This week I've learned 2 new vocabulary words, and apparently so have the rest of the world.

Sunday, I was attempting a crossword that had the word theogony in a clue.  I believe the eventual answer was Hesiod.  Anywhoo, I looked up the word, worked out the answer, and didn't think anything of it, until Monday, when Anu sent me this in A.Word.A,Day:

theogony
PRONUNCIATION: (thee-OG-uh-nee) 

 

noun: The origin of gods or an account of this.

From Greek theo- (god) + -gony (origin).

"The poet [Milton] sees the arrival of Christ in the world in terms of its impact on the pagan theogony."
A.N. Wilson; World of Books; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Dec 23, 2002. 

Then yesterday morning at work the Performance Assurance Engineer began telling me about street light readings in Stevens Point, and he used the terms scotopic and photopic light.  I said, "huh, I know that photopic light has to do with photons striking objects, but what the heck is scotopic?" And he said, it has to do with night vision and peripheral vision.  Wikipedia helpfully confirms this with:

Scotopic vision is the vision of the eye under low light conditions. The term comes from Greek skotos meaning darkness and -opia meaning a condition of sight.^[1] In the human eye cone cells are nonfunctional in low light - scotopic vision is produced exclusively through rod cells so there is no color perception. Scotopic vision occurs at luminance levels of 10^-2 to 10^-6 cd/m². 

I go about my business until late afternoon, when one of my subs calls to inform me his company is offering a series of lunch-and-learns on the latest and greatest info in the lighting industry, including (wait for it) "the difference between scotopic and photopic light, and how it impacts our PC projects."

That makes twice this week (so far) that I've heard a word for the very first time, and then less than 12 hrs later, I've heard it again from an entirely different source.  Apparently I am meant to have theogony and scotopic in my everyday vocabulary.  And since I've now used both of them at least 5 times since I've first heard them, they're supposed to stick.  I'm gonna bet scotopic gets more usage than theogony though.
 

Last night was another successful gathering with the theme "Family Dinner."

Eight people gathered at one of the usual venues, where we shared a lovely meal of appetizers - stuffed olives, cured meats, roasted almonds and a selection of beverages.

Salad was the first sit down course and gardenpriestess  blessed us with a fresh greek salad including goat milk feta (no lactose in goat milk) and a lovely vinaigrette. There were 3 kinds of bread, and while I'm not usually a bread-with-dinner sort, I couldn't get enough of the french loaf, semolina or the homemade walnut bread.

Second was a pumpkin and wild rice soup served from a pumpkin tureen.  It was topped with curried pumpkin bits as well and was so lovely with more bread to sop. Our soupmeister was M, one of bzdchris 's co-workers and so obviously devoted to all things gastronomic that we must have him back again and again :)  Also, the adorable grin and english accent don't hurt.

The entree was a joint effort between barley52  and me - a roast duck, with an amazing and seemingly fail-proof technique of boil-air dry-roast-serve.  The duck was moist and delicious, and topped with a gingered blueberry compote made from fresh berries and candied ginger.  Along side was a wild rice/smoked oyster dressing.  We served a syrah with this.  In addition, legogeekgeezer  contributed steamed broccoli with hollandaise and crispy pancetta bits.  I eventually had to have the pancetta removed from my vicinity, so I could return to the bread.

Dessert was a DIY banana split bar with 3 kinds of custard, homemade chocolate sauce and other traditional toppings, plus whipped cream and cherries.  YUM.  bzdchris  and busman1994  know how to do dessert in all forms.

Afterwards, we lolled around and chatted and laughed until we all agreed it was time to head out.  It seemed a bit early for an ABDC, but we got home around 10:30 and became extremely glad we hadn't tarried.  It seems the boy had made himself a fire in the fireplace, and after a time, decided it was done, and so was he.  So he closed the flue and went to bed.  When we arrived the downstairs was thick with smoke and smelled like a campfire.  We learned our smoke detectors are missing their batteries, and that it takes at least an hour with all the doors open and all the fans/filters running to clear out the house.  There were 2 small logs in the fireplace, burning merrily away, but at least they were contained.  To think we had finally gotten out of the habit of saying "don't burn the house down" when leaving the boy alone.  He's never gonna live this one down.

We got up this morning to remnants of the campfire smell, but the sunday cooking marathon has pretty much resolved that.

ETA: dressing with the entree, doh!

We've all been enjoying the Wii we got for xmas.  All of us do something on it almost every day.  I mostly (almost exclusively) work out in Wii Fit Plus.  Lots of balance, some yoga, some aerobics and silly stuff.  I'm very good at ski jumping and really terrible at heading soccer balls.  My center of balance was pretty darn good to begin with, and now measures almost exactly on the crosshairs most of the time.  The kids also set up Miis for the pets, so we have the dog running alongside during races and such, and the kitties show up occasionally too.

But - the Wii Fit Age assessment is strange.  It's scored based on your real age and your performance in various tests of stability and reflexes/judgement.  Yesterday my Wii Fit age was 25.  Today it was 31.  I aged 6 yrs in one day?  Last week, the mental tests were new ones, and they don't actually give very detailed instructions for completing them, so my scores were 63 and 56.  None of those are anywhere near my true age.

