! I AM INVINCIBLE!!!" (After that, death is usually instantaneous.)
#35 I will not grow a goatee. In the old days they made you look diabolic. Now they just make you look like a disaffected member of Generation X.
#86 I will make sure that my doomsday device is up to code and properly grounded.
In a related note, I'm preaching on Sunday, which I hardly ever do. And I'm trying to study today (on a Monday!) which I also hardly ever do, so that I don't have to get gravy on my notes later in the week. Maybe it's too much reading of and reading about this week's lectionary texts that have put me in a weirdly giggly, apocolyptic mood. Probably it's time for a walk or something.
Really, it's the cumulative effect of a thing like this that makes it worthwhile, but in case you want a peek, a few favorites are:
#5 The artifact which is the source of my power will not be kept on the Mountain of Despair beyond the River of Fire guarded by the Dragons of Eternity. It will be in my safe-deposit box. The same applies to the object which is my one weakness.
#24 I will maintain a realistic assessment of my strengths and weaknesses. Even though this takes some of the fun out of the job, at least I will never utter the line "No, this cannot be! I AM INVINCIBLE!!!" (After that, death is usually instantaneous.)
#35 I will not grow a goatee. In the old days they made you look diabolic. Now they just make you look like a disaffected member of Generation X.
#86 I will make sure that my doomsday device is up to code and properly grounded.
In a related note, I'm preaching on Sunday, which I hardly ever do. And I'm trying to study today (on a Monday!) which I also hardly ever do, so that I don't have to get gravy on my notes later in the week. Maybe it's too much reading of and reading about this week's lectionary texts that have put me in a weirdly giggly, apocolyptic mood. Probably it's time for a walk or something.
Buy Nothing Day - Friday November 25
Buy Nothing Day - one of my personal favorite holidays of the year - is coming up this Friday. For more information, check out Adbusters website. If you want to contemplate some really amazing action, instead of or in addition to, not shopping - then click on the Walmart icon on their home page and find the "whirlmart" video.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Homeward bound
The question I have is: how long have you lived where you live now? Did you live your childhood in one place?
The question started forming because Husband Jeff's parents recently sold the house they had lived in for 40 years.
Ok, I can type that sentence, but I can hardly imagine it, let alone believe it. 40 years! Who does the same of anything for 40 years? Jeff and I were talking recently...Yeah, you heard that. We went away for the weekend! Alone! Together! So we were, you know, talking. To each other. And no one interrupted us to ask for a snack or tell us about their poop or demand that we sing "All God's Critters Got a Place In the Choir" for the seventeenth time today.
As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by my own train of thought, we were talking recently about how that whole childhood in one house thing made his neuroses different than mine. He's afraid of wrecking the house, which I'm not at all afraid of ("if we break it, who cares? we'll just move!"). I'm more afraid that our neighbors all know something we dont know and that they're all talking about how we dont know it.
Anyway, since 1968, the places I remember, in the order in which I remember them are:
the seminary apartment
the Taylor's Falls motel
the green house with the orange door
the Hardy's house
that house by the river
the Iron River house
the parsonage
the Ashland house
1425 Woodland
the 3rd Avenue house
and then I turned 21 and I was kind of on my own and it was the usual parade of roommates, dives and duplexes (and, really briefly, co-owning a fixer upper which is a whole other story) until I moved to Seattle seven years ago. My parents, incidentally, got divorced right about then and they've gone to opposite extremes regarding the house thing. My mom and her husband have pretty much made a third job between them out of renovating the farm they live on - they're nesters now. My dad, on the other hand, has kept on changing houses every year or two.
Oh, but this is about me (and really, what isn't?).
So then Jeff and I lived at 6700 (although in two apartments) for 6 years. But that never felt permanent because it was so tiny and anyway I was in school and we looked over the parking lot of a big grocery store and the building manager was dealing crack out of the office. Anyway, we're renting a great house, as of a year ago, which really is just about perfect for us - if I give you all the details (fenced in yard! huge windows! charming fireplace! totally and completely wheelchair accessible!) it's impossible not to sound like a disability rights real estate agent, so I wont give all the details. But it's pretty great.
We've been here a year and we just signed another year lease, because buying a house just seems ecomonically (as well as, you know, given our limited interest and ability in home repair and upkeep projects) a bad idea.
Still, I was surprised that I DID feel jealous when I got a message from my friend today saying that she and her husband are buying a new house. I think I turned out pretty good overall, and all that moving had its advantages, not the least of which is that I can REALLY pack a box of books. However. Somewhere deep in there is that feeling that because we have this kid now, that means settling down and settling down means BUYING A HOUSE. Maybe because of our deep conviction that our landlords (who are expecting a kid of their own in the spring) are going to want THIS house back, this house doesnt seem like our final destination either. (Does anyone RENT the same house for 40 years?)
Where is this rambling all going?
I think it's something about roots and where you put them down, and how.
And if you even need to.
So that's where it came from. The question, I mean. Did you live in the same place for your whole childhood? What difference did it make? Let me know.
The question started forming because Husband Jeff's parents recently sold the house they had lived in for 40 years.
Ok, I can type that sentence, but I can hardly imagine it, let alone believe it. 40 years! Who does the same of anything for 40 years? Jeff and I were talking recently...Yeah, you heard that. We went away for the weekend! Alone! Together! So we were, you know, talking. To each other. And no one interrupted us to ask for a snack or tell us about their poop or demand that we sing "All God's Critters Got a Place In the Choir" for the seventeenth time today.
