Yummiest lunch ever, aka not exactly crucial post except for procrastination purposes

Or at least in recent memory...

Spanish rice and tofu = Better Homes Spanish Rice recipe + 1 package extra firm tofu:

1 clove garlic, minced
1 med. onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped

Sautée those with in big skillet olive oil (recipe says 1T, I used a bit more, ahem). When onions turning clear, add and stir in:

1 28-oz can diced tomatoes with liquid (i.e. do not drain)
1 c. water
3/4 c. rice (uncooked)
1 t. chili powder
1/2 t. pepper
several shakes Tabasco or sim.
1 whole package extra firm tofu (crumble or use the already-cut-into-cubes kind)

Bring all to boil. Cover and simmer 20-25 minutes til rice done and liquid absorbed.

Caveat... My rice wasn't done after 30 minutes so I added another 1/2 c. water and turned it up to boil again. I let it boil a good 7 or 8 minutes, then turned down to Strong Simmer (left it at about 1/3 heat, couple steps above actual simmer) for another 20 minutes.

So so so yummy. Interestingly it called for no salt and tastes great (normally I'm not a huge salter so you wouldn't be able to take this at face value if you love salt but I'm going thru a particularly salty phase for some reason and it still tasted yummy to me!) Lots of other veggies could be added as well and of course fresh tomatoes would really make it yummy but this was great and fairly easy. The veggies do end up a bit overcooked but the rice and tofu had plenty of time to soak up spices this way - in future I will cook the rice beforehand and add early, then stick in oven or let Low Simmer for extra long time so rice can absorb flavors hopefully. Of course the tofu could be marinated beforehand if you like to do that; I almost never have luck with getting tofu to soak up any flavor whether I marinate it beforehand or not, but in this case it did (possibly it couldn't really ignore the Tabasco).

One of the best parts was using my big paella pan that I hardly ever get to use. :)

settler giver, aka the most rambly post in a good long while, and another that probably should just have gone straight into my journal, but it took on a life of its own and now I'm too pooped to copy/paste

So without the gory details, I had cause to use the term "indian giver" yesterday (just to myself) about someone I used to know, but didn't of course b/c it's not PC, plus it's completely erroneous - if anything we should say Settler Giver or something because it was the incoming settlers, pioneers, US government, etc., who REALLY kept giving things and then wanting them back.

All that aside, personally it's just further proof that if you don't feel right about a relationship/person/whatever, you should listen to your instincts and end it.

We always come back to the same thing: Shakespeare (by way of Polonius) had it right - "...To thine own self be true... thou canst not then be false to any man..." I truly hope that's the last relationship I look back on and regret not listening to my heart. There could well be others which entail other regrets, many which can't be helped and therefore for which one shouldn't blame oneself, but that is the worst one. If you don't pay attention to yourself, to what you know in your Soul is right, then who the hell ARE you going to listen to, Susan?!

On the bright side I probably won't ever be involved with anyone ever again so I've got that going for me... At least as long as I stay in the dry socket of love known as the Upstate.

Not that I'm ready at this point, so I guess the reverse side of that coin is perhaps I will finally have got fed up with being here and will end up somewhere else where I am not the only fun single person my age (because you KNOW there's no way we're picking anyone very much younger ever again). Of course then it will be a question of finding someone who doesn't own anything so we can just use all of my (incredibly fun) housewares, etc. Altho I'd let him bring his furniture if it was fun (read: antique/retro) and assuming we were going to share a house that was big enough so that I could keep my favorite pieces - and of course his furniture WOULD be completely fun because if I saw anything not fun the first time I was at his house I'd have to end it right there.

Kidding!

Mostly... anything animal print or naugahyde (or real leather if not an antique), 

with cupholders, or that entails attaching more than one reclining apparatus together, 

and I'm out the door, seriously. (And honestly anything too Laura Ashley or Shabby Chic,

i.e. left by an ex, and I'll react pretty much the same way... 

Altho someone like that either has no taste or just hasn't had time to replace things, 

so probably that would bode well for my keeping all of mine :)

I am not sure when I became so materialistic. Not that I am overall, but still. Probably partly stemming from giving all my stuff up when Scott and I got married (good decisions all 'round! har.) and then giving a bunch more up when I moved from AZ, plus giving up all the family antiques I was supposed to get because I didn't have money/space to store them anywhere when Dad was downsizing (this batch is probably particularly key since a lot of the stuff I have now I specifically got b/c it reminded me of family pieces and has since become surrogate heirloom material)... all of that plus the very lack of a relationship I think. That is I think I'm much more attached to My Things now, the more time I spend on my own. Maybe that's completely normal. Maybe it's even as it should be...