It's fun to bust each other's records and laugh at the crazy stuff we do to get good scores.  I also like that we're watching less TV in favor of more Wii time.  Unfortunately, all this activity isn't doing anything to change my weight.  Over the course of 2009, I lost about 4 lbs.  At the end of June, I was actually down 7-8 lbs from the start of the year, but I couldn't keep them off.  I set myself a small goal of 5 lbs in 1 month (which I have done before so it IS a small goal), and so far (2 wks in) I have 4.9 lbs left to go.  ::headdesk::  Oh well, even if I don't lose much, I'll be much more toned and also have much more stamina.  I can live with that.

Current temperature ~9 deg F.


You know, I downloaded a bunch of seasonal icons, but I never uploaded them to LJ.  Oh well, maybe next year.

My pseudo-resolutions (because they're already in progress):

• Finish the kitchen remodel
• Finish paying off the major medical debt (so close!)
• Help the girl get back on track - with work or school or volunteering - something other than being the consummate party girl

My actual resolutions (in summary - get up and do something):

• Be more physically active
• Be more socially active
• Be more fannishly active

New Year's Day brought bacon-pecan sweet rolls courtesy of the LeMays, Hoppin' John, fabulous sauteed greens by DH, and scampi shrimp.  None of us were overly hungry for dinner, so we left the grits for next time, but I made shrimp broth anyway - it's now in the freezer.  We also tried a spanish Cava that I picked up from Sentry for $6.49.  It was yummy - to bad I didn't pay attention to the winery's name.  Earlier in the day we shared a bottle of sweet mead (White Winter) while discussing mead-making techniques with a friend.

Yesterday we went shopping - exchanged a Wii Motion Plus for a Nunchuck, picked up two new bookshelves for my office (thanks mom, your check went to good use!), two new sweaters (on sale) for me, plus 2 long-sleeved tees and a cozy pair of sweats for DH.  I spent most of yesterday afternoon and evening assembling the shelves and arranging books, plus some rearranging of my office.  It's much more comfortable now - huh, it's been a year since I set it up too.  Still need to paint the furniture though - maybe that should go on one of those lists.  Anyway, all our books are shelved once again.  They'd been in storage for a couple of months since I decided to go all out on the bar, and removed them from those shelves.  I also did a lot of dusting in the past 24 hours - good for sneezing, and also a sense of accomplishment.

Today, we were supposed to get groceries, but the temps were too low for us to contemplate leaving the house. It ranged from 3 - 10 all day, mostly lower.  So we put away all the xmas decorations and dishes, etc instead.  The usual laundry chore, trash chore, keeping the kitchen clean, eating leftovers, reading, and Wii.  A good "lazy" day.

Too bad I still have work to do before tomorrow.  I guess I'll be getting up early, cause I don't see me having the will to do any of it tonight.

Today my Wii Fit age was:  27!  That's just as ridiculous as yesterday's 52 ;)

Thanks to my friend, choisyleroi</lj> , I've decided to keep a running list of books I read this year, so even if I don't review them, I'll have a record.  Spiffy, huh?

January

New Moon by Stephanie Meyers
Not particularly interested in reading the rest of the series, especially after the girl filled me in on the utter fail of the last book.
Breakfast at Tiffany's (plus 3 short stories) by Truman Capote
Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
Meh.  It was doing okay, I could see the appeal, and would have loved it at an earlier age, until the time travelling began.  Then it was all deus ex machina, you know?
Alpha by Catherine Asaro
A female super-cyborg (think Terminator) falls in twuuu love with a dashing hero/pilot.  A Harlequin romance for robots? Told from the human male's POV? It's the first of a trilogy? I dunno. I used to like Asaro, but I think I've outgrown her. 

huh, 3 women and a gay guy.

February

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
So I've figured out why Bujold is my favorite author.  Besides being insanely creative, with a real penchant for political machinations, she's got the best vocabulary evar!

March

Portable Childhoods by Ellen Klages (short stories) (reviewed in my LJ)
My reading is really taking a hit this year because of all the extra work hours :(

April

Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold
Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold
both of these are rereads.  Ethan is for bookclub, and Mirror Dance, because I had a particular scene I wanted to reread.  Unfortunately, that scene was not in this book! LOL.  That's okay though, because I'm never going to complain about spending time with Miles, in whichever persona he's playing.

May

Brothers in Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold (found the scene!)
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
OMG so much love for this book even though it has the insanely crazy cliff-hanger ending.  I laughed and cried alot while reading this (both times).
Filter House Stories by Nisi Shawl (which Nisi signed for me at the WisCon signout!)
After I get it back from the loanee, I'll probably review some of the stories.

June

James Tiptree Jr. The Double Life of Alice B Sheldon by Julie Phillips
this has spilled over into July, but it took up most of my available reading time in June. That Alli led a fascinating life! I think I've still got 12-15 yrs to go...

July

The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey
Ok, lots of 60s (or is that Heinlein?) style treatment of women.  It was definitely dated, but the cyborg science was interesting and believable.  A fast read.
Rainbow Mars by Larry Niven
This was just sitting at our campsite when we arrived, left behind by the previous occupant I guess.  Written in the 90s, has a male narrator/POV although he ends up on a team with 2 women and the 3 of them learn how to utilize their combination of strengths.  Even so, I think there's still "too many dicks on the dance floor" but the women get decent treatment.  It's supposed to be a time-travelling romp, with some good "in" jokes for the better-read and history buffs. Lots of acknowledged borrowing from other authors' view of Mars.  So it reads like fan-fic where you're supposed to know loads of backstory, and you get very little explication if you're unfamiliar with the canon. Pretty quick read, probably pretty forgettable.

August: 

Water Logic by Kelly Marks - Third in a series, and was pretty good considering that I was a little disappointed with number 2.

