Randon Tuesday Thoughts on Wednesday

So I'm a day late? I'm also a dollar short. Does anyone say that antidote anymore? Yeah, I didn't think so. And, with the economy in the toilet it should read: A day late and 10 dollars short. We can just say I'm late today.

As most of you know I was at a Librarian's conference this weekend in lovely but busy Washington DC. Our nation's capitol, where the air is humid and the drivers are crazy. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to stop by your blogs but the conference site didn't have wireless. I KNOW! How crazy is that.

Here are some random highlights of my trip. Details to follow.

Wine on patio of restaurant in Annapolis, Maryland.

Very pretty
Very peaceful
VERY HOT!
VERY HUMID!

Exhibit hall in conference center.

Busy little bees work down there.

Cooking/cookbook demo in exhibit hall.
You knew I couldn't pass this up
Hey, I got a free cookbook out of the deal
and that gentleman up there, we had a meaningful discussion.
Okay, we traded business cards. Shut up! It was too meaningful.

Cookbook section of the Mt. Vernon gift shop.
I really haven't found a gift shop I didn't like
but one that carries cookbooks is my favorite.

Mt. Vernon. The home of George Washington.
He was there by the way.
Of course, he's dead.
So he probably doesn't smell too good.
He probably didn't smell too good when he was alive.
Bathing wasn't an everyday occurrence back then.

Pretty flowers.

We'll get into some more details in the coming days. I need to make some apologies to the drivers in the Washington DC metro area, I have some thoughts on conference sessions held after lunch, the best thing I ate and many more exciting topics. Can't wait, can you?

Off to work now,
See you all later.

Love,
M

Flying First Class

Way back, like a hundred years ago, or maybe it just feels that way to me this morning, flying around the country was a big deal.
A very very big deal.
A big enough deal that you got dressed up for the occasion.
Men wore suits and ties
Women wore dresses, heels and hats.
And pearls. Pearls were daytime wear.
Think Mrs Cleaver.

(Matt-Man: think Mrs. Cleaver with clothes on. Just teasing. No really, put some clothes on her!)

This was back when airlines served food.
Real food!
Food that you used a knife and fork to eat.
Real knives and forks!
Made of silver or stainless.
Stainless for those flying coach,
Silver for those flying first class.

The flight attendants were all women.
And they weren't called flight attendants.
They were called stewardesses.
They wore dresses.
And little caps.

If you were lucky enough to be flying first class
after you got settle into your seat,
you were handed a menu.
A menu with choices of what was being served on that flight.
The menu usually had some sort of art on the cover.
Art like this:

This is a first class menu from a United Airlines flight to.....
Guess where?
Chicago!

I thought it was suitable for framing.
What do you think?

Love,
M

PS: this is one of those things that I found among my in-laws things. Eddie worked for United Airlines as a mechanic. I thought it was wonderful. I will not be handed a menu on my flight to Washington DC tomorrow. There will not be real food. There will not be silverware. Not even plastic. I won't be wearing a dress, or heels, or pearls. And the flight attendants will not be all women. Though that's not a fur sur thing.

Moving hints, tips, tricks, and all around good ideas

If I've learned anything in the last 6 years of moving from place to place it's been never collect too much stuff and go vertical.


Let's start with too much stuff.
We have pared down to the bare bones.
Things we just thought we had to have to make our life complete becomes a heavy load when moving. Even if a company comes into the house, loads all your crap into the back of a truck and drives away you are still left with stuff.

Stuff that you can't seem to part with.
Stuff that seems to breed.
It breeds more stuff.
And that stuff breeds more stuff
And then more stuff
Until you have stuff you didn't even know you had.

I say; enough with all the stuff.

Our stuff has to meet a certain criteria in order to make a move with us or be brought into the house to begin with.
1. It has to have been worn, used, and/or purchased in the last year.
2. It has to have sentimental, family memento or antique value. This falls under the same category as; Is it replaceable?
3. It has to fit in a box nicely (with the exception of furniture).
4. Bring in something new, take something old out. If something new is coming in what am I willing to take out?

There are a whole bunch of clauses to these 4 rules but all in all they hold true.
Sometimes if I am being particularly ruthless an item can meet all four and still lose it's place in the household move. That is just the way things roll. The stuff doesn't care.

