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...

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.

Rats, just 2 bites into lunch I broke the corner off a back tooth.  I've known this could happen for a while, for the past few months, there have been twinges whenever I chewed something hard.

So, my last dentist never answers his phone.  I went down a list of dentists in town, and found one who can look at it at 2:30 today.  Because I sure don't want to go through the holiday weekend with an exposed nerve ending.

When it rains, yadda yadda

And I was doing so well with my work stuff today - making up for yesterday's deficit.  le sigh grande

Yesterday was the long-awaited consult with the dentist over B's treatment plan(s).  We went into it thinking we were going to get all the financial info associated with each option, and come out of it with appointments and a payment plan.  Not so much.  We got some more detailed info about options, a list of oral surgeons to consult with, and the news that the "interim" work would cost $1700, to be paid up front or in 3 installments, to allow the oral surgeon to use up all the dental insurance benefit.

We left not knowing what the options cost or even which of them would be more or less expensive, and no appointments, because seriously, this summer has sucked for the cash flow. I was fairly upset by both the financial implications and the dentist's tactics.

Then we went to the bank to sign for a short-term loan we're getting to cover the trip to SC in October for B's brother's wedding.  It's not horribly expensive considering 4 people flying and staying 5 nights, plus a rental car, but we booked on Orbitz, which is prepaid, and we have to pay AMEX back this month, and like I said, the cash is not in hand.  I was pretty sure I could get most of it paid before the end of October, but I am still paying off the surprise MN trip too.

Anyway.  At the bank, B suggested we just add some to the amount to cover the $1700, and it only added 4 months to the term, so I felt a lot better about that.  Still don't know what the oral surgeon will charge, or what their payment plans are like, but I can always back off on the other medical bills (take longer to pay them off) to accomodate another payment without really increasing the cash outlay.  So OK.  We'll work it out.  The bank rep asked us if we had considered getting a credit card for emergencies, and our reply was, we don't need a credit card when we can come here and do this.  We prefer not to have a revolving account.  This is our 3rd short-term loan with them, and we've been at this credit union for most of the 10 yrs we've lived in WI.

THEN, the nice lady asked if we had considered refinancing our mortgage, which is at 6+%, and actually, yes we had, but hadn't gotten around to doing anything about it.  She took our application on the spot (about 30 min) and we realized we could refinance the 1st, roll in what's left of the 2nd (~7k), still have plenty of equity, reduce the interest to 4! point! 5! percent! AND reduce the term to 15 years! (we are currently at about yr 4 or 5 of a 30-yr loan, so this saves us at least 10 yrs of payments).  All this for about $300/month less than what we're already paying for the 2 loans together. 

Which means cash available for the dental payment plan.

We hadn't been home an hour when the bank loan officer called to say we were approved, she needed 3 items of documentation, and could we come back this morning to sign the papers.  So in a little while, we'll go off to the bank again. 

And I'm delighted to report the road construction on Fish is complete and the road re-opened yesterday, which makes running up to the bank/Dane/grocery store that much easier.

So even though I felt like I was totally screwed financially upon leaving the dentist, the entire problem seems to have been sorted in less than 2 hours. ::shaking head:: I'm not quite sure how that happened, but I'm pretty happy it did.

We made a quick run through the local Sam's Club on Sunday - even though it's no longer a regular go-to place for us, there are a few uses remaining - and found that in the lightbulb section which used to be just lots of varieties of CFL bulbs, they now have several varieties of LED bulbs.  This is so COOL! We ended up with a 3-pack of standard-type bulbs that use 3 WATTS EACH for about $15.  So we're trying 2 of them in our front porch lanterns.

LEDs are amazing.  They last for ~100,000 hours which can be 10-20 years of maintenance-free service, depending on your application.  Today, I attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for a LED project I installed in Milwaukee.  In the first month (partial billing cycle) of operation, the KWHs used was reduced by 60%.  This is freaking amazing.  When they get a full billing cycle in, I totally expect the actual savings to be closer to 70%.

LEDs provide a cool, clean white light.  They tend to fade in intensity for the first 6 mos or so, and then stabilize for the rest of their useful life.  This is a crazy-good performance curve. Incandescents fade over their entire lifetime, and places like Disney have a very aggressive replacement program to preserve the quality of their lighting.

Anywhere from $5-25 per bulb seems very pricey - but 10! years!  20! years! Come on - it's time to start giving LEDs a try - especially in those hard to reach spaces or in locations where the heat of an incandescent is problematic, OR where you can't use a CFL because you want to use a dimmer.

Go forth!  If you don't want to support Sam's, search them out on line.  Keep your eyes open at hardware stores now.  I prefer Home Depot to Menard's on ethical grounds, but Menard's has a better lightbulb selection.  But if Sam's is carrying, they're much more available, and more affordable than ever before.