October:

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult - OMG, I cried so much!  This is really good, and really hits home for anyone with any experience at all with a terminal illness.
Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold - another audiobook.  I lucked up and got this on tape for $4.50 at Vinny's.  There were a few others too, so I thought I'd go back, but alas, I waited too long. :(  Anyway, I was thrilled to finally find out what had happened at Dagoola IV.  This was the only piece of the universe I'd never read.  It did NOT disappoint.


On Deck:

Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is up for July's bookclub. No guarantee I'll get to reread though.
Also the August and September and October AND November! book club picks. Sigh - behind everywhere in life.

I'm up to 15 by women and 3 by men.  Of course, with 6 by LMB, that skews the count...

This year's season was very good to us.  Thanks to the very nicely sized annual bonus, I was able to finally commit to finishing the kitchen remodeling, and DH agreed he'd like that too.  So, I picked out a new fridge (french doors, hee) , and a new dishwasher (the old one was coming apart more with every use), and I ordered the materials for the backsplash. 

Today, courtesy of Craig's List, I got the final wall cabinet I needed.  I've got to set up an appointment with our woodworking friend, who is going to fit this cabinet and one other with new doors.  These are the widest cabinets we've got, and will have double doors that meet in the middle instead of closing against a stile.  The doors will be like pie safe doors, with some of the backsplash material in the frame instead of wood.  Once everything is here, this will be the to-do list:
Pull down the existing cabinets,
Demo the hideous yellow tile backsplash,
Put up the tin,
Rearrange the cabinets
Add open shelves above the dishwasher
Get the microwave mounted above the stove too - that's a different handyman,
Install all the knobs and pulls,
Install 2 drawers in the baking center cabinet - either the woodworker or the handyman can do this

Then we'll be done!  "Done" is relative, as we still haven't come to any decisions on the lighting. But seriously, it's been 3.5 yrs since I started this project.  I'm so psyched about getting to finish :)

For the rest of the loot, the family got a Wii to share - with games that appeal to everyone, plus the balance board and fitness stuff.  It's been getting a workout since it was opened, so it seems it was a good choice.  The boys are playing golf right now.  Mavis got a promise of us paying for the parts to repair her car (anyone know someone who can replace control arms in a honda civic?), plus refurbishing her dead computer into something that works again.  Turns out it needed a new hard drive, a processor fan and a power cord for the monitor (chewed by a puppy).  Total bill to get it fixed will be $55 in parts, a six pack of beer and maybe some kisses.  The boy has been wanting to turn his room into more of a bachelor/socializing pad, so we turned to Craigs List for a very serviceable mission-style futon, and got a microsuede cover for the mattress.  Santa is a champion shopper!  Rupert also got a set of those microfleece sheets that have just hit the market in a chocolate brown.  He hasn't been putting sheets on his bed, just wrapping up in his microfleece blankets, so I thought this would be a good compromise.  It turns out he thinks they're the best sheets EVAR!  The kittens got a tall tower/tree thing that they LOVE! plus some special food, new collars (not their favorite gift) and toy mice.  Cosmo got his usual bone and was thrilled as ever by it.  He also got special food, a USC (Gamecocks not Trojans) bandana, and a "Wooba" toy that sort of looks like a bunny, but with long dangly parts for tug-o-war games (his favorite indoor activity).

The rest of the holiday was centered around food (natch).  Xmas eve-eve, we made ham and scalloped potatoes, courtesy of my boss who sent us a box of fruit and treats which included a pretty nice sized ham.  The boy reminded me 3 times to tell my boss "thank you."  For xmas eve proper, we did gourmet waffles - corn waffles and poppyseed waffles, with a buffet of sweet and savory toppings, plus bacon AND sausage.  Yummy! And the leftovers were perfect for breakfast the next day.  For the big day, we had snacks of a cheese tray (so much yumminess), lovely shrimp cocktail, some pate' and salami from Haman Charcuterie, and lots of tasty beverages.  The usual suspects, bzdchris  and busman1994 , came over to spend the afternoon, so all I had to do was put out the cheese tray and open wine :)  For dinner, we did our traditional Meditteranean Feast - roast leg of lamb, hummus, baba ghanoush, couscous, relish tray, flat bread, followed by baklava and ice cream.  It was the first time Mavis's boyfriend came to dinner, and though he was reported to be a finicky and unadventurous eater, he said several times that he really enjoyed the meal.  Yesterday, DH used the leftover ham to make a super tasty "Who Hash."

The best presents are the simplest - as evidenced by the stuff we exchanged with our friends.  We gave a blueberry mead, a jar of baconnaise (an in joke), and delicious Cherry liquer and Nut Chocolate liquer from Vom Fass.  The cherry was in a bottle shaped like a woman's torso and the chocolate went into a male torso.  We received the annual puzzles (3 this time!) and a framed collage of four pics taken of DH and me in October.  We were sitting together at the LeMay's wedding dinner.  When I saw the pics, I burst into tears - I had despaired of ever getting a great picture of us together, and here were 4! framed already!  I am thrilled.  And grateful.  It was the best xmas ever.

  

  

Last Friday (the 11th), I had an adventure at lunchtime. 

It really kind of started on Thursday, when i left a frozen powerbar in my cupholder.  I had taken it out of the console, intending a quick pick-me-up but realized it was too frozen to eat.  Later that night, when taking the boy to his school concert, I noticed the wrapper was torn at the end.  I thought, "huh, I don't remember actually opening this." I left it in the cupholder.  Friday morning, when I got in the car to drive to Waukesha, the end was completely open and nearly an inch of the bar was gone.  Now I'm really confused, wondering who tried to eat the frozen powerbar.  I tell myself it must have been Rupert, and drive to my meeting.