My second suggestion in placement within the new place. If you haven't got as much floor space. Go up. Shelving is cheap compared to renting or buying a place that is bigger.

We have lots of different kinds of shelving but I like the kind that breakdown into movable pieces. Looking nice is also good. Sorry about the blurring pictures. It was early this morning. Or maybe it was because I just found the camera. The camera I worried I wouldn't find until after my upcoming trip. The camera we just bought.

$30 shelving from Big Lots goes a long way to clearing floor space.
I could actually use one more of these units. One of the nice things about not spending a lot for shelving is that when you go to move again if it breaks you are not out a whole lot of cash.

Baskets and bins are your friends. We like to buy all the same type. They stack better and last longer. If you are storing things in your attic or basement plastic bins are wonderful.
I've almost got enough room to paint. One more set of shelves on the wall over there and I'll have enough clear space.
I'm giddy.
Can't you tell?

This set of brackets and shelf has made three moves.
When I first put it up it was in the foyer of our house. It made a great place to drop your keys when you walked in the door. The next move it found a place in the breakfast room. It held tea pots and pitchers. Now it is above my dresser. Just looking pretty.

My last moving hint is to give yourself one calm place among all the boxes, wrapping paper, and clutter. A place where you can put something pretty. A place where you can stop and smell the roses. (hey, you knew that was coming)

Got a great moving tip? Post it in the comments.

Love,
M

Memories - Like the corners of my mind

If my mind had corners,
I guess.
I'm not sure what that means.
Whatever.

Memories are funny things. Somethings I remember like they happened yesterday and other things, like what I had for lunch (veggie chili, BTW), I don't. But, of those things I remember this stands out.

A little context:
Eddie - my father in law
Mago - my mother in law

The story,

One afternoon I was working in my kitchen, doing what I'm not sure (I see something I don't remember). Probably washing dishes. It seems like when the boys were young and I was a SAHM I was always doing dishes. That or laundry or cooking or cleaning the bathrooms. I heard a knock on the door.

On my doorstep was Eddie. He was wearing his usual attire, a plaid flannel shirt, blue jeans, that hung off his waist just a little bit, like he had lost weight or something, and a cap. He was the last person that I expected at my doorstep.

Me: Hi Eddie
Eddie: Hi
Me: Come on in. Do you want some tea?
Eddie: Sure
Me: What brings you here?
Eddie: Just a few things I need to clean up.
Me: Oh
Eddie: Not here. Somewhere else. I just thought I'd stop in.
Me: Where's Mago?
Eddie: She's not here
Me: Uh uh. Do you want to walk down to the mailbox with me?
(walking down to the mailbox was something that Eddie and I did everyday for 10 years. I started to walk with him to the mailbox when he started going through my mail when he went by himself. This wouldn't have been a problem except that he would hit the garbage can before giving it to me. Grocery sales flyers - into the trash. Reports from the kid's school - into the trash. Credit card bills, yep - into the trash. Eddie deemed them a waste. I deemed them necessities. It was a philosophical difference we just couldn't overcome. hence, my walking with him to the mailbox.)

Eddie: Sure

Eddie and I walk down to the mailbox, dogs and chickens trailing along. Chatting about the boys, what a great job JR was doing on the yard, and all the other mundane things that people talk about when they walk along.

On our way back up to the house, (our mailbox was a couple of hundred feet from the house. So it was a nice little jaunt for us) I asked the question that would define the whole experience.

Me: Since Mago is not here, where is she?
Eddie: She didn't know I was coming.
Me: Why not? Aren't you together?
Eddie: no
Me: Where is she?
Eddie: She's somewhere else.
Me: Why is she somewhere else?
Eddie: Where you are is all about faith. She had more faith so she's somewhere else.
Me: Oh, can you change?
Eddie: No, it's all about faith. I've gotta go. Bye
Me: Bye, Eddie. It was great seeing you.

And he walked away and I woke up.

This would have been an interesting conversation to have with Eddie because on a whole he wasn't too deep but since he had died the week before it was rather profound and it effected me greatly.

My memory of this event, I hesitate to call it a dream, is so clear that I can conjure it up in it's entirety even today, 15 years later.

