crunch crunch crunch

I’m eating the BEST apple right now.  It’s a Haralson, a variety I’d never heard of before, but is apparently a great sweet-tart dessert (eating) and pie (baking) apple that grows well in the Midwest.  It’s amazing what you can learn about apples on Wikipedia. J  I got a hankerin’ for fruit last night while at the grocery store, and happened upon a display of apples that said “Midwestern-grow”.  Hmmmm…that’s kind of local…better than Washington…far better than Argentina…  I figured being relatively-local, they probably wouldn’t taste all that great, but I was pleasantly surprised!  I plan to eat all the apples I can handle over the next month – braces will probably remove this particular food from my diet for a while… Mmmm… maybe I’ll make some apple crisp…oops, I’m drooling.

Of course, I’m eating this apple with complete disregard for all the produce-washing directions I learned yesterday in my food safety course.  I took half a day off of work to drive down to Lincoln for this free food safety course that the coop wants all its volunteers to take.  As boring as that sounds, it was absolutely fascinating.  I learned how to kill my family with botulism (feed them garlic-and-oil dressing left out of the fridge for a few days), how not to store raw fish (lower than other raw meats in your fridge – you don’t cook the fish long enough to kill off everything that could drip from other meat), and how much we don’t get off our hansd when we wash them (even thoroughly – eeewww).

The class didn’t take the entire afternoon, but driving back to work seemed like a waste of time – driving there would take longer than I would spend at my desk – so I headed home to finish painting my Reuse Me bags and hang out with the dog…  I also whipped out the “artsy clutch” bag from Amy Karol’s “Bend the Rules Sewing” book – I thought I’d better try one out before attempting perfected version to give my younger cousins as gifts.  It turned out pretty cute – I used the leg of a pair of jeans I cut up for a skirt last week and lined it with the crazy-print I used for a dress over the weekend.  I just need to find a button…and take a photo!

Last night, I met up with ML to see a play.  She suggested “Meet Me in St. Louis”, and because I loved loved loved that movie, I agreed and booked a reservation.  Uh, mistake.  It was not good.  It was at a new theatre for both of us, and as we sat down I got the feeling that we were about 50 years too early for this show.  It must have been Senior Night.  And man, those older folks don’t seem to get the concept of not talking out loud during the entire play.  Not that they could have ruined the show with their old-folk banter – the storey and acting took care of that by itself.  It was a comedy adapted from the musical, sans music and any possible comedic leanings.  As ML said, “So THIS is why people are afraid of community theatre!”  We are just extremely spoiled I guess – this was really the first bad theatre experience I’ve had – the quality of writing and acting at the Shelterbelt, Blue Barn and the other local theatres we frequent sets a pretty high standard…

Tonight should make up for last night’s show – the DH and I are making our annual trek to the Orpheum for The Nutcracker. This time they’re performing the Imperial Nutcracker, a version I haven’t seen before.  I can’t wait!

Another new blog

I decided to start a separate blog to chronicle my adventure in braces.  I talk about too large a variety of topics on here already.  

 

Good deed for the day

Over the weekend, I received a package full of baby trees.  Unusual?  Not in my family.  My mom paid her Arbor Day Foundation dues for the year and had her free trees sent to me.  Nice of her, sure, but what am I going to do with 10 baby blue spruces?  Our yard is not that big!  So, before I offered them up on Freecycle, I asked around the office.  Yep, I have a taker and the baby trees now have a good home.  I’m so nice. :P  Now I need to give away a few years worth of magazine stored in my basement, as well as the ½-dozen scarves I crocheted last year and never wear.

 

I’m officially 3 hours into my Monday morning and I’m already tired of this week.  You know how they say “There’s no such thing as a stupid question”?  That doesn’t apply at my job.  There are plenty of stupid questions.

