Liana's Lifetime

Morton Salt Girl Costume

2011-01-22T14:51:00.000-08:00

This costume was years in the making. I originally made and wore it myself in the late 1990's (1997?). Bought a big yellow dress at Goodwill and cut it down to make this:

My task for Halloween 2009 was to cut it down to size for my then 7 year old daughter. I took off the sleeves and the skirt portion, hoisted them up a bit and reattached them. Brought the waist in a bit and added better pleating to the skirt.

For the salt can, we took a potato flake can and covered it with an enlarged photocopy of the actual label. Added a spout to the bottom with trailing sparkly ribbons, and a handle on top to carry it as a trick or treat candy holder.

In 2009 she tried it on and my husband took a couple photos. Of course, she's holding the can the wrong way.

And then she got a fever for Halloween and wasn't able to go trick or treating. The costume got put away for a year. I insisted she wear it the following year because we had put so much work into it, I felt like it needed it's Halloween in the spotlight it deserved.

Fast forward to 2010. She's grown a bit and now it fits even better. We entered her in the Bend Bulletin costume contest, so she got her photo in the newspaper (but no prize, oh well). She wore the costume trick or treating and it was a wild success! (We later re-did the left shoe, I had run out of tape for this photo.)

Promotion Celebration

2011-01-22T14:34:00.000-08:00

Finally a new post eh? I must have totally skipped over my annual Halloween costume-making entry. I'll try to do that one next.

But first, this last week I got a promotion at work. The change in title isn't that exciting (going from "Document Control Administrator 3" to "QA Auditor 2"), but what is great is that I changed from an hourly to a salaried employee. I never thought it would be that difficult to achieve, but apparently there are a multitude of reasons that at my company it is a huge undertaking. (All other companies I have worked at where I performed the same duties, the position was a salaried one.) In any case, we went out last night to celebrate.

We got dressed up, even though my daughter didn't want to. She claims that getting dressed up makes her feel like we are rich, and that is embarassing. I explained to her that since most of our clothing comes from Goodwill, E-Bay and garage sales, it certainly doesn't support our being "rich", and also if someone is going to judge us on our appearance, that is their problem not ours.

We went to "Blacksmith" for dinner, a swanky downtown steak and pricey comfort-food restaurant. The drink I started with was a "Sum Yung Gai" which combines coconut rum with pepper vodka, ginger and lime to taste like a red curry dish. It was very good, and a nice departure from the drink I usually order there, the Bubblegum Lemondrop (made with Dubble Bubble-infused vodka). V wanted mussels as an appetizer and we tore through those. However, things started going downhill from there. The waitress brought our salads immediately after the app, so the table was suddenly crowded, and when our steaks arrived, they were lukewarm. Tasted okay, but definitely not hot enough. V had the mac and cheese "flight" with 3 different types (truffle, original smoked, and bacon). They were good except the teacups they were served in had at least a centimeter of breadcrumbs on top (a tad excessive). The beers we ordered with dinner arrived when we were almost done eating, and had a head on them 3 inches deep.

We skipped dessert there and instead went to 10 Below, the restaurant at the Oxford Hotel. I had my old standby, trio of panna cotta, which didn't thrill me as it had in the past but was still the best option for me on the menu. (I'm not a big fan of chocolate.) In retrospect I probably should have had the creme brulee. I did get to try absinthe for the first time, but didn't see what all the hype was about. A lot of work for something that tastes like sambuca.

Cascade Winds Symphonic

2010-03-07T19:42:00.000-08:00

You know that feeling you get when you are in a remote wilderness that is so beautiful you wish you could experience it with your good friends? Or when you are in a touristy city and find a hole-in-the-wall restaurant with the best food you have ever had? You feel like you have stumbled into a gold mine and just can't wait to talk about it. That's how I feel each time I see the Cascade Winds Symphonic perform.

I don't remember my first experience seeing them, but it was about 4 years ago. They perform 3 times a year, during the "school year" and I have missed only a couple performances since then. What I still can't believe is that there are any open seats. Unlike the Central Oregon Symphony, which performs three performances at the Bend High auditorium to a consistently packed house (based on the Sunday afternoon performances I attend), the Cascade Winds Symphonic performs at the smaller, yet more comfortable, Summit High theater for one performance only. And the crowd is about 70% capacity, regardless of the weather.

The kicker is that these performances are absolutely free. Donations are, of course, welcomed and definitely needed, but you can walk in the door, have a seat and enjoy the music free of charge if you like. (The donations are used to help the performers defray the cost *to them* to participate. Can you believe they would have to pay to entertain us?) The quality of the concerts is comparable to anything you would see in a symphony hall in a big city. These musicians are energetic, personable, and out there socializing with the audience during the intermission snack breaks (which are also free, but donation-based). The people of Bend don't know what a treasure we have in these symphony opportunities.

I am not a musician, but I enjoy learning about music. When I was a child, I had a record album called "Children's Introduction to Good Music" which walked through the entire symphony and told the difference between all the instruments and what they sounded like. When my daughter got to the age where she could sit through a performance, I was determined to expose her to the symphony. The Bend symphonies made that possible. Granted, she still falls asleep during them once in a while, but I can tell it is opening her eyes to music, composers, instruments; teaching her not to clap between movements of a piece; and causing her to ask why there are percussion instruments in a wind symphony. I encourage anyone with children to attend these performances. For the most part, the audience is tolerant of children who might be restless, kids love the snack time, and you can always get up and leave knowing you aren't out a pocket-full of dollars for the limited experience.

As a starter, I recommend the Cascade Winds Symphonic over the Central Oregon Symphony for the following reasons: the Summit theater chairs are more comfortable, the venue is smaller and easier to navigate with kids (more leg room), the music is generally more upbeat (keeps kids attention), and there are no tickets required. (The Central Oregon Symphony requires tickets, but they are free at many locations.)

Check out the websites for more information and upcoming concerts. You'll be glad you did, and amazed that this caliber of performance has been here all along, just waiting to be experienced.

An Olympic Caliber Birthday

2010-02-22T19:59:00.000-08:00

We normally downplay V's even-numbered birthdays, but because this year was an Olympic year, I just couldn't resist. I figured that by the time she is turning 12 she won't be as excited about a themed party so I'd better celebrate it now.