I have my own interpretation of what Eddie meant by his statement that it was all about faith but I'll let you decided for yourself what you think he meant. Because, I believe that we each have to come to faith (in whatever; religion, ourselves, mankind, etc) by ourselves.

This memory was provided by Eddie in conjunction with the Sprite's Keeper Spin Cyclists.

Love,
M

Please take the time to watch

This is very important stuff.

Love,
Michele

Things I found while stumbling around

And I mean stumbling with stumble upon not stumbling because I'd been drinking too much and was literally stumbling around. Honest, 2 glasses of wine is my limit. Well, 3 if its a weekend but never mor e than 4. And, 5 is way out because that means I've drank the whole bottle. And, how sad it is that I know how many glasses of wine there is in a bottle. Yeah, uh, er, let's get on with the random.

Random Tuesday Thoughts.
You know the drill,
visit Keely and all the others
That let it all hang out on Tuesday.

And they're all vegetarian and kosher!

My sentiments exactly!




She looks pretty good for someone that's been hitting the horse hard enough to require an intervention.

I find this disturbing.

Deeply disturbing.

I matriculated from the wrong university.

I hope all of you have a nice Tuesday and that your eyes recover from that beast up there.

Love,
M

Vegetable Souffle - Meatless Monday

I bought the recent issue of Cooking Light magazine on Saturday and while most of their recipes include meat they do offer a section called Everyday Vegetarian. I appreciate the fact that Cooking Light tries. Unlike the Food Network, who offers nothing but shows with recipes that include meat.

(A rant. So if you don't want to listen to it just skip down to the recipe) Seriously, Food Network! If you gave a damn you would realize that a portion of the American viewing public either doesn't eat meat or is cutting back. I know that we are not a huge market share but we are growing crowd. Do you want me to list a few of the more prominent vegetarians in the U.S. of A.? Also there is contingent of Americans that are cutting their meat eating by one day a week. Could you give them a bit of help by offering some innovative and interesting ways to use vegetables and alternative proteins? Is that too much to ask? Uhmmmm? Is it? Yeah, I didn't think so. You're just lazy asses.

I'm sorry I got a little off topic. That tends to happen when I've had a couple of glasses of wine. But I've been watching the Meat Network tonight and getting tired of converting recipes. It's annoying. Anyway, I've got a recipe that didn't take a chemist to figure out. (I'm not a chemist. I'm a librarian. Librarians don't do math or chemistry or any of those other istry things.)

Once again I took a recipe from a reputable source and changed it just a bit. Not a lot, just enough to make it awesome. Please disregard souffle in the name of this recipe. It is not hard. You do not need crazy utensils. And, you do not need special frou frou crap. So here it is:

Vegetable Souffle

4 cups cubed eggplant (1/2 inch cubes. 1 medium sized eggplant. do not peel)
1 cup chopped red pepper (about 1 medium one)
1/2 sweet onion (chopped)
3 cloves garlic (minced)
1/2 or so yellow summer squash (chopped)
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups non-fat milk
1/4 cup flour (Linda, use something glutten-free that will thicken)
5 tablespoon Parmigiana cheese
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
4 large eggs
3 large egg whites
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Heat up the olive oil. Add eggplant, bell pepper, onion, summer squash, and garlic. Saute until tender, about 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Take off the heat. Let cool while you make the cheese and egg mixture.
3. In another large pan add flour and milk. Stir with a whisk. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat for about 1 or 2 minutes or until thick. Add Parmigiana cheese, a little salt, and red pepper. Stir until the cheese is melted. Take off the heat to cool.
4. While cheese mixture is cooling down separate the 3 eggs. Whisk the whites until foamy. You don't have to have peaks or anything. I kept the yolks for breakfast the next day.
5. Crack the whole eggs into a fairly large bowl. Whisk slightly. Temper the eggs with the cheese mixture. To temper add a tablespoon of the warm cheese mixture to the eggs while whisking. Keep adding the cheese mixture to the egg mixture until you have about half of it mix in. Pour the egg mixture into the cheese mixture. If you have time you could just let the cheese mixture cool to room temperature before mixing with the eggs.
6. Add vegetables to the cheese mixture. Gently fold in the egg whites.
7. Spray a souffle pan or casserole dish with cooking spray. Pour in egg and veggie mixture. If using a souffle pan bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until eggs are completely set and puffy. If using a casserole dish bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until eggs are completely set and puffy. Serve immediately.

