zeelandia

Heavy, man. Or, My adventures with sourdough.

2009-02-08T17:10:00.000-08:00

So I bought this issue of Mary Jane's Farm for a friend of mine that really wants her own hive. The issue was all about honey and I ended up reading parts of it and found the instructions for making sourdough bread.

Sounded so easy I figured I'd give it a try. It appealed to me in a chemistry set kind of way. The whole idea of adding two simple things every day, stirring it, watching it get all bubbly and funky smelling became something to look forward to after work.

Even if the article suggested you keep it by your coffee pot so it'll become a morning ritual, the best morning ritual I have is making it out of the door somewhat dressed at 6:30AM.

The happy bowl of goo, after I pulled out two cups to make my first bread.

Ready to go into the oven

All done! I was so excited that I took a cut out of it before I realized I wanted a picture.

It got the seal of approval from a Bay Area native, so I'm pretty satisfied in my first attempt.

I didn't expect them to be quite so heavy.

Holy crap! Kittens!

2009-02-07T18:08:00.000-08:00

Last week we were on our way to the weekly crafternoon a friend of ours hosts. Each week has a theme, the first was the Bourne movies, then Scooby Doo movies and this last week it was 9th season Doctor Who.

I can't believe I forgot how much I loved Ol' Jug Ears.

However instead of the usual 3 pugs, 1 terrier pup and two cats...

And two new kittens! Adopted at the Petco next to the cajun place were we had just had lunch.

So meet Fred and Lucy:
The kitty foster mom kept saying we could name them whatever we wanted, she'd just come up the names so they could go to the vet to get fixed. Oddly the names fit them pretty well, so Fred and Lucy they stay.

And yeah, it's kind of great to have a reason to yell "HEEEEEY LUUUCY I'M HOOOOOME!!!" when you get home from work.

Chocolate, Whiskey, Tea...

2009-01-29T20:04:00.000-08:00

A year or so ago I went to Chicago and fell in love with a tea shop. It seemed more like an apothecary the way it was set up with tins and drawers lining the walls.

There I discovered O'Connor's Cream. It's a black tea with the flavors of chocolate, whiskey and cream. It's the tea I bring out for friends that say they don't like tea.

I bought a huge bag of it, a bag so large it has outlasted some friendships.

Unfortunately I cannot even begin to pronounce the name of the store so I will provide a link instead. TeaGschwendner how I've missed you.

Ten things from the prompt generator!

2009-01-25T21:57:00.000-08:00

(With thanks to Lynn Viehl, who makes blogging something interesting every day look easy. She's one of my inspirations to get this damn thing flying)

Prompts from : Imagination Prompt Generator

Is there another way to look at it?
You can try standing on your head, or using an empty paper towel roll as a telescope. If you want to get really fancy, and are patient enough, use two toilet paper rolls as binoculars.

Write a haiku about what you see out the window.
The cold dark sidewalk
A scraping noise from below.
Big Kitty wants in.

Normal is...
A lie people tell themselves to excuse bad behavior.
See also: Boring

Do you work too much?
I don't work enough. If I'm not doing, I'm napping.

Write about a question that looms large in your mind right now.
Good grief, what do I have to wear to work tomorrow.
(answer, Red tunicy jacket, River whoops the Reavers boots, Stevie Nicks skirt and warm black leggings)

Name five things in your freezer.
Ice cubes, Pork chops, peas-n-carrots, the fruit experiment potstickers, ground beef
(soon, homemade chicken broth!)

An activity that I enjoy is...
Sorting tiny doll shoes. It's very relaxing.

What does your cat think?
Food food, where is my food, oh there is my food NOM NOM NOM let me out, let me in where is my food? There it is! NOM NOM NOM isitinyourlapnow

Right now, I feel...
Sleepy, and a little bit gassy from the smoked chicken.
I feel pretty content right now.

Today when I put on my pants, I...
Will wonder why they are a skirt.

I'm sleepy...

2009-01-20T21:33:00.001-08:00

But happy.

But very sleepy.

