Saturday, August 28, 2010
Lazy and Delightful
10:46 am: a mug of Irish breakfast; a plate of eggs with havarti, glazed ham, and applesauce; Josh on the couch reading blogs; Ivan perched on the loveseat behind my head; no fan going because the marine layer is thick and the air is cool; all the windows are open; a neighbor plays Mozart exquisitely on the piano; I choose not to read my book.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Take 2
In case you were unaware, we've moved. Goodbye little green-door apartment, goodbye tiny kitchen, goodbye awkward heater placement on our living room wall, goodbye overbearing management company, goodbye no parking and dark alleyways at night. Hello spacious green-door condo, vaulted ceilings, wood floors, kitchen that needs some love (read: foreign substances caking the drawers and cabinets that smells like bad soy sauce, plus meal bugs devouring ancient crackers in the bottom drawer), dishwasher(!), broken air conditioner, and tall, lovely redwood tree that shades our patio and makes us feel like we live in a treehouse. Also an unfortunate hello to chaos. We moved in June, but from the looks of things around here, you'd probably guess we'd only moved two weeks ago.
Josh and I came to the realization this time around that we are really not very good at moving. We are both procrastinators of one sort or another, but the key difference is that I am of the "I shall take my time and carefully place each item in its group's box, and I shall label the box with its contents, and then I shall indicate the future destination of said box in our new abode, thereby taking 1-2 hours per box, but avoiding chaos" type of procrastinating mover. Josh is more of the "here's an empty box; I'm going to put all of this stuff in it and worry about it later because it all needs to move anyway; did I mention that I packed this entire room in two hours?" kind of procrastinating mover. Because we procrastinate, I get three or four boxes done, and then Josh's method wins out. Thus, in the current state of our new home, I have frequently found myself wandering around teary-eyed with frustration while Josh is out somewhere, muttering under my breath about where the MEASURING CUPS are because I really need to make LITTLE CHOCOLATE CAKES. No, the little chocolate cakes were nowhere near a necessity, and the world would not have ended if I had not found the measuring cups, and yes, this is a lot funnier to me now as I write it, but in the moment these small instances seem gargantuan. I really do have a hard time dealing with disorganization, especially in our home. How can I do the stuff I wanna if I can't FIND it? It! You know, that thing that you saw that one time when we were looking for that other thing that we couldn't find. YES I WILL CRY OVER NOT BEING ABLE TO FIND THE SPATULA.
Things are improving only slowly, due in part to the new position I have at work that demands more of my time in the office, to Josh's work (introvert in an extrovert's job=tired husband), and to my chronic pain and weakness (doctors are doing labwork on my blood, btw, to see if I might have RA); I can only do so much before I need to sit down and not move for a while. It's frustrating (the clutter and chaos), but I'm learning to deal with it better. One bright and shiny light in the darkness is the unexpected joy of being forced to read books I may not have otherwise chosen had I access to our entire wealth of literature. Only the boxes that had spilled over onto the floor were accessible, so I read A Ring of Endless Light just because it was there, and it was a dear and deep delight. It was insightful, moving--made me cry--and gave me a lot to think about in regard to my grandmother, who has severe Alzheimer's. L'Engle was also much kinder as an author than I anticipated she would be, and I think many greener authors (including myself) would have handled the story differently, making it more contrived, and thereby ruining a great deal of the poignancy and sweetness that L'Engle instead produces. I've also finished books I'd only read one or two short stories from, and read others that I'd always meant to read, but kept setting aside for another day. The whole experience is like discovering friends living in my house to whom I had previously been blind. Oh, hi L'Engle. Thanks for being here and changing my life. Pull up a shelf and stay forever. Hey there Byatt. You can be my edgy-mystical-modern friend, just don't send any djinn my way. We can totally have drinks, though, and talk about narratology.
That and camping is pretty much my summer in my nutshell, but add two words: kitty parkour. Yes, Ivan likes our new place too. School starts up again soon, and all my classes are online this year, which promises to be an interesting adventure in new teaching methods for me. I keep needing to remind myself that just because they're online students it doesn't mean that they're not real. Sigh. The internet is weird.
A.
