I've been watching Sweetie carefully this week. He not only replaced the battery in his car (finally), he single-handedly repacked the garage the following day, he washed the dishes in the sink, he vacuumed the living room, and he drove to the hardware store 3 towns over to get something we needed. And I've received 3, count 'em 3, backrubs this week.
He did all of this with my asking. He did all of this without pointing out that he did it without my asking.
I don't know what's going on--but I like it! I have my suspicions and I haven't ruled out alien abduction, but until he sprouts tentacles or an extra head, I'll be keeping him.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Chayote and Spinach Quiche
I'm still experimenting with Chayote in the kitchen. I tried this a couple weeks ago and while it tasted good, I wasn't completely thrilled with the texture. Made some tweaks and tried again this past weekend with much better results. I wanted to post this recipe earlier in the week, but with the home repair situation I didn't quite get to it. We were just sitting down to this meal when the lights went out Sunday night.
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Servings: 6
Ingredients
Directions
Chayote and Spinach Quiche
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- ½ cup light mayonnaise
- ½ cup low fat milk
- 3 eggs
- 8oz shredded cheese (I used a mixture of Mozzarella, Cheddar, and Jack)
- 2 chayotes, grated and squeezed dry
- 1 10oz pack of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- salt and pepper
- 1 9" pie crust (homemade or prepared)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and saute the onion for 15 - 20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Par-bake the piecrust for 5 minutes. (This will help keep the crust from getting quite so soggy.)
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together mayonnaise and milk until smooth. Whisk in eggs. Fold the chayote, spinach, cheese, and onion into the mixture. Pour the mixture into the pie crust.
- Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until top begins to brown and the center is set.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Reigniting the Spark
You know, sometimes you just lose it, that little spark that puts the twinkle in your eyes. We lost ours Sunday evening. As we sat down to dinner, I turned on a lamp near the table and the bulb went out. It was followed by a crackling sound in the wall near the light switch that controls the outlet the lamp was plugged in to. And darkness reigned in our home.
Unfortunately it wasn't a simple matter of resetting the breaker. But luckily for us it only impacted half of the house. Unluckily the master bedroom and bathroom is on that side of the house. I say unluckily because that meant we need to plug in the alarm clock elsewhere in the house, which of course meant we needed to sleep near it in order to hear it in the morning. Yep, we spend Sunday night sleeping on the living room floor. The cats thought it was fun.
Anyhow, I worked from home Monday and Tuesday while we made the necessary repairs. We called in a licensed handyman and he tested all the outlets and switches in that circuit to try and pinpoint the short. He finally isolated where it was in the walls, but couldn't actually locate the broken section, so he ran new wire through the walls and just bypassed the short. Works for me.
This search, of course, involved cutting huge sections of drywall from the walls, thankfully that work was limited to the garage. He did a pretty good job of putting the walls back together too.
Of course, since the repairman needed to work in the garage, we needed to pull all our crappe away from the walls so he could search for outlets and do the work. And in order to pull things away from the wall, we needed to move Sweetie's car out of the garage. The battery has been dead for about 4 months. Sweetie doesn't drive much.
On the plus side, we now have power throughout the house. Also on the plus side, Sweetie finally put a fresh battery in his car (Yea!). On the down side, the contents of our garage are now piled in the middle of the garage floor. We've had most of this crappe since we moved in, 6 years ago. I'm hoping we'll finally be able to part with some of it.
Unfortunately it wasn't a simple matter of resetting the breaker. But luckily for us it only impacted half of the house. Unluckily the master bedroom and bathroom is on that side of the house. I say unluckily because that meant we need to plug in the alarm clock elsewhere in the house, which of course meant we needed to sleep near it in order to hear it in the morning. Yep, we spend Sunday night sleeping on the living room floor. The cats thought it was fun.
Anyhow, I worked from home Monday and Tuesday while we made the necessary repairs. We called in a licensed handyman and he tested all the outlets and switches in that circuit to try and pinpoint the short. He finally isolated where it was in the walls, but couldn't actually locate the broken section, so he ran new wire through the walls and just bypassed the short. Works for me.
This search, of course, involved cutting huge sections of drywall from the walls, thankfully that work was limited to the garage. He did a pretty good job of putting the walls back together too.
Of course, since the repairman needed to work in the garage, we needed to pull all our crappe away from the walls so he could search for outlets and do the work. And in order to pull things away from the wall, we needed to move Sweetie's car out of the garage. The battery has been dead for about 4 months. Sweetie doesn't drive much.