Good night.

What I carry now

2009-01-19T21:58:00.000-08:00

I like it enough, but it's just not as functional as it should be.

Basically this is the really large purse that I put my smaller purse in.

Last year I used it as my book bag when I was unexpectedly accepted for the Fall semester.

This semester I'd like to a a serious bag, because I R serious student.

A least something that makes me think my laptop is somewhat protected.

A little related?

2009-01-18T22:00:00.000-08:00

I'm terrible picky when it comes to purses, and I've needed a new one for a few months now. My beloved meatloaf purse, named such because it is roughly the size of a meatloaf, has served me well, but I need something that can carry an actual book, my small calendar and a book if I want something to read. (which I usually always do)

I think I might have found one on etsy. It has a pinecone print. ^_^

Black bag $1.99

2009-01-17T22:33:00.001-08:00

It looks a little rough in this picture, but it's one of my favorite things. A little boxy purse bought at Savers in Lubbock, Tx for $1.99.

I've carried all manner of things in this little bag.
I keep meaning to attach a small mirror to the underside of the top, but still have not done it.

As much as I'd love to have it as my regular bag, I know I'd be prone to leave it somewhere since it's just a handle bag. I just do better with bags worn over the shoulder.

It fits several trade paperbacks very nicely.

I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner.

2009-01-16T21:42:00.000-08:00

So the battery ran out for my camera and I was full of grump thinking that I wouldn't get the promised picture (well technically two) up today, again.

Why does it have to be a new picture? So here we have my first BPAL imp purchase from sometime last year. Also on top of and beside two of my favorite books, imagine that!

Of these group my favorites were Miskatonic University, Paris and Jack. Now a handy little breakdown of their scents. (taken from the bpal site)

Miskatonic University: The scent of Irish coffee, dusty tomes and polished oakwood halls. How could a girl resist that? Ok, how could this girl resist, it's like a litany of some of my favorite things. It's a sweet, woody smell. Had a lady come in the store one day and go "Do you smell something like...cherry tobacco?", "Oh, that's probably me." Lady: *impressed* It smells so nice, reminds me of my father's pipe. I think it's intended scent was proven there.
I'd probably jump a guy that smelled like the description on the site.

Jack: The scent of warm, glowing jack o'lanterns on a warm autumn night: true Halloween pumpkin, spiced with nutmeg, glowing peach and murky clove. I honestly just found this and I don't know why I haven't worn it until now. Sweet and spicy, one of those you catch yourself sniffing all day. Not so foody smelling that you're hungry all day. (Not to mention that whole "murky clove" thing)

Paris: Lavender, softly underscored by lotus and spice. Something nice to wear with a dress, it's the girlier of the two. Also, surprise, not a food scent.

I'm leaning towards buying a big size of Miskatonic, it's just that delicious.

Midnight...

2009-01-15T21:42:00.000-08:00

Has snuck up and bit me on the butt.

Two pictures tomorrow. I have to be up early for work. So long days off!

Still not brave enough to try the fizzy chocolate.

2009-01-14T19:40:00.000-08:00

Fizzy chocolate. While I'm all for a number of unnatural things; I just don't quite know what to think of fizzy chocolate.

Chocolate cokes are good, but they're not crunchy.

This was part of a secret Santa gift from a co-worker, I guess she figured of anyone she knew that I'd probably try it.

So how about...

2009-01-13T21:39:00.000-08:00

A picture a day starting tomorrow?

Sounds like a plan to me. Just random things because I'm getting tired of all this text.

Words, words, words. I love 'em, but sometimes you just need pictures.

Oh mah head

2009-01-12T21:40:00.001-08:00

Can't tell if it's eyestrain or the weather giving my sinuses a sound thump.
Perhaps it's both.

I did finally get that listing up on etsy! So there's another new years resolution in the bag.
I've been keeping this updated daily, except I need load up things earlier in the day so this isn't just, "It's 11!!! blatherblatherblather" all the time.

