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See, by being slack lately, I have spared you stress and sleeplessness. Had I been posting regularly, you would have known that just over a week ago, I picked L up from work and he announced that effective the next day, his hours had been cut to 20 per week. This seemed fairly disastrous, though the drugs combined with my epic skill in denial mostly kept me from actually feeling the weight of the disaster it was. We talked about how he needed to get a new job all week, but somehow never got around to looking.
Sunday, we were about to leave for gaming when the phone rang. It was a buddy of his from the last job, the one that went bankrupt. He said that their former manager had been trying to reach L, because he was at a new company and wanted to give L a job. Apparently he had already called the buddy himself and one other guy from their original crew to offer jobs. This was Sunday.
L went for the formal interview yesterday afternoon after work. It was short. It went well except for one sort of big question he couldn't answer. He felt certain he'd ruined it. I did not worry.
This morning at work, he got an email from the manager asking for his street address, so they could put it on the formal job offer letter they were writing. He would start tomorrow, except that he's feeling fluish, and told them he'd have to start Thursday.
Both good and bad: I coached him on negotiating, and gave him an exact number to start with and a rock bottom number to try to stick to. The owner, with whom he had the interview, didn't even flinch at the start number. That's what he's going to get paid. So that's good. Of course it also means that he could have gotten a good deal more. He had been advised, back when he was looking for this past job, to ask for a number that was a lot higher, and this last boss looked at him as if he were mad, so he thought the advisor must have been wrong. Now we wonder what would have happened had he tried for that amount in this case. *sigh*
STILL, big raise over what he's been getting with this past job. YAY!
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I have posted my first offerings on my new Etsy shop thingie. I got the idea when I made some earrings for my mom and sister for Christmas, and made and beaded some scarves for a couple of people. We'll see what Today's Consumer thinks of these. I also have a grocery tote I mostly made a couple of years ago that I need to finish tonight to post on there. I'm really quite pleased with it, and I have ideas for more grocery-themed bags, so perhaps it will become some crazy Vera Whatsit phenomenon. I wouldn't complain.
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I decided to wait to post these until ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) firynze got her care package in the mail, so they'd be a surprise. I think you should probably make some. I think you might love them.
 
Lavender lace cookies (original recipe here)
Makes two dozen
2/3 c sugar
1/2 t dried lavender
1 egg
2 t melted butter
1/4 t salt
1/4 t vanilla
1/3 c shredded coconut
2/3 c rolled oats
Preheat the oven to 350F. Use a mortar and pestle to crush the lavender into the sugar thoroughly. In a separate vessel, beat the egg. Add the lavender sugar to the egg and mix well with a spoon. Stir in the butter, salt, and vanilla. Then stir in the coconut and oats. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. (You can also use one of those silicone mats.) Drop the dough in heaping 1/2 teaspoon measures on the sheet, an inch apart. Bake for about 14 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. (You can cook them more or less, depending on how you want them - chewier or crunchier. I think both ways are delicious.) Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes before lifting them from the baking sheet. They can be cooled on racks then, or eaten warm, or both.
I think the recipe could actually stand to have a little less sugar, and/or to have a combination of white and brown sugars. I think honey would taste nice in them, but then you'd really upset the dry-wet ingredient balance. I have also wondered about the possibility of finely chopped walnuts, hazelnuts, or pine nuts. I guess you don't want to add too much, because the beauty of these is in their simplicity.
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Hey, does anyone want to split a CostCo membership? You don't have to live here - you just have to have access to a Costco. Well, I guess you don't have to have that either, but it seems like it would be useful, no?
I believe the membership is $50, and you get two cards. I think the company expects the second card to go to another member of the same household, but there isn't any control on that.
So let me know if you're into the idea.
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| » another Felix haiku |
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Unwise decision
combined with dastardly dog --
Face covered in blood.
Well, it was only half my face covered in blood, really. One doesn't want to be melodramatic. It's not really a big deal. The cut was even enough that they used dermabond (skin super glue) instead of stitches. It hasn't gotten infected, and the bruise is only visible in places, so I don't actually look like L beat me up.
It really was more my fault than his. The dogs and I took a long walk Thursday, and then the family took a really long walk Friday night, and Felix was exhausted at the end. I think we pushed him way too hard. So Saturday the family set out on a family walk, and Felix just couldn't do it. He tried to get into something while he was off-leash (an unwise decision in and of itself) and we couldn't coax him away, so I picked him up. So #1, I was parting him from what he thought of as food, and #2, I blithely scooped him up when he was all sore, and probably pressed on bits that hurt more for it. He growled at first, and I figured that would abate. All of a sudden, he gave a mighty snarl and thrash and I wasn't at all expecting it, so my face wasn't ducked down or turned away. He got me in a nice big bite RIGHT next to my eye, and one fang scored a deep gash, which bled like the dickens because the face does that. L, of course, freaked out at the sight of blood pouring down my face from my eye, thinking the eye itself had gotten hit. Poor guy.
