Holiday.

Ah Thanksgiving, how I miss you already. You, with all the cooking and dish washing and burning of the fingers, you were my relaxing day. Although, come to think of it, I didn’t actually DO anything Friday and Saturday at the craft fair. Who knew that sitting for seven hours could be so exhausting?

Yeah…craft fair. It was kind of sad. It was a really nicely run fair, everyone said it was well organized and coming from Comic-con, I don’t have anything to compare it with but hey, they would deliver food to you…in your booth! That’s pretty awesome (even if I didn’t have them do that) and the organizer, she knew my name! And my products! And she was super nice. But apparently, that’s just not enough because NO ONE SHOWED UP. No one. Well, a few people, but not many. And the people that were there? They didn’t actually purchase things. Oh they stopped, they chatted, they loved our stuff…and then they walked away. It would appear that it was not us, for once. We were showered and non-stinky and friendly (well…most of us were…ahem) but the crowds were not at all crowd like, they were more singular. And it just…wasn’t. We had some lovely jewelry designers on one side of us (although I must say, I was terribly distracted by the fact that the male half of the team showed up early one morning topless. And it’s not like he was ripped or anything but apparently, I am easily distracted by half naked men…and shiny things too…ok, fine…I am easily distracted) and an excellent illustrator on the other side who didn’t even show up on the second day. So yeah, that was kind of a bust. But I think we found our niche at comic-con and am happy to stay there. Also, once you have dealt with a building full of 100,000 nerds and geeks, anything else is gonna seem tiny by comparison. So, basically, it was two pretty nice days spent sitting in the sun. Which, as I said, totally exhausted me. Who knew that sitting could take such a toll?

So, now it’s on to bigger and better things. Christmas and travel and family and…stuff.
Oh and for the record, turkey, totally not dry. Totally that other word that I don’t like…the m-o-i-s-t word. Someday I will go to Brenda’s house for a deep fried turkey since there is no way in hell I am going to be allowed around a bucket of hot grease, but until then, plain old roasting works just fine for me. It even took less time than I expected. I put the turkey in and figured it would take about 3 hours. Somehow, I got distracted…probably by something shiny or naked…and then when I finally remembered that I probably should baste the poor dead thing at least once, I opened the oven and it was done. So dinner was a lot earlier than I had planned on, but that’s the nice thing about a small Thanksgiving. You can just go with the flow. Now, several days later, I am officially done with turkey until Christmas. Seriously. I even tried to pawn some off on the cat. She just horked it back up onto the rug. So there’s one (more) failed experiment.

Annnnnnyway…Thanksgiving good. Craft fair bad. Oh except I did make a purchase from the Mincing Mockingbird and I totally recommend you check him out. Excellent stuff that.

Crap.

I am tired. Bone weary, I would say, but that might seem a bit dramatic. Tired enough to sleep right now, but always too tired to fall asleep at night. Partially it is getting ready for this craft fair (and yes, everytime I type that it comes out as “crap fair”) and partially it is just my insomnia rearing it’s cuddly and pleasant little head (I figure if I am nice to it, it will go away). But today…tired.

On the other hand, as of tonight, all crap fair stuff will be done. And there may also possibly be a pumpkin pie baked and some sweet potato casserole made. Don’t get your hopes up but anything is possible, right? RIGHT?

Actually, it’s all good, it’s all fine and I can probably even sleep late tomorrow. Gone are the days of the 4 a.m. wake up just to put the turkey in the oven. My tiny turkey will take no time at all. Oop. Probably just cursed myself there. Have you ever had that turkey that refuses to cook? It’s totally defrosted, the oven is working, but for some really strange reason, the turkey remains that weird pinky-blue color and just sits there. The internal temperature rises but not enough, no juices fill the pan…it’s sad really. It happened once, I hope it doesn’t happen again.

Annnnnnyway, tired, turkey…that’s pretty much it. I have things to say and things to do but you know, it ain’t gonna happen until after the holiday.

I love Thanksgiving. I am a very thankful person. I hope that your day is filled with nice things and if they aren’t nice, I hope that they are at least tolerable. And if they aren’t tolerable, have another gin and tonic and be thankful that you have gin…and tonic. Or just gin, whatever makes you happy.