I still can't believe Wiscon is all the way over there in May. I'm so impatient for it that I think my hair is curling. (yeah, even more than usual)

Off to sleep, get rid of this headache and attack another tomorrow morning.

Making sure I have everything in line for classes this semester.

Now I remember why I don't go to the mall...

2009-01-11T21:34:00.001-08:00

I forgot how LOUD they play the music in some departments. I nearly ran screeching from one dress department when Beyonce's Put a Ring On It started to blare. Jiminy Christmas.

Found a hoodie that I liked, but alas, the medium was made for girls with no boobs. Where were these clothes back when I had no boobs and was built like a #2 pencil? WHERE?!

The return process was easy, so now I have a nice gift card. I'll probably try to hit another Dillard's soon, maybe one that doesn't require me to hire a guide and ring my brother up for a search party. He found 3 jackets at Macy's

Although I did find the most perfect robe and sleepset ever. It had me written all over it, unfortunatly it also had $$$ written all over it.

If I'm plunking down a good slab of cash it needs to be deliciously made and made to last damn near forever.

The good? Amazing smoked salmon, and milk in the fridge.

Milk in the fridge means cereal for breakfast.

Weather, weather, weather...

2009-01-10T20:56:00.000-08:00

Just want to be at a window watching the snow fall.

Waiting, half-asleep, for an evening weather forcast promise of snow in the wee hours.

Waking up up in the still-dark to a glowing smooth new landscape.

Completing the barefoot dare then running inside for socks and spiced tea.

Weekend!

2009-01-09T21:16:00.001-08:00

Thank goodness!

Lots of sewing, lots of reading and hopefully writing.

Long list of things to do.

Maybe I can get to half.

No really

2009-01-08T21:25:00.000-08:00

Eventually I'll write a nice long pithy entry.

Seriously.

When I break this habit of updating right before the zero hour.

Hur~

There's this other project...

2009-01-07T21:01:00.000-08:00

I need to get it underway.

It involves Yoshitoshi ABe's work and dolls.

...and a big bag of feathers.

Epigram Tuesday

2009-01-06T21:25:00.000-08:00

"Do you carry large print audio books?"

Large print on tape could only promise
Poetry read by Dylan Thomas.

(Actual question.)

Need a new calendar?

2009-01-05T21:07:00.000-08:00

Today I was asked if we had any Sarah Palin calendars. This of course lead to other co-workers cracking about it being a bikini calendar, with guns.

So yeah, we've got that Sarah Palin calendar, right next to the Biden 2009: Boxers or Briefs

Weather break

2009-01-04T21:28:00.000-08:00

80 degree high Saturday afternoon, freezing rain advisory tonight. Wooha!

It ain't much of an entry, but that's what's got my mind spinning.

(hopes for some sort of snow day)

Here's a frog zipping by:

So far, so good.

2009-01-03T20:10:00.001-08:00

Sure we're only 3 days into the New Year, but I'm keeping up with resolutions!

Photos and writing, every day. Along with other things.

Tomorrow is my last day off of a glorious 3 day streak. Somehow it's felt longer than that, which I take as a good sign.

Paycheck

2009-01-02T21:04:00.000-08:00

Nice to have one that looks respectable.

Nicer to be looking for something that'll be better.

Love the job, hate the pay.

Also, sorting tiny shoes on a lucky day off is surprisingly soothing.

New Year!

2009-01-01T21:14:00.000-08:00

Which is pretty obvious.
I'll miss the number 8 at the end of the year, I've always kind of liked it. Sure it's a lucky number and all, and it's half of my personal lucky number.

Year of the ox and all. Let's find some kind of horoscope shall we?

Courtesy of Free Will Astrology
(I trust them because the first horoscope I read of mine featured pregnant giraffes. Seriously, how can you go wrong with advice that involves that!)

In 2009, you'll receive a lot of help, some unexpected, whenever you phase out your trivial desires so that you can better pursue your truly important desires. The coming months will also be an excellent time to shed unrealistic fantasies so you can be freer to concentrate on the realistic kind. While these are not quite once-in-a lifetime opportunities, Virgo, they may be the once-in-a-decade variety. Why not draw up a plan for how you can take maximum advantage of the specific luck that will be flowing your way?