I don't know if it's all the drugs I'm on, or some weird maternal thing, or what, but I didn't drop him. In fact, while I bled, I managed to hold him with one arm and reach the other arm over and around my head to sneak into the one little spot behind his neck that he couldn't get to, grab his collar, and gradually work it around so that I had the ring to clip the leash onto. Felix got two big blood-soaked spots on his back from that.
L ran to get the car, and the dogs and I walked back along the trail to get to the entrance point from the street to meet him. We only passed one man, and I was really worried that he was going to make a scene and the police were going to come take my dog and kill him. The man did all the work for me, though, asking me if I had tripped. I said I had, and he saw the blood on Felix and asked if it was mine, and I said that it was. He said, "Lemme guess, he tripped you?" Absolutely, man. I assured him I was fine and he went along his way. I kind of knew for a second what abused women must feel when they're trying to hide the truth.
May. 12th, 2009 @ 05:40 pm
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| » seven Felix-related haiku |
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Poop on the backseat,
the dog's tail has become sticky --
a big mess all over.
Get in the shower,
Warm water on skin and fur --
emergency bath.
Black hooded sweatshirt,
carrying the dog downstairs -
is that a poop streak?
The rug in the car -
is that some rainwater, or pee?
It's a moist mystery.
Elderly doggie,
poor control of his functions --
clean-up on aisle five.
Doctor prescribed extra food -
hard-boiled eggs, cottage cheese --
Something caused soft stools.
Weak back legs give out -
right as he poops on the floor;
damnedably sticky.
May. 5th, 2009 @ 02:02 pm
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| » I'm not sure this could be more wrong. |
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That, or I have no idea who I am. That's probably just as likely.
| Your Word is "Fearless" |  You see life as your one chance to experience everything, and you just go for it!
You believe the biggest risk is being afraid and missing out on something amazing.
Sometimes your fearlessness means you're daring. You enjoy risky activities.
And sometimes your fearlessness means you're courageous. You're brave enough to do the right thing, even when it's scary. |
Via callenghast
May. 3rd, 2009 @ 03:16 pm
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| » 2009 Books #5-8 |
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5. Sky Coyote (Kage Baker)
This is book 2 of The Company series. It was good. I like the concept of the series, though I will admit this second story didn't quite blow me away. (In the Garden of Iden was really quite good.) I'm reading #3 now, so we'll see if that supports my feelings in one direction or the other. In short, the concept is that a group of mortals in 2300-something figure out time travel. They discover that they can't change recorded history, but they can change little things, and more importantly, they can collect data on people, flora, fauna, geography, stuff, etc etc in those times to be able to preserve them. They can't take things back with them, but they can set up highly sophisticated warehouse-museums where they can store seeds, plant clippings, objects both quotidian and purely artistic, and so on. Then those things are still there for them in the 24th century, well preserved with 24th century technology, to play with. Computer data, like DNA and chemical make-up data, and text on all sorts of different things, can be transmitted to the future. They sometimes reintroduce things, particularly plants and animals, in later centuries, as they see fit. The problem is that it's ruinously expensive to send people into the past. Now it happens that they have also figured out immortality, but it only works if you start modifying people as children, turning them into cyborgs through a number of surgeries and other procedures. So what they do is, they send people way into earliest human history to "recruit" kids, often orphans of war and disease, and turn them into immortal agents who can work through the ages on the future mortals' orders. These immortals in turn recruit more agents now and then, as they find likely candidates. In this story, an entire village is being "collected" before the tribe of Indians that live there are completely wiped out a few decades later by another tribe. It's pretty fun.
#6-7 The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax and The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax (Dorothy Gilman)
I have started re-reading this beloved series about a woman in her retirement years who becomes a CIA agent and goes around the world on harmless courier missions that always end up becoming life and death adventures where she saves a bunch of people's lives and completes the mission more completely than anyone could have dreamed she would, often solving another whole problem along the way. I love these books.
#8 Things Cooks Love: Implements, Ingredients, and Recipes (Marie Simmons)
This is a pretty interesting book explaining a lot of kitchen tools and appliances in general, and then giving a number of chapters outlining regional cuisines and some of the tools specific to them. There are also entries on key ingredients in both parts. There are a couple of recipes accompanying each entry.