Edit: I posted this, and then thought, "I should include a picture." A few minutes of searching my computer produced the information that I have not uploaded any new pictures since November. I have a bajillion photos on my camera of cool things we did or made in the last year, but they are required to live there for now since--you guessed it--I have no idea where my camera cord is. Don't worry. No tears this time. Instead, here's a Facebook photo I stole from my mom of us camping.
Also, why is it so hot at 1:30 in the morning? It's at least eighty degrees in here! G'night.
Josh and I came to the realization this time around that we are really not very good at moving. We are both procrastinators of one sort or another, but the key difference is that I am of the "I shall take my time and carefully place each item in its group's box, and I shall label the box with its contents, and then I shall indicate the future destination of said box in our new abode, thereby taking 1-2 hours per box, but avoiding chaos" type of procrastinating mover. Josh is more of the "here's an empty box; I'm going to put all of this stuff in it and worry about it later because it all needs to move anyway; did I mention that I packed this entire room in two hours?" kind of procrastinating mover. Because we procrastinate, I get three or four boxes done, and then Josh's method wins out. Thus, in the current state of our new home, I have frequently found myself wandering around teary-eyed with frustration while Josh is out somewhere, muttering under my breath about where the MEASURING CUPS are because I really need to make LITTLE CHOCOLATE CAKES. No, the little chocolate cakes were nowhere near a necessity, and the world would not have ended if I had not found the measuring cups, and yes, this is a lot funnier to me now as I write it, but in the moment these small instances seem gargantuan. I really do have a hard time dealing with disorganization, especially in our home. How can I do the stuff I wanna if I can't FIND it? It! You know, that thing that you saw that one time when we were looking for that other thing that we couldn't find. YES I WILL CRY OVER NOT BEING ABLE TO FIND THE SPATULA.
Things are improving only slowly, due in part to the new position I have at work that demands more of my time in the office, to Josh's work (introvert in an extrovert's job=tired husband), and to my chronic pain and weakness (doctors are doing labwork on my blood, btw, to see if I might have RA); I can only do so much before I need to sit down and not move for a while. It's frustrating (the clutter and chaos), but I'm learning to deal with it better. One bright and shiny light in the darkness is the unexpected joy of being forced to read books I may not have otherwise chosen had I access to our entire wealth of literature. Only the boxes that had spilled over onto the floor were accessible, so I read A Ring of Endless Light just because it was there, and it was a dear and deep delight. It was insightful, moving--made me cry--and gave me a lot to think about in regard to my grandmother, who has severe Alzheimer's. L'Engle was also much kinder as an author than I anticipated she would be, and I think many greener authors (including myself) would have handled the story differently, making it more contrived, and thereby ruining a great deal of the poignancy and sweetness that L'Engle instead produces. I've also finished books I'd only read one or two short stories from, and read others that I'd always meant to read, but kept setting aside for another day. The whole experience is like discovering friends living in my house to whom I had previously been blind. Oh, hi L'Engle. Thanks for being here and changing my life. Pull up a shelf and stay forever. Hey there Byatt. You can be my edgy-mystical-modern friend, just don't send any djinn my way. We can totally have drinks, though, and talk about narratology.
That and camping is pretty much my summer in my nutshell, but add two words: kitty parkour. Yes, Ivan likes our new place too. School starts up again soon, and all my classes are online this year, which promises to be an interesting adventure in new teaching methods for me. I keep needing to remind myself that just because they're online students it doesn't mean that they're not real. Sigh. The internet is weird.
A.
Edit: I posted this, and then thought, "I should include a picture." A few minutes of searching my computer produced the information that I have not uploaded any new pictures since November. I have a bajillion photos on my camera of cool things we did or made in the last year, but they are required to live there for now since--you guessed it--I have no idea where my camera cord is. Don't worry. No tears this time. Instead, here's a Facebook photo I stole from my mom of us camping.
Also, why is it so hot at 1:30 in the morning? It's at least eighty degrees in here! G'night.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Easter Break
Dear Easter Break,
You were kind of crazy for a while, with all that grading, but you were real real sweet, too. I'm going to miss you.
Love,
Anna
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Hey there...
Um, so, blog fail.
Why did no one warn me that real life was going to be so busy and tiring? Ugh.