On the plus side, we now have power throughout the house. Also on the plus side, Sweetie finally put a fresh battery in his car (Yea!). On the down side, the contents of our garage are now piled in the middle of the garage floor. We've had most of this crappe since we moved in, 6 years ago. I'm hoping we'll finally be able to part with some of it.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Death by Laundry
Well, we didn't make it to the library yesterday. Actually I talked myself out of it, I have enough books at home waiting to be read. It's just that most of my books are non-fiction or "heavy" reading. I just wanted to be entertained with a bit of fluff. Sorry Nora, love your stuff, but you fall in the fluff category and you'll have to wait.
At any rate, we did get a lot of running around done yesterday and generally had fun. We watched the Sex in the City movie last night. I used to watch the series, but I think I stopped after season 3. The movie was fun, I had a lot of laughs, and was not at all confusing even though I hadn't seen all of the shows that came before. It made me remember what I liked about the show in the first place. I may have to go back and revisit the series.
So, random question here, is it completely irrational for me to be stoked that my pen ran out of ink? I usually misplace, loan out, switch up pens before they run out of ink. The sense of accomplishment I experienced when the pen ran dry doesn't make sense to me. But there it was.
This article about doctors redefining what it means to die in order to facilitate organ harvesting for transplant put a downer on my day. I've been close to this situation 3 times (two cousins and a significant other) so far in my life and have twice been part of the family decision making group determining when enough is enough and whether organs will be made available for transplant. It's not a happy place to be. Please people, complete an advanced health care directive. I know it's unpleasant to think about your own death, but it's much more unpleasant for the people left behind--especially if they don't agree.
After that, I went looking for anything to make me laugh. The SNL skit of the VP debate was just the ticket. Disturbingly, I kinda see myself in the whole "I like McCain, but I don't" portrayal of Biden. Oh, and I loved Queen Latifah as Gwen Ifill.
Today is laundry day. With just the two of us, there really isn't that much laundry, but I'm doing a couple of extra loads for rugs around the house and for my fluffy warm robe. It's been getting colder as I've been getting up earlier and I pulled the robe out of a storage box. It needs to be freshened up a bit. I ran across this video on how to fold a t-shirt. Clearly there are no engineers in the Wayward house.
Another political cartoon on the financial crisis/bailout.
At any rate, we did get a lot of running around done yesterday and generally had fun. We watched the Sex in the City movie last night. I used to watch the series, but I think I stopped after season 3. The movie was fun, I had a lot of laughs, and was not at all confusing even though I hadn't seen all of the shows that came before. It made me remember what I liked about the show in the first place. I may have to go back and revisit the series.
So, random question here, is it completely irrational for me to be stoked that my pen ran out of ink? I usually misplace, loan out, switch up pens before they run out of ink. The sense of accomplishment I experienced when the pen ran dry doesn't make sense to me. But there it was.
This article about doctors redefining what it means to die in order to facilitate organ harvesting for transplant put a downer on my day. I've been close to this situation 3 times (two cousins and a significant other) so far in my life and have twice been part of the family decision making group determining when enough is enough and whether organs will be made available for transplant. It's not a happy place to be. Please people, complete an advanced health care directive. I know it's unpleasant to think about your own death, but it's much more unpleasant for the people left behind--especially if they don't agree.
After that, I went looking for anything to make me laugh. The SNL skit of the VP debate was just the ticket. Disturbingly, I kinda see myself in the whole "I like McCain, but I don't" portrayal of Biden. Oh, and I loved Queen Latifah as Gwen Ifill.
Today is laundry day. With just the two of us, there really isn't that much laundry, but I'm doing a couple of extra loads for rugs around the house and for my fluffy warm robe. It's been getting colder as I've been getting up earlier and I pulled the robe out of a storage box. It needs to be freshened up a bit. I ran across this video on how to fold a t-shirt. Clearly there are no engineers in the Wayward house.
Another political cartoon on the financial crisis/bailout.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
One Ringy Dingy
We're headed out to go pick up my engagement ring from the jeweler. The center stone had come loose last week and we took it in for repairs before it could fall out. (It's fallen out once before.)
Going to the jeweler isn't terribly convenient; it's about 30 miles out of our way every time we need to take it in or pick it up. This is the third repair in 5 months. So we've talked about getting a different ring.
It rained here this morning, so the world seems bright and fresh.Hopefully we'll find something fun to do while we're out. I'm angling for a trip to the library... oh, what an exciting life we lead.
So I've been receiving an unusual number of calls the last few days (like 3 times a day) from American General. They don't leave a message and they don't leave a number. I have no idea what my connection to them is or why they're calling. A Google search turns up several American General companies connected to loans, financial products, insurance and whatnot. I think I'll be reviewing my credit report this weekend. I'll need coffee for that task.