At lunchtime I went to pick up lunch for my group.  Upon returning to the car (Kid), I was startled by a large, shaggy brown & white mouse sitting on the passenger seat!  "Eeek! " I squeaked, and jumped back, but didn't drop my box of sandwiches. Go me.  So I'm frantically trying to figure out what to do.  Should I go inside and ask for help?  No, that's too embarrasing.  Should I call my assistant and see what she recommends (she's no nonsense) or call home and blubber all over B? Should I just get over myself and set the box of sandwiches down, open the passenger door, and evict the mouse?  Aha, finally my brain has spit out something useful! Except, ewww! I'll have to touch it!  But I'm wearing gloves! I can do this!  so I did.  By the time I got the passenger door open, the mouse was halfway up the back of the seat, but I grabbed it (had to use my left hand so I get extra points for coordination) and quickly set it down on the ice-covered pavement.  It scampered away to the best of its ability (it looked really cold), and I returned to the office flush with victory and sandwiches.

So on my drive home I'm thinking about how I've got this story to tell B, about how full of womanly competence I am, when the girl calls me.  She wants to warn me before I get home that my car (Ruby), will have the spare tire on it.  The right front tire has been losing air frequently, and I've just been pumping it back up when needed.  I told Mavis about it before I loaned the car for her to go to work.  She said she was watching it, but halfway to Brooklyn, she realized the tire was flat.  So she's on the side of the road with a flat tire.  What to do, what to do?  I'm thinking she pulled out her AAA card and called for help.  That's why she has the card, right? But no.  My girly-girl princess got out the spare and changed the tire! By herself!  I asked, "you were able to break the lug nuts loose?" She says, "Dad showed me how to change my tire when I got my car.  He said to stand on the tool and bounce a little to break them loose.  It worked!"  So after getting the nuts loose, she jacked up the car and changed the tire.  "I just remembered what Dad said. It wasn't too bad."  AND she got to work on time. So Mavis totally blew me out of the water with her womanly competence.  I am still impressed.

Last night was the December gathering of the Arrogant Bastards Dining Club. We assembled at the lovely home of bzdchris and busman1994 , a total of 9 braved our own driveways, and the pile of slush at the end of our friends' road to partake of a Japanese-themed meal.

First up - tempura straight out of the fire, ala bzdchris . Still sizzling morsels of sweet potatoes and squid tentacles were paired with 3 sauces - wasabi mayo, siracha mayo, and ginger-soy. The tempura was perfectly crunchy and all the sauces matched well. It's hard to pick a favorite. A selection of beverages accompanied: hard cider, sparkly stuff (enhanced with preserved hibiscus flowers), beer, sake.

We took our seats to be served a cool crisp and tangy salad of cucumber, daikon and sea vegetable courtesy of oakwind and her guy. The beverages continued from the previous course.

Next was Inari-zushi from leathermines . You know, those fried packets stuffed with rice and other goodies. They were on a tray of fresh cabbage, and made beautiful with carrot flowers and lemon slices. There was pickled ginger and a thick dipping sauce featuring white gourd. So yummy! The most amazing thing is she put this together from what was already on hand in her kitchen! I wanted a second one, but decided to save myself for the later courses.

gardenpriestess and legogeekgeezer conspired to present a simple dish of perfectly cooked and marinated shrimp, sprinkled with sesame seeds and accompanied by strips of red and yellow pepper. We were presented with a choice of warm or cold sake- different kinds for different applications. I've always drunk cold, and it didn't even occur to me to try the warm, but there were plenty of people who were happy to have my share. I was happy with my choice too. For this course, G cooked the shrimp and L "cooked" the sake :)

Finally it was time for barley52 and me to get our course together. We had been gently (ahem) encouraged to bring sushi. B really wanted to try the 4-sided roll again, so I made the Japanese omelet that goes in the center. We thought we'd do a selection of styles, so we had Tuna sashimi, lightly grilled salmon belly nigiri (OMG awesome), and a mango, candied ginger and red pepper roll. We made up the plates to be shared with the person across the table, and they were very pretty. We brought along a bottle of Zen sake, which was lovely chilled.

Dessert was provided by busman1994 . He learned to make fried walnut-pear wontons the same time we started making sushi rolls, and they are always well-received. Last night though, we had two flavors - pineapple and mango. They were served with dollops of excellent vanilla ice cream.

It was a four hour tour of Japan, and we all enjoyed it. Going back out into the snow, with no cherry trees in sight was not appealing, but we had to come home eventually.

We had some plans to do so,me things today, but the major thing involves going out. Our driveway and road is really icy though. Then B noticed that Victor Wooten is playing, meeting & greeting people for free at noon today out in Middleton (Full Compass Systems?) and as tempting as THAT is, the road conditions are not making us want to go anywhere.

Yesterday, I received my annual bonus - Yay!
It was 4.7% of my annual salary, so it was $600 more than a regular paycheck.

EXCEPT, then they took out the taxes. I had changed my withholding allowances from 5 to 9 on advice from a friend, to minimize the hit to my net. The change was in effect for this payment. I sure would hate to see what the taxes would have been if I hadn't made the change. This check had 2 kinds of deductions: 401k (which I wasn't expecting, but OK, since I would have put some of the money aside anyway) and FED/State taxes.