Sometimes I'm nostalgic for the cycling trips - that glorious feeling each morning leaving a hostel or campsite and going thru the checklist of stuff I/we Really Needed:

• money
• passport
• journal
• some fruit to last til the first market
• a handful of layerable garments*

*no Susanhyperbole there, promise - 

I still remember when Dean came to meet me

in Boulogne and I showed up with my little duffle

(about as big as two basketballs tied together)

and my handlebar bag

(about the volume of a smallish shoebox)

and he couldn't believe that was all my stuff.

That feeling resurfaces during backpacking or each summer in France with my downsized stuff... I always think "when I get home I'm going to get rid of a bunch of stuff. Look - I'm fine with two pairs of pants!..."

Hmph.

Grading now...

Reaching ever new heights

in procrastination.

sometimes the universe gives you exactly the words you need exactly when you need them

Alex cited this in his sermon today; I had noted it down but forgot about it til now.

Messenger

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird -
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.

-Mary Oliver, from Thirst

melancholy mac-less mitraillette which is basically just journaling out loud so y'all should probably skip it, srsly

For no particular reason. That is, I could be bummed about computer issues, etc., but honestly it doesn't feel like it's because of that, nor does it feel like it's because of all the work I still have to do tonight, or of how fat I feel today. So anyway...

• Good news is computer woke up today.
• Bad news is for some reason it won't charge and no combo of any of my Mac cords works to charge it so it must be the connection on the machine itself that is sick. 
• Good news is I was able to copy my exams onto a thumb drive AND (super good) just barely had enough juice still in there to do a backup on my exterior drive. It is at 12% power left now - hopefully that's enough for diagnostics at the Mac store.
• Also good: we practiced the Kore again tonight and it is sounding phenomenal. We're doing it next Sunday as well as doing "Song of the Angels" again (from last year) so I'll have links to share if all goes well.
• More good news is the Apple people think my warranty will probably cover whatever needs fixing as long as it's not the battery. I can't believe it would be the battery b/c there hasn't been any problems holding a charge, etc.
• More good news is there is an Apple store in Gr**nville - way closer than I was thinking. (I was expecting to have to trek to Atl or Charl*tte.)
• Bad news is if anything isn't warranty-covered I'm in trouble because this paycheck was destined for two extra things already, which is why my envelopes for this week and next only have $30 each (I always go ahead and do a bigger grocery trip before I get my envelope money out thank goodness so honestly that is probably plenty - since I have no life - also that $30 is after taking out $36 for two weeks' of Open Studio fees and a bag of clay [which should last me 4-5 weeks] so really the weekly amount is ~$45, only some of it is already allotted - I was good and even put it in the car so I wouldn't forget to have it with me at the studio Weds. night AND - especially crucial - wouldn't forget and spend it).
• Good news is the old Dell is able to go online after all. I'm not sure why I remembered it as having wifi problems but it's fine - and since I emptied it of all personal files, music, photos, etc., when I got the Mac, it is running really fast, especially for its age. So far it's not driving me too crazy typing on it, altho I have yet to do anything in French and my fingers do not remember the MSWord accent strokes anymore at all so that will be Really Fun I'm sure when I go to do the final edits on the exams. Luckily they are mostly done.
• Not so bad news is the Dell's battery is shot (I knew this already of course) so I'm tied to the power cord... If they end up having to keep the Mac very long I am REALLY going to be bored during my finals, unless I lug this and all its wires to the classroom. Actually towards the end of the week I'll have grading to keep me busy but I'm not sure what I'll do during Tuesday's. Actually I should probably work on syllabi... No idea if the Dell will read from the hard drive backup since it was done on the Mac and don't want to use up the last Mac juice copying more files... altho it wouldn't take but a minute...hmmmm.
• Not terribly bad news is for some reason I can't get the current anti-virus version from CC*IT to install right on here. So hopefully I'll get the bulk of my work done tonight before I catch some huge virus; after that I could just use an ofc computer if nec. tomorrow. Meanwhile the gigantic stupid red "YOU ARE NO LONGER PROTECTED..." message will not fricking get the hell out of my way on the desktop, but oh well.
• Being able to copy the exams was probably the bestest part of it all; I could have pretty much just retyped the 2nd yr one since I'm changing almost nothing from my summer exam and have the hard copy handy. The 1st year one, tho, I had created from three entire other exams, one of which was from Aub*rn and therefore not accessible except electronically, so it would have been a lot of work to redo without Friday's files.
• Good news also is Tully gets great mileage so even with the trip to Gville tomorrow I'll be fine with Friday's fill-up til next payday.
• Bad news is (and this is probably part of my malaise) I am just feeling so negative and bitchy - I swear I can't say a single positive thing - well not only positive anyway - for some reason everything has to have some little snide add-on right now (and really not just right now...)
• Good news is Sammers is completely cuddly tonight.
• Bad news is we are both out of luck - too much work for the lap or the hands to be taken up with kit activities for very long.
• Probably should name the Mac - I think I've been tempting fate all this time having it go without one. It might have finally got fed up with being the only major inanimate object in my life that didn't have a name. Also I recalled that even this Dell had one so the Mac definitely merits it, no?
• Good news is Sam & Lucy rock, Sh* Sings rocks, it was a beautiful sunny day, I got a fair amount done on Leah's throw at UU (esp. since we had a congregational mtg afterwards today), the kitchen is clean, I ate well today, I remembered to take the recycling out this evening, the extra checking account is entailing a few changes in money management that are having multiple unexpected good effects, Sherri and I are going to do a duet on Christmas Eve, and old Buffy episodes are still great to work to - not too distracting, yet action-y accompaniment to doldrum-inducing (or at least blah) work, which I will dig back into now, having subjected everyone to a way too journally post.