Since my last blog, I:
Why did no one warn me that real life was going to be so busy and tiring? Ugh.
Since my last blog, I:
- Decorated and undecorated for Christmas.
- Cut my hair. (Not because it's the married-woman-thing-to-do, but because I won a free hair cut from a salon, and because some of my students' parents would walk into the classroom and ask me or the students where the tutor was. I decided that something needed to change.)
- Was a bridesmaid in my maid of honor's wedding, which was beautiful and sweet, just like her.
- Pulled an all-nighter finishing grades at the end of the semester. I had assured myself at graduation that I would never need to lose sleep over reading and papers again. Oops.
- Introduced 40 students to Elizabeth Bishop and William Carlos Williams, not to mention iambs, dactyls, trochees, etc.
- Cooked some mediocre meals not worth mentioning.
- Ate way too much fast food.
- Subbed for six Latin classes in the last two weeks.
- Remembered waaay more Latin than I thought I knew.
- Read The Graveyard Book, re-read Warrior's Apprentice and Cetaganda, read a few Austen-related books, started Good Omens. (This is on top of reading for my classes, which usually amounts to over 1 book/week. This week was Dante's Inferno and Purgatory and various 19-20th century poets; also finishing the last of Robinson Crusoe.)
- Joined a fairy-tale reading/viewing/discussion group.
- Rediscovered "The Loh-Down on Science" with Sandra Tsing Loh. Yay Podcasts.
- Listened to a fair amount of Billy Collins reading his own poetry.
- Started a watercolor, but did not finish it (of course).
- Started taking Magnesium supplements to see if my joints and muscles will feel any better. Is it weird that my knees feel great when I wear heels, but are in lots of pain otherwise?
- Got sick; got better (mostly).
- Discovered Vosges Haut-Chocolat. Goji berries, pink Himalayan salt, and deep 41% milk chocolate? Yes please. Next to try: the Calindia bar (green cardamom, walnuts, dried plums, 65% dark chocolate).
- Hit our sixth-month anniversary. :)
- Wrote a book. It's nine pages long, illustrated, and in Latin, but that still counts, right? Right? Beyond that, other writing amounted to about 3 pages on various fiction projects. Again, no one warned me about that whole life-is-busy thing.
- Addition: Watched seasons 1 and 2 of Arrested Development. Waiting for season 3 from Netflix. Two words: chicken impressions.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Scrumptious Happenings, Chapter 2
I've been wanting to post for a while, and have had several posts mentally prepared for a few weeks, but I lost my camera cord! Josh came to the rescue tonight with a memory card reader, so I was able to retrieve my photos. Yay!
So I had a lot of fun crafting yesterday's supper, and it was pretty tasty too. The main dish was just chicken legs covered in a (store-bought) mango chutney mixed with mustard, and I served green beans on the side for veg. They were okay (not really photo worthy), but the samosas and galettes were the fun part.
For the samosas, I adapted this recipe from RealSimple (is it possible to be in love with a magazine?). I substituted butter for the olive oil, and I made the mashed potatoes myself using golden potatoes and adding plenty of garlic, butter, and salt, and then I grated some Gruyere and added that to the potatoes. After sealing the pastries, I brushed them with butter and grated more Gruyere on top. I also may have used more curry than called for, but I really don't know--I just added until I thought it tasted good. But oh, were they yummy.
Next, for dessert (I love dessert, but don't make it often) I made delicious sweet galettes inspired by this recipe from Homegrown Happy.
Since I'd used only one of the refrigerated pie crusts for the samosas, I used the other one for the galettes. I cut it into quarters and didn't bother to make each into a round--I just used the triangular shape and it seemed to work fine. For the filling, I added powdered sugar to some cream cheese to sweeten it a bit, spread about a tablespoon onto the center of the dough, and then topped it with a mound of frozen berries (two were blueberries, and two were raspberries and blackberries). Fold up the edges in pleats, leaving the center open and pretty. Brush with butter and sprinkle with sugar, then pop them in the oven at 375 for about 20 minutes. Delicious! I plan on experimenting some more with this recipe using different sweet and savory fillings. I think my next attempt might be a Brie and mushroom concoction. Mmmm...