The taxes withheld from this check were more than twice as much from a regular paycheck!! OMGWTFBBQ!!!!1! Even without all the medical, dental, insurance, FSA, etc deductions, the net of this payment was less than a regular paycheck.

I know I'll get this back when I file my taxes, but still, this is RIDICULOUS!!!! Our tax system is seriously FUBAR. I'm a little shorter on cash than I was expecting to be right now. I thought I was being conservative, estimating 25-33% of the bonus would be withheld, but they took out HALF! It's not the end of the world, it's just seriously fucking annoying. Payday is Tuesday. I wonder what my paycheck will look like with the 9 withholdings, and how much that will make up for today's unpleasant surprise.

gakked from wolfshark :

If I came with a warning label, what would it say?

picked up on DW, but posting here because my real life friends will have amusing answers :)

18 inches of snow! Since I live in the Oregon zip code, I am totally claiming this, especially since we lost one of the front evergreens overnight. We're gonna need a chain saw. DH & the boy worked in the driveway multiple times to get it shoveled, but it's still not entirely clear. Tomorrow is another day!

The heat tape in the gutters seems to be doing it's job, but the back of the house and the chimney still were quite coated with snow. No water or dampness inside the fireplace so far. It will be interesting to see how this works through the season. (Have I mentioned that we finally rerouted the cable and got a new fireplace screen and have been having cozy fires since Sat? No? Well, we have. hee)

I worked most of the snow day, but not a full 8 hrs - slept in for starters, long hot shower, had pancakes for breakfast, then got dressed for the day. I did finally learn how to generate invoices in our accounting system - something I should have been doing myself for the past 2 yrs, but I've been spoiled by a very helpful person in our region. Now I know, and I feel better about that.

Yesterday, as the snow was moving in, I had my performance review. It was actually conducted in my local office - my boss came to me! First time since I've started, but he's the "new" boss (albeit with 30+ yrs in the Co) and he has some eccentric ideas ::g:: Some days on this job, I feel like a rock star. Tuesday was not one of those days. It was an extremely fair review, meaning legitimate shortcomings were brought up in addition to praise for things done well. The (new-this was his first time to review me) boss actually said, "I've loved working with you this year and am looking forward to many more years together." That's more important to me than anything else he could have said. My entire careeer, the one thing that's brought me the most pride is that everyone I've ever worked with or for has wanted to work with me again. It sucks that I'm being dinged for a job I inherited and had no clue how to fix, but I've also got a couple of weird ones that I inherited very early and performed well on execution, but just can't seem to close them. They'll be done soon enough and won't be hanging over me next time around.

We've got one really good quote for new windows. There's no way we can do all of them at once, but I think we can manage the upstairs (half the job). The tax credit will help out too. We should probably get one other quote before committing The soonest we'd get windows in place is late Jan, early Feb, but it's better than waiting any longer. However the news today of a potential 50% rebate (if passed) on energy saving projects will help down the road to get the downstairs done.

All those who know me in RL are probably of the opinion that I have plenty of glassware/barware. However, I am contemplating yet another acquisition. Should I add another 4 wine glasses in the Spode christmas tree pattern? Or concentrate on getting a more of the Lenox Debut? I currently have 4 of the Spode and 2 of the Lenox. I just can't decide which one to augment. The Lenox is good year round, but my Spode collection is just about complete ( 10 Dinner plates & salad plates, Platter, relish dish, 4 cereal bowls, 4 wine glasses).

The kittens did not like being tossed into the snow :) They looked cute though. The dog (a full grown black lab) was buried up past his belly every time he went outside.

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow's temps. So not ready for -1 deg F. Couldn't we just have a few days of 20s first? Then 10s? I need to acclimate.

I've been enjoying soaking up the "sun" of my early birthday present - a daylight lamp. It showed up at my desk side right before Tday. The thing works. It keeps me sane. I always feel more *able* on the days I've spent time under it. Best bday present evar! However, I am also buying myself a sexy red silk wrap dress from Wintersilks :) with some of the funds from my year-end bonus! Woot! Getting that notice was definitely a rock star day.

The girl moved home again last week. She's still working at the coffee shop, and babysitting on the side, and looking for something a bit more in line with her life goals.

I went for the first of my 2 crown appts on Monday afternoon. I'll get the finish done on the 21st. The dentist has a super light hand - I never felt an actual poke when he was numbing me up.

The boy has his winter concert tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to that. I enjoy listening to him play, even though the rest of his class has a pretty wide range of skills. Sometimes the concerts are a bit painful to sit through. The years ahead of him and behind are blessed with some very talented kids, so their parts of the concerts are lovely.

The wine "cellar" (a shelf in the bar and another in the beverage cabinet) is amazingly full of red wines at the moment - we're not so much red wine drinkers, but we've been coming across some cool bottles. There's about 8 bottles of red, and 3 of white in the house right now.

One more thing that fills me with glee - we ordered "The Ask and the Answer," book 2 of Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking series. The coolest thing about this is that I read the first one to DH, and we had to wait all summer for book 2, and when it finally arrived, I held it up and showed it to DH, he clapped and said, "Yay!" So thanks, beer_marmalade ! I don't think we've ever been equally thrilled about a new book :) (Although, every. one. in the house misses Manchee).

Tonight, we were looking for yet another "soft enough" entree that wasn't soup or smashed potatoes. I decided to work up a carbonara-style dish.