We invited three girls from her school for a slumber party and two of them accepted. The plan was to award "medals" for a "make your own pizza" competition, so I made each girl an Olympic medal out of Fimo, with the Olympic rings on one side and something that resembled a pizza on the other.

The cake was chocolate with peanut butter cream cheese filling, decorated with fondant. The first cake attempt didn't come out of the pan, but I saved it anyway and used it as the base layer. Even though the corners were crumbling, the fondant does a pretty good job of covering it up. I didn't have enough white fondant to cover the entire cake, so on the long edges I rolled red, white and blue strips together to make stripes.

I made a bunch of international flags on labels and wrapped them around toothpicks.

I used extra ribbon from the medals to make bows to cover up the seams on the top edges. It matched the long edges so I think it looked like I planned it that way.

We actually ate this cake with the neighbors the day before her birthday at our monthly "game night". The cake the girls ate was a Ben & Jerry's ice cream cake decorated similarly.

The girls made their own pizzas for dinner, I quizzed them on their knowledge of Winter Olympic sports, then we watched "Cool Runnings", the story of the Jamaican Bobsled Team. They seemed to really enjoy themselves and it was a nice mellow party.

Friends, Romans, Countrymen...

2009-05-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

V's 7th birthday earlier this year was a real Roman feast! Following up the Ancient Egypt 5th birthday 2 years ago, the 7th birthday was an Ancient Roman Goddess party. The idea arose when I showed V how to translate the inscription on the Statue of Liberty's tablet from roman numerals, and also somewhat from our trip to Italy last year. I ran with the idea. V, who didn't have a 6th birthday party, was suitably excited, but did take the opportunity to ask why her parties have themes. (And by that she wasn't referring to plates and cups with Spongebob on them. She meant why is there library research involved, and why do I make costumes and plan thematic games.) I asked her, "How many of your friends' birthday parties do you return from with a complete costume, and having learned something about history?" I think she understood. Our library research included a kid's version of "Julius Caesar", books about Ancient Rome and the Coliseum, and Roman myths. V's birthday (mid-February) is nicely timed so after the Christmas and New Years activity, we can pick a theme in early January and have time to buy related items on E-Bay. This year it was Roman God/Goddess bookmarks for the girls to color while guests arrived, Roman Numeral dice for the goody bags, a Roman Numeral placemat, Roman Numeral candles, and crown supplies. More on the crowns later. For costumes, I made 10 little togas out of white sheets from Goodwill and estate sales. I ended up having enough sheets for my own toga, and for my husband and dad to fashion their own costumes. The togas were trimmed with gold ribbon. The party was on the Friday of a week-long company shutdown, so I had plenty of time to spend on the sewing machine.

I envisioned gold and silver leafy crowns, but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for in my price range, so I bought gold and silver leaves (like the ones used for corsages) with wired stems, and made my own by twisting them around metallic pipe-cleaners.

The cake was an endeavor in itself. I knew it would be a Coliseum cake, and borrowed a tube pan from a neighbor to get the desired shape. I found a recipe for Lemon Grove cake (like a pound cake) in my California Heritage Continues cookbook. At Michael's craft store, I bought a package of fondant containing 4 colors (light flesh tone, tan, dark brown and black), and brown frosting tint. I made buttercream frosting and tinted it brown. The fondant was very easy to work with and by mixing the colors, I had enough to cover the outside of the cake plus extra. I cut out sections with a knife and vegetable peeler to make the windows, and applied it to the buttercream, then added details.

Games were "Roman Numeral Bingo" and "Pin the Rome on the Italy". For Bingo, we used regular cards but I printed the numbers 1-75 in roman numerals on slips of paper. When I drew one out, I wrote the numerals on a big pad of paper and the girls had to help me decipher the number before they could mark it on their card. The winner got a Roman Numeral placemat. "Pin the Rome on the Italy" used a wall map of Europe, a blindfold, and labels with the girls names. Spin them around 3 times and let them at it. Food was an appetizer platter of grapes and cheese cubes (smokey cheddar and havarti), followed by Chicken Caesar salad. The best part was the salad dressing, which I special ordered from our local organic grocer. They don't normally sell it, but they make it for their Chicken Caesar wraps and it is out of this world. Goody bags included a Roman Numeral dice and scrapbook stickers of Italian landmarks. In the thank-you notes, we included a picture of the girls in their costumes as a memento. All in all a terrific party...and we all learned something!

Handmade catnip mouse

2009-04-09T22:16:00.000-07:00

I won this mouse for being the 7000th visitor to a wonderful blog. Here is my happy cat, Red, testing it out.

What breed of liberal am I?

2009-02-17T21:32:00.001-08:00

My Liberal Identity:

You are a Peace Patroller, also known as an anti-war liberal or neo-hippie. You believe in putting an end to American imperial conquest, stopping wars that have already been lost, and supporting our troops by bringing them home.

Take the quiz at www.FightConservatives.com

9 More Things About Me

2009-02-04T20:38:00.000-08:00

I have already filled out a list of "XVI Things About Me" on Facebook, but have since been tagged by others at least twice for "25 Things About Me". So I will append my previous list with 9 more items to satisfy that requirement....and I'll tag 9 more people on Facebook. RULES: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you. 17. I have a chronically runny nose, every day of the year. Maybe I am allergic to something totally basic that I am around every day, but I have never seen an allergist. Instead I keep rolls of toilet paper in my car, office, and in every room of the house (I installed a toilet paper holder in the kitchen next to the paper towel holder). I also keep wads of toilet paper in almost every jacket pocket and purse/handbag/backpack. I will inevitably forget one of them when something goes through the laundry and find little bits of it in the dryer lint screen. (I use toilet paper to blow my nose because I find it more absorbent and cheaper, and the size of a toilet paper square is exactly the right size for a little sniffle, so I'm not wasting the extra real estate of an entire Kleenex. And when you blow your nose as often as I do, the cost savings add up quickly.) 18. When I need something, my order of locating an item is usually this: Freecycle (because you can't beat *free*), CraigsList, EBay, Goodwill, Garage/Estate Sales, retail store. I rarely pay retail for anything. I shop this way for clothing, furniture (I got my dining room set on EBay and had it shipped from Kansas), linens, toys, music, electronics, razor blades (for my head and leg-shaving husband) and vacuum cleaner bags. I do not shop at Wal-Mart. 19. I love to cook and find most of my recipes on the Epicurious website. Very rarely do I ever make the same recipe twice, however. 20. I believe kids need to be exposed to a food over and over again before they can really make a true determination whether they like it or not. I always make my daughter take "taster bites" of everything on her plate for that reason. I think that's why she was begging me to make brussels sprouts the other day. 21. All of my major childhood injuries resulted from jumping on a bed or riding a bicycle. 22. I have the last 5 years of my daughter's artwork plastered all over my office walls at work. 23. I was on yearbook staff in elementary school and high school. I reflect on that experience when I am scrapbooking today. 24. The tips of my fingers go numb and turn white at temperatures below 60 degrees Fahrenheit. My nose feels cold below 70 degrees Fahrenheit. My comfort zone is 75-90 degrees Fahrenheit. 25. My job involves Quality Assurance at an ISO 9001 certified company. I sometimes find myself evaluating my life in terms of continuous improvement, corrective actions, and supplier quality.