crappy but not too unhappy

My mac died tonight. I am surprising myself by not panicking yet. Am charging my old Dell which I for whatever reason still have around so at least I can rewrite my exams - even tho it means typing them all out from hard copy if I can't get my storage drives to work with the pc. It will probly take me about as long to type stuff on the pc as it does on here. :(
Anyway so far I'm mostly not freaking out, just keeping my fingers crossed that IT will not have too bad of news when I take it in there Monday. Meanwhile I'll spend most of tomorrow at the office doing online grading on the extra desktop since the Dell can't go online. Joy.
Sigh.
Envoyé de mon iPod.

Pots

Picked up the latest batch of glazed pieces yesterday - one I had picked up last week but hadn't got it posted yet. This batch is the most successful of mine so far here. Finally no glaze running and every combo looked good. The one piece I'm not super happy with was mostly a test and I still like it for me at any rate, and learning from a piece is far superior to not having any idea what went wrong or what to try next (which is how I had been feeling glaze-wise here so far for the most part).

This black glaze is my new fave.

When it's thin, the black glaze makes a beautiful green.

Inspection.

Lucy found the one that looks prettiest with her.

Probably my favorite piece - very reminiscent of Breton cider pitchers.

The black glaze does wondrous things when layered on top of amber - the amber did a super fun thing there inside, too - that will be something to play with on future pieces.

This is the one that is kind of a fail but I still like it. I'm going to make a set I think but not rub off the glaze.

The black will turn green nicely on its own where there is texture. I'll let you know how it goes.

Decent pot but almost certainly going to be reglazed.

I'm going to do lots more closed-form lidded pots like this one and the little round tan one from earlier in the fall.

Fairly fun little pitcher.

It says "Ceci n'est pas un pichet." (cf. Magritte :)

Decent little mug and great glazing combo for gifts.

Flashback Friday in Touraine

Allons à Tours ensemble!!

fiber fun

 First a dishrag of course, in my new favorite self-striping yarn... pink but not sickening pink.

and my new favorite stitch...

Lucy always knows what things she'll look best with.

Yarn cake anyone?

 A scarf Christmas present using Lion Brand chenille multicolor black plus Fun Fur - it is lusciously soft and thick, as you can see from the cake photo (folded to four thicknesses). It is also super stretchy.

This yarn is kind of what Lucy would look like as yarn. And obviously here it is passing the softness test. She had to be shooed off for me to put it away.

Yarn cake is yummy in the daytime, too! Plus you can see the furriness.

 It is not quite as long as standard scarf.

Here are better detailed shots...

This might be another idea for a debit card... or a blog background? Hmmmm.

We'll see if it is a hit next week sometime.

Doodle poll laws according to SDC

We haven't had a nice fun rant on here for far too long... They were habitual in A*burn but Clems*n rants have been more in the Pity Party category, and not chuckle-worthy in the least. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come (back)...