I love the smell of coffee, especially in the morning. Here's an article on how to roast your own coffee on the cheap at home. I'm fortunate that my commute takes me past two coffee roasters on the way to work each morning, Peet's and somebody else. I always breathe deeply when I pass through the cloud of coffee roasting goodness on the freeway. Of course, I then cough up a lung because I'm also sucking on the tailpipe in front of me. At any rate, I don't think I'll be trying this coffee roasting trick at home--my kitchen is just too small and, quite frankly, it seems like way too much bother. I'm happy to stick my face in a container of Folgers and call it good.
In other news, I caught up on the VP debate here. (Links to the video are embedded in the article about halfway down.)Gotta say, I'm pleased. Biden didn't run at the mouth and Palin held her own. I don't think the debate will really change anything, but all those Republicans calling for Palin to step aside may give her a little more breathing room after this performance. Granted, they both got some facts wrong, they both did their fair share of misrepresentation, and they both side-stepped some questions, but overall I think Biden seemed to answer a larger number of questions more directly. Thankfully the fact checkers have been hard at work.
When I think of politicians, I think of talking heads. And with Halloween approaching I think of pumpkins. And pumpkins as heads makes me think of the legend of Sleepy Hollow. Crikies! Can you imagine the headless horseman riding around with this monster?
On the subject of Halloween, I think I've found my costume for this year.
Going to the jeweler isn't terribly convenient; it's about 30 miles out of our way every time we need to take it in or pick it up. This is the third repair in 5 months. So we've talked about getting a different ring.
It rained here this morning, so the world seems bright and fresh.Hopefully we'll find something fun to do while we're out. I'm angling for a trip to the library... oh, what an exciting life we lead.
So I've been receiving an unusual number of calls the last few days (like 3 times a day) from American General. They don't leave a message and they don't leave a number. I have no idea what my connection to them is or why they're calling. A Google search turns up several American General companies connected to loans, financial products, insurance and whatnot. I think I'll be reviewing my credit report this weekend. I'll need coffee for that task.
I love the smell of coffee, especially in the morning. Here's an article on how to roast your own coffee on the cheap at home. I'm fortunate that my commute takes me past two coffee roasters on the way to work each morning, Peet's and somebody else. I always breathe deeply when I pass through the cloud of coffee roasting goodness on the freeway. Of course, I then cough up a lung because I'm also sucking on the tailpipe in front of me. At any rate, I don't think I'll be trying this coffee roasting trick at home--my kitchen is just too small and, quite frankly, it seems like way too much bother. I'm happy to stick my face in a container of Folgers and call it good.
In other news, I caught up on the VP debate here. (Links to the video are embedded in the article about halfway down.)Gotta say, I'm pleased. Biden didn't run at the mouth and Palin held her own. I don't think the debate will really change anything, but all those Republicans calling for Palin to step aside may give her a little more breathing room after this performance. Granted, they both got some facts wrong, they both did their fair share of misrepresentation, and they both side-stepped some questions, but overall I think Biden seemed to answer a larger number of questions more directly. Thankfully the fact checkers have been hard at work.
When I think of politicians, I think of talking heads. And with Halloween approaching I think of pumpkins. And pumpkins as heads makes me think of the legend of Sleepy Hollow. Crikies! Can you imagine the headless horseman riding around with this monster?
On the subject of Halloween, I think I've found my costume for this year.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Some Things Stay the Same
Mornin'. I slept in a bit this morning and got up at 6:30 instead of 5, but I still had enough time to do my yoga, have a bowl of cereal, and my coffee is starting to kick in.
I took my measurements last night; No, I'm not posting them here. The good news, there's been no real change from when I took my measurements around the same time last year. The bad news, there's been no real change from when I took my measurements around the same time last year. *sigh*
According to this piece in the New York Times, that extra hour and a half of sleep will make me more creative and give me an edge. It would be nice if I didn't spend that extra time dreaming of editing and coding text at work.
So I'm debating whether I should try to catch the VP debate tonight or pick it up online later. My mind is already made up. It's been made up since February. I'll be voting Obama/Biden. But I must say I was pleasantly surprised when I watched the Sept. 26th Obama/McCain debate last week, and I learned a few things. You see, I used to really like McCain, back when he was something of a free-thinking Republican. Back when he could credibly be called a maverick.
So I feel partially compelled to watch the VP debate, even though I'm nearly certain it'll be a train wreck. If nothing else, Tina Fey will have fodder for this week's SNL.
I picked up this story of four students at an Oregon Christian university hanging an image of Obama from a tree on campus. Now, I'm from Oregon and I'm beyond disappointed. I'm disgusted and angry and not because it was an image of Obama, but because you don't do that. You just don't do that. There is no possible justification.