Best Meals of 2008

2008-12-28T11:12:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a particularly culinary year in 2008, mainly contributed to by our trip to Europe in June/July. This is a summary of the more memorable ones: 1. Homemade pizza, 2/10/08: P made the whole wheat pizza dough before he left for Salem and V and I made the pizza that evening. Pesto based with cheese, mushrooms and olives. 2. Thanksgiving in Spring, 5/9/08: Our 9th Annual TIS (or Ix for the Dune fans). Somehow we overestimated the number of guests attending and had a tad too much food (we made 2 turkeys and a ham), but a wonderful celebration with delicious dishes provided by everyone. Particular standouts were Lois' cheesy potato torte and Dave's Rhubarb Raspberry pie. 3. Every meal on our travels in Germany, Switzerland and Italy: We have many great pictures of the food, and only 3 of our family together. V was pouty about (name anything - she had some attitude issues in the early part of the trip) and somehow still managed to be disapppointed when this pear and ice cream sundae arrived during our dinner in Messkirch, Germany. She warmed up to it after tasting it. At this restaurant in Barolo, the waiter didn't bring us a menu when we asked for one, but instead started bringing out various small plates of food. We ended up with about 10 different dishes, some great wine, and a memorable meal.

After our menu-less adventure in Barolo, I handled the ordering at this small side-street restaurant in La Morra the next day for lunch. We had a lovely chilled Moscato with meaty and cheese sandwiches and a buffalo mozzarella tomato salad. V enjoyed a white-chocolate and coffee popcicle for dessert. No pouting there.

We arrived in the small town of Collodi, Italy, the evening before we planned to visit Pinocchio Park and Gardoni Garden (Carlo Collodi is the author of Pinocchio). For dinner we walked from our mini-RV overnight camping location in the Pinocchio Park parking lot to a restaurant on the Piazza della Vittoria to hang with locals watching the EuroCup final between Spain and Germany. V drew on the placemat and we ordered an appetizer sampler, meat plate, cheese pizza and bruchetta. The owner gave us a bottle of Chianti to take on our travels. (see next photo) The next day, we parked the RV at our campground in Fiesole (in the hills outside Florence). After a dip in the pool, I strolled to a small market in "downtown" Fiesole to buy meat, cheese and bread to accompany the Chianti. We ate in the RV and drank wine out of coffee cups. The next day in Florence, we had another great meal at Trattoria La Casalinga. A carafe of the house red, spectacular pesto that V couldn't get enough of, ravioli and tomato salad. Fortunately V took a picture of the restaurant sign when we let her loose with the camera to keep her from complaining about being bored at the table. We met P's friend Aldo for a terrific Florentine meal with lots of wine, good conversation and a bottle of limoncello and cigars provided by the restaurant owner (or just a hook-up by Aldo - my mind started to get fuzzy around that point). In Parma, Italy we had a nice meal at Croce Di Malta, down a side-street outside an old church. We just ordered randomly from the menu and got adventurous. The dish behind the wine bottle was Vitello Tonnato (cold sliced veal with tuna sauce). Everything was wonderful.

Everywhere we went, every day (sometimes twice a day) we treated ourselves to gelato. You could hardly avoid it, especially with a 6-year old travelling with you. We were constantly being reminded of the availability of it, and of any promises that had been made regarding its purchase.

Early in the morning in Parma, we took a free tour of a parmesano-reggiano factory. The tour was fantastic, starting with the arrival of the morning milk and walking us through every step of the process while it was taking place. Plus free cheese and a bag of goodies at the conclusion, and a spin through their onsite store. This was one of my personal goals and highlights of the trip. We arrived at our guesthouse in Afens, Italy just having missed the dinner service. They recommended we walk down the narrow two-lane road to the next Gasthaus to see about a meal. We arrived in a darkened front entrance, but soon the kitchen was fired up and serving P's favorite beer and the best schnitzel I had. In Bad Tolz, Germany I told P I wanted a sausage of some sort for dinner at this brewery. Due to a temporary lapse in menu translation, I ended up with this super-tasty slab of roasted pork. In Munich on the last day of our trip, I finally got my sausage. This weiss wurst in an outdoor biergarten is the stuff of my dreams. Unfortunately after I got back home I realized that I not only ate it at the wrong time of day (this wurst is generally eaten in the morning and we were there just after noon), but I didn't peel it in the traditional fashion. Anyway, it was delicious. The next morning in the Luftahnsa terminal we received a voucher for food since our flight was delayed. My euros went for more weiss wurst, and I was at least eating it at the correct time (approx 7 am!).

4. Duck breast salad, 7/15/08: This salad turned out so attractive and delicious, I'm glad we took a picture of it. Duck breast wrapped in prosciutto on a bed of baby greens with sliced red bell pepper, an orange vinaigrette and fried wonton strips. 5. Birthday breakfast at Chow, Bend, Oregon; 7/26/08: Banana stuffed french toast and eggs benedict. 6. Job's Daughter's Corn Dogs at Nevada County Fair, Grass Valley, California; August 2008: These corn dogs are an annual tradition, just like the NC Fair, in our family. Crispy on the outside and a thick layer of cornmeal with a hot juicy dog in the center. I can't eat a corn dog anywhere else. 7. Hydration at the Nevada County Fair, August 2008: This barely passes as a meal, except that it is vital to my husband's existence, just like my cooking. First picture is Bitney Springs near Rough and Ready, California. This spring has been flowing as long as I can remember (30+ years since my family first moved there) and was bequeathed by the Bitney family to the local residents. It's a "drink at your own risk" type of place but has always treated us well. We fill up all the water bottles on the way to Grass Valley. Second photo is the method used to enjoy a beer (root or otherwise) at the Nevada County Fair without breaking the bank. Park near the entrance under the shade of the pines, stock an ice chest in the trunk of your car and exit/re-enter the fair as desired. 8. Christmas morning breakfast, 12/25/08: Another family Christmas tradition of fruit, crackers, lunchmeat, fig cake, and gourmet cheese from Newport Market. Also a late harvest Gewurtzaminer from Hauer of the Dauen.