As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by my own train of thought, we were talking recently about how that whole childhood in one house thing made his neuroses different than mine. He's afraid of wrecking the house, which I'm not at all afraid of ("if we break it, who cares? we'll just move!"). I'm more afraid that our neighbors all know something we dont know and that they're all talking about how we dont know it.
Anyway, since 1968, the places I remember, in the order in which I remember them are:
the seminary apartment
the Taylor's Falls motel
the green house with the orange door
the Hardy's house
that house by the river
the Iron River house
the parsonage
the Ashland house
1425 Woodland
the 3rd Avenue house
and then I turned 21 and I was kind of on my own and it was the usual parade of roommates, dives and duplexes (and, really briefly, co-owning a fixer upper which is a whole other story) until I moved to Seattle seven years ago. My parents, incidentally, got divorced right about then and they've gone to opposite extremes regarding the house thing. My mom and her husband have pretty much made a third job between them out of renovating the farm they live on - they're nesters now. My dad, on the other hand, has kept on changing houses every year or two.
Oh, but this is about me (and really, what isn't?).
So then Jeff and I lived at 6700 (although in two apartments) for 6 years. But that never felt permanent because it was so tiny and anyway I was in school and we looked over the parking lot of a big grocery store and the building manager was dealing crack out of the office. Anyway, we're renting a great house, as of a year ago, which really is just about perfect for us - if I give you all the details (fenced in yard! huge windows! charming fireplace! totally and completely wheelchair accessible!) it's impossible not to sound like a disability rights real estate agent, so I wont give all the details. But it's pretty great.
We've been here a year and we just signed another year lease, because buying a house just seems ecomonically (as well as, you know, given our limited interest and ability in home repair and upkeep projects) a bad idea.
Still, I was surprised that I DID feel jealous when I got a message from my friend today saying that she and her husband are buying a new house. I think I turned out pretty good overall, and all that moving had its advantages, not the least of which is that I can REALLY pack a box of books. However. Somewhere deep in there is that feeling that because we have this kid now, that means settling down and settling down means BUYING A HOUSE. Maybe because of our deep conviction that our landlords (who are expecting a kid of their own in the spring) are going to want THIS house back, this house doesnt seem like our final destination either. (Does anyone RENT the same house for 40 years?)
Where is this rambling all going?
I think it's something about roots and where you put them down, and how.
And if you even need to.
So that's where it came from. The question, I mean. Did you live in the same place for your whole childhood? What difference did it make? Let me know.
Monday, November 14, 2005
Report to your Blog Station
If you don't read Janell's blog, check it out. She's pretty great. And so when she asks a simple thing, like "can you show me a picture of where you blog?" I want to do it, if only to compare our yellow walls. Yellow walls! Isn't that what you always wanted? And now that you're a grown-up, you can have them!
When I blog from here at my desk, I look at my favorite pictures of Jesus, instead of out a window, which I've found is no good at all for my eyes. (There's something very, very wrong with the grammar of that last sentence, but you know what I mean, right?)
I'm trying not apologize about the piles of papers and dirty dishes. The rest of my house is not spotless, for sure, but it looks a lot better than this. A blog post for another day is why my office and the top of my dresser are always the last things I manage to get to, even though I AM a feminist (and an excedingly lucky one) with A Room of Her Own. And that entry will go on to explore the idea that once you get your room, it turns out that you still have to really claim it by helping it become a place you love to be. And in order to do that, you have to priortize making it neater sometimes.
Ok, enough explaining. Just here it is.
When I blog from here at my desk, I look at my favorite pictures of Jesus, instead of out a window, which I've found is no good at all for my eyes. (There's something very, very wrong with the grammar of that last sentence, but you know what I mean, right?)
I'm trying not apologize about the piles of papers and dirty dishes. The rest of my house is not spotless, for sure, but it looks a lot better than this. A blog post for another day is why my office and the top of my dresser are always the last things I manage to get to, even though I AM a feminist (and an excedingly lucky one) with A Room of Her Own. And that entry will go on to explore the idea that once you get your room, it turns out that you still have to really claim it by helping it become a place you love to be. And in order to do that, you have to priortize making it neater sometimes.
Ok, enough explaining. Just here it is.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Once upon a time, there was an oldest sister...
Last night at a meeting I was so cool and professional until someone tried to schedule something on December 9. "Hey! That's the opening night for the NARNIA movie!" I cried. Just in case you are also counting down the days, here's a little something to pass the time. (Post this at your own risk - I had to do lots of goofing around with the code to get the banner to show here).
"As Susan, you are mature and respectable, yet with your 'motherly' role you can be quite bossy. Still, you can always be trusted to be loyal and faithful."
Oh, and by the way. Yes, I AM totally bummed that I tested for hateful, prissy old SUSAN instead of You Know Who but I guess it's not surprising. 37 years (well, 35 and a half years, I guess) of being a big sister don't just get wiped out just by reading about it, it turns out. Sigh.
"As Susan, you are mature and respectable, yet with your 'motherly' role you can be quite bossy. Still, you can always be trusted to be loyal and faithful."
Oh, and by the way. Yes, I AM totally bummed that I tested for hateful, prissy old SUSAN instead of You Know Who but I guess it's not surprising. 37 years (well, 35 and a half years, I guess) of being a big sister don't just get wiped out just by reading about it, it turns out. Sigh.
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