Good thing I'm buying that little calendar tomorrow.

It's cold!

2008-12-22T20:50:00.000-08:00

I am beyond excited. It even dipped all the way to 19! Look at that number, it may be old news to those of you up north, where a double digit means a warm spell, but to me this as close as I'm getting to a respectable winter.

Damn, I miss snow. I wouldn't even mind driving in it again, if I lived somewhere that just a light dusting causes everyone to lose their shit. On the radio they have to constantly remind people that just because they have 4 wheel drive and can go fast on the ice, that eventually they will have to stop.

I wish I was kidding.

I can't believe it's almost Christmas. I've even been prepared for it, somewhat, working in retail. We had to nearly wrestle on of the managers to keep from playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving. It's been a blur, I feel bad that I'm just not in the Christmas mood this year. Then again there are other circumstances that have caused this.

Last week a John Waters Christmas CD made its way into the player at work. It is certainly not anything we can play during open hours. A said that Tiny Tim singing Rudolph was the first time she'd smiled during a Christmas song all season.

Invasion!

2008-12-15T13:34:00.000-08:00

Last night I had a very intense dream. Here is the strange part, I went to bed around 11 then woke up right as it was turning 1am. I thought you had to have 4 hours of sleep to complete a REM cycle.

It was in the house I grew up in, the one out in the middle of nowhere. I dream about this house more than any other place I've lived. We lived there from my birth until I entered the 6th grade.

The dream: I can hear something strange outside, something very not right. I spend a few good moments steeling myself up to crack the blinds and look out. That was always something that frightened and compelled me growing up and to this day. You don't want to look out a window where there's no one for miles and end up seeing something you really didn't want to.

I've crawled up on my parents bed and am much younger than I am now. There are large ships filling the sky. Round with turbines that I can see spinning. I don't know what to do, so I see my parents bed and my brother is already laying by my mom, and I reluctantly take up the space by my dad. I lay there wondering if this is such a good idea. Maybe the aliens know about our fear behaviors and know that we'll huddle, making abduction much simpler.

I'm always having spaceship dreams about that old house. One I just remembered was looking out the window that I saw my first real tornado from. Outside a sleek sliver spaceship zooms past. I'm enthralled and apparently I know the make and model of this particular ship and am very happy to see it.

I guess this is just what happens when you mix an early love of science fiction, astronomy and living where there's nothing but horizon for miles.

2008-12-09T20:12:00.000-08:00

My knees and beloved boots. Boots which have had a zipper malfunction and I'm working on ways to fix them.

I don't even know why they have zippers in the first place when they also lace up. Strange.

All this thought for a pair of boots that cost me $10.

Vertically inclined stocking socks are my new favorite thing. Super long and warm.

Happy knees!

Good Grief!

2008-12-07T17:53:00.000-08:00

The cold I caught the weekend of Halloween has come back to haunt me! It seems like all I can do cough and cough some more! At least the sore throat left around Wednesday, but the coughing! Oi.

This has lead me to do something I've never done before.

Take Nyquil. After all the stories of how it knocks you on your keister/makes you feel sick I had avoided it. Let me tell you, I'm a convert now. Even if it did have me sleep all day, I feel so much better. Now, if I'm able to get a decent night's sleep tonight after being pretty much passed out all day will be another story.

2008-11-30T12:22:00.000-08:00

Expanding Shelves

2008-10-27T18:50:00.000-07:00

At work I'm usually the one that shelves in the kids/young adult area. It's a lot of work since it's like shelving a bookstore within a bookstore. Recently we've been running out of space in the young adult area. Many cracks about crowbars and chunks of lard have been made. I just stood looking at the little island and realized that there was one less self on one side. WHY?!

Soooo...an hour and a half later, the other side of the shelves had one extra shelf each. The YA SFF section could breathe again! I could actually do several faceouts and this fills me with dorky glee. Naturally everyone tends to 'adopt' sections of the stores and this is one of mine.