That’s the real point here. I hope that Thursday brings you whatever it is that makes you happy, unless what makes you happy is kicking puppies…so, I guess the real point is..

Um…Happy Thanksgiving?

Noisy.

I am I a bad person just because I joined FaceBook for the sole reason of annoying my nephew into giving me his Christmas list? Probably. But that’s what technology is for, right? Shaming the ones that you love into doing what you want?

It’s a hectic race down to the day after Thanksgiving now. The Tired Girl Collective will be at the Handmade for the Holidays event at the Fairfax High School and I am…not quite prepared yet. But I will be! Well…I hope I will be. We are planning a low key Thanksgiving just for this reason. But, also, because it’s just the two of this time, although I will say, it’s pretty darn hard to find a turkey that weighs less than 12 pounds. I was ready to go for Cornish hens myself.

Heh, I just very dramatically reached for my headphones to signify to my co-workers that I do not want to hear their reviews of current books or movies…and for once it actually worked and they moved away from my desk. This is the problem with the open floor plan office, you are subject to the conversations of EVERYONE ELSE. And quite frankly, I don’t care what they thought of the movies they saw this weekend! And let me just mention here that I was given a wonderful pair of noise canceling headphones for my birthday and my co-workers appear to be the only thing that these headphones CAN’T cancel. They’re loud. Very loud. And proud of it.

Ok, back to work so I can go home, shop for all the Thanksgiving ingredients so that I can then work on things to be sold at the craft fair. Sigh. Never ending.

Pathetic.

I am the queen of sad lunch. You know sad lunch? That’s when the place you work has a fridge and you know you have some stuff in there but you aren’t sure what it is but you don’t really want to go out and get something else, so you eat what you find. Sad lunch.

Today’s sad lunch: youghurt eaten standing up…with a fork. Three “tofu nuggets”.. Just tofu, not chicken flavored or anything, tofu flavored. They were ok, but not something I want to eat more than three of at any given time. A few crackers with hummus. Then I gave up. It’s wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t…it was sad lunch.

In other news. I received a phone call from a co-worker this morning. Naturally, I thought he was at his desk, why wouldn’t I? Turns out he was in the comic book store and he was calling to ask if I wanted him to pick me up the new Scott Pilgrim comic. And I did! So he did! (I thought I was special but when he showed up and handed it to me, it was a stack of like a million). But now I have the new Scott Pilgrim, Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together. And I started reading it. And it is good.

Today.

Today

-I have now commenced purchasing Christmas presents for real. Significant purchases have been made. This is good. Things can get to my mother’s house and she can tell me they have arrived and I can wrap them when I get there. I feel better now.

-I did not go get coffee today. I did however find not one, but TWO different kinds of soy milk that I have been wanting to try at the grocery store: pumpkin spice (it scares me but I can’t look away) and chocolate peppermint (Schwee said “Oh man, there is no chocolate peppermint cow’s milk! That is so unfair! I might have to drink soymilk now!” So, you know, it looks good).

-That organizer? It’s still empty but I did put a sheet of paper with my christmas lists in it. And I did rearrange the pages. Slow and steady wins the race people.

-The moonflower in the terrarium has died. The sensitive plant appears not to be all that sensitive and the aloe just will not grow. But there is a dragon plant now. And more Black Dragon coleus.

-I went to Momoberry. I liked it more than a grown-up should.

-I regretfully must amend my earlier assertions that the elderberry stuff has lessened my cold. While said cold is significantly less brutal than previous colds, it’s still here and I no longer feel comfortable urging others to take elderberries…more testing is necessary. I can advice you that zinc may well shorten the duration of a cold but the taste of it will make you hate life.

Yesterday.

Things I am thinking about right now:

-I want new warm boots and man are the fur ones warm but then something furry had to die to make my boots but if nothing had to die, why are the fake fur ones so expensive and something dies to make my dinner almost everyday but that makes me feel bad too and yet I don’t quite have the gumption to just go and become a vegan but that makes me feel bad and..and…
I guess I’ll just have cold feet.

