Category: Golightly Living

ETA: I just said something to Neal about, you know, our future president and a sock, and he claimed total ignorance.  Dudes, I wrote the post moments after it happened.  Now he’s saying he was asleep, but I think he was just all involved in the football.  K, he appreciated your comment the most, and he feels vindicated and close to you now!

Neal is watching football.  I just interrupted him to explain why I was giggling so much.

"Remember the Yarn Harlot?  You know, the knitting writing blogger I went to see last fall?"

"Yup."  (He’s really acknowledging that he remembers I went to see a knitting writing blogger)

"Well, she always has these pictures of people holding the sock she’s working on.  Anyway, it’s funny.  So anyway, this other blogger was at a Barack Obama speech, and she got him to hold her sock!!!!" 

Silence.

"Wanna see?"  I assault him with my laptop, shove it in his face and point out the sock and the man.  "Isnt’ that the coolest?"

"Yup."

Sigh.

This morning my oldest sister and her kids flew back to TN, ending the week of festivities for me.  I assuaged my sadness with some mopping and writing and now have a fresh-smelling house and a big chunk of my dissertation revised.  I haven’t done so well in getting Round 3 of student papers graded, but who am I kidding?  MB’s visits are too rare for me to grade when I could be in her company.

Neal, Drew, and I had a good time at Beowulf.  If you don’t have unreasonable expectations that the movie will be true to the poem, I think you’ll find it a fun flick.  When will we (I) learn, by the way, not to expect it?  I can count the movies that I think are as good as the book, and I can’t count very high!  They’re different mediums and shouldn’t be expected to do the same thing.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was lovely.  My sister-in-law did a wonderful job with everything, and I left the table more stuffed than the turkey!  Steve, my oldest nephew, was in cahoots with my brother who wasn’t in CT for the holiday, and via the magic of computers, we were able to see him and his wife and kids as we finished up our meal. 

I had a lot of fun putting together the food that I brought over.  After discovering on Wednesday that my grocery store was out of leeks, I made a snap decision to substitute a carrot-ginger soup.  I was worried about whether or not there would be enough, but there was exactly the right number of bowls of soup in the pot I made.  I used this recipe as a starting point. 

I was pleased when my brother asked for the recipe for the cranberry sauce I made.  It’s the easiest thing in the world; I have no idea why people use the gelatinous canned stuff when the tart ruby glory could be theirs instead.  I doubled the recipe and saved a bag of cranberries to make one more batch for home sometime.  They keep really well in the freezer, you know. 

I tried a new bread recipe, too.  Although Scout told me last spring that I should make it, did I listen?  It’s the easiest thing in the world, and you’ve surely seen it all over the Internet.  I didn’t have a dish with a cover to use in the oven, so I used my beloved Pampered Chef stoneware pan with tin foil over it.  I don’t think the bread suffered at all for my substitution.  I’m eager to have a dinner party so I can make more! 

How could I go over there sans a dessert?  After soup and bread, my favorite thing to make is dessert, even though I’m not such a huge fan of eating it.  I turned to Martha yet again and made her chocolate bread pudding.  I have a hard time eating chocolate–it makes my heart pound too fast–so I’d probably mix up a vanilla pudding next time I make it.  Served hot with some fresh whip on it?  Yumsters!

Tonight I’ll have a salad for dinner; too many sweets and indulgences over the last few days, and I don’t want to start the holiday season by forgetting to feed my body healthy, nutritious foods. 

If the sun makes another appearance tomorrow,I’ll show off some mailbox goodness!

I canceled classes for today; not many students planned on being there, so I did all of us a favor and said we’d take the day off.  I’ve had a lovely morning.  I should be Treadmilling or grading, but instead I altered some Moleskine cahiers.  I’m a day late in sending them out for the swap I’m in, but I hope the recipients will like my work and forgive my tardiness.  I sent both partners the green cahiers.  I used a damp sponge to apply gouache, then I stamped on some Art Deco-inspired images in a metallic gold ink.  Finally, I shredded a bit of Japanese paper and glued it on and covered everything with Mod Podge.  I wanted an effect of cherry blossoms blowing into a verdigrised structure, and I think I achieved it.  I’m not so excited about the cahier on the left.  The colors aren’t working for me, but I’ll still use it myself.