Till then!
A.
So I had a lot of fun crafting yesterday's supper, and it was pretty tasty too. The main dish was just chicken legs covered in a (store-bought) mango chutney mixed with mustard, and I served green beans on the side for veg. They were okay (not really photo worthy), but the samosas and galettes were the fun part.
For the samosas, I adapted this recipe from RealSimple (is it possible to be in love with a magazine?). I substituted butter for the olive oil, and I made the mashed potatoes myself using golden potatoes and adding plenty of garlic, butter, and salt, and then I grated some Gruyere and added that to the potatoes. After sealing the pastries, I brushed them with butter and grated more Gruyere on top. I also may have used more curry than called for, but I really don't know--I just added until I thought it tasted good. But oh, were they yummy.
Next, for dessert (I love dessert, but don't make it often) I made delicious sweet galettes inspired by this recipe from Homegrown Happy.
Since I'd used only one of the refrigerated pie crusts for the samosas, I used the other one for the galettes. I cut it into quarters and didn't bother to make each into a round--I just used the triangular shape and it seemed to work fine. For the filling, I added powdered sugar to some cream cheese to sweeten it a bit, spread about a tablespoon onto the center of the dough, and then topped it with a mound of frozen berries (two were blueberries, and two were raspberries and blackberries). Fold up the edges in pleats, leaving the center open and pretty. Brush with butter and sprinkle with sugar, then pop them in the oven at 375 for about 20 minutes. Delicious! I plan on experimenting some more with this recipe using different sweet and savory fillings. I think my next attempt might be a Brie and mushroom concoction. Mmmm...
Till then!
A.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Autumn
Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. I love pretty much everything about it--leaves changing and crunching underfoot, pumpkins EVERYWHERE, cool[er] air, acorns, pinecones, cinnamon, apples, cider, boots, cardigans, scarves...and of course, it all ends in Christmas, so what's not to like?
Fall also gets me cooking and baking more. (I think it probably has something to do with the temperature dropping enough so that I don't feel like I'm in a sauna every time I use the oven or stove.) As a result, I thought I'd share one of my favorite fall recipes.
Background story: I have these fond childhood memories of going to Oma and Opa's house around Christmas time and sitting up on a stool by the counter and eating the special-Christmastime-only-cookies--the ones that they always bought from the German store when they imported them during the Christmas season. These ones:
I almost gave up trying to find a picture, which should tell you how obscure they are. Thank you random Polish imports site. Behold! Heaven itself. Soft gingerbread cookies with plum filling covered in dark chocolate. Yes, I was a very. spoiled. child. With a well-developed palate, apparently. These delectable treats have since become a bit more readily available, being no longer confined to the Christmas season, but the combination of ginger spice and dark chocolate will always be fondly associated with fall and winter in my mind and mouth. The recipe below is happily reminiscent of all the best tastes of fall.
Gone-So-Fast-I-Couldn't-Get-A-Picture Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
1. Preheat oven to 4oo degrees.
2. Grease muffin tin. I recommend that you not use paper liners, unless you like donating half your muffin to them.
3. In a large bowl, mix together 3/4 cup white sugar (you can substitute some brown sugar if you like a deeper flavor), 1/4 cup vegetable oil or applesauce, and two eggs. Add 1 cup canned pumpkin and 1/4 cup water and mix.
4. In a separate bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 3/4 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/4 tsp. salt. Add lots of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, and also some ground cloves (but don't overdo it with the cloves). I like lots of spice in mine, and I never measure it--I just keep adding until it looks and smells about right.
5. Make a well in the center of the pumpkin mixture and gradually combine wet and dry ingredients.
6. Add in semi-sweet chocolate chips. I always eyeball how much. I guess it's probably around half a bag, or maybe a little under.
7. Pour into muffin tin. Distribute equally between all 12 cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Breath in the irresistible fragrance of fall.
8. Take pictures as soon as you remove them from the tin because they will disappear before you get another chance! (I always manage to forget this step).
Enjoy! And step on a crunchy leaf!