A Diplomatic Mission

2008-11-01T23:16:00.001-07:00

This year V finally decided she wanted to be Princess Leia for Halloween. For a while she wanted to be a vampire, then a werewolf. I began encouraging the Princess Leia idea (she *is* one of the stronger princesses, after all) when I noticed the noise supression headphones on the workbench in the garage and it all came together. We started with a dress from Goodwill for $6.99. Plus some white pleather and silver metallic looking fabric for the belt, and some brown fuzzy material for the "hair" (another $6). I ripped off the purple and silver sequin stuff from the dress, disassembled the chest area, and took off the sleeves. Then I sewed pleats into the neckline to give it a gathered appearance, because this dress material wasn't as billowy as the real dress in the movie. I slimmed down the sleeves and re-attached them. Then cut about 8 inches off the length and hemmed it up. The belt was cardboard covered with white pleather hot-glued on. The "medallions" were also cardboard covered with metallic fabric. We had a problem after hot-gluing the medallions to the pleather, as they had a tendency to pop off with the slightest tug. I ended up Krazy-gluing them on as they fell off.

I made circles of the brown fabric and sewed elastic around the edge to slip them over the headphones, then made a fabric sleeve for the top of the headphones.

V wore a white turtleneck underneath to complete the look, and she was ready to go!

Al Phillips Mirror Pond - 3 Strikes

2008-10-21T20:11:00.000-07:00

When I moved to Bend in 1999, I thought Al Phillips Dry Cleaners was a great place. Bright and clean, right downtown, good customer service, *and* free Tootsie rolls! Since that time, they have wronged me three times, with the third time being today. Each time I say I'm never going back there again. This time I (likely) mean it. The first strike was in 2000 after my wedding. I had a long ivory-colored satin and velvet wrap that got blue paint on it while I was trying to clean off my car post-reception. (Some jokers decided to deface my newly-detailed car with silly string, glow-in-the-dark stars and paint.) Al Phillips attempted to clean it, and used some sort of solvent that not only did not remove the paint, but stained the wrap with huge rust-colored splotches. A couple years later, they lost a pair of my pants. Today, I picked up 10 of my husband's button-down dress shirts, which I had taken in last week with a 5 for $5.99 coupon. The total was $30 for the 10 shirts. I was told that I could not use the coupon because the shirts were *not* dress shirts because they have *french-cuffs*. I was never aware that french-cuff shirts cost any more to launder, but they were firm in their denial of my coupon although nowhere on the coupon does it say anything about french-cuffs. I should mention that we have always used that same coupon in the past for french-cuffs with no problem, and one of the shirts required dry-cleaning ($5.95) rather than laundering because of the type of design on the fabric, hence the $30 total. I still found their rejection of the coupon unreasonable and I am going to try to locate another provider of this service. Barring that, I'm going to start laundering, ironing and starching them myself.

BendFilm: ReelKids Reel-y Inappropriate

2008-10-12T22:29:00.000-07:00

First, I'll say that I am a big fan of BendFilm and independent film in general. The film festival in general has always been a highlight of my year. I take in at least 5 films at each festival, and every year I take my daughter to see the kids' program. It was previously called "IndieKids" but this year it was called "ReelKids". That should have been a signal to me, in retrospect. The ReelKids program today was completely inappropriate for my 6-year old daughter. I have taken her the last 3 years and have always been comfortable with the content of the program. It has included a variety of live-action and animated films from the US and other countries; some with dialogue, some without; all made *for* kids, some made *by* kids. This year there were multiple times I felt totally uncomfortable. In the first 4 films, characters were smoking cigarettes. In one animated film a young boy is flipping channels on a television and sees a mostly naked skeletal drug addict, a "girls gone wild"-type censored scene, and other death/destruction type material which causes him to run out of the house and jump off a cliff. The only redeeming thing is that he "somehow" lands on the moon and sails off into the universe. Another film portrayed a domineering wife demanding her husband fire a penguin from their bird zoo because his act doesn't bring in enough money. Multiple times throughout the movie she torments her husband by telling him he's not "man enough" if he can't tell the penguin he's fired, and promises him special "favors" if he obeys her. Later in the film the manipulative wife is being humiliated in front of a crowd of onlookers and they all laugh at her. The entry that frightened the kids the most was about a ghost that haunts a historic Spanish house where a young boy's parents want to open a Mexican restaurant. This film also included the words "crap" and "stupid" multiple times. And the final insult was the last film. A teenage boy is walking down the sidewalk and sees a plastic grocery bag and *puts it over his head* and falls down on the sidewalk suffocating. Another teenage boy emerges from a house across the street, sees "bag boy" and investigates. Bag Boy jumps up and chases him back into his house, with the bag still on his head, until he corners him in the bathroom. The scared boy pulls the bag off the head of Bag Boy, and he is suddenly "free" and happy and runs out of the house. I can't even tell you what the message was of this film, but I don't need to be walking out of a theater reminding my 6-year old that you don't ever put plastic bags over your head...ever. And that's just the inappropriate stuff I recall from this morning. I will be writing letter to BendFilm organizers explaining my position. I recommend any other parent that attended this showing with their child(ren) and was equally uncomfortable do the same. Let's not have a program like this shown again next year.

