Frazz for geeks, costumers, knitters, punsters...

I do love me some Frazz!

Did anyone notice I was quiet?

I finally wrapped up about 3 months of what felt like nonstop travel for work. Couldn't get a very good wifi signal much of the time so e-mail was about the only thing I could do consistently. But it's over now - I'm back to sleeping in my own bed, cooking my own food, reminding the Chief what I look like, and next week I'm going to my first audition in a year!

That wasn't so bad

This afternoon I had my first voice lesson since my teacher's recital the first weekend in June! (She takes the summer off, then schedules conflicted, then I was traveling A LOT for work.) While I was vocally flabby and had backslid a bit, it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. My breath support got lazy during the hiatus and a few other betes noires had crept back into my technique, but I could still produce a sound that wouldn't send my voice teacher's dog fleeing (in fact, the wee beastie slept thru my lesson) and my diction was still decent.

I'll get in one more lesson before my next audition - my first since last spring! Between now and then I've got a good bit of work to do to get my voice and my audition piece whipped into shape. I just hope the audition panel is as enthusiastic about casting me as Golde as my voice teacher is. ("You'd be a perfect Golde - you look like her, you sound like her!")

Just in time for Ash Wednesday

Found this on someone's Facebook page. If you need ideas for a more meaningful Lent, this is a great source of good ideas: http://www.nicksenger.com/csc/101-practical-fasting-ideas-for-lent

Still not clear on the concept

I was getting worried there - we had NO trick-or-treaters for the longest time! We finally got our first bunch around 8:15! On the whole, they've been minding their manners and most had costumes. A few are obviously new at this, though. How can we tell?

1. They yell "trick or treat!" at the closed door, then knock (probably when mom or dad tells them to).
2. They get scared and cling to Mom or Dad when you try to give them candy.
3. They try to walk into the house.
4. They hold up their bucket or bag with one hand and hold out their other hand for more.
   
5. They wish you "Happy Thanksgiving!" (I teased that one, maybe middle-school age, about planning ahead.)
   

Susie Homemaker strikes again

Really went to town in the kitchen this weekend:

• made a big pot (10 c.) of butternut squash soup, packed it up for the freezer;
• cut & peeled 7 or 8 apples for some home-made applesauce;
• cut up a bunch of celery and bagged it for the freezer for future use in soups;
• baked a batch of oatmeal "granola" bars, this time with raisins (the Chief's preference) instead of the chocolate chips the recipe calls for; and
  
• baked a batch of chocolate-pumpkin bars. The combination sounds weird, I know, but the pumpkin makes them so moist and chewy!

Most of this was how I spent my Sunday. That, and I fixed dinner. By then I was sick of food, but BOY did the house smell good!

"Who are you?!?"

The Chief took me to a Moroccan restaurant Saturday night for my birthday. We both enjoy Moroccan food, we got a table right next to the dance floor (do you see where this is going?) and we got to see not just one but two dancers! And the best part was that the first dancer got me up on the floor with her so I got to "play"! Got a chuckle from the audience when I stopped at one point to remove my heels, which I was wearing for the first time.

As we were getting ready to leave, I stopped by the table where the dancers were sitting to tell them how much I'd enjoyed the show. The first one, who'd gotten me up to dance, commented that I obviously knew what I was doing; "Who are you?!?" In other words, how is it you can dance like that and we've never seen you before? :D

As always, the evening had me thinking I need to get back to dancing - love the music, the "toys" (finger cymbals, veils, canes...), costumes - great excuse to wear some really over-the-top jewelry and other bling - what's not to love!

Cinderella and Long Island Cheese

No, not a Disney film (or parody thereof), but two pumpkin varieties I've bought samples of for baking. Now that we have a freezer, I'll have room for the gallon or two of pumpkin I anticipate getting from these 2 rather sizable specimens of cucurbita. Pies, breads, cookies, muffins, soup - I love me some winter squash cooking!

But you already knew this

I'm really getting to hate the very word "cancer". I just e-mailed the couple who were the life's blood of the folk dance performing troupe I used to dance with. She e-mailed me back with an answer to my question, and with the news that her husband died of cancer back in June! He was barely in his 50s, had been healthy as any horse (they ate right, danced, worked out, ran - you name it). He was a vibrant personality, patient teacher, a wonderful dancer - hard to believe he's gone!

The Chief's cousin seems to be failing fast with her cancer too. He talked to one of their cousins the other night, who said M never got on the phone any more and cited some other things that just aren't like her. Sounds like we may need to make sure our funeral clothes are ready to go.