A.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Ivan the Terrible
No more great home updates that I can post yet (although several have been completed, or nearly completed--bedroom updates, living room rearrangement, new furniture assembled, and that lantern from Anthropologie FINALLY came after being lost in the mail for 3 weeks...thanks UPS...) so I figure I will update about Ivan.
So.
I took Ivan to the vet two weeks ago for a deworming treatment, and found out that he is (according to their best educated guesses--mainly the fact that his molars are coming in) now actually nearing four months old. We had our suspicions, especially since he pretty much doubled in size in only two weeks. We assume that proper nutrition has had something to do with that. His eyesight also improved dramatically in that first week, and he gained a lot of energy.
A LOT of energy.
He will typically spend two-thirds of the day racing around, pouncing on things, and generally tiring himself out so that he can then sleep for the remaining third of the day. I know that this is typical kitten behavior. I understand and appreciate this. However, it becomes far less easy to appreciate at 11:30 pm when I am grading papers and trying to finish reading Beowulf before I go to bed so that I can get up at 6:30 am and teach classes in the morning. Here's how last night went:
Me: [grading papers and recording scores in the living room.]
[Josh: in bed. zzzzzzzzzz...]
Ivan: [running across the backs of the couches at full speed. falls off the back of the couch and lands on top of my stack of papers. scrambles around with a crazed look in his eyes and bites the papers. (forgot to mention that he is currently teething--molars, you know...)]
Me: Ivan, no! [remove Ivan to the floor and bop his nose.]
Ivan: [crazed look. leaps back up onto the couch and lays across my score sheets belly up, claws out.]
Me: Ivan, not a good time. [remove Ivan to the floor again, but not before he gnaws on my hand.] Ivan, no. [bop nose.]
Ivan: [crazed look. takes three laps around the apartment. pounces on yarn ball.]
Me: [resume grading.]
[5 minutes later. noise coming from the blinds by the front window. Ivan has rapidly leapt on top of the computer tower that sits on the floor up to the windowsill, and then up on top of the air conditioning unit which houses three potted plants. he has never been up there before.]
Me: [get up. walk to desk to retrieve cat.] Ivan, no! [retrieve cat. bop nose. set cat on floor. sit back down to grade.]
[immediate repetition of noise by the blinds. Ivan is already back up on the air conditioner.]
Me: Ivan, NO! [attempt to retrieve cat from air conditioner.]
Ivan: [reaches out both front paws to resist. hooks on to "Water Magic" fern plant.]
Plant: Alas! Alack! [falls over onto desk, spilling water all over my school papers.]
Handouts/grading rubrics/folders/resource binders/electronics in the crate on the floor: Sog. [drip.]
Me: [angry silence and disbelief. locate spray bottle. squirt cat in face.] No. [lock cat in bathroom/hallway. begin cleaning up mess.]
Air Conditioner: [turns on.]
Me: You know, you really are not helping right now. [realize I am talking to an inanimate object. turn off air conditioner. clean off desk. scatter papers throughout the room to dry. attempt to dry off wet electronics. finish grading papers. decide it is time to go to bed.]
[end scene.]
Don't get me wrong, he can be extremely cuddly and loveable, especially when he does that face-nuzzle head-butt thing while he's purring... The problem right now seems to be that he's 1) a kitten, and 2) one of the more social cats I've encountered. When I'm done teaching and am home during the day, or even when I'm getting ready to leave in the morning, he follows me around like a shadow. He hates being locked out of any room where people are. He usually cries outside our bedroom door for a few minutes each night (one night, we tried letting him in to sleep with us--EPIC FAIL. Little sleep was had by all.). All of this is very sweet and endearing, but his level of sociality combined with the fact that he is a kitten means that he seems to view most everything that Josh and I do as a game. Cleaning up stuff around the apartment? Game. Walking to his food dish to feed him? Totally a game. Feet were made for pouncing on. Folding laundry? BEST GAME EVER. We are trying to correct his understanding of this (he has learned for the most part that it is not okay to attack our laptops, especially while we are using them) via nose bops and a spray bottle. But it is a long and tiring process.
I really am looking forward to when he is older and a bit less active. And no, he's not really terrible, he's just a kitten. He can't help it much.
In other news, the laundry ghosts have redoubled their efforts. Thus, you will have to wait until we can make some serious headway on that front to see pictures of how awesome our bedroom is now.
