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Happy Friday!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syqOKjQiOsU[/youtube] Who likes to rock the party? I like to rock the party! OK, I’m a bit giddy right now because I just had a rockin’ good interview for a job that I REALLY want. At one point, I told the recruiter that she was making me drool, that’s how much I like the idea of this job. And you know what? It’s nothing I would have ever seen myself doing before, nothing I had ever thought about, and I have no real-life experience in it. So what? I’m totally qualified for the job, and I would go out and make it my OWN. I’m excited by the idea of…
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ABC Meme
I was tagged for this on Facebook, but I decided to try it here as well. I mean, what are memes for, if not for blogging? A – Age:43 B – Bed size: Queen C – Chore you hate: Cleaning the bathtub D – Dog’s name: Genevieve E – Essential start your day item: Diet Coke for caffeine. F – Favorite color: Green. I love the trees and the grass and the plants of spring. G – Gold or Silver: Gold H – Height: 5’4″ I – Instruments you play(ed): None. 🙁 J – Job title: Currently between jobs. K – Kid(s): 1. Maya, age 13. L – Living arrangements:…
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Sooner or Later, it starts to look like real money…
(picture found here) I heard an interesting podcast the other day on Planet Money, where a school teacher gave the broadcasters an idea on how to get your head around huge numbers. Really huge numbers, like billions and trillions. It’s true, it’s sometimes difficult to get our heads around how big really big numbers are. So I started thinking about when money starts getting confusing for me, ignoring the tens and hundreds and going straight for the thousands. For example, if I have $1, that’s easy to get my head around. I would have no problem spending $1. That’s not even enough to pay for a diet coke at 7-11.…
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What’s Wrong in this Marriage?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9bsu5CqMBY[/youtube] I saw this video the other day, and I was horrified. Here’s the story: A family with a husband, wife, and daughter. The husband was laid off, and hasn’t been able to find work. His wife increased her hours at work to compensate for their lost income. So he’s staying home and caring for the home and their child, and she’s working. Guess what? They both resent the hell out of each other. She has lost respect for him, because he’s not working, and because she doesn’t feel like a woman in this roll. He doesn’t feel like she respects what he does around the house, and wants to…
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Stardust ~ Neil Gaiman & Charles Vess
(image found on Charles Vess’ site, here) Dewey from The Hidden Side of a Leaf was a huge Neil Gaiman fan, so when deciding which books to read for the Dewey’s Books Reading Challenge, I wanted to include at least one Gaiman book. I decided to read Stardust, and while I was at the library the other day picking up another book, I happened to see the version that was illustrated by Charles Vess. I didn’t even know there was such a version, but it looked like it might be fun, so I picked it up. Boy, I’m glad I did. The pictures are so beautiful, and really add to…
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Jambalaya
(I totally forgot to take a picture, but this one was found here) We used to have a wonderful cookbook…I think it was by Sunset Magazine, that had a recipe in it for One Pot Jambalaya, that we really liked. Unfortunately, it was ruined when our microwave started leaking water* and ruined about 1/3 of my cookbooks. Dang. Anyway, we found ourselves in need of a new recipe, so I went searching on the trusty internets, and like always, they didn’t fail me. This was actually even better than the recipe we used to eat and enjoy. Give it a try. Mmmm. Recipe found here. Smoked Sausage and Shrimp Jambalaya…
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The Fifth Child
Happiness. A happy family. The Lovatts were a happy family. It was what they had chosen and what they deserved. Often, when David and Harriet lay face to face, it seemed that doors in their breasts flew open, and what poured out was an intensity of relief, of thankfulness, that still astonished them both: patience for what seemed now such a very long time had not been easy, after all. It had been hard preserving their belief in themselves when the spirit of the times, the greedy and selfish sixties, had been so ready to condemn them, to isolate, to diminish their best selves. And look, they had been right…
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The Other End (Of the Telescope)
Where does our responsibility as bloggers sit, with regards to one another? Is it enough to be polite, to not insult or slam those whose blogs we visit? Should we be honest above all else? If a blogger that we like starts another venture, be it an online magazine or an etsy shop, or a real, brick and mortar store, should we support them in their endeavors, with clicks or cash or both? Are we obliged to support them by putting a link to their other endeavors on our sidebar, if that will help them? Does it depend on how well we feel we know them? On if we feel…
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We Are On Our Own
(Graphic found here) We Are On Our Own is Miriam Katin’s memoir of her survival during World War II. Told in graphic novel format, it is the story of Miriam and her mom, who are running from the Nazis in occupied Hungary. Miriam’s father is away at war when the orders come for her and her mother to list all of their belongings, and report for deportation. Rather than risk what the end of that trail might hold for them, Miriam’s mother purchases fake documents that identify her as a poor servant with an illegitimate child, and they travel into the countryside to hopefully wait out the war on a…
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Chili Rellanoes
For our Easter brunch, I decided to make this quiche/frittata type dish. It’s mostly cheese, with some chilies for flavor and eggs to bind and solidify the casserole. I have no idea where I got this recipe…I have it in a binder of recipes that I’ve gathered from other places. It looks like it came from a cookbook of appetizers, and the name at the bottom of the recipe is Marcia Kirchbaum. I know that ‘rellanoes’ is spelled wrong here, but if you use this spelling in an internet search, you pretty much come up with this recipe, over and over again. Chili Rellanoes 2 cans (4 oz.) each green…
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Mom Yoga
I have two mothers who are yoga teachers. My mother-in-law right here in town, and my step-mother in Portland. I used to joke that Maya would be confused by my mom, her only Grandma who didn’t take or teach yoga. Since I’ve been unemployed, my mother-in-law (“Ma”) has invited me to attend her yoga classes for free (the perfect price for the unemployed…thanks, Ma!). I aim for twice a week, but of course life sometimes gets in the way. Since losing my mom last June, yoga classes sometimes get me crying. Something about slowing down and spending time focused on my body seems to send my thoughts that way, and…
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The Bridge of San Luis Rey
“I shall spare you Brother Juniper’s generalizations. They are always with us. He thought he saw in the same accident the wicked visited by destruction and the good called early to Heaven. He thought he saw pride and wealth confounded as an object lesson to the world, and he thought he saw humility crowned and rewarded for the edification of the city. But Brother Juniper was not satisfied with his reasons. It was just possible that the Marquesa de Montemayor was not a monster of avarice, and Uncle Pio of self-indulgence.” An historic rope bridge collapses in Lima, Peru, in 1714, dashing 5 people to their death in the gulf…
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Grilled Chicken with Chard and Cheese
I recently found myself at one of our local grocery stores, Nob Hill. Nob Hill has sister stores, which are Raleys and BelAir, and they put out a complimentary quarterly magazine which highlights dishes which can be made from ingredients found in their stores. While I wasn’t there looking for recipes per se, I came home with my magazine, and found myself looking through the pages and thinking that some of them looked pretty good. This was one of them, though I confess I’ve never tried chard before, because it looks a lot like rhubarb, which doesn’t seem to me to be good for much besides jams and pies (hence…
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Sunshine Cleaning
Rose was on top of her game in High School. Cheerleader dating football hero, she seemed like she had it all. Fast forward a few years, however, and we find her in her mid-30s, still dating that same (now married) football hero, and working as a maid, cleaning houses. This isn’t how she pictured her life, and her desperation and desire to improve her situation radiate from her every pore. Amy Adams is amazing as Rose in Sunshine Cleaning, conveying her determination to somehow make more of her life than cleaning the houses of her old high school rivals. She talks of a possible career in real estate, but when…
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(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday
I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. ~Joyce Kilmer