Carbonara is basically a one-dish meal of pasta, fresh eggs, cheese and a cured pork product. It's usually considered a little fancier than omelettes, but it's actually easier to pull off.

Orzo pasta (about 1/3 pkg - 3 servings)
3/4 c Herbed yogurt cheese, grated (found at Brennan's recently - they have 3-4 varieties and they taste more cheese-like than any other lactose-free "cheese" we've found).
1/4 c finely shredded aged gruyere (hard cheeses are less challenging for my lactose intolerant guy, YMMV), plus a couple Tbls for garnish
2 eggs, beaten
1/4-1/2 c finely minced smoked trout
1 thinly sliced baby leek
3-4 diced mushrooms
1 minced garlic clove
2 Tbl EVOO
2 Tbl minced parsley

while the pasta was cooking (10 min), I sauteed the leeks, garlic and mushrooms in the olive oil (I also added a drizzle of truffle oil)until very soft. I ended up adding a couple ounces of beer (wine would work too) to cook them down enough.

I mixed the beaten eggs with the smoked trout in the bottom of a wide pasta bowl, added the cooked veggies and then stirred in the drained orzo. Once the eggs were incorporated with the pasta, I added the yogurt cheese and the 1/4 c gruyere, mixed well, then stirred in the parsley.

After plating, I topped the carbonara with about a Tbl of grated gruyere and a parsley sprig. This made 2 very healthy servings. For 3, I would stick with 2 eggs, only going up one additional egg for 4-5 servings.

The orzo lost a lot of heat during the assembly of the dish, which traditional spaghetti doesn't do as quickly. Perhaps a heated serving dish, or mixing it on the stove instead of in the bowl would solve that. In addition to the finely minced trout, you could add some more chunky pieces of the trout too.

It started with a raging headache on Wed afternoon, which forced me to quit work early and take a nap.

In the morning, I got up earlyish and prepped the stuffing and a few other items, helped B get the turkey in the oven, made a corncake with dried cranberries for breakfast (which was ok, but not repeatable) and chatted with my dad for awhile.

Our guests arrived between 11 & 12, so we set out the rock star relish tray, a selection of cheeses and a goose pate', and Rupert's requested Fried Brie. Yum.

Around 1:30 we slurped down 3 dozen oysters on the half shell (3 varieties) with homemade cocktail sauce that included fresh horseradish root from the farmer's market. We tried out the bottle of "Bitch Bubbly" (pink) I picked up awhile back - fun and fruity.

Around 3 we sat down for the main meal:
Roasted Heritage Turkey (delicious, moist and tender)
Oyster stuffing
Candied yams
Shredded brussels sprouts
Mashed peas
Cranberry surprise (Mavis's annual take on the southern cranberry jello salad-this year it barely jelled so we ate it from little bowls)
Turkey gravy
Beaujolais Neuveau (sp?)

Later on we had homemade (lactose free) pumpkin pie and cherry pie for dessert. In between all the cooking there was the parade, music, phone calls from relatives, text messages, football, crosswords, and The Princess Bride with all the adults being geeks about the dialogue.

Friday was a day of total rest, we never stepped foot out of the house. Although we did finish cleaning the kitchen. And made turkey sandwiches and enjoyed the leftovers.

Saturday we finally figured out how to reroute the cable out of the fireplace and cleanup all the wires associated with the entertainment electronics. It looks pretty good now. In addition, we got a new firescreen and fireplace tools, and had our first fire in a very long time. We also read the first 100 pages of "The Ask and the Answer" which is book 2 of Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking series. We miss Manchee.

Sunday was another quiet day, although all the laundry got done, and B put the heat tape on the back of the house to help prevent the gutters from freezing and hopefully to prevent the office window from being a block of ice all winter. I turned the turkey carcass into 2+ gallons of stock, made turkey sheppard's pie for dinner, diced all the remaining meat for pot pie and creamed turkey and soup planned for the upcoming weeks. The house smelled heavenly again. B made a quick run to the grocery for milk and ice and chocolate, but I didn't go anywhere.

I didn't work, which I probably should have done. I've got to be at the site at 0700 today and the other site at 0900, so now I'm off to put on my game face.

Unfortunately, all of them seem to want too many mental spoons to translate to LJ. So have a meme (although I doubt any of my readers will learn anything new from this):

some questions. or rather, answers.

1. first name
Goldy

2. age
I admit to 42. Not because I am vain, but because it is a cool age and it was a good year for me, and I think I can legitimately get away with it until I hit 50. Soon I will celebrate another anniversary of 42.

3. location
greater madison, wi

4. occupation
Construction Manager

5. partner?
joined at the hip for 23 years to barley52

6. kids?
Mavis - 19.75
Rupert - 17

7. brothers/sisters
3 sisters - one deceased, one adopted, one step
2 step-brothers

8. pets
1 dog - Cosmo, the big black dog
2 kittens - Philip "Bootsie" Collins and Princess Tiger Lily. So named so we could refer to them as Phil & Lil. Only we never do.
1 fish - does anyone want a saltwater fish with a nice tank and some live rock? I think this one has outlived our interest

9. list the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life
work
dh's health
getting closer to paying off medical bills

10. parents
Dad & Maria, happy in SC but thinking of moving to Texas or Oaxaca to be closer to her side of the family
Mom, living with the adopted sister and her 2 boys.

Mother Nature was kind to me yesterday. I had planting to do this weekend, come hell or high water, and Friday was definitely looking like high water would be the challenge. But by noon on Sat, the sky was sunny and the pavement was dry. The dirt was also soft enough to make the job easier.