Cooking Challenges

2008-09-21T13:25:00.000-07:00

I'm not an Iron Chef by any means, but I love cooking, and I love cooking even more when I have an ingredient I must use, or a theme I must adhere to. Subscribing to the Groundwork Organics veggie box in the Summer motivates me to make recipes that I wouldn't normally discover. "What can I make with red chard and cherry tomatoes?" "What am I going to do with fennel, red onion and mini lettuce leaves?" Cooking under the pressure of vegetables spending their precious shelf life in my refrigerator is what gets me going. Right now it's artichokes, rainbow chard, yellow and orange bell peppers and spinach. A co-worker of mine and his wife have started hosting Monday Night Football each week. The best part (besides the company, their cool pets, and the fun my daughter has with his daughter) is that each week has a theme. For chicken wing week, I made a Hoisin-5 Spice variety. For last week's bratwurst theme I made German Potato Salad. For tomorrow's nacho theme, I'm planning some sort of refried pinto bean dish. Time to research recipes!

September Update (what happened to August?)

2008-09-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

I had to read someone else's blog on Bendblogs.com mentioning they hadn't picked up their own mail in days to realize I hadn't either. For some reason not having my own vehicle accessible affects the flow of my life to an inappropriate degree. It's not a hardship by any means, but I just don't do the things I would freely do otherwise. Like visit a grocery store to buy a chicken so I can make chicken stock before the carrots and celery in my fridge self-compost. Today was the first day the school bus stopped right at the intersection to our cul-de-sac. And V's 2nd time riding the bus. This new bus stop makes it much more convenient for the 14 or so kids in this neighborhood. V came home from school with a story to tell me during bathtime. Her class had a substitute teacher today that attended St. Francis Catholic School (before it was a McMenamins) and one day during recess he and a friend saw a cat on the playground, took it to music class, and hid the cat in the piano. When he confessed to it, the nun gave him 2 raps on each hand with a ruler. V must have been enthralled with the story to remember the details. I figured P would enjoy that story, having attended Catholic school for 12 years, so I had her call him to share it. Currently reading: Three Cups of Tea Cooking adventures in the last three weeks: Smoked salmon stuffed anaheim peppers; Bruschetta with peppers, onions and pesto; Leek and fennel chowder with smoked salmon; Tandoori chicken bites with cucumber dip; Babaghanouj; 2 batches of popcorn (stovetop); 2 batches of yogurt; Hoisin 5-Spice chicken wings; Lentil salad with tomatoes and dill; Braised cabbage with apple; Banana maple ice cream with candied walnuts; Char-grilled beef tenderloin with 3-herb chimmichurri; and Beet Risotto.

July Update

2008-07-28T22:27:00.000-07:00

The family trip to Europe earlier this Summer was terrific. Hopefully I will post about that sometime in the future. After our return, P hooked up our Digital Converter boxes to the 2 televisions (Don't tell me I'm living in the dark ages). I had no idea the number of channels we receive would triple, and also be crystal clear! The best part are the 5, count'em 5, OPB channels. One is called Create, and is non-stop cooking and arts/crafts shows. Recent borrows from the public library include: Flight of the Conchords: The Complete First Season, American Psycho, Rock Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, and The Greatest Show On Earth. Books I'm currently reading: Under the Tuscan Sun, and The Agony and the Ecstasy. Books V is currently reading: The Narnia Chronicles (I think she's on book 3 now?) Coming up next week: Our annual trip to the Nevada County Fair in Grass Valley, California.

Garage Sale Day

2008-06-07T19:39:00.001-07:00

And by "Garage Sale Day" I don't mean that I attended them - that is a far more regular occurrence - I mean that I held one, along with many of my neighbors. Even though I felt that I didn't have that much stuff (once it was all spread out), I still cleared $130.35, which is the lowest of the three years since I've tracked it, but still respectable. After we all cleared our sales, the neighbors convened in the cul-de-sac for a potluck BBQ reminiscent of our July 4 tradition. My contribution to the potluck was a combination of items I had handy in the house - mandarin oranges, sour cream, pineapple, coconut, and mini-marshmallows. It wasn't my mom's ambrosia recipe, but edible nonetheless. Meanwhile, the neighbor kids experimented with a magnifying glass and dry pine needles on the sidewalk, eventually creating a small fire ringed by rocks, which they somewhat successfully toasted marshmallows on. At first I thought this whole project was not a good idea, but there was adequate supervision, water on hand, and after watching them fumble with bamboo skewers and mini-marshmallows, I ended up supplying them with metal skewers and large mallers. The fire was out and cleaned up shortly thereafter, and now I can relax with that dry warm feeling of being in the sun all day.

Snow in Retrospect

2008-02-12T21:27:00.001-08:00

Now that the bulk of the commute-hindering snow is melting away to nothingness, I can look back at it and appreciate its beauty more fully. Here are a few pics: Shoes added for scale: My shoveling helper: My shoveling helper turns six years old tomorrow. She sleepily mumbled yesterday morning that "people will still think I'm seven".

Wisdom of a 5-year old

2007-11-02T22:41:00.000-07:00

A portion of conversation between V and a neighbor boy that was over tonight: They are making a fort with a blanket draped over various chairs and an ottoman. To keep the blanket from drooping in the middle, V puts weighty items on top of some chairs to hold the blanket in place. Neighbor boy (J) wonders why she leaves one chair empty. V tries to explain to him that the blanket was not sliding off that chair so therefore there was no need. He tests her statement himself and finds she is correct. J: "Oh, there's something holding it down, down down." V: "Yeah...gravity."

Ira Glass and This American Life

2007-11-02T22:18:00.000-07:00

I am now officially addicted to "This American Life" on NPR. Actually don't listen to it on NPR (I think it's on Sunday afternoons?). What I am addicted to is listening to archived episodes from their website while I am working. Earlier this week, I was flipping through the huge repository of music files my company IT dude keeps out there "on the G drive". I discovered 8 files of "This American Life" and was enthralled all day with stories of the Little Mermaid voice mail message, the policemen and the squirrel, Music Lessons, and something witty by David Sedaris (per his usual). I had to crank up the volume so I could hear it over the photocopier, and not miss a single line. The remaining days this week I went to their website and started at the top of their "Favorites" list, listening to about 5 hours of shows each day. These stories have a way of sticking with you long after you listen to them. They are food for thought, an expansion of a viewpoint, an mini-education you would not normally receive, narrated by Ira Glass, whose voice can soothe me through any stress, with sound bytes and interviews with everyday people. Some of them cause my eyes to get dewy, some make me laugh out loud (I had only one co-worker walk in while I was laughing and wonder why. Unfortunately it was something vulgar that David Sedaris had said and I could not elaborate.), and all make me wish I was listening alongside another person so we could discuss the shows. Because I don't have an office-mate, however, I did discuss one of the more child-friendly topics with V, because I knew she could relate. From the "Cruelty of Children" episode:

Author and kindergarten teacher (and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient) Vivian Paley tells the story of an experiment she conducted in her classroom to make children less cruel to each other. She instituted a rule: "You can't say 'You can't play.'" In other words, if two children are playing, and a third child comes over and wants to join them, they can't tell him or her to get lost. They can't reject him or her. This is the cause of unending pain in most classrooms and playgrounds. The experiment was a remarkable and immediate success.