Ta.
A.
So.
I took Ivan to the vet two weeks ago for a deworming treatment, and found out that he is (according to their best educated guesses--mainly the fact that his molars are coming in) now actually nearing four months old. We had our suspicions, especially since he pretty much doubled in size in only two weeks. We assume that proper nutrition has had something to do with that. His eyesight also improved dramatically in that first week, and he gained a lot of energy.
A LOT of energy.
He will typically spend two-thirds of the day racing around, pouncing on things, and generally tiring himself out so that he can then sleep for the remaining third of the day. I know that this is typical kitten behavior. I understand and appreciate this. However, it becomes far less easy to appreciate at 11:30 pm when I am grading papers and trying to finish reading Beowulf before I go to bed so that I can get up at 6:30 am and teach classes in the morning. Here's how last night went:
Me: [grading papers and recording scores in the living room.]
[Josh: in bed. zzzzzzzzzz...]
Ivan: [running across the backs of the couches at full speed. falls off the back of the couch and lands on top of my stack of papers. scrambles around with a crazed look in his eyes and bites the papers. (forgot to mention that he is currently teething--molars, you know...)]
Me: Ivan, no! [remove Ivan to the floor and bop his nose.]
Ivan: [crazed look. leaps back up onto the couch and lays across my score sheets belly up, claws out.]
Me: Ivan, not a good time. [remove Ivan to the floor again, but not before he gnaws on my hand.] Ivan, no. [bop nose.]
Ivan: [crazed look. takes three laps around the apartment. pounces on yarn ball.]
Me: [resume grading.]
[5 minutes later. noise coming from the blinds by the front window. Ivan has rapidly leapt on top of the computer tower that sits on the floor up to the windowsill, and then up on top of the air conditioning unit which houses three potted plants. he has never been up there before.]
Me: [get up. walk to desk to retrieve cat.] Ivan, no! [retrieve cat. bop nose. set cat on floor. sit back down to grade.]
[immediate repetition of noise by the blinds. Ivan is already back up on the air conditioner.]
Me: Ivan, NO! [attempt to retrieve cat from air conditioner.]
Ivan: [reaches out both front paws to resist. hooks on to "Water Magic" fern plant.]
Plant: Alas! Alack! [falls over onto desk, spilling water all over my school papers.]
Handouts/grading rubrics/folders/resource binders/electronics in the crate on the floor: Sog. [drip.]
Me: [angry silence and disbelief. locate spray bottle. squirt cat in face.] No. [lock cat in bathroom/hallway. begin cleaning up mess.]
Air Conditioner: [turns on.]
Me: You know, you really are not helping right now. [realize I am talking to an inanimate object. turn off air conditioner. clean off desk. scatter papers throughout the room to dry. attempt to dry off wet electronics. finish grading papers. decide it is time to go to bed.]
[end scene.]
Don't get me wrong, he can be extremely cuddly and loveable, especially when he does that face-nuzzle head-butt thing while he's purring... The problem right now seems to be that he's 1) a kitten, and 2) one of the more social cats I've encountered. When I'm done teaching and am home during the day, or even when I'm getting ready to leave in the morning, he follows me around like a shadow. He hates being locked out of any room where people are. He usually cries outside our bedroom door for a few minutes each night (one night, we tried letting him in to sleep with us--EPIC FAIL. Little sleep was had by all.). All of this is very sweet and endearing, but his level of sociality combined with the fact that he is a kitten means that he seems to view most everything that Josh and I do as a game. Cleaning up stuff around the apartment? Game. Walking to his food dish to feed him? Totally a game. Feet were made for pouncing on. Folding laundry? BEST GAME EVER. We are trying to correct his understanding of this (he has learned for the most part that it is not okay to attack our laptops, especially while we are using them) via nose bops and a spray bottle. But it is a long and tiring process.
I really am looking forward to when he is older and a bit less active. And no, he's not really terrible, he's just a kitten. He can't help it much.
In other news, the laundry ghosts have redoubled their efforts. Thus, you will have to wait until we can make some serious headway on that front to see pictures of how awesome our bedroom is now.
Ta.
A.
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