Event planners:

• If you are trying to schedule something but are just going to ignore the doodle results, do not use doodle
• If you are just going to email people after the fact asking them when they are available, do not use doodle
• If you cannot copy a link correctly to send to people, do not use doodle

Potential event attendees (savvy doodlers please excuse redundancies here which are necessary for the, um, less savvy):

• If someone sends you a doodle link: 
• Basics...
• click the link
• put your name in the next empty blank on the form which pops up
•  click "Show all options" (if applicable)
• click all squares corresponding to times you are available
• click "save"
• Reiteration of certain basics...
• when you've opened the poll read and follow the instructions (usually "Click all times you can come" or similar)
• for best results oval-shaped things which change color when you take your cursor over them and have instructions written on them should be CLICKED, especially "Show all options" and "Save" 
• If someone includes you in a doodle poll, have your calendar beside you so you don't forget to allow for any commitments in your doodle clicks
• If someone includes you in a doodle poll and you are of the generation which mistrusts "Save" buttons, after you click "Save" simply look at the poll again to check that your name and times are saved; do NOT write the person to let them know that you don't know if your times were saved or not
• If someone includes you in a doodle poll and writes the group after the close of the doodle poll announcing the chosen day/time, do not bombard them with emails later about whether some other night might work instead - if you MUST change the day, go look at the doodle yourself to help find a new time!
• If you violate the advice directly above, and the person writes you back saying "The times I set are the only possible times for the whole group according to the poll," likewise do NOT keep writing them with other ideas based on YOUR schedule
• If someone sends you a doodle poll link and you keep having trouble, do NOT write the doodle person saying you couldn't get the doodle to work or "it keeps arguing with me" (my personal favorite), simply:
• get help in person, OR
• sell your computer and/or swear an oath never to use one again in situations which might impact other people in any way

He dicho.

mitraillette of getting herself to dig back into work

• Fun! just heard from my brother that we are doing a gift exchange (him, Kare, the girls and I) which eliminates about 50% of my Christmas puzzlement. I had started a kinda big (in size not super elaborate or difficult technically) project that had Leah's name all over it. This even tho I couldn't think of anything comparable to make for Dyan (even if I had the time to do both, which... yeah right), much less any ideas yet for P&K. But in the exchange I got Leah! woo hoo! Here's a picture of the project in progress (I'm relatively sure Leah doesn't read here and tho Paul does sometimes I am trusting him to keep the secret), a couch throw:

 This is part of one swatch - it will consist of four of these sewn together. I love the colors. I decided to do random switchbacks stitch-wise to make it more interesting but I'm not crazy about the idea now. I think when all the pieces are together it will look fine but it doesn't necessarily add much.

As usual the colors aren't true except in the natural light shots (the 1st and 3rd). It is delightfully light and fluffy, tho, and you can kind of tell that here.

I'm also playing a bit with the sequence of the stripe sizes. The pattern has you do two panels each of a certain sequence but this one is going to have each of the four panels slightly different.