One thing I like about Swap-bot swaps is the chance to play with other materials.  Last year I created a ton of ATCs, and I’ve made paper dolls, too.  I’ve signed up for a few embroidery swaps and a Dottie Doll swap, which should be a lot of fun.

Now that I’ve played, it’s time to work.  First on my list is a trip out of the house to run errands.  When I get back, I’ll spend a few hours cooking for Thanksgiving, and then I need to get at least two hours of grading and two of writing in. 

The best item on my to do list is going to see Beowulf with my 13-year-old nephew.  He’s visiting from TN, and I love that we can chat about books and see more adult movies together.  I’ll let you know what I think, and you can read another review here.

I wanted to write a quick post to say "thanks" for the good wishes for my parents; their party was a blast, but guess who forgot to take any pictures?  As soon as I get some from my siblings, I’ll post.

Typepad isn’t sending every comment to me, so if I haven’t responded to you, that’s probably why.  I know others have been having this problem, too, but I’m hoping it can be resolved quickly. 

That’s all I’ve got today.  I’m off to work on my dissertation with a dog-walking break in there at some point.

I just finished the last of my e-mail conferences, so I’m FREE for the rest of the weekend!  My sister MB and her kids arrived late last night, and we went for manicures this morning.  I can’t do any housework now or I’ll ruin my pretty nails. 

I’m SO excited for my folks’ anniversary party tonight.  I’ve been working a toast (I’m generally nominated to do toasts and eulogies by my siblings.  I gripe, but as Neal pointed out, I’d be peeved if anyone else did it.  MY job.  MINE.  I like public speaking, especially when it’s in praise of loved ones) and think I’ve got it, as long as I don’t cry at the part when I say "your devotion to each other has been the foundation of our lives." 

I better not cry, because if all goes well in my beautifying, I’ll be wearing these.  I wouldn’t want tears to make them fall off, now would I?  I told myself all month that I wasn’t going to buy a new dress, but then I tried on this with this, and I had to have them both. I loved this, too, so it came home with me.  I was all smug; I thought I had the perfect black heels to wear, but they have silver on them, and I don’t have time to shop for new shoes, so I’m going to wear my high heel patent leather boots that go to my knee.  With fishnet stockings. 

I’m sporting a new hair-do to top it off.  I’ve got a red streak in the front, and lots of length was chopped off.  I’m learning about the glory of the curling iron and am tempted to run to the drugstore for hot rollers so I can get this look.

If I pull it all off, I’ll post a picture so you can see me glammed up like a rock n roll superstar, which, seriously?  Totally what I am.  You know it.  I know it.  Now the world will know it.

I hope.  Or maybe I’ll look like I got into my mom’s makeup bag and it didn’t go so well.  If that happens, no picture.

Remember that caught-up feeling that had me so blissful over the weekend?  It’s quickly dissipating.  I’m holding conferences this week, and in an effort to not have to be chained to my office on my normal at-home day, I agreed to do a certain number of e-mail conferences with students who have been doing well in the class.  So tonight, while I watch Pushing Daisies, I’ll likely be writing notes to students as well.  I’d rather be knitting, no doubt! 

I did manage to put something in the oven today, though, and I thought I’d share my off-the-cuff recipe.  Mind you, I haven’t eaten this yet, so bake at your own risk!

PoMo’s Harvest Pie

1 bunch of leeks, washed and thinly sliced
2 large carrots (more if you like), peeled and sliced
3 parsnips, peeled and sliced
1 turnip, peeled and cubed
1 can creamed corn
1/2 yellow onion, diced
Chunk of ginger, peeled and diced (I used a piece about 1" long)
Pinch or two of ground pepper
Pinch or two of sea salt
Pinch of saffron (if you have it)
1/3 cup Craisins
Olive oil
Pie crust

Sautee the carrots, parsnips, turnip, onion, and leeks until the veggies begin to soften a little.  Toss in the ginger and enjoy the fragrance.  Add the canned corn, then the spices and craisins.  Line a deep pie dish with pie crust and fill with the sauteed mixture.  Cover with the remaining crust and put decorative slices on it.  Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, until crust is golden.