3rd Sunday in a row

This whole long weekend has felt like Sunday. I thought it was Sunday on Friday, which was nice - it's always a good feeling to realize you still have days until Monday. Unfortunately today is actually Sunday - better make the most of it. My plan today is to finish the dress I'm working on, sew up some gift bags, wrap the gifts, and then head to the baby shower the Divas are having at the Gnosis today... Tonight the DH has decided that we'll put up the Christmas tree...
This is a good time for that. It's officially the Christmas season in my mind. It starts after Thanksgiving. After. Not before - certainly not in late October, despite what many of my neighbors seem to think. Some of them have had their trees up for weeks. Up and lit! As well as their Christmas lights. I don't get it! Why are we starting earlier and earlier. The Salvation Army belly ringers have been out in full force for several weeks now, too. This boggles me. I'm not giving them money any earlier, and I don't see many other people doing it either. I figure the average person is going to donate the same amount of change every year, so what start earlier and drag it out even longer? I give my spare change when I have it, but I'm not dropping it in the bucket until mid-December, out of principle. I mean, sheesh, the guilty feeling you get when you pass the bucket is going to hit no matter how much you've already tossed in, so why are they torturing us before Thanksgiving??? Anyways...bah-humbug, right?
Speaking of Thanksgiving, it went pretty well, I think. We could have put the turkey in about an hour earlier, but what would a big family holiday be without a headache and someone crying? We're still noshing on leftovers, and the pie-to-person ratio was far too high, as predicted...
Thursday night, after the dishes were done (see Ryker helping?), the DH and I took my folks out to a movie, the ill-chosen "No Country for Old Men." I kind of liked it myself, but I feel it was a little too violent and frustrating for a fun family night out. I think more than the gruesome and gratuitous violence, most people disliked it for the lack of resolution in the end. Nothing happened! The bad guy kept going and the good guy retired. Maybe it was too realistic for most.
We saw another movie last night that I will highly endorse - two thumbs up for "What Would Jesus Buy?", a documentary following Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping on a cross-country crusade to stop the Shopacolypse. I read about it on No Impact Man's blog and the DH mentioned that it was playing in the next town over. Which was quite cool in itself - the premiere was in NYC, LA, and Nebraska. Ha!
It was a nice way to close out Buying Nothing Day (or Days - it's officially the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S. and Canada, but was Saturday in the rest of the world). I celebrated by staying home and making things. I fixed my bubble dress fiasco, refashioned a skirt out of a pair of jeans, and started on the dress I will finish this morning. I also embroidered 3 onesies and sewed up 2 pairs of baby harem pants for my shower gifts... Quite productive!
Time to finish my coffee and get moving...Sunday is no longer a day of rest!

At least we didn't die...

I'm stealing this quote off of Angry Chicken's page. I just hope none of it applies to my attempt at cooking dinner today. Happy Thanksgiving!

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful." —Buddha

Giving Thanks

I overslept this morning, as usual.  As I rushed about cursing my lateness, the DH reminded me that Thanksgiving is nigh and I should be thankful that I have a job with such flexible hours!  (I don’t “have” to be there at a set hour every morning, but I like to get there early so I can leave early.)  But as I drove ever so slightly over the speed limit on my way to work, I started to think about all the other things I have to give thanks for…a nice house, a running car, clean water and good food, a cuddly puppy, good friends, a loving family, great in-laws, and of course, my dear sweet husband who is forever surprising me with how dear and sweet he can be… J

 

The DH and are hosting Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow and I’m excited!  I’m starting to get a wee bit nervous about the turkey – I’ve never made one on my own before and my mother won’t be here in time to help.  Tonight I’m going to get as much done as I can – bake the pumpkin pie, chop all the veggies, toast the bread cubes for the stuffing, set up the tables and chairs, locate and wash/dry/iron the tablecloths and placemats, ensure that my glasses are spot-free.  I’m going all out - we are using cloth napkins, even! J  My other big concern (besides the turkey) is that we will end up with a too-high pie-to-guest ratio.  Ahem.

 

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

 

A Tribal Dreams weekend

This weekend I attended the Tribal Dreams Festival in Lincoln, hosted by local Improvisational Tribal Style troupe Benu.  This annual festival is always a real treat – they bring in some phenomenal instructors and the vendors are usually good too – which explains why I’m completely broke now! J  Because most of my weekend revolved around going to the festival, it was actually a less busy weekend than normal.  Shocking, I know. 

I narrowed my class selection down to just 6 classes (the minimum to get a discount) – it’s always so hard to choose.  I took 2 classes with Princess Farhana, one of my favorite belly dancers – her Extreme Taxsim class I’ve taken before, so it was a nice refresher.  New to me was her Veil Obedience class.  I’m not a prop dancer – I have enough trouble remembering that I have arms, much less manipulating an object with them, while I dance.  I learned some cool tricks and hopefully I can incorporate more veil-work into my dancing.  I also took Performance Focus with Sabine of Tribulations.  This class discussed stage fright and other performance hazards, so it was right up my alley!  

The Khaleegy class on Saturday afternoon was…interesting.  I can’t say that I loved it, but it was interesting to try.  Khaleegy is basically an Arabian social dance done by women while wearing a large garment called a “thobe”.  There isn’t much hip action, just steps and arm motions while moving the dress around.  I’m sure it’s great fun at parties. J  Some of the thobes other students had on were beautiful – I just wear a piece of fabric pinned over my shoulders…

The last two classes of the weekend included More Tribal Fusion Combos with Chris and Elizabeth of Marrakech (a follow up to last year’s Tribal Fusion Combos, naturally), followed by…get this… Pirate Belly Dance!!!  We were instructed to bring an empty rum bottle, and lots of people dressed up with eye patches, hats and other pirate garb.  It was tons of fun!