• Have about 2 hours now to get another chunk of work done before our departmental meeting, which of course I am SO looking forward to.
• Back on my plant-based victuals, having finally finished all the Thanksgiving fare. I never got my pumpkin pie made tho so I will be having some dairy and egg intake one of these days here...
• Tonight a few pieces should be out of the glaze fire and two more should be ready to glaze. Thursday is our last official class but after that I'll start attending Wed. eve open studio instead of doing classes. Erin is leaving the center for another job plus in spring I really can't have two whole evenings per week tied up (even for fun) and I need to save money anyway. (For OS we buy our own clay from the center and pay $12 per studio session; glazes and equipment all at our disposal.)
• Sad I won't have time to make anything to snack on (we usually have a mini party on finished-item retrieval night).
• I really hate doing recs.
• I especially hate doing recs for people who are not rave-worthy. Nothing harder than making someone who is pretty intelligent, pretty diligent and/or pretty motivated sound like someone with whom no qualifiers would be necessary, much less someone for whom you could replace "pretty" with anything stronger...
• End-Sem whining has already begun and I don't even have all their grades up yet. Braced for more.
• TC is going to pop, I swear. I don't want to stop putting extra food out for whenever Beau happens by, but she seems to get up and have a few more mouthfuls almost every time she changes position as she naps and lolls around all day. She is quite the Tub at present. I still think there are worse things for a quasi-feral than to be too fat, but it's kind of worrying me. There's pretty much nothing for it tho.
• Have been more or less productive all day til now. (Most of you know that "more or less" productive is pretty danged good with my easily distractible brain.) That's even factoring in 20 minutes of Christmas cookie recipe internet surfing.
• We sounded great with our extra little group piece last night after our normal SSAA rehearsal. It actually sounds way better - I think - than the piece the group at large is doing this Sunday at UU, but oh well.
• For some reason I'm only scheduled for 4 classes in spring. Of course the paranoid side of me thinks it must be because I'm not doing a good job. Hopefully it's b/c there are less sections. And in truth it is probably good for me to have a slightly lighter schedule for once, even tho it means lighter paychecks, too, which I'm not happy about, especially leading up to Paris which I always have to save and scrounge for beforehand even just for day-to-day expenses...
• Oh I know, standard eyeroller applies: poor you having to go to Paris!
• Whatever. Perspective matters.
• This is what I got my grand-nephew for Christmas, been saving it since summer. Of course I think it is incredibly cool (sure, in general due to its Frenchness and traditionalness, but also did you know that Sophie has -and always has had- completely non-toxic materials, including plant-based dyes?) but I'm a little nervous that it is so little/simple compared to (a) the piles and piles of other toys he has and (b) all the bells&whistle&otherwise tech-y stuff that is out there for kids these days, even little ones. There's also the fact that tho we do have some French genes in our family they are pretty sparse, and might not be enough to make Andrew instantly bond to Sophie the way French kids seem to even nowadays. Hmmm.

Image purloined from this site where you can read about Sophie, si vous voulez.

Double Whammy Flashback Friday

We're approaching break of course and it is much more pleasant waxing nostalgic about really fun previous breaks than concentrating on stressful pre-break work.

So here are two posts from my 12/07 trip to DC and MD over Christmas.
Un.
Deux.

(Click us.)

thanks 11/11

le 1^er.xi.11 - unexpected productivity
le 2.xi.11 - 2/3 done with class visits, all of Eric's done, no meetings or anything tonight, and last but not least Flight of the Conchords
le 3.xi.11 - done wtih class visits for fall, Frasier once again making me laugh til I'm crying, and new La Croix bottles
le 4.xi.11 - really cool students
le 5.xi.11 - really really fun stewardship soirée at UU
le 6.xi.11 - new knitting patterns, clean kitchen, sleeping in, cuddling with the fuzzbuckets, and especially: DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME!
le 7.xi.11 - my fun rayon skirt & the fact that I didn't toss it in the move like I started to
le 8.xi.11 - talking myself into going to the studio and throwing 3 nice pieces which helped my mood considerably
le 9.xi.11 - yay no crêpe production at my house tonight - whew!
le 10.xi.11 - fun student talk re Tours, and being mostly successful today at not getting myself all upset about French Club slackers
le 11.xi.11 - no-fuss hair
le 12.xi.11 - red wool yarn
le 13.xi.11 - fairly low stress World B*zaar crêpe stand
le 14.xi.11 - fun reminiscing and dinner with les filles et Justin!!
le 15.xi.11 - last crunch day busy-ness/event-wise for a while :)
le 16.xi.11 - 8am's turned my mood around & Meredith's Paris perspective
le 17.xi.11 - catch-up day, covenant group, and studio
le 18.xi.11 - caroling plans, & feeling nostalgic about scraping car windows
le 19.xi.11 - really cool quartet rehearsal, and Lynn Cohen & Tovah Feldshuh in the same L&O rerun!
le 20.xi.11 - bamboo stitch
le 21.xi.11 - 102 at Java City & an appointment-less day on the calendar!
le 22.xi.11 - steadfast friends, specifically Tracy, Candace, Kate & Jessica
le 23.xi.11 - 14 hours' sleep & Jack McCoy
le 24.xi.11 - understanding & thoughtful friends
le 25.xi.11 - Kathy Burke, Kathy Baker & Kathy Bates
le 26.xi.11 - feline lap blanket, pie itch, italics
le 27.xi.11 - last minute reprieves & low-key hospitality partners
le 28.xi.11 - The English Patient is finally on Netflix streaming (why oh why did I sell that DVD back in my pre-move purge?!) Of course this means I need to reread the book as well, the late wondrous Anthony Minghella's sublime adaptation talents notwithstanding.
le 29.xi.11 - Susan Ch's intuitive and inspiring perspective on our piece last night which made us sound instantly wonderful singing it
le 30.xi.11 - sock needles!