I made something similar to this often last winter.  You can substitute the root veggies with whatever strikes your fancy…yellow beets are striking mine, but I don’t have any on hand.

The buzzer is ringing; time to eat!  Let me know if you try this and what you think of it and if you have any good vegetarian winter recipes that I could make.

Neal’s on a new schedule that allows him to have a four-day weekend twice a month, and this weekend was his first one.  Technically he’s got a five-day weekend because of Monday’s holiday, and I’ve got a three-day weekend.  I’m normally off on Thursdays, although lately I’ve been working long hours grading.  I"ve missed my SnB since late September because I’ve been teaching a SAT prep class on Thursday evenings, which has added to my feeling of Thursdays not being my own.

This week was my first Thursday after finishing the SAT class, and I spent last weekend finishing up my Sequence 2 grading, so I didn’t have much in the way of school prep to do.  Neal and I decided to give the house a good cleaning, and other than my office (which I plan to clean after my shower today), our little home is all glowy and clean. 

Neal just took off to help one of his buds deal with a poaching problem on his land.  It’s 10:30 on a Saturday morning.  My house is pretty much clean, and I’ve got maybe an hour’s worth of work to do for my job and about five hours alone in the house.  I feel so light and free right now.  Having a whole three days ahead of me with only dissertation work to do is amazing.

I can knit and spin without feeling that I’m taking away from other, more critical things that need doing. Hell, I may even do some rug hooking or play with my Weavette.

I guess the crux of things is this:  I’m giddy with the freedom that comes from catching up a bit.

I’ve been feeling another kind of freedom, too: release from UFOs.  Since deciding to join Clean Slate by 2008, I’ve finished two projects and last night frogged a third.   I’ve worked steadily on other UFOs, including some Christmas gifts that won’t be mentioned on the blog. 

Cleanliness, as my dad always said, is, indeed, next to godliness.  I’m off to bask in my catching up afterglow!

I had big plans for this year’s Halloween.  BIG PLANS, people.  They involved fire and trees made into spiders and cauldrons and dry ice.  And Neal.  He’s the genius who will make my creepy, spooky set up a reality.

See, we live on the edge of our neighborhood.  Our driveway is a bit long and a little curvy and surrounded by trees.  Our dogs bark at trespassers (ok, whatever.  Walking on the street is not technically trespassing, but in Maddie’s world, it’s a dire offense).  We don’t have kids.

There’s a lot working against our getting trick-or-treaters.  I buy the candy and end up sending it to work with Neal every year.  This year, I wanted it to be different.  I wanted to have the creepy, spooky set up that no kid (or parent) in the neighborhood could resist.

Alas.  Neal has changed his work schedule and is getting home an hour later.  We simply weren’t able to pull off creepy, spooky set up.  Next year, though, he’s promised to take the day off from work.

I’m still hoping to hear the door bell ring, though.  I even put the candy in cute ghost bags this year.  And there are gummy eyeballs in those bags. 

Happy Halloween. 

Lot’s of people are loving Pushing Daisies, so last night, while Neal had baseball on the idiot box, I watched the first two episodes online.  I am crazy about this show.  For a chica who went 14 years sans television, I sure am getting hooked.  I’ll add PD to my weekly must-sees Grey’s Anatomy and Ugly Betty.  The show really plays on fairy tale themes, which appeals to me, and as in Ugly Betty, colors are used so effectively; this show makes me want to pull out my watercolors and play, but I’m committed to grading today.  I sort of blew it off yesterday to play with wool.

It’s bright and sunny today, so I’ll snap some pictures of Rhinebeck gifties as well as a few projects I’ve been knitting.  For now, though, it’s a grading fiesta!

If you live in the Hartford/Springfield area, here’s a great event on November 4th:  Marji’s Yarncrafts is sponsoring their annual benefit for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.  This year the event will be a Knitter’s Tea featuring a fashion show with styles from leading yarn companies.  It’s at 1:30 at Granby Memorial High School, and tickets are $25 and on sale at the shop.  For more information, you can call Marji’s at 860-653-9700.

My sister is still in treatment for her breast cancer.  You can bet your $25 ticket that I’ll be there.  Let me know if you’re going–we can plan to meet up!