Serves 4 to 5 people

I hope you give this recipe a try. It turned out really great, wasn't that hard and could be very impressive.

Love,
M

Fun with sheet music covers

It seems to me that sheet music from the late 19th and early 20th century have some of the greatest graphics around. Not to mention the fantastically crazy titles. But, what title can't be made better with a little tweaking? I say none. So, let's have a little fun with sheet music covers why don't we?


#1 Robin They Tell Me You're Going Away

My versions:

Robin, a Bird Just Crapped on my Head
or
Robin, Your Hair Seems to Have a Life of it's Own. (No, seriously it just spoke to me. Dude! Make it stop. It's scaring me.)
or
Robin, I just wanted to mention this sore on my lip.

#2 Death is Only a Dream

My versions:

Help me! I'm stuck in this oval and can't get out.
or
Death isn't only a dream (if it was only a dream you wouldn't smell so bad)
or
(Oh shoot, I can't think of another one because I'm too fixated on the original title. Who writes songs like this? Well, obviously the incredibly morbid A. Buckanan writes songs like this. I wonder if a little Xanax wouldn't help him. Or my favorite combo; Xanax and a glass of house red. Or maybe Mr. Buckanan had a thing for opium? Whatever, the guy was weird)

#3 Houston's Enterprise Grand Marches

My versions:
Choo Choo Choo goes the trolley
or
10 points if you hit the dog

#4 Grand Secession March

My versions:
Grand WTF Happened March
or
It Sounded Like a Good Idea at the Time March
or
Yep, We Need a Grand March Because You All Know How That Secession Thing Worked Out for Us.

(this one is very unusual. Most old sheet music isn't printed in color. It is interesting to note that the first shots fired in the Civil War were in Charleston, SC. The Delegation were on their toes to have written a march on such short notice or they could have written this some years earlier when they decided to succeed. They were just a bit secession happy back then.)

#5 Reconstruction! Grand March

My versions;
I don't Remember Signing Up For This Grand March
or
Are Those Bones in Your Hands or Are You Just Happy to See Me March

#6 Mary

Uhhh...yeah.
I'm not even sure what I can say about this image except, well, maybe,
Ouch!

Got a title to share?

Have a great weekend.
Love,
M

We Came, We Moved, We Collapsed

Just wanted to let everyone know that our move went well.
No one put their back out.
No one fell and broke anything.
And No one was hurt while being the person that had to walk backwards with the heavy piece of furniture without decent handholds.
(yes, all of these things have happen to me while moving. but, not this time. This time I made it out unscathed. It's like a flipping miracle! Do you think that pope will canonize me for not being a klutz?).

We are now waiting (rather impatiently, I might add) for the cable people to get off their duff and set up the TV and internet. Yes, if someone had gotten off their rear end to make arrangements, like say a week ago, this wouldn't be an issue but alas, it is not to be. I did make the arrangements today so Thursday it is. A long wait but it could be longer. the only painful part is the lack of internet (my reader...it calls to me). If it was just TV I'd say screw it and use the bunny ears because with those suckers we get about 12 channels. Of course, most of those are Spanish language channels which do me no good because about all I can say in Spanish is, "where is the bathroom" and "I'll take 2 beers, please." So unless the actors are standing in a bar I'm pretty much out of luck.

Until Thursday (when all bets are off) you all take care,

Love,
M

I knew I was keeping them for a good reason

They make great packing material.

I'm all about recycling!

Love,
M

Breakin' up is Hard to do.

We are moving on Saturday (I've decided to have a moving company move us. JR is not getting any younger, ya know).
While, I'm happy about a lot of our new place's features like:
the 3 mile commute,
the pool,
the concrete floors (think dog fur clean up),
the cheaper rent
the 3 mile commute (I did mention that already but it deserves another mention. My commute now stands at 20 miles and 45 minutes with the move it will be 3 miles and less than 10 minutes, yes dreams do come true).
After saying that there are things about this house that I am really going to miss.
Things like...............

