02.11.09
Comfort food
Unfortunately, fattening. Fortunately, tasty and makes me feel better and is simple to make. All of those are important, especially in times like now when I’ve got a cold and don’t feel like doing anything complicated.
Here’s a few of my favorite things that make me feel better.
- Grilled cheese. This has changed over the years. When I was a kid, my dad used to make these incredible open-faced broiled-in-a-cast-iron-skillet thick slab of colby grilled cheese sandwiches on the densest wheat bread on the planet. In college and for several years after, it had to be American cheese, but I still had to use wheat bread. Given that I didn’t have access to my dad’s homemade bread, I swapped it for Brownberry – the really dense stuff with the red label. When I was married to my first husband, it was mozzarella. These days, I make three-cheese grilled cheese, with colby, gouda, and a thin slice of pepper jack. I trade off between wheat bread and something froufy from Breadsmith’s, but I usually still use a whole-grain bread. I love the texture of the wheat berries. Sometimes I include tomatoes. Still easy to make, still warm and melty and gooey, still comforting.
- Buttered noodles. Simply put, the widest egg noodles in the store with melted butter. This one belonged to my mom and I, something we could only eat when my dad was out of town because he doesn’t like noodles one bit. How hard is it to boil a pot of noodles and melt a pat of butter? In college, I added parmesan. After that came the broccoli. I like chicken on it too, but that gets to be a little too much work sometimes (like tonight). Even more recently, I started adding Tuscan Sunset, which makes it even more perfect.
- Macaroni and cheese. Who doesn’t like mac n cheese? Yes, the blue box kind. I’m embarrassed to say that I will even occasionally slice some hot dogs into it. Disgusting, but easy to make and delicious.
- Chicken soup. This is a little more work intensive, since I prefer my chicken soup homemade. Chicken, broth, carrots, onions, celery, and seasonings. And once that’s simmered for a few hours, some tortellini from Nottoli*. I get them when I go to Chicago, so I don’t always have some on hand. I do substitute other packaged tortellini from the local Sentry if I have to, but it’s definitely not the same. Plus chicken soup? Makes a ton and keeps for a whole bunch of days! Woo-hoo! No-prep dinners!
*Nottoli also has ass-kicking Giardinara, Italian sausage (SAH-sedge), and sandwiches! Nom. And now I’m drooling.
Oddly enough, what’s missing? Chocolate, cookies, ice cream, sweets. Chips. Most prepackaged foods. Not that I don’t like those things, but they’re not what I turn to when I want to wrap myself in comfort and thoughts of being a kid again. I like the homemade stuff, and, evidently, lots of carbs.
02.10.09
What makes today perfect
- a beautiful, warm sunny day
- knitting my black sparkly socks
- Buffy (season 4) and Angel (season 1)
- Hershey’s Truffle Crème kisses
- not being at work
- warm sleeping kitty
- still being in my jammies at 11:15
- warm cozy blankets on the couch
- ETA: Quality rubbernecking of an ongoing implosion
What makes today not-so-perfect:
- the eleventy billion (approximately) rhinovirii that have taken up residence in my nose, ears, throat, and lungs
Where were you when…
Seen here and there…
1.) Challenger space shuttle exploded (1986): I remember this one well, though the times don’t match up. I was in high school, standing by the door of the band room waiting to be dismissed for lunch when an announcement came over the PA. It had actually happened a few hours earlier, but the announcement was made just before lunch. The rest of the day was pretty average, I think, but when I got home from school, my parents were watching TV. Which was weird, because they never watched TV. And? They had brought the TV downstairs (it was always kept upstairs, out of the way, since we rarely watched). I remember then seeing the first images of the explosion, and I couldn’t turn away.
2.) Berlin Wall falls down (1989): I was a freshman in college, at UW-Madison, 3rd floor of Chad Hall in the Den. We all watched it together, since almost none of us had our own TVs in our rooms. The room was packed solid.
3.) Oklahoma City federal building bombing (1995): I was staying at X’s parents with him (I think they were out of town). I’m not sure why I was there and not working, but it must have been Spring Break. I remember getting up late that morning and coming downstairs, and he told me that someone had set off a bomb in Oklahoma City. My first reaction was disbelief – why Oklahoma City, of all places?
4.) OJ Verdict (1995): Don’t remember where I was, but I remember being upset. It was a weekday, so I must have been working.
5.) Princess Diana dies (1997): All I remember about this was sitting and watching CNN for hours and hours.
6.) Columbine massacre (1999): I heard about this at school, I think, but shrugged it off. Then I heard more on NPR as I was driving home, and the enormity of what had happened hit me. I was nearing the end of my first year in my current district.
7.) JFK Jr. Plane crash (1999): No idea. I didn’t care.
8.) Bush/Gore crazy election (2000): There was so much going on over a long period of time, I can’t remember where I was at any specific moment. But, again, I watched a lot of CNN.