Oy Vay! Life has been very complicated this summer and it doesn't appear it will uncomplicate before November.

The boy goes back to school and the DH goes back to the dentist on the same day (Sept 1).  At some point in Sept or Oct, B is going to be recovering from a major procedure.

Some weekend in Sept is Oktoberfest - just which one though? The 20th and 27th look likely enough - far enough away from today to allow for invites and acquiring the pig.  However, the kitchen remodel will NOT be complete by then (boo hiss, pout). Any preference on this?

October 10 is brother-in-law's wedding back in SC.  This, if we go (DH is still weighing), will require us to leave on Oct 7 or 8, and I thought returning on the 12th would be a good plan.  However, airline tix are $300 each (minimum) and I'm still paying off the unexpected trip to Uncle Emil's funeral.

Also, B's annual bone marrow biopsy was scheduled for the morning of the 12th.  That would have to be rescheduled. I will also have to reschedule some vacation days I claimed for xmas to cover this.

October 14 is the wedding supper we've been planning for our dear friends, busman & bzdchris.

October 17 is the wedding celebration of same.

Sometime in November is the possible wedding celebration of Farmer John & his new bride (they haven't picked a date yet).  We've promised to help with the cooking.

Then there's Thanksgiving and Xmas season.  I think I'm going back to bed now.

This summer has been full of ups and downs - just like the weather.

We've had some unexpected expenses which are probably going to have the cumulative effect of delaying the kitchen grand finale. But we are still thoroughly enjoying our granite.

We still don't know when B's brother's wedding is planned for, and we seriously hope not Oct 17 or anywhere near there.

My uncle passed away on 7/30, and I want to thank everyone for their condolences and kindnesses.  It was good to go spend time with all 4 of my household, my dad and his remaining 2 siblings. Minneapolis posed all kinds of driving adventures, but we finally went to IKEA! The Mall of Doom was an okay way to pass some time, plus get in a little early back-to-school shopping for the boy. 

We saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince while we were there - a matinee with a traditional screen. I thought it was a good job. I liked it better than the last one.

None of us had been to IKEA before, and even the boy enjoyed the trip. We came out with a bag full of small stuff and a nice office chair for me. I've been sitting on a padded folding chair since Jan.  This one is wheeled, cushy and white (with black arms/base). Today is only my 2nd day using it.

B and I both burned our hands on a cast iron skillet handle last week (not the same day).  We've never done that before! It was weird that we did it within 48 hrs of each other too.

The girl's car is in need of some serious front end work, which may prove to be more costly than the car is worth. Two of the tires I bought her this spring are ruined.

The new guy at work, who is supposed to be slightly more experienced than me, is driving me crazy.  It's like I'm speaking in tongues or something.  Plus he doesn't actually listen to anything besides his own voice. Git.

Yesterday, I spent all day either in bed or reading HP slash on the sofa.  It was reccuperation day from the "Day of Public Drunkenness" which happened Saturday. The festival was awesome as usual, but the brewer load-in shift in the rain was challenging (and thankfully not too cold).  We all earned our beer and mead (and the picnic table we commandeered on arrival).  We're so accustomed to the whole process that it's become old hat.  I was fretting all week about not getting geared up for it any sooner, but we didn't need to gear up sooner. By Thursday we had our menu plan, Friday I figured out the clothes thing, and Saturday morning dawned wet and gray but promising.  No worries!

The kittens went to the vet mid-week to be dewormed and get their first round of shots.  They are still too cute for words. I must upload some pics.

Friday this week I have 3 awesome things to look at and they're all work-related. First, I'll go to an "unveiling" of a new Windspire (vertical) wind turbine at the offices of a subcontractor I'm working with. Then I'll hop over to the MATC West Allis campus to take pics of the solar PV/LED parking lot pole I just installed, and then I'll stop at the MLW Zoo on my way back to town to do a last check on that site.  Yep, over a year later, and we're finally done there. No more free trips to the Zoo for me.

Then Saturday, we're off to Chicago to help busman1994  celebrate his birthday.  We're going to see the Cubbies play on Sunday.  Hopefully, I'll write that trip up better than the Minneapolis trip.

Back to work - because later today I have to go to a school board meeting in Middleton and see if they're actually going to approve the project we've been working on for them.  I'll be thrilled for more than the usual reasons if they vote yes.  It's been a long time since I've had a project so close to home base.

Farmer's Market bounty is always good for inspiration around here.  I love just drifting around the square, selecting beautiful ingredients to take home and have my way with.  And the freshest most beautiful ingredients need the least prep/work to create absolutely amazing, beautiful dishes to share with your friends.