I am currently working mostly on the front yard and the path on the west side of the house. The path was my focus all spring and summer, I'm just starting up with the front.

The path around the west end is really important, because it used to be the only way to enter the back yard, and because we entertain outdoors so much that it's the "entrance" to our parties. At the front end of the garage is a Japanese Magnolia marking the beginning of the path, and the path has been "paved" with limestone slabs and pebbles/gravel in between. Directly along the garage is a lovely mature row of hostas and the opposite side is a slope with a fence on top. The entire section is mainly in shade all day. The slope has been getting harder and harder to mow, so last spring I attempted to rip out everything growing wild over there, and replanted with creeping red sedum. The sedum has red stems and is supposed to bloom with tiny red flowers from July through Sept. Since the sedum is red, I thought I could introduce red onto the hosta side as well. Yesterday I planted 3 red bleeding heart plants in front of the hostas. If they do well, I'll continue them along the whole path. We're also thinking of putting an arbor at the front end under the tree. This will allow us to train the wild trumpet vine onto the arbor, since we obviously are never going to eradicate it, and we're worried about it damaging the garage roof. I also want to put some kind of decorative urn or statuary right at the corner of the garage (and maybe a matching item at the other corner).

The front yard has a hardscape plan that we haven't been able to implement due to lack of strength and stamina (and cash). There's a walkway from the driveway to the front door that is about 4 feet off the house. The planter box under the front windows has rotted away and the strip of grass in front of it is useless. The front stoop needs repair. The hedge under the front windows on the far side of the stoop has got to go. The plan is to completely pave the front length of the house with bricks/pavers in a section that is about 8 feet wide. This will create a beautiful front patio area (that is hopefully easier to keep cleared of snow too). In front of the LR windows, I want big planter urns with tomatoes or other sun loving veggies (this is the only place in front that gets full sun all day). In front of the BR windows, I want some nice patio furniture for an outdoor sitting area to enjoy morning tea and a book :) The patio's edge can become a planted border as well, cutting down further on mowing.

For now though, I'm working on cleaning up the weedy undergrowth around the trees, and introducing some color. We don't have lots of sunny spaces, but we want to make better use of the spaces we have. This summer, B added a 2nd daylily patch to the front slope of the drainage ditch, and an iris patch provided by gardenpriestess. I cleaned up the rose bush near the front walk, but I don't know anything about roses so I'm not sure when and how to trim them.  Yesterday's planting of spring bulbs included 20 grape hyacinths, 20 mini daffodils, 20 mini irises, 5 snow drops, 10 pastel tulips in 2 different clumps, 5 each of 3 different specialty tulips, and 20 mixed crocuses.  They're scattered in clumps around the bases of various trees in the front.  I'm hoping most of them will actually come up although I have my doubts about one patch I placed to be seen from the house.  I tried to plant everything where a bit of sun was actually shining to give them a better chance (bulbs can tolerate partial shade, right?)  I have 2 more irises to plant in B's patch.

I also added a golden hosta to the base of the lone tree in the east yard.  I saw this particular hosta at a friend's party last summer and loved it - so much prettier than the usual suspects.  Finally, I added 3 new daylilies to the bed in the backyard.  Royal Red, Strawberry Candy-stripe and Wineberry Candy-stripe.  The prices from Burgess were good and the size of the rhizome was impressive.  (We usually pay more for half the size at the Farmers Market, and we've had really good luck with them). So I'm optimistic about those.  Ms Jackson says daylilies don't care when you divide and plant them either, so just do it whenever you've got the time/energy.

The two-tiered bed is actually falling apart, but we haven't figured out exactly how to replace it.  It's at the back end of the west side path, in front of the fence still. It's one of the few places that gets lots of sun, although it's shaded in the afternoon.  The daylilies and the prairie flowers seem to like that spot though. I'd like to extend the bed along the length of the fence to the back corner of the yard, and I'd like to add a primitive arbor there to mark where we cross into the neighbors' yard.  The hop trellis is back there too.

I've got a few items left to plant today - 3 cherry bushes that I hope will like the back fence line (and survive the deer and black walnuts).  They're supposed to end up looking like a dogwood bush when they're mature, and start producing cherries in about 3 yrs. Also, 2 butterfly bushes that I have no idea where to plant, and a couple of freebies - a burning bush and a lily pip (whatever that is).  Do I even want these?

I like working in the dirt, and pulling weeds is very meditative.  I had planned to devote an hour a day, but the mosquitos managed to chase me off.  There's a nice time in the mornings where the mosquitos aren't too bad, but on weekdays, it's not feasible to get out there then.  The end of the day, when I could use some unwinding, is just too too buggy.  It ends up being a misery instead of a delight. I'm going to have to work on that somehow.

to emorog 

Have a great day :)

Well, the last month flew by and I'm still feeling like a truck ran over me.

The latest accomplishments were:

•  returning from SC with all 4 of us in one piece, and no real drama during the trips or the visit
• preparing and serving the salad course, side dishes, a baked brie and autumn sangria for bzdchris and busman1994's wedding supper mid-week (the ceremony was lovely and the gathered friends and family were all delighted to be included in the official event
• signing the refinancing papers for the mortgage (4.5% baybees!)
• keeping my head above water at work (although not gaining ground yet)
• attending and helping keep running smoothly, the wedding reception for the above mentioned newlyweds all yesterday afternoon

And last night, as I was doing a bit of fluffy re-reading (brooklinegirl's "Girls Girls Girls" and Kellie Mathews' "Boardwalk"), the phone rang.  It was kind of late ~9:30 and I thought it would be one of Rupert's friends because he had a few over, doing the pizza, TV, nintendo thing, but the area code was 704, so I knew it was long distance, but couldn't place it.  I answered the phone, and a male voice said he was looking for me, using my given name, not the one I go by these days.  Huh.  "This is" said I, and he launches into a tale of how hard it was to locate my number, and I finally had to interrupt to say "who is this?"