9.) September 11, (2001): I was at work, in a computer lab, teaching freshmen. I remember who was in the class, too. My co-teacher (for that hour) came in and told me that there were rumors floating around about a plane flying into one of the NYC skyscrapers, but he didn’t know many details. I tried to pull up various news websites, but most of them (including CNN) were overwhelmed, and I couldn’t get much information. An announcement came over the PA sometime a little while later, with some details about what had happened. Most of the rest of the day was spent having conversations with students about what had happened, even though the teachers were just as much in the dark as the kids. I remember that there was a TV tuned to CNN in the library, too, and I spent my lunch and prep periods in there watching.
10.) Space ship Columbia disintegrates (2003): I can’t remember where I was, but I can remember that I was listening to NPR in the morning when word came that contact with the shuttle had been lost.
11.) Hurricane Katrina hits (2005): I watched all weekend long, from the time it left Florida until it crossed the Gulf, gaining strength, and slamming into New Orleans. I spent most of that Labor Day weekend parked on the couch, because it was so horrifying and I knew what was going to happen.
02.04.09
Still here
Apparently, I’m taking a blog break. I didn’t plan it, and I don’t mean it, but here it is. I’m not going to apologize, or anything lame like that, because I don’t believe that blogging is an obligation I must do. I do it because I want to, when I want to.
I haven’t felt like blogging. I’m still on Ravelry, and I’m still on Plurk, and I’m still uploading things here and there to Flickr (though I realize I never finished uploading my Arizona pics). I’m still playing Molehill, having made it to Flower Fairy.
I’m burning through sock stash, and enjoying a creative streak, planning and executing a pair of socks. Also working on a wrap, finishing the Arwen reknit, and another baby sweater (no, silly, not for me!)
I’m (mostly) enjoying getting back to life without my Wonderful Student Teacher, even though it means more classes to teach and more papers to grade. They’re all really good classes and kids.
(An aside: Work is good, except for today. I went in, and was overwhelmed by some sort of fumes in my room – it smelled like solvent or something – very chemical-y. So, I moved my homeroom to the cafeteria (which isn’t too far from my room), and spent my 1st hour prep period hunting down engineers and assistant principals – the principal was out today – trying to find the source of the fumes, and trying to find alternate locations to hold my classes. It all worked out in that I spent less than 30 minutes cumulative in my room all day today. But I got no time to work on prepping or grading or other things that needed doing. And I was in borrowed rooms all day, which was disconcerting for both me and my kids. But it was better than the alternative, since my first 10 minutes in the room in the morning left me dizzy, headachy, and coughing. I’m hoping that things go better tomorrow.)
I’m working with a therapist to get back to normal. It’s been 3-ish months (give or take) since I lost my cat and my uncle, and she thinks I’m still grieving (duh!) and that I just need more time. But I don’t feel like I’m stuck in a Spiral of Sad – I just feel powerless, and flaky for forgetting what day of the week it is (which is unlike me), and apathetic toward my friends (which is definitely unlike me). And tired.
And now I’m going to distract you all with my Most Awesome Sweater Ever, which I finished a little while back and which I love SO much and wish I could wear every. single. day.
And how about some pretty, shiny Wollmeise socks?
01.12.09
Hrm.
I’ve been a bad, bad blogger.
Here, I’ll try to distract you with some pretty, pretty things.
Christmas socks:
in a pretty, pretty herringbone stitch:
How about a pair of alpaca thrummed mittens?
Or, you can just gaze on the wonder that is my entire sock yarn stash:
Yeah, there’s a little more there than I expected, too.
I did make it to Arizona on the train – 31 hours of it. And I did make it back by plane. The trip home was unexpectedly smooth compared to the ordeal we had to go through to get there. Yes, I would take another train trip, but I wouldn’t do it for such a long distance – 31 hours kind of stretched the limit of how long I could sit in one place.
Arizona, as always, was magical. I need to sort through the photos and see what’s there…
And I just found airfare from Milwaukee to Baltimore over spring break for $127. I’m thinking I might just book it…
12.27.08
It’s Saturday, and I should be in Phoenix
But I’m not, and that makes me sad.
We go on a winter vacation ever other year with a group of friends. This is our fifth trip, but S’s first with this group. This year, we planned to head to Globe, AZ (east of Phoenix by quite a ways) and spend a week there. There are 13 of us this year, coming from different parts of the country – mostly Chicago and Wisconsin, but also Ann Arbor and San Francisco.
Seven of the 13 are already there, having decided to go before Christmas.
Our saga started last night around 10:30, when we got a call that two of our group had their flight from Midway canceled and that they couldn’t get out until later (turns out to be Tuesday evening), and that they just were worried about the 4 of us coming from Milwaukee. So, we get online and discover that our flight, too, had been canceled. Then, I proceeded to sit on hold for 2.5 hours with the Midwest Airlines “help” service. They couldn’t do anything for us, and couldn’t get us onto a flight until 1/6.
Um, no. I have to be back at work on 1/5.
Fortunately, we had the foresight to retain our return flight, just in case something else worked out.