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I'm going to expand on the concept now.  One of my favorite cookbooks is Rozanne Gold's Recipes 1-2-3  "Fabulous Food Using only 3 Ingredients."

She cheats a little on the ingredient count in that salt, pepper and water are never included in the count.  She counts oils/fats and all other herbs.  Some ingredients are cheats because they're already made up of many ingredients (eggnog to make the custard for a bread pudding, or to dip french toast).  Anyway.... the point of the exercise is to get the most out of your fabulous ingredients and be able to taste their real flavors.  Plus, she delights in using the same ingredients several different ways, which just inspires me to even more feats of versatility and creativity.

I love putting together dishes that actually take very little effort in relation to their deliciousness and/or their "WOW" factor.  Case in point:  Caprese Salad.  If you have perfectly ripe tomatoes, fresh mozzarella (the kind in brine) and fresh basil, you have the 3 base ingredients for summer's best dish.  Traditionally, you'd slice some tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella balls that are about the same size into 1/4-3/8 inch slices, arrange on a plate, scatter with torn fresh basil leaves and drizzle with some high quality olive oil (EVOO) and balsamic vinegar.  Seriously easy, seriously fabulous, seriously impressive as an antipasto or salad course.  You can play with different colors of tomatoes or mix red, yellow and orange together for even more pizazz.
Rozanne takes it to a new level with her "Tomato, Mozzarella, and Basil, Six Styles."

( Six, no Seven Variations on a Classic )
( 2-3ish Variations on Bruschetta )

( A Spectacular Dish with Very Little Fuss )

( My favorite Recipe 1-2-3 or Why I bought the book )

It's really very easy to produce a dish that will wow your friends and taste delicious.  Plus, at only 3 ingredients per, you don't have to wait for special occasions (other than a perfect day) to make these :)

Can this summer suck any harder?  I mean come ON!!!  Rain? 48 deg F at night? Gray skies?

You suck, mother nature!

I finally took a vacation week that didn't include christmas or new year's. It's probably been 4 years since I had more than a 3-4 day weekend.

June 26 was my last day of work, and we did the usual Friday thing, then Saturday we did a lot of cooking and packing so we could leave on time Sunday morning for our camping trip.  We went with bzdchris , busman1994  and busman's youngest, R, to Wildcat Mountain State Park.  The trip took about 3 hours on the way out but only 2 on the way back... not quite sure how that worked other than we didn't make any stops in Richland Center coming home.  It just didn't seem like we'd spent an hour there on Sunday.

The park is pretty nice, but most of the campsites are smallish and very close together.  We had spots 4 & 6, which were decently sized and separated by a long aisle of mown grass.  If we'd brought our kids when they were little, they would have spent the time running back and forth like crazy things.  We decided to put all the sleeping tents on #6 and use #4 (the smaller spot) for the kitchen/gathering area.  We put up a screen tent over the picnic table and set up a camp kitchen on the other side of the fire ring.  After setting up and unloading, it was only about 3 pm so we grabbed our gear and some snacks and headed for the Kickapoo river.  We went upriver a bit so we could get out at the park's landing.  The time on the water was only about 2 hours, but it was lovely - sunny and warm, with the beautiful sound of water shushing against the boat and the birds singing/cawing/trilling, and the teal colored dragonflies flitting about.  The Kickapoo is mostly shallow and twisty and fun to navigate, but there were a lot more strainers than usual for that short of a trip.  We all were delighted with the trip and couldn't wait to get back on the water on Monday.

However, Monday and Tuesday were damp, windy, cloudy and cold.  None of us had packed for those conditions, but we all managed to have something long-sleeved to wear.  So we spent a day and a half sitting around the campsite freezing, eating and sleeping.  Not really the plan, you know?  We decided by noon on Tuesday it wasn't going to get nice enough to get back on the water, packed up, and drove home a full day early.

Other than the Sunday float, the best part of the trip was the food.  DH & I provided the dinners and bzdchris and busman provided the breakfasts.  We brought our own lunches and snacks, but shared them around anyway.

Sunday night's dinner was a selection of bratwurst and weisswurst.  We had 3 kinds of mustard, 2 kinds of buns, plus kraut for toppings.  I made a slaw and an aioli potato salad, and we had the traditional s'mores for dessert.

Monday's breakfast was a steak hash.  MMMM. I had 2 plates! I learned that you're supposed to cook the potatoes before you make them into hash if you want them to get perfectly brown and crispy outside, yet be thoroughly cooked and tender inside.  Years I've been wondering how to do this right!  Dinner was a buffalo chicken wrap.  This was inspired by the Argus's "Identity Crisis" wrap.  We grilled chicken breast over the fire, then as it was finishing, doused it with Frank's hot wing sauce.  Then we cut the breasts into strips and assembled the spinach wraps with lettuce, tomato, blue cheese dressing and the chicken.  The side was a rice medly salad with cranberries, pecans, celery, etc and a balsamic dressing.  There were also cut up veggies to dip in the blue cheese.  More marshmallows were roasted that night, plus a cherry crisp.