I can’t wait until next year.  I heard rumors that Benu is bringing Unmata (an amazing tribal troupe)!

This is definitely one of my favorite workshops.  I love workshops in general – you don’t always remember everything you learn, but it serves as a great reminder of how great the belly dance community is and how much fun dancing is in general.  I always leave wanting to go straight home and practice…until I get home and remember how sore and tired I am…which pretty much describes my physical state right now!

A double feature at FilmStreams

Last night I attended two movies at Film Streams, the first by my lonesome and the second with the DH and ML.

The first film was Ang Lee’s “Lust/Caution”, a spy thriller set in Japanese-occupied China during WWII. It was an excellent movie, full of suspense, drama, good sex schemes and plenty of violence. The only downside was that it only screened at 4 p.m., so no one else was able to go with me…

The second film was “King Corn”, a documentary about…well, corn. Two guys, Ian and Curt, decided to move from Boston to Iowa to grow an acre of corn and follow its fate. They learn all about live in the Corn Belt – farm folks, Iowa winters, government subsidies, and the horrifying fact that thousands of acres of corn are grown in this country that are inedible to humans. This corn cannot be eaten in its natural form, and must be processed into high-fructose corn syrup and other various forms that look nothing like corn and have basically no redeeming nutritional value. I thought this was an incredibly informative and educational film – these guys really did their research – as well as being highly entertaining. I was really happy that the DH went with me – he seemed to enjoy the movie and learn a lot. I have already done quite a bit of reading on the subject (even getting a little bit giddy when they interviewed Michael Pollen – I know, I’m a dork), and it was really cool to watch the movie with him and be able to converse with him about it later, rather than describing the movie to him and knowing he wouldn’t really care ‘cause he wouldn’t be familiar with the subject matter.

Next sewing project: elastic waisted pants

Ugh.  Too.  Much.  Food.  We had our Thanksgiving potluck at work today.  How do they expect anyone to eat turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn bread, pie and more pie, and then be able to muster any productivity for the rest of the afternoon?  I don’t get it.  All I know is that if I feel this exhausted and fat after one plate of Thanksgiving-goodness today, the real Thanksgiving meal is going to hurt.  Bring out the elastic waistbands!

 

Bag2Bag

This weekend I stopped by the local grocery store, Hyvee, and noticed that they participate in the Bag2Bag recycling program.  I jotted down the website listed on the bin for more info, http://www.hilexpoly.com.  I’m glad that HyVee goes this extra step to reclaim and recycle its plastic bags – this company seems legitimate.  I’ve heard rumors that W@lm@rt’s similar program may just be a publicity stunt – that they might actually just be trashing the bags…but I have no proof of that.  Not that it matters to me personally – the DH and I bring our own bags when shopping.  We mainly use the Acme Workhorse 1500 from Reusable Bags, but many stores now sell reusuably grocery bags, including HyVee.  Or you can pick up one of my homemade versions at the Downtown Food Mart – I sold 12 to ML’s friend Dai this weekend.

 

Looonnggg weekend

I love “observed” holidays. J  Usually because I get the day off of work.  Ah, the 3-day weekend, who doesn’t love that?

Like most of my weekends, this was a busy one.  The DH and I enjoyed the rare occasion of spending the entire time together, and surprisingly he doesn’t seem sick of me…yet.

We started off Friday night by seeing “American Gangster”, an excellent film about Frank Lucas, the man that used American military planes to smuggle heroin into the US during the Vietnam War.  Plenty of action and drama, but like most action and crime movies, it was a little too sexist for me.  There were 3 female roles – the trophy wife, the mother, and the no-speaking-lines woman that ran the drug shop.  But if you don’t focus on that part, it was a good movie! J

Saturday we went to the Nebraska-Kansas State football game.  Wow, it’s a lot more fun to watch football when your team is winning!  J  We stuck around until the Husker had scored 73 points, then headed home to meet the in-laws for dinner and catch the Kurt Cobain documentary “About A Son”.  This film was OK; not spectacular, but I thought it was interesting.  A lot of the people we went with seemed very disappointed, but I thought the way the filmmaker put it together was cool – it was basically just a recording of phone interviews with Kurt Cobain collected over a period of a couple of years before he died, set against a visual backdrop of scenes and video footage of towns in Washington state.  No real action or story, just Kurt talking about his childhood, early adult life, and influences.  He was a sad, strange child who turned into a sad, angry, and pretty damn lazy adult.  Dying was probably the best thing that could have happened to him, at least artistically – his music might not have gotten nearly the recognition and praise if he’d lived.  