May. 3rd, 2009 @ 02:32 pm
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| » Writer's Block: Celebrating Friendships |
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I have known callenghast the longest by far. And actually, in a way lj played a role in getting us back in closer touch after we'd been sort of once-a-month friends for a while. So yay lj!
Apr. 24th, 2009 @ 09:44 am
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| » Headed to NC |
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I have a sourdough story (successful) with pics, and pics of the cookbook bookcase, and some other stuff to post about, but I'm leaving in the AM for NC, so it will mostly have to wait. Connectivity will be limited and I'm leaving the laptop with L to make his life easier. I worry about him juggling work and the dogs. It's going to be stressful. I did at least make sure to make him enough food to last the week, so he doesn't have to worry about cooking anything.
RIght, so I'm tired. The hot cross buns I'm taking to my mom took a lot longer than expected.
Apr. 13th, 2009 @ 12:53 am
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| » Happy Easter everyone! |
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Christ cookie cutter, 15 Euros. Chance to make decision whether to start with the head or the feet, priceless.
Apr. 12th, 2009 @ 12:10 am
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| » Happy Caturday! |
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Darla
Kali
Madeleine
Mira
Apr. 4th, 2009 @ 10:03 am
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| » Leonard Nimoy's Ballad of Bilbo Baggins |
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I think this was intended to be viewed while under the influence of something or other. It's pretty funny by itself, though.
Apr. 4th, 2009 @ 09:54 am
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| » American uber-capitalism and the garage sale |
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This past weekend, I read the story "Craphound," by Cory Doctorow, and long story short, it made me want to go to garage sales. I actually quite like going to them, but we aren't "yard-salers," and really almost never go. Anyhow, I looked them up, and we went to several on Sunday (which would NOT happen in North Carolina. You just don't hold them on Sundays.) I got some really awesome stuff, nearly all kitchen stuff, for almost nothing. It was very exciting.
So today, I was thinking about some thing I would like to have for the kitchen, and I thought, "Hopefully I can find one at a yard sale." Then it hit me, why I like them, and maybe why other people do too. These days, when I want something, more often than not, I order it online. I don't bother trying to figure out where I should look and then going to the trouble of looking. I can go on Amazon and order at least 65% of the things I would look for online in minutes. So having something I've been wanting in mind, and finding it completely unexpectedly, gives a feeling we never get anymore. It's that, Oh, I've been wanting one of those! feelings, made more fun by the fact that if you're finding it at a yard sale, you can actually afford to buy it!
So if I could just have a stand mixer for $5, please, that would be super.
Apr. 3rd, 2009 @ 02:49 pm
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| » Bacon is forever. |
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*This was to have been last night's post, but last night I was so busy pottering about on the internet and off that I forgot to post it. I know some of you probably had trouble sleeping, such was your angst over not having it. I apologize.*
Today's topic: bacon jewelry! callenghast was clever enough to spot these fantastic bacon bracelets, whose edges are actually jaggedy so that it looks like you have just wrapped a piece of bacon around you wrist. I have to show two things this time, though, because I also found this gold bacon and eggs pendant ($30), and well, you need that in your life.
 
I was not, alas, able to find a bacon ring, except for one ring that had a pig named Bacon on it. I was sad. I really was hoping for one that would look like a strip of bacon wrapped around the finger. *sigh*
There were, however, a lot of bacon earrings and necklaces. Some highlights:
These earrings differ from the rest by including the package.
This necklace cuts to the heart of the matter by just showing us a slab o' bacon, sans apologies.
As I have found with other bacon paraphernalia, eggs often accompany bacon in its public appearances.
Finally, though it is not all bacon, one must mention the meat charm bracelet.
Honorable mention: czechcakeroll alerted me to mutterings on the web about a possible bacon-flavored personal lubricant. It does appear that BaconSalt, who bring us the product of the same name, as well as Baconnaise, might be entering the beta testing stage for Baconlube. Note that the entry on their blog that announces this says it was posted March 31, which is perilously close to April 1. So it may or may not be true, just like the story about actors luring home buyers to neighborhoods that the dirty, dirty bastards at Marketplace on NPR played, without any mention of it being an April Fool's feature at any point in the story, and without even a very clear listing on their archives page the next day. I suppose time will tell.
( Under the cut, video in which Jon Stewart actually puts Baconnaise in his mouth. )
Apr. 3rd, 2009 @ 10:11 am
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| » Mighty is my w00t! |
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President Obama rocks. First, I started getting $100 more per month for my unemployment insurance payments. Now, just today, I have been informed that my former employer now has to pay 65% of my premium, for the next 9 months. 65%. Since my payments have been $532, that's a truly massive relief.
Apr. 2nd, 2009 @ 05:05 pm
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