-Thanksgiving menu for two: Turkey, smallest I can find. Stuffing, bread style (no cornbread, no sausage), roasted Brussels sprouts with garlic, sweet potato casserole, gravy, cranberry sauce (from a can because that’s what I like), pumpkin pie. Husband demands deviled eggs and “bread of some sort”, I demand he makes his own.

-There was no coffee this morning because I left the house early. I miss coffee.

-I still have a cough. But most of the rest of the sudden, unreasonable birthday cold has disappeared. I am attributing that to elderberry capsules and UMKA cold care, which I believe is also made of elderberries…you can’t prove it didn’t work, so I am just going to go ahead and say it did.

-Trying to figure out how my cat can be at the vet’s from 8 am to 4 pm and not have created ANY urine at all. For heaven’s sake just PEE ALREADY!

-I have never made chili in a crockpot before. Tonight’s dinner could be a bad experience.

-I now know what all my Christmas purchases will be…now I just have to purchase them…sigh.

-Why are there no cupcakes here?

-I bought myself a new “organizer” over the weekend. I do not have high hopes that it will help.

-It’s awful cold in here.

-There goes Mike with a coffee. Why didn’t he get me a coffee?

-I am wearing fur boots, two sweaters and a scarf and I am still cold. Something is terribly wrong here.

-Ha! I walked to Star*ucks and now I have coffee! The day has come full circle, well, it’s more of a pear shape but not in that “it’s all gone pear shaped!” way.

Chilly.

Well, I just ate a Lean Cuisine Chicken…something, what was it? Oh, Carbonara for lunch. It wasn’t good. It was edible but you know, not really tasty. It just seemed like a good day for something warm and starchy, as it’s chilly and grey and kind of…it’s not rainy really, it’s more like the heavens are giving me rapberries (or Bronx cheers, if you prefer) and I keep kind of getting sprayed but not wet. In general, it’s vaguely miserable but not entirely horrible. Gloomy. That’s a good word for it. Gloomy. So, I guess the Chicken Carbonra was fitting because that too was pretty gloomy and not at all satisfying. So I had a cracker with some Rosemary, Apricot Chicken Salad but that too was not as pleasureable as it should have been. And it had almonds on it. Which, in theory, is fine, because hey, I like almonds. But in practice? With the rosemary and the apricots and the chicken, was just too much going on. And the crackers were kind of eh too. So I got rid of that and had some yoghurt. Which was good. So it’s not a total wash. But you know what? I could have milked the impending anniversary of my birth for a lunch out. But I was foolish. I am not one to have the week long celebrations (ahem, BFF and husband, it’s a birthDAY not a birthWEEK).

So, the point? Um…it’s chilly? See, that’s how I tie today into something I started writing yesterday and didn’t finish.

Now that it is getting chilly here in L.A. (but don’t get used to it, we will have some randomly blisteringly hot days still…probably around the time I need to do any large amount of cooking. Thanksgiving maybe, or whenever I decide I need to make 20 dozen cupcakes for a party or something). But for now…chilly. Not cold, not icy. Just cool enough to be uncomfortable if you weren’t paying attention and didn’t put on a jacket before you left the house. Chilly enough, for a normal person, to maybe want to sleep UNDER the covers. Chilly enough for me, an unnormal person, to sleep in three layers with two blankets and a hot water bottle. Yes, I took a hot water bottle to bed with me the other night. My feet and nose were cold and I couldn’t decide where to put it for optimal heating. It ended up on the feet. The nose suffered.

We have lit the heater and washed the winter comforter. The cat has begun burrowing under blankets begging for cuddles. And it’s what? 60 degrees? That’s nothing. But it’s enough nothing to make me shiver.

Currently regretting: lunch
Currently talking about: Beau Brummel and prison versions of Hamlet
Currently wishing: I had another sweater

Hollerdays!

Sooooooo, hey there. Hi, how are you? Thinking about Christmas, Hannukah, Hanukkah or Chanukah? How about the Winter Holiday of your choice? No? Too early? Well, just in case, let me point you in the direction of the paperlotus design collective etsy store. We have all kinds of things that you might find suit your holiday needs. We’ve got cards for all sorts of holidays, shirts for all sorts of kids, totebags for…ok, they are pretty much only for nerds but maybe you are a nerd, or you know a nerd who totes things? Yes? We’ve also got nifty all occasion cards by the box that would make great stocking stuffers or prizes for parties or…look, we have stuff, you need stuff…why don’t you take a look? Thanks!