At that point (2 in the morning), there was nothing whatsoever we could do, so we slept a bit, and got up and started exploring options. Two of us went online and checked every possible date, departure point, and arrival point within about 7 hours of Milwaukee and Phoenix, but airfare at this late of a date is prohibitively expensive.
Then we looked at other options, and decided on different paths. S pitched a fit (he called it a “persuasive argument”) and said he’d be taking Amtrak, and I, being the dutiful wife **cough**cough** decided to go with him. There was no room on today’s train, so we’re leaving Milwaukee tomorrow and will arrive in Flagstaff, AZ, on Monday late, and meet up with our friends on Tuesday.
The last two of our group decided to drive their Prius, stopping tonight in Springfield, MO, and tomorrow in Albuquerque, NM, before arriving in Arizona on Monday, hopefully.
Looks like our Christmas celebration is delayed for a few more days, but we’ll get there, come hell or high water!
And I? Am extremely tired, and plan to take a nice long nap this afternoon.
Hopefully, all will go well tomorrow, and I won’t be posting for another week. Fingers crossed!
12.24.08
Christmas anxiety
1. I’m supposed to drive to my grandma’s today. Actually, I was supposed to go yesterday, but the snow (more snow! Arrgh!) delayed me. It was probably for the best, though it’s going to snow more (aargh!) today. I’ve done the 100-mile drive in the snow before, and, let me tell you, it’s NOT fun.
2. My grandma came home from the hospital yesterday. She seems to be OK, up and about. The pneumonia is gone, and the rehab work did her some good. But she’ll still never be over the underlying condition. And she’ll never again be the grandma I remember.
3. Some days, it’s no fun being married to a railroader. Most days I don’t notice. But days like today, when he’s technically on duty, they could call him in at any time to work, even though none of the trains in his depot are running today. They may need help elsewhere, which is, unfortunately, 50 miles north of here. Kind of makes it difficult to make plans. Needless to say, we’re bringing all of his gear along just in case he gets called in and has to drive home.
4. Snow, snow, and more snow. I’m nervous about getting to the airport safely on Saturday, and being able to fly out. TONS of flights have been cancelled here in the last few days and weeks due to the snow.
5. No snow tomorrow, fortunately. That makes the drive home a little better.
6. We’ll be spending Christmas without either of my uncles. I’m hoping my aunt will join us tonight. She’s the one married to the uncle that recently died. It’s going to be awful to have Christmas without him.
7. The other uncle is stuck Up North where he lives – they’re apparently expecting blizzard conditions today, and he’s not willing to make the drive today. He and my cousins will be at my grandma’s tomorrow, but we’ll be leaving, so we’ll miss them.
Why, yes, I AM back in therapy. Good thing too. This is getting to be too much to deal with.
12.23.08
Christmas knitting… Finished!
Yes, the Christmas knitting is done!
Let’s recap what I had planned:
- A pair of socks for a young friend in grad school in Scotland. Finished!! I loved making these. They’re a basic 3×3 rib with a 6-stitch cable running up the side of each sock. Nothing too complex, but I loved the yarn, and they came out great.
- A bathmat for my great-aunt. Finished! Six strands of kitchen cotton held together, knit with size 15 needles. 3 strands of green, 1 pink, and 1 off-white with flecks of color. Nicely done!
- A pair of mittens for my grandma. These went fast. I used Wool-Ease, so they’re washable. Not the easiest pattern, but still a quick knit. Love how they came out! Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph both mittens after I finished them (but before I wrapped them), so I’ll have to get a picture of them on grandma!
- A Santa and Mrs. Claus in the style of the Creepy Cute Crochet figures for my aunt. This was my vaguest idea and least likely to get done, but I did find a pattern, made a few modifications to suit my tastes, and here they are!
So I? Am totally done with the Christmas knitting and can get back to knitting for my favorite recipient – me!
12.14.08
Christmas knitting
I’ve committed myself to three Christmas knitting projects:
- A pair of socks for a young friend in grad school in Scotland. They’re a basic toe-up 3×3 rib sock with one cable panel on each. But she’s got size 12 feet, so they’re taking longer than I like.
- A bathmat for my great-aunt. Shouldn’t be any great challenge, since it’s knit with SIX strands of cotton on size 15 needles. I’ll probably throw in a washcloth or two, also.
- A pair of mittens for my grandma. Maybe a hat, also. The mittens shouldn’t take long, either.
The real challenge for me, however, is that I haven’t started ANY other Christmas shopping. Nada. Zip. Although, to my credit, I have good ideas of what to get most people. Except…
Unfortunately, I have NO idea what to get my aunt (who was married to my uncle who just died three weeks ago). We usually exchange some sort of Christmas decor, so I kind of want to do a Santa and Mrs. Claus in the style of the Creepy Cute Crochet figures, but I’m not a good enough crocheter to just make something up, so I’d need an actual pattern. Fortunately, one exists…
12.11.08
Things I’ve Done
Which, up until no
w, don’t include this meme (I think. I can’t remember.)
Things I’ve Done (In Bold)
1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (well, halfway to the top)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Rode an elephant