I've wandered over to the Art of Manliness site a couple of times now and even though I'm not a man and a don't have a pair (at least not a pair of those) I find it entertaining. Don't think manly-man, think gentlemanly-man and you'll have a better sense of what you'll find there. Here's a link to their Best of September round up. Somehow, I don't think an Art of Womanliness site would go over as well.
And Bush is out to change history... again.
I took my measurements last night; No, I'm not posting them here. The good news, there's been no real change from when I took my measurements around the same time last year. The bad news, there's been no real change from when I took my measurements around the same time last year. *sigh*
According to this piece in the New York Times, that extra hour and a half of sleep will make me more creative and give me an edge. It would be nice if I didn't spend that extra time dreaming of editing and coding text at work.
So I'm debating whether I should try to catch the VP debate tonight or pick it up online later. My mind is already made up. It's been made up since February. I'll be voting Obama/Biden. But I must say I was pleasantly surprised when I watched the Sept. 26th Obama/McCain debate last week, and I learned a few things. You see, I used to really like McCain, back when he was something of a free-thinking Republican. Back when he could credibly be called a maverick.
So I feel partially compelled to watch the VP debate, even though I'm nearly certain it'll be a train wreck. If nothing else, Tina Fey will have fodder for this week's SNL.
I picked up this story of four students at an Oregon Christian university hanging an image of Obama from a tree on campus. Now, I'm from Oregon and I'm beyond disappointed. I'm disgusted and angry and not because it was an image of Obama, but because you don't do that. You just don't do that. There is no possible justification.
I've wandered over to the Art of Manliness site a couple of times now and even though I'm not a man and a don't have a pair (at least not a pair of those) I find it entertaining. Don't think manly-man, think gentlemanly-man and you'll have a better sense of what you'll find there. Here's a link to their Best of September round up. Somehow, I don't think an Art of Womanliness site would go over as well.
And Bush is out to change history... again.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Lather, Rinse, Repeat
All in all, this getting up early thing is starting to get easier. I think it helps that I'm not giving myself a wake-up buffer before I start my morning exercises. If I don't jump right into yoga, the challenge is finding something to do during that buffer time, otherwise I fall back to sleep. Like Monday. And yesterday.
Even though I didn't have enough time to fit in my yoga, I did get some stretching in and overall, I'm still up moving around earlier than I used to, and that's gotta be a good thing.
But not today, today I exercised.
I ran across this shower manager contraption the other day over on the Gather Little by Little blog. I bet my mom would have loved to have had this when I was a teen. I liked one reader's comment about using a light timer. Mom just shut off the hot water--that seemed to do the trick just fine. I'm better about conserving water now; I turn off the flow while brushing my teeth and I don't leave it running while I'm scrubbing up dishes in the sink, but there's no way my showers are down to 5, 8, or even, 11 minutes.
I found this article on wisdom from TimesOnline an interesting read this morning, if only for how the individual people have learned or applied particular pieces of wisdom from or in their lives. I especially liked the pieces from Clint Eastwood, Judi Dench, Madeleine Albright, and Billie Jean King.
As much as I feel you have to take Michael Moore with a shaker of salt (not just a grain), there's usually a nugget of truth entombed in his rants. After reading his latest from Monday I have to wonder, Just how connected are rising health care costs and failing mortgages? We're able to afford our mortgage, but if we incurred significant and unexpected health care costs, would we be screwed? Probably.
More thoughts on Facebook.
Even though I didn't have enough time to fit in my yoga, I did get some stretching in and overall, I'm still up moving around earlier than I used to, and that's gotta be a good thing.
But not today, today I exercised.
I ran across this shower manager contraption the other day over on the Gather Little by Little blog. I bet my mom would have loved to have had this when I was a teen. I liked one reader's comment about using a light timer. Mom just shut off the hot water--that seemed to do the trick just fine. I'm better about conserving water now; I turn off the flow while brushing my teeth and I don't leave it running while I'm scrubbing up dishes in the sink, but there's no way my showers are down to 5, 8, or even, 11 minutes.
I found this article on wisdom from TimesOnline an interesting read this morning, if only for how the individual people have learned or applied particular pieces of wisdom from or in their lives. I especially liked the pieces from Clint Eastwood, Judi Dench, Madeleine Albright, and Billie Jean King.
As much as I feel you have to take Michael Moore with a shaker of salt (not just a grain), there's usually a nugget of truth entombed in his rants. After reading his latest from Monday I have to wonder, Just how connected are rising health care costs and failing mortgages? We're able to afford our mortgage, but if we incurred significant and unexpected health care costs, would we be screwed? Probably.
More thoughts on Facebook.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)