Bars.

I haven’t been making vegan muffins lately, have you missed them? Me neither. Oh, I like them just fine but I have a bad habit of eating breakfast in my car and muffins tend to crumble all over the place, even the…moist…ones (oh how I hate that word). And they take two hands to eat. Too much trouble, says I. Well, for the moment anyway. I am sure I will go back to them at some point. But not now, no sir. Because I discovered the vegan energy bar mix…and quickly dismissed it for being too expensive. Don’t get me wrong, they were really good, but I couldn’t find them in the grocery stores and once you add shipping from the manufacturer…wayyyy too expensive. Ah well.

But wait…I can cook. I know how. I know what goes in…food. I know ingredients and stuff! And all the ingredients are listed on the box, so all I need to do is figure out proportions, right? So what’s in these things? Rice Syrup Solids, Oat Bran), Vital Wheat Gluten, Fructose, Non-GMO Soy Protein Isolate…oh.

Ok, so I thought about it and though about it and it was really easier than I thought. Once I started flinging things into the bowl it all started to make sense. And it was easy. Really easy. And good. And, as far as I can tell, good for you. Here’s what you do:

Mix together in a large bowl:

1c. whole wheat pastry flour
1c. rolled oats
½ c. soy flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons whole flax seeds

add:

1c. fat free soymilk
¼ c. canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

mix until blended and add in
nuts, dried fruit or chocolate chips…I’d say to taste but then it would just be all chocolate chips and nothing else, wouldn’t it? Let’s say start with a ¼ c of each and see what you think.

Bake in a lightly oiled 8x8, 9x9, or, if you are like me, some weird sized pan from Ikea, I think it’s about 7x9. Small enough to fit in the toaster oven, at 350° for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned and springy to the touch.

Let cool before cutting into 8 pieces and wrapping indivudally and storing in the fridge. I wrap mine in wax paper and then put them all into a plastic bag and that seems to keep them nice and fresh.

I am not a nutritionist but I think we can safely say that these have a reasonable amount of fiber and some protein. The fruits and chocolate add some antioxidants and are yummy so, you know, it’s a decent meal. It’s got all the important food groups, fiber, protein and yum.

I have made these twice now and the first time I used 2 eggs instead of canola oil. It worked but I was really surprised when I used the canola oil because they came out much fluffier with a more tender crumb.

The only caveat with these is kind of…well it’s fine, it doesn’t hurt you or anything but whole flax seeds don’t really digest in your system. The ones that get chewed will fill you with lovely omega 3s but the ones that stay whole will pass right through you…so don’t think that it was a clot or something…it’s just the flax. Sorry, I know, I know…I just wish someone had given me that kind of warning the first time I ate fresh beets. So, I thought I’d let you know.

Wordy.

Colleen posted seven of her favorite words and asked commenter to do the same. I had to think about it for a few minutes, even though I knew right away what four of them would be.

1. peace
   
2. grace
   
3. lazy
   
4. blessed (but pronounced bless-ed)
   
5. grackle
   
6. Phillip
   
7. cherry (especially when followed by “red”)

But I don’t think I could tell you why I like these particular words. Mostly it’s the way they sound and the way they feel when you say them. Peace, grace, lazy and blessed all share sibilant sounds…well, actually, is “z” a sibilant? I don’t know, Brenda will know but I am pretty sure it is. Grackle is just fun to say. Grackle, grackle, grackle! And Phillip? I cannot explain Phillip. It’s the name I give to anything that doesn’t have a name. I think I particularly like the plosive “p”. Cherry…cherry, that one is more about visuals than linguistics. I love the phrase “cherry red” which I realized first when listening to an ‘80’s song called “Midnight Blue” sung by Lou Graham. I confirmed my love for that later when I realized that Mick sings that his favorite flavor is “Cherry Red” in “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (You’ll remember that he and Mr. Jimmy decided that they would have a soda…).

I do love words, and I do love complicated and over the top words, but my favorites are all pretty simple. I’m not sure what that says about me…shutup!