So now I am interested in reading Vivian Paley's book regarding this experiment. V acted as though it made total sense when I explained it to her.

In other news...

2007-11-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

Recent happenings in no particular order:

V's first trip to horse races at Bay Meadows.

I place 2nd in my company pumpkin carving contest.

I get to Zachary's in Santa Cruz for Mike's Mess (with Oatmeal Molasses toast, of course).

Strongest Girl in the World

2007-11-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

This Halloween, for the first time since 2001, I didn't have to sew anything. Not that I *purchased* one pre-made, but one came together thanks to a helpful neighbor. This year V wanted to be Pippi Longstocking. She got to dress up twice: once for the school Fall Festival on Friday, and once for trick-or-treating. Similar to last year, the costume did need to be washed on Halloween day to be ready in time, but not because she was ill, only because I didn't get a chance to wash it until then.

You Never Forget How

2007-07-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

I've ridden my bicycle more already this year than in probably the last 10 to 15 years. I am a bicyclist of convenience, and until this year it was not convenient. First, I have a Specialized Rock Hopper that I received as a gift in approximately 1995. The big knobby tires had seen so little use, the tiny rubber strings were still on the sides of the tires 10 years later. Riding to work on streets with these tires was labor-intensive, despite it being only 1.7 miles away. Plus, my helmet was outdated and looked like a big eggshell on top of my head. This year two things changed. First, my husband changed the off-road tires to smooth road tires. Hills I used to labor up are now a breeze. Second, I hit the jackpot at a garage sale where some bike afficionados or store owners were getting rid of inventory. I got a sweet new helmet, two bike pumps, and a headlight and taillight. This year my company participated in Commute Options week and I went 5 for 5, riding my bike every day, and even winning two of the daily drawings for prizes! I feel like a new person. Essentially, riding my bike makes me feel younger. That is why I don't desire to invest in serious cycling attire. I want to hop on my bike wearing regular street clothes and shoes and ride away. Just like I did when I was a kid, riding my bike to the marina or the ice cream parlor at the drop of a hat. No shoe clips or lycra for me. Here's hoping I ride so much these tires wear out before the next 10 years!

Summer TV

2007-06-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I expect to have much to say on this topic since I only get two channels, but I love this time of year on TV. Maybe I should say this time of year on NBC. When I was a kid (late 70's-early 80's), I thought that Summertime was reserved for reruns. During the "season" it was all new shows, and then at some point, which I think coincided with the end of the school year, they started from the beginning and showed the season all over again. Now it seems much more complicated with shows replacing shows mid-season and reserving all the "good stuff" for sweeps week, etc. I don't understand it at all. Except that during the Summer we get new stuff of different shows. Like "Last Comic Standing" and variations of dating shows ("Average Joe", "Age of Love"). "Last Comic Standing" and "America's Got Talent" are two that I easily get sucked into. During the regular season, I also get into "Biggest Loser" and "The Apprentice", and of course the Thursday night lineup of "The Office", "30 Rock" and, to a lesser degree, "ER". I love "My Name is Earl" as well, but V doesn't go to bed in time for me to catch it. Something I do miss is on the other channel I get, public television. They used to show these series where a group of people live in a house together in a different "era". Sort of like "The Real World" meets "The Time Machine": "Manor House", "Colonial House", "Texas Ranch House", "Frontier House". Those were fantastic shows. When I have the opportunity to see cable television, I pretty much only watch "The Food Network". Not only do I like the shows, but it's the only channel that I know I will not show something my daughter should not see. No questionable language, no pushy commercials aimed at children, no scantily clad women. Just food and how to prepare it. The rest of the time, I consider TV mostly a waste of time. I get news and information from the internet, watch "The Daily Show" on the Comedy Central website, show V my favorite clips from "The Electric Company" on YouTube, and rent movies from the local independent film library or the public library.

VOCs of home

2007-05-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

This evening I planned to have V paint our house address numbers to match our trim, and only 1.5 years after we changed our house color to tan, thus rendering them invisible. We took them off the siding yesterday, just in time to confuse the people coming over to pick up stuff from Freecycle. ("Remember, the address is 1107, but we're the house *without* the numbers.") Anyway, V's body decided it would rather run a fever. So she's in bed obscenely early, and happy about it. She even voted herself into a short bath, which she never wants. So I get to relax with the Mexican Wedding Cookies I bought from the Women's Rollerderby Bake Sale on Saturday. (They were too good to pass up, being my favorite cookie, *and* rolled to my car by two flashy women on skates.) And post some stuff on E-Bay, and periodically check in on the San Jose City Hall Peregrine Falcons. In other news, I received the Summer 2007 Philatelic catalog from the U.S. Postal Service and was surprised to find a new addition to this year's stamp releases which was not originally publicized in the 2007 collection: Star Wars. Still think my favorite of the year will be Pollinators. V's dance recital is coming up on June 16. The theme, much to my chagrin, is Disney. Boy, I love them Disney productions, don'tcha know. Her class is performing a dance dressed like newspaper deliverers ala "Newsies". Pinstriped knickers and ties, black flat caps and red leotards. Their song is by "Squirrel Nut Zippers". Could be much worse, considering the alternatives. And the topic I originally named this post for, the Volatile Organic Compounds of home. I realized recently that I love this time of year not only for the tangible appearance of sunshine, but also the aromas that begin emanating from the inanimate objects in the house when the temperature rises above 75 degrees. When I can walk in the door and am instantly hit by the smell of *my* house. All the vapors in the air melding into something so familiar, so homey and comfortable, that you only notice it within the first few seconds of opening the door from the outside. Also coming up: hosting Bunco this week, hosting a Pampered Chef party next week, and then front-row tickets to see the Killers in concert!