Our backyard.
Nessa is going to miss this the most but JR and I will miss our gardening endeavors, our grill, and having drinks on the patio. We have potted up all our herbs to take with us. We have enough to totally fill our new tiny patio. Sure we could just buy more but ours are doing so well that I don't want to have to wait for new plants to grow big enough to trim and eat. And, after last winter's loss of basil I will never ever be without fresh basil again. I was a sad sad basil-less wreck of a person this past winter and truly nobody wants that again. It isn't pretty.

Our his and hers closets. His and hers closets along with dual sinks has saved our marriage (not that it was ever in doubt but the sinks totally helped). JR and I will have to share a very large walk-in closet. It's a good thing that JR doesn't have all that much stuff because I, on the other hand, have a boatload of clothes. Makes me think that I need to, as we librarians say, weed my collection of clothes. Yeah, right! Like that's going to happen.


But the number one thing that I will miss


Our wet bar.
Sad isn't it?
It's all lonely like.
*sniff, sniff*

Love,
M

Starting over and it feels so good?

I had a busy day on Tuesday.
I packed up a good deal of my studio. The easel is down, the paints are put in a box and taped shut (sob) and all the other craft crap I've got hanging around is out of reach.

I went to the university computer store. Yeah, so $200 later my laptop is up and running. I'm now the proud owner of Windows 7 and Kaspersky antivirus software. I backed up all my old files and photos so those are back where they belong. Life is good if not richer.

I popped over to the new place to pay the June rent.

I slinked my way to the OB/GYN for my annual lube and oil change. After my undercarriage tuneup I wondered down for the upper carriage work. Once again, I was reminded why I avoid doing this every year. I'm glad that is done for this year.

After that I wasn't willing to do any cooking. So, my idea for enchilada eggrolls that I planned to make will have to be put off until today.

I did load up my new OS which kicked that Trojan right in his skirted hinney. Then I started playing with the screen backgrounds. Holy Moly! Windows 7 has a whole bundle of screensavers. I was having a grand time figuring out how they worked. Why, yes I am distracted by bright shiny objects. What I've decided is to let about 20 of them shuffle through every minute of so. The default is 30 minutes but I must be more ADHD than I thought because 30 minutes just seemed too darn long to wait for the next sparkly to show up.

Here's one.
Pleasant huh?
For some reason my graphics look so much better.
It must have been something I ate.

Then you can go online to pick even more themes.
Themes about places I'll never go and cars I'll never be able to afford and words I can't even pronounce.
Thanks Microsoft for making me feel like more of a loser.

And then there are the cats

And even more cats.

I maybe a librarian but I refuse to go down the cat road.
I'll stick with big roll of hay,
Thank you very much.

Thanks for popping by. I'll get around a bit this week and even more next week. JR has been cracking the whip around here and to tell you the truth it's not near as much fun as I thought it would be.

Yikes, was that too much information?


love,
M

RTT - 10 reasons why I have to keep this short.

I'll be keeping my random short today and here is why;

1. My big laptop became intimate with a Trojan on Friday. A truly unpleasant and uncomfortable occurrence for all of us. People that develop computer viruses should be shot and pissed on.

2. I have appointments at about five different places today. One of which is the computer store at the university for my laptop and another is my ob/gyn for me. Feels like the same place for each of us.

3. We are moving closer to town on Saturday. The house is a hot mess of boxes.

4. Microsoft Security Essentials. The word Security is a misnomer. It should say, "Microsoft we are essentially open for business".

5. I can't paint for a week. Okay, I lied. I left my watercolours out but it's not the same.

6. JR is under the mistaken impression that all the crap that won't fit into places around the new apartment will go in my new studio space. Yeah, right!

7. Moving + computer virus + furlough day = no new easel for Michele. Truly sad.

8. My fingers are too fat to type on the mini's keyboard for long.

9. My mini and I have become even better acquainted and my eyes have become strained looking at the little screen. I still love you mini but you're just a tad small for everyday use.

10. I have to pack my studio today. *sob*


I hope you all are having a better day. I'm positive that Keely and friends have much more interesting and lengthy random posts today. Go check them out.

Love,
M

PS. I'll be sort of occupied for a week or so as we settle in so if I don't get around to visit please bear with me. If you don't see me for a month send help!