Tuesday's breakfast was sausage gravy with biscuits.  Unfortunately, Monday morning we had awakened to discover a racoon had ravaged our screen tent.  The coolers were all secure, but the plastic bin that contained chips and bread and the biscuits was violated.  Our breakfast chefs went to town on Monday and found some Pillsbury biscuits, which we all worked together to "bake" over the fire on Tues morning.  It took awhile, but it was worth the wait.  I was so full from breakfast, I mostly skipped lunch.  When we headed out on Tues, I suggested we all meet up at our place, to have the planned Tuesday dinner anyway.  From the time we got home to having dinner on the table was less than an hour.  DH had been marinating steak chunks since Sunday morning, and we had a bag of frozen scallops that had thawed perfectly by the time we wanted them.  We grilled everything, including veggie chunks on separate skewers so each type of skewer could be cooked the right amount of time.  We also grilled pineapple slices.  All the leftover salads and dipping veggies came out for the last time too.  It was really excellent, and we were all happy with the meals if not the entire trip.

I was particularly happy with how my meal plans turned out, because I wanted stuff that would be filling and delicious, but easy to put on the table after canoeing all day. I figured we'd all be tired and hungry and cranky by dinner, and that a good, easy dinner would restore us to civility for campfire tales.  The plan worked even if the weather didn't cooperate.

Wed was kind of a freebie, but since the girl was moving home, we did some shopping for supplies to finish the framed out room in the basement for her.  We spent more time acquiring supplies on Thurs before going over to bzdchris's and busman's new home.  They closed Thurs afternoon and immediately had a housewarming party with champagne and snacks.  Lots of people dropped by on their way home from work to take the tour and congratulate them.  We were going to go to the Concert on the Square (rescheduled from the night before) but the weather didn't seem nice enough.  However, we did make it downtown to the square in time to hear the cannons fire for the 1812 overture.  We stopped at the Argus for a snack.  (Fries good, antipasto plate only so-so, beer & service as always - excellent.)

Friday-Sunday we basically slaved away on the new bedroom.  We put up white "beadboard" paneling (it's actually paintable, but I like the white) after lining the walls with insulation board.  We found a remnant carpet that was almost big enough for the entire room for $45!  It's striped in many colors and has a foam backing.  Pretty much the traditional basement carpet stuff.  The girl got her big furniture moved in on Sunday, and we had a cookout for the boys that helped her.  Just the regular brats, burgers, and fries kind of thing, but they thanked us profusely, and allowed that it was better than going home for ramen.  By the time dinner was over and cleaned up, I was wiped.  Went to bed pretty early, and was by no means ready to get back to work on Monday.

It was weird being offline for a full 8 days, but even worse, my new laptop wouldn't talk to my home wireless router, so I struggled with it for another week before figuring it out last Monday (with the help of emorog , who kind of remembered what he'd done to help the girl the last time this happened.)

Oh yeah, Saturday (I think) of vacation week, we let the kids go out to a friend's farm and pick out TWO kittens that were ready for a new home.  But they are worth their own post, so I'll have to do pics and such the next time I get time.

It's been exactly a week since I got my new laptop, and just this morning I was able to get the dang thing to talk to my home network.

OMG, why is it so hard to use our tools? I'm horribly behind in my work because I haven't been fully connected for a total of 2 weeks now.  I'm even more horribly behind in correspondence and fannish love, including missing out on helping Beta a cool new story from a couple of friends... no time to even link as I need to be on a conference call in 60 sec.

ttyl

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Reading:  I'm really engrossed by this amazing person's life.  But I haven't had a moment for reading this whole week.
Next up: Borrowed from sasha_feather  for my camping trip that starts Sunday.

Wearing:  Navy blue and white striped pj tops with navy pj bottoms.  No shoes yet today.  Perhaps after work I'll shower and dress ;)

Planning: work like a crazy person until EOD, then: VACATION!!  9 Glorious days!!  Saturday will be cooking and packing (and dropping of the laptop for IT to replace by Wed), Sunday, head out to the Kickapoo and Wildcat Mountain State Park.  Return on Wed, hopefully with enough energy left for C.O.T.S. (I need a couple new wineglasses).  Also, must call mom for her bday.  Thurs, pick up new laptop and help bzdchris  and busman1994  celebrate closing on their new house!  And then I guess we'll help them with the moving part too... :)  If we're not helping them move, we'll be fixing up the basement room for Mavis's return home.  She's a little sad that things didn't work out, but I think she's happy having the perks of home again.