5th Birthday Party

2007-02-24T19:29:00.000-08:00

V's 5th birthday was a great success. A month before the party, we had been (for some reason I can't recall) talking about the sphinx and pyramids in Egypt. I decided shortly after that to have V's party with an Egyptian theme. We checked out books from the library to keep her interested and found some great museum websites with ancient egyptian games she could play online. I'm not the type to fork out cash to reserve a party room or take a group of kids on an "outing" so we had it at home, and V was allowed to invite 9 people (turned out to be all girls) because we have a 10-person dining room table. One was not able to attend. This was the first real party where we welcomed gifts. Previous years we specified "no gifts please" when we were gathering at a coffee shop or for a play group to celebrate her birthday. Recently I figured that if she didn't receive gifts in a party setting, she wouldn't be able to practice being thankful and gracious. She did a fantastic job and thanked and hugged each girl before moving on to the next gift. She even handwrote her own thank-you notes. I spent most of my prep time finding the right font for the invitations that would look egyptian while still being legible by 4 and 5 year olds, and their parents. Then, for the planned treasure hunt, I needed a simple hieroglyphic font that correlated roughly to the actual heiroglyphic alphabet. I also researched online for appropriate activities that would occupy the two hours I planned for. Because the girls attending are into dressing up in costumes, I bought 10 yards of white broadcloth and made each girl a "kalasiris" or egyptian robe. Also gold rope to tie around their waist, and enough stretchy gold sequin trim to make each girl two "bracelets". I kept the robes simple, and each one took about 20 minutes to sew, even with finishing all seams except the neck hole. I made three on the larger side for the older girls, and one smaller one for the youngest petite girl. Once I made the first one and had a pattern, the rest were cake.

Speaking of cake, I had immediately eliminated the possibility of a Sphinx cake, and settled on a pyramid cake which would be much easier to architect. V wanted something with strawberries, so I found a good strawberry cake recipe and made buttercream frosting with high-quality european butter. I estimated for 5 layers, based on the sizes of pans I had available, with a 9" square bottom layer, decreasing by 1.5" each layer up to a 3" top layer. Using the scraps cut from previous layers, I only needed one 11 x 17 and two 8" square cakes. I intended the frosting to be yellow/tan/sand colored with edible glitter, but I ended up choosing "copper" as my frosting tint. I disliked the color so much (too orange) I used the entire container of coloring and various food colorings to achieve something that was more brown, with edible yellow sparkles. I placed it on a board covered with foil and frosted the foil to look like a desert, complete with blue paper Nile and sushi grass growing along the riverbank, with a bedouin leading two camels across the "sand". One activity was that the girls would color their own neck capes, which they really got into. I only had to buy two packs of highlighters at Staples. After they put those on, we took some pictures (a couple girls, as I had expected, decided they didn't want to wear the kalasiris, or put on a neck cape, or be in a picture, but I think they still had a good time).

After that, we played "Pin the Tail on the Camel" which was a game V came up with, because she really wanted to play "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" but we couldn't incorporate that into Ancient Egypt. I drew a pretty cool camel on newsprint using a grid, and V helped me color it. The morning of the party I felt he looked a tad plain, so I added the pyramids in the background and shadows, etc. He's still pinned on the wall like a piece of artwork.

After cake and presents, we did a treasure hunt for the "goody bags". This part I had a difficult time planning, although I had hidden 8 encoded notes around the house, with each one pointing to the next location. Each girl was given a hieroglyphic decoder sheet in a nice big font and we ran around the house finding them all. The main issues were that the girls that knew the alphabet well and could read were the first to decode the message and run to the next location. Eventually the slower girls felt bad because they never found one first. I tried to give everyone equal opportunity by not starting to decode until we were all in a group and everyone could see the clue. Each goody bag consisted of a sheet of egyptian stickers, authentic egyptian paper money, and an egyptian action figure (all purchased on E-bay) with a short description and a heiroglyphic alphabet key.

V Hatches the Egg

2006-10-31T15:17:00.000-08:00

It is 3 pm Halloween afternoon. V's costume, which I spent one weekend making, has already been put on, worn to school, taken off, thrown up on, brought home, washed, dried and is ready to go for Trick-or-Treating tonight. That's a lot of excitement for a costume only worn one day. This year she chose to be a robin, as a follow-up to last year's egg costume:

Here's a summary of its production:

First, make your plan,

take measurements of your subject,

cut out the body,

try it on with the preliminary hood,

add the red-breast,

paint the beak and feet,

make the wings and tail feathers,

put it on.

We decided to abandon the idea of wearing the feet at the zero hour. The tail didn't last long, as it kept tapping the back of her heels as she walked. One person thought she was a penguin. No one else bothered to comment. Oh well. She looked great, and felt great, despite the upset tummy in the morning and having to come home from school for fear she was actually ill. I told her the costume might smell a bit funny since I couldn't very well put the cardboard wings and tail through the washing machine. I did the best I could by hand. Overall a successful Halloween, and we even carved the pumpkin and toasted the seeds.

My Slogan

2006-10-13T22:42:00.000-07:00

In the shower last week I came up with a slogan I would put on a sticker or pin and wear proudly. I haven't actually typed/written it out so I don't know what it looks like in print, but in my head it sounded good, so here goes: Less Vanity More Planety It does make one think, doesn't it? Like a vanity license plate that you have to sound out in order to figure out what it says? I came up with it after contemplating people that spend extra money on posessions that say something about their position in life, rather than just buying a basic item that will accomplish the same thing. And then thinking what effect those types of purchases have on the earth and our ecosystems. Like Glade Plug-Ins. Must we use electricity to make our house smell...like a tropical rain forest (because soon that will be the only place you can actually smell one)? Or a specialized kitchen appliance that does something you can do with something you already own? Like those rotating ovens made just for cooking frozen pizza. What happens to those things after people realize they can do the same thing in their own oven? All of those pizza cookers end up at garage sales and Goodwill and eventually landfills. All that plastic and metal and wiring laying somewhere under the earth. I go to a lot of garage sales, so I see the stuff right before it hits the landfill. And Hummers? 'nuf said. I think that for every person out there that is willing to pay a little bit extra to support local farms or the mom-and-pop store on the corner, there is another person that is paying a lot extra to waste resources. How can we ever get ahead, much less keep up? We need to think more about the impression we leave on earth, rather than the impression we leave on other people. The former is more vital and long-lasting than the latter. Less vanity. More planety.