Another culinary experiment that's a keeper

Busy day in the kitchen today - made a pot of mushroom soup from scratch from an online recipe. I want to play with it a bit (e.g., I think it would have thickened if I'd used 1% milk instead of skim and low-fat sour cream instead of fat-free) but it's definitely one I'll make again. Served it with bread & salad - very good and very healthy. I used "baby bella" mushrooms, so even the virtually fat-free version tasted rich and indulgent. I always ask the Chief's opinion on my experiments; he's not a big soup fan, but when asked my usual "should I make this again?", he answered "definitely!"

We're doing pretty well with our decision to try to eat better. I've done a lot of experimenting with lower-fat versions of standards (found a good baked eggplant parmagiana recipe I'm still tweaking), tried some new things. We haven't been nearly as good about eating more meatless meals. The baked eggplant recipe is the only meatless entree added to the repertory. I've asked the Chief to look for meatless entrees he'd like to try but he can't really look at a recipe and decide if it sounds good; to him it's just a list of ingredients. Guess I'll have to pull out our one vegetarian cookbook and take another look at the things I'd marked to try first.

I saw another mushroom recipe that calls for 3 kinds of mushrooms but it's meant as a side; I'd have to play with it to see if I can figure out how to work in some protein to make it an entree. Any ideas, anyone?

Look, up in the sky!

The sun! We finally got a sunny day yesterday, for the first time in a week. High humidity but no rain, so I actually got out and took a quick walk before dinner. Wanted to do that today, but didn't get out before it clouded up and threatened yet another storm. We didn't get any rain, but I was reluctant to go out and find myself blocks from home if the heavens decided to open up.

Any mourners for the deceased?

The Chief found a corpse the other day! He was up in the attic measuring for insulation when he spotted a little mouse carcass. He has since moved a few traps up there, in case the mice are hanging out up there now that the weather isn't so hot. I just hope we can get rid of the vermin before the cold weather gets here, or we'll be stuck with them all winter, chewing on things and making a mess.

Such a crazy week!

Last week was one for the record books. Storms Sunday night that spawned a few tornados (no major damage, thank God), the East Coast's first significant earthquake in not nearly enough years on Tuesday, then Hurricane Irene Saturday, which tried to obliterate poor Vermont and from which some people in this area are still out of power!

The earthquake was my first. I was in a class for work that day, had felt the occasional rumble or vibration earlier in the day, but then the projector images started bobbing up & down while the screens swayed and the floor kinda rolled - very weird! They ended up sending us home early (along with practically everyone else in town), and several buildings were closed the next day while structural damage was assessed, but most places seemed to escape with little or no damage.

The hurricane was another disaster that wasn't as bad as it could have been. The power outages persist, but they weren't quite as widespread as from Isabel, and at least in our area, there wasn't as much damage from downed trees. That was my biggest fear, given that it rained and rained and rained, for close to 24 hours straight! The chief & I lost power for 23 hours, but the weather wasn't blistering or freezing, we have a gas stove and plenty of non-perishables, and we're not on a well, so we had water. Could have been much worse, although trying to shower & shave by flashlight was an experience we'd prefer not to repeat.

Tomatoes!

We ended up coming home from the fair with about 13 LBS. of beefsteak tomatoes! In my innocence, I decided to make marinara sauce. Note to self: beefsteak tomatoes do NOT make good sauce - much too watery! Much basil, rosemary, oregano, and tomato paste and 8 or so hours later, we ended up with 18 cups of sauce. I gave away at least half of it, used another 1 1/2 c. in a baked eggplant recipe I found online, but we still have tons of the stuff left. We may be eating a lot of pasta this weekend, or maybe it'd be good over, say, a baked potato...

I hate meeces to pieces!

The Chief spotted a mouse zipping through the living room a few days ago. Since mice never seem to travel without their extended families, we're readying for battle. The first step was to take all the fruit & bread we usually leave out and stash it all in the fridge.

The Chief bought 10 mouse traps, baited them with peanut butter and set them all over the place, though we have yet to catch anything. This afternoon he looked in the cabinet under the sink for a clean dishtowel and realized where the little critters have been nesting. I've now got a load of dishtowels in the washer, which is set on "scald the living daylights outta these things to get rid of the mouse mess!" Once they're clean, those dishtowels are going into a sealed bin until we can be sure we've managed to evict the filthy little interlopers. If I weren't allergic, we could get a cat to help with our little problem.

We've been through this before out at the cabin, and I had to deal w/ a mouse infestation when I lived in England. Hardly my favorite homeowner's headache, but neither am I about to jump up on furniture and start shrieking if I see one of the little beasties.