Turns out it was my ex-fiance (S), the one who bailed immediately before I met B.  Now I know we've spoken a couple of times in the past 10 yrs, but really, it seems a bit presumptuous to think I'd just recognize his voice.  Especially since we've only emailed (basic updates) in the past 4 yrs.  Anyway, we chatted for about 30 min, caught up on all the family news - his mom passed away last year, his younger sister is remarried and her first kid is a mom with a 3-yr old now (this kid was a cute 6-yr old when I met her 24 yrs ago), his own boys are 13 and 10 (and I'm so glad that *I'm* not 10 yrs older with kids that age).

S's explanation for calling me out of the blue was that he was feeling melancholy and nostalgic, and remembering old times.  He revealed he had also called up 2 other old friends earlier in the day.  It was nice to hear how the one was doing (he'd come to Chico several times and had a semi-standing thing with my roommate/best friend, which was convenient since he was S's best friend). The other one I didn't get to know as well, so whatev.

But he said one thing that stuck with me.  He said I sounded "just like the old R, the one I knew in CA and was engaged to all those years ago.  Relaxed and totally yourself."  Which, yeah, I'm not that "old R" but it's good to know that the relief I'm feeling after the past 4 years is starting to show through, and maybe I will be on a more even keel soon, and hopefully for a good long time.

Today, I have to fill out my goals (due tomorrow) and do my piece of 3 performance evals (due Tues) and prep for 2 weekly status meetings for tomorrow morning.  I also have to do a major run on the grocery store (we barely scraped through this week) and need to do some laundry and housework.  So, playtime is over for today.  At least we got to sleep in and lay about yesterday morning :)

Seriously, how much do I love this?!?!?!?!



taken during Mr Obama's trip to Louisiana, I believe at a town hall meeting.  See more fabulous pics here:

Obama Pics Daily

I'm afraid to add this to my daily feed, it would take up too much of my time, but for the sheer amount of feel good that gets posted there, it's worth keeping in the faves.

Okay, we're packed and ready to go! Six days in SC, and the long range forecast says the hometown is expecting snow the day we return.  Heh.  That'll be a shock to the system.  Oct in SC is actually quite lovely. 

It looks like between the 4 of us we'll only be checking ONE bag!  We each have a carry on, and the one big suitcase with all the forbidden items in it weighs less than 35 lbs! Take that stupid airlines with the $15/bag fee each way! I Laugh in your face.  I also have a spare carry on bag packed in case we want to check 2 on the way back, to cover any items we may pick up down there.

The housesitter is all set up, she's even driving us to the airport in the morning!  Yay! The pets already like her so they're all going to have fun together.  We cleaned out most of the stuff from the fridge too, and the laundry is all done, so we'll have something to wear when we get back.

Don't you just love big family weddings and get-togethers? (read with whatever voice you choose).  I haven't even called my Dad to say we'll be in the neighborhood, but this is mostly about DH's family this trip.  He's going to meet his 2 granddaughters for the first time! They're just shy of 2 and 3 (each of the older boys has 1 kid).  I suspect there will be many many pictures taken and much grandparental spoiling.  A special trip to ToysRUs has already been considered. And all his sibs will be there and a bunch of the other side of his family, and all of us, and his fave nephew and his wife are coming in from France.  The newlyweds better be properly appreciative of all this familial solidarity.

I sorted out the jewelry problem too.  I found this strange big pin at Vinny's, it's weirdly pointy but abstract; half sparkly turquoise and half brown with goldish designs.  I didn't *love* it immediately, but it was the most interesting thing I found in 3 stores,and was only $2.  Then I found a pair of dangly earrings with a small turquoise glass bead at the top and a larger brownish glass bead at the bottom for $8.  They go great with the pin!  So for roughly $30, I have a full outfit of dress and jewelry.

DH's suit is very very sharp.  He ended up with 2 dress shirts and 2 silk ties too, because there was a bogo sale.  His suit is dark navy with a subtle pinstripe.  The shirt he's wearing to the wedding is blue with a windowpane pattern and he has a burgundy tie with navy and beige and other colored flowers on it.  It's kind of a traditional print with more contemporary colors.  The other tie is purple with a windowpane set on the diagonal - it's really cool.  The funny thing is, we got them home and I realized that the majority of DH's ties are in the purple family.   The boy is wearing his "performance" outfit - black dress slacks, lavender dress shirt and "the scream" print tie (also in the purple family).  The girl has a new purple sweater and a flowered mini skirt.  Her legs look a mile long in that outfit.  I feel like I'm going to be "one of these things that's not like the others."

When we get back, we'll have to do the shopping for the fresh stuff for a special supper on Wed.
Thurs DH has a Dr appt, and then we close on the refi, yay! 

I got a lot of work done these past 2 days, but of course not nearly enough.  Fortunately, my clone is quite capable and has a long list of things to take care of while I'm gone, so I won't be even more behind when I get back. In fact, I may be able to report a state of nearly caught-up-ness in the very near future.  Just in time for the holidays.