La Sylphide

2006-09-05T22:23:00.000-07:00

Prompted by one of P's (husband's) law professor's love of ballet, I borrowed a DVD of "La Sylphide" from the library this weekend for us to watch and see if V (daughter) was interested in it. To say that she was interested in it is an understatement. For two acts (2.25 hours) she was glued to the screen, the graceful dancing, the symphonic accompaniment, the costumes, the mystery, the questions. And the questions. And more questions. And she watched it 3 times. Because the on-screen synopsis was in French, I researched online as we began watching it so we would know roughly what the storyline was. Strangely enough, there is some degree of interpretation involved, and we never quite settled some key points. James is supposed to marry Effie, a human girl. Instead he becomes infatuated with a fairy, and she pursues him by appearing to him periodically throughout the day of the wedding. The fairy (la sylphide) steals the wedding ring and runs off with it, thus interrupting the ceremony, and James follows her to the forest where she lives. Because she is a fairy, he can't really be with her because she's constantly flying around, so he implores a witch to make a magic scarf which will remove her wings. When he puts the scarf around her, however, not only do the wings fall off, but she also dies. Meanwhile, Effie marries his friend and James is left with nothing. What we weren't quite sure about was whether the witch *meant* to kill Effie or not. She held a grudge against James after he evicted her in Act I because she predicted (by reading palms) that James and Effie were not supposed to be together. Some storylines claim the witch gave James instructions for using the scarf, which he violated. Others claim the witch was tricking James all along just to make him miserable. To start, we spent much time explaining to V what a fairy is, why everyone can't see her, and why someone would want to marry a fairy instead of a human girl. We boiled down the moral to "Greedy Greedy makes a hungry puppy" because if James had just been happy with the fiancee he had, he might not have lost everything. V seemed satisfied with this explanation, but had plenty of questions about fairies and flying and invisibility and why someone can't marry two people at the same time. She loved watching the dancing, which didn't surprise me as much as her interest in the story. It also took a while to explain to her the concept of a "curtain call" where the performers are no longer "in character". Overall, an enjoyable show which educated all of us. I had never heard of La Sylphide before, but it is a famous Romantic Ballet from the 1800's.

August Vacation Wrap-up

2006-08-24T21:45:00.000-07:00

We made it back from vacation, and what a time it was! I could start a "Nevada County Vacation Checklist" of things we attempt to do each year just to see if we are successful. It would include such things as "Meet up with a friend from high school you haven't seen in 10 years or more", "Recognize a person at the fair that you knew in high school", "Take a picture of daughter with a Job's Daughter's Corn Dog", "Spend hours basking in the sun on a rock in the Yuba River" (didn't get to do that one this time), "Shop at used book stores", and "Taste and purchase local wine". My daughter got to ride plenty of rides this year thanks to the tons of discount ride tickets we bought in advance (they're good every year - good thing!). And thanks to my mom babysitting, we got to spend some "adult" time in the beer garden with pals from high school. Now we are in the middle of daughter's teacher's 2-week vacation, during which I must find alternate care for her for the 9 hours I am at work. This year my neighbors and friends truly amazed me with their willingness to have daughter over for day-long play dates. These people really go above and beyond! We are coping decently with husband away in Salem. I decided it's just not worth the money to watch someone else mow my lawn when I am perfectly capable of doing it myself. So there I was last Sunday morning pushing the Black and Decker electric mower around the yard. Yeah! Tonight in the tub, daughter drew a picture of herself and a witch, dressed all in purple. I asked if the witch's underwear were also purple, and she said she didn't draw them and that's because the witch was wearing no underwear because she sold them all to her friends.

Barely monthly...

2006-08-04T21:55:00.000-07:00

You'd think I could eke out at least a monthly entry, but here I am 3 days late. Husband and daughter are on vacation. I join them next week, and get to enjoy 5 days/nights alone with peace and quiet in the meantime. Except for the noise of the cats breaking into their timed-release food dish. Our vacation next week includes attending the Nevada County Fair, which daughter has attended each of her 4.5 years on this planet. I've lost track of my consecutive attendance, but it's likely close to 10+ years. Far be it for us to go to the fair of the county we reside in. The Deschutes county fairgrounds does not have the distinction of being the "most beautiful" in the state, as the Nevada County fairgrounds does in California. The best part of the N.C. fairgrounds are the plentiful pine trees in which the Butler Amusement rides are strategically nestled so each one makes you feel you will be wrapped around a tree trunk sticky with sap picking pine needles out of your hair by the end of the night. And the incredible food area, aka "Treat Street". I have never been to a fair or festival with better food. The only "must have" is a corn dog at the Job's Daughter's booth. (The phrase "Job'sDaughter'sCornDog" is practically one word.) Other than that I generally rotate between tempura (the booth I know the best because I have worked there during several fairs), corn on a stick, baked potato, bratwurst, salad bar, hamburger, soft serve, and root beer float. And never forget free honey samples at the honey hut for some quick energy and go power. Other activities during our vacation will include a visit to the Yuba River, drinks at Lucky Bar USA in downtown Grass Valley, wine tasting at Lucchesi winery, a movie at one of the theaters my friend manages, plenty of babysitting by my mom, coffee at Caffe Mekka in Nevada City, browsing in J.Jacksons and Gray Goose, fondue at Friar Tucks, and general reminiscing in the area I lived from 1978 to 1990. This year I expect to see at least one friend I haven't seen in about 10 years. Not to mention all the Nevada Union High School 1987 alumni I will have my eyes peeled for. Then, to end it all, my husband goes to Sacramento to take Amtrak to Salem to start law school. Daughter and I go home to Bend to find out what it's like without daddy around.

Just testing this out

2006-07-01T21:48:00.000-07:00

After repeated attempts to actually start a blog, and thinking I have nothing to say, here I am again. I could talk about any number of the recent movies we've been getting at the library ("Mean Creek", "The Machinist", "On the Waterfront", "Quadrophenia"), or the entertaining things my 4-year old daughter does (checks out everyone's flip flops to see if they are "Rainbow" like hers), or the most recent gourmet recipe I made (today it was a dry rub for pork spareribs for the neighborhood 4th of July BBQ and Vanilla and Mango ice creams), or how I am inspired by a friend in Southern California to write a blog and not care who reads it or what anyone thinks.