County fair

The Chief and I went to a county fair today; his first and my first in 20+ years. Not too hot for August, and relatively low humidity, so we didn't kill ourselves walking around looking at everything.

The Chief enjoyed the animals (we wandered thru the sheep barn as feeding time was approaching; all the sheep seemed to be saying something like "c'mon, where's lunch?!?"), but what he enjoyed best was watching all the little kids. The stroller brigade seemed to be out in force - flocks and throngs of toddlers, young children, even babies, all of them utterly fascinated by just about everything.

One vendor had a lot of John Deere equipment displayed, most of it available for kids to climb on. They even had a combine they'd converted to a slide - climb the ladder into the cab, then slide down the "chute". That one was very popular! They also had a corral full of JD toys for kids to play with, as well as a gift shop with all kinds of JD-logo items, mostly toys for future customers. The whole area was swarming with kids and parents with cameras. I asked the Chief if he wanted me to take his picture sitting in the cab of one machine or another, but he declined. ;)

The livestock barns all had empty spaces, even those barns where exhibitors had set up a space to hang out in the shade. I wonder how long it's been since every single one of those spaces was needed for livestock...?

We also strolled through the 4-H exhibit halls and looked at the winning entries in all kinds of categories. There was one for sewing by children (I didn't see ages displayed). One girl had done quite well - she had a 2-piece outfit that had won a blue ribbon, and a fairly intricate dress (not elaborate, but a lot of assembly and she'd added some nice, subtle touches) that had won a Reserve Champion award.

We stopped by a produce stand on our way out and bought about 12 lbs. of tomatoes. What on earth am I gonna do with all those tomatoes? Why, make marinara sauce, of course, using my fresh basil, rosemary & oregano. I just have to peel all these darn tomatoes first; that'll take a while, so making the sauce itself may have to wait until tomorrow. Our house is gonna smell SOOOOOOO good while it's simmering!

Our county's fair is coming up in a few weeks; walking through this one has me seriously considering entering something in one of the cooking categories. Probably not the marinara sauce - this will be my very first batch; I haven't had time to play with it and get it where I want it. If I decide to take the plunge, it'll probably be some tried-and-true recipe that doesn't need refrigeration.

Thinking this could be an interesting place.

Finally getting caught up

My, but we've had a busy month or so! The Chief & I were at the cabin over the 4th of July weekend and hosted several visitors for parts of it, as well as having some fellow part-timers join us for dinner. We loved having so much company, and our guests seemed to have a good time too.

Then came the marathon:

L&K converged on the cabin the 3rd week of July; first time the three of us had been together for more than a flying visit since K moved away several years ago. It was lovely to have so much time to chat, even if we did have to wait until K's two girls (ages 7 and "10 slash 11") were in bed. The heat set records, and the portable a/c unit could barely keep up (got the temp down to 85 and the humidity down to about 55%), so we weren't terribly active, but that wasn't really the point.

They left on a Saturday; the next day, my sister3 and family arrived at the house so they could do the usual tourist things. I had to work and the Chief ended up leaving Tuesday to go to the dentist, then continue west, but I did get to see them briefly when they came back at the end of a day, hungry, tired, sweaty, and dehydrated from walking all over town in triple-digit heat. They ended up leaving a bit early so they could stop at a Civil War site on the way home. That gave me a whole day between their departure and my own departure to join the Chief (who had driven) in the Midwest for a week.

We spent the week hanging out with family; stayed with mom's sister & her husband, had dinners with different siblings and at Dad's place, hosted those who could join us for a lovely seafood lunch, went swimming w/ several of us, including my 2 little nieces, and generally had a nice, relaxed time. Hard to believe we were there a whole week - seemed like we'd barely opened our suitcases when it was time to go home again.

I got back Friday afternoon, went home from the airport by way of the commissary, was home for all of about 3 hours before heading back out to the cabin. Saturday was the annual block party out there - couldn't miss that! The Chief was still on the road and couldn't make it, but I did save him a piece of the peach cobbler that one person had brought.

We were back out at the cabin last weekend, where friends joined us. This time the highs were only in the 80s and the humidity was low, at least for August, so we had a very nice time indeed. The Chief had to stay and accompany the window installers while I played tour guide for our friends, but we didn't leave him alone all that long. In fact, we managed to time our return so that we got back barely half an hour after the installers left.

Here we'd been trying for years to get people to visit us and they all arrived practically at once! That's OK, though; we're glad they made it.

My sentiments exactly!

First this: http://xkcd.com/931/ (given how Mom went, 6 months after a clean bill of health from her oncologist)

followed by this: http://xkcd.com/933/