To me it's almost like I get to run my own bookstore in a micro way. Certainly I don't have much control over what hits the shelves, but at least I can draw attention to books and authors that I would like people to discover.

Goals

2008-10-26T22:22:00.000-07:00

In light of that last post I think it would be best if I let my intention be known. I will have a new job before Christmas/New Years. I know I'm a returning student and all, but I'd like to have a job that is more attuned to my honest skill level and what I think I'm worth.

Being able to wear cute things to work would be an added bonus.

Not walking 6 miles a shift would be an even bigger bonus*

*quite guilty of wearing a pedometer to work out of curiosity.

Could it be?

2008-10-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

That the leaves are finally changing? Almost November and we've barely felt a hint of Autumn. At least it's cold in the morning now. Nights finally call for real blankets and I just don't feel like getting up so early for work.

Not that it's a bad job, it's nice and I like the people I work with. Certainly much less stress than my old one, but the trade-off is pay halved for stress halved.

Honestly, it's more than halved, the stress is damn near non-existent. Too bad my paycheck reflects this.

Where the heart is left

2008-10-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

I keep dreaming of the house I grew up in. Only the surroundings are more interesting and more populated. I found an old picture of my cousin and I about to set off to make a tent out of a favorite blanket and one found 2x4. You can tell in the picture how windy it is and if I'm not mistaken that tent never did make it.

I do think they ended up making a fort out of tumbleweeds. I couldn't have been more than 4 years old, but I remember parts of the visit so vividly. I'm wondering if it is the visit that ended up with our trusted cow dog biting me. I was so small and trying to warn the cousins not to bother him while he ate. I didn't blame our dog at all, he was just being a dog. Somehow I knew this barely out of toddler years.

Cold and Happy

2008-10-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

Can't think of much to write today. I'm just so happy for the weekend. I'm hoping to get a new skirt sewn or maybe finish a book. I need to get some writing done as well because I'm pretty horribly behind on several things.

It's cold finally, so I'm sleeping like a log and eating like I'm preparing for hibernation. I got home from work and boiled not one, but two servings of pasta to be devoured with butter and cali style garlic salt. (You know the kind with the little green bits, my favorite!)

I need to buy more coffee.

I count squirrels and fall off sidewalks

2008-10-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

I'm going back to school in a town I used to live in. Except when I lived there before, for some reason I ignored the campus completely. That's a pretty big tell to where my head was during that time.

It feels like a completely different place. I walk past these huge old two story houses with yards and trees that have been there for years. I count the squirrels both on my way to class and back to my car. I'm parking in a residential area that allows it in order to save money. It feels like I've won both ways, one by saving money and another in the walking and squirrel counting. There's cats too, they're easy to spot once you locate them via the angry clucks the fuzzy-tailed ones scold them with.

Falling off sidewalks? Sometimes I get a little tilted it seems, that and I'm just plan clumsy. Paying too much attention to trees and not feet.

Har har...very funny...

2008-09-15T14:54:00.000-07:00

So look at the date and my promise to update every day. Har har.

Gnawing

2008-08-05T19:27:00.000-07:00

I left work today with a plot bunny gnawing at my butt. Certainly it's not difficult to get hit by them when you work around so many words. It can be dangerous at times since you can start to feel overwhelmed with that feeling of it's all been done before. I try to beat that feeling with a stick when it raises its ugly head.

I was trying to get some scifi shelved before time to clock out and there was a guy in the section yapping away loudly on his cel phone. I don't know about you, but I don't need to hear the nitty-gritty details of your problems with child custody, medical results or other extremely personal drama. Why do people just assume a cell phone gives them some cone of silence to talk about all kinds of TMI.

It's like those people that pick their nose while waiting in traffic. The kinds that dig for gold like they're training for the Olympics. I CAN SEE YOU!!!

I've been lax in writing here. So starting today I'll be updating daily. Off to feed these bunnies some carrots!