After the movie, we headed next door to Slowdown for the Nirvana tribute show – a bunch of local bands performing Nirvana covers.  It was…kinda sucky.  For one thing, each band played one song, and then the next band took 15-20 minutes to set up.  So we really didn’t hear all that much music.  For another thing, it sounded like either none of the bands were very good or they had just never bothered practicing the song they chose.  I’m hoping for the latter, ‘cause most of the bands have decent followings around town and I’d hate to think that many people would support bands with no musical ability.  There were a couple of exceptions, but quality covers were not the rule at this show.

Sunday morning the DH and I drove back downtown to a brunch for Jun Kaneko.  A collection of his work from 2004-07 was on display, so we checked that out while munching on lobster quiche and crème puffs.  Mmm…crème puffs…

After watching football (DH), sewing (me), band rehearsal (DH) and dance practice (me), we met back up and headed to the Waiting Room to see the Meat Puppets.  Now, I only know like 2 Meat Puppets songs, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  Well, we didn’t hear either of those two songs…and neither of us was too impressed with the songs we didn’t know, so that kinda sucked.  However, the opening band, Ha Ha Tonka, was AMAZING.  Enough so that I picked up their CD, a rare thing for me to do.  The last time I bought a CD at a concert was for Devotcha, whom I still love like no other band.  So, yeah, Ha Ha Tonka was that good!  I can’t wait for them to come back around – we’ll definitely be there for the full set.

Yesterday was a government holiday, so I celebrated by finishing up my BurdaStyle Marie skirt, getting a flu shot, and going for a consultation with my oral-maxillofacial surgeon, Dr. Deva.  Dr. D explained the surgery to me, including the possibility that my insurance will pick up part of the tab.  Cross your fingers!  He said I should be in braces for 9-12 months (probably closer to 12), then have the surgery, then stay in braces for a while longer for “fine-tuning”.  The braces will correct the alignment of my teeth within my arch, and the surgery will match up my bite.  I will need both lower and upper jaw surgery for the best possible results.  I will spend the night in the hospital and then be off of work for 10-14 days…I guess I better start banking my vacation hours now!  But if I get my braces put on in the next month, I could be looking at surgery by next Christmas!  Whoo-hoo!  I want to do this, but I really just want it to be over already! (and I haven’t even started yet…)

So, how’s that for a jam-packed 3-day weekend?  Not bad, not bad at all…

WTF moment

I stopped into the craft store to buy some paint for my bag project the other night.  I was digging through my purse, so I didn’t say “no bag, please” in time to stop the cashier from bagging my paint.  Since I only had the one item, I simply removed it from the bag and told the girl that I was going to skip the bag.  She proceeded to wad up the plastic bag and chuck it in the trash!  I was too shocked to say anything – why couldn’t she just use it for the person behind me in line???  Sigh…

 

High school all over again

The most horrible thought occurred to me during my body sculpting class today…If I get braces within the next month or so…I’m going to have them during my 10-year high school reunion.  Eek!  This horrifying realization raised several questions, such as 1) do I even want to go to my 10-year high school reunion, and if so 2) can I handle facing all the people I went to school with looking like that?  Does one ever get over their high-school insecurities?  I guess it takes longer than 10 years… 

Maybe I’ll just skip the reunion.  I think there are about 3 people I would even care to talk to, although I do find it interesting to see what triumphs and tragedies have befallen my fellow alumni.  I went to a teeny-tiny school – I was one of 23 in the class of ’98 – but amazingly sometimes people from my town go on to do really cool stuff – travel the world, invent things, make tons of money…and more predictably a lot of them go nowhere and do nothing.  I like to think I’ve fallen right in the middle.  I didn’t go too far (geographically), but I feel worlds apart from that place.

 

how to become a locavore

The folks over at Eat Local Challenge pointed out this list on the PBS website.  Not only did I find it a great explanation of the concept of eating local, I was also happy to note that I can officially claim locavore status – I’m doing or have done most everything on the list. J  For instance, I have:

1)       Visited a farmer’s market (or 5, actually).

3)   Chosen 5 foods that I can buy locally – I buy local beef, chicken, eggs, milk, cheese…bread, veggies, fruit, etc, as much as possible.

4)   Found a local CSA – ML and I are signing up this spring, so this one is technically only half-complete.

5)   Preserved a local food for the winter.  I spend some time this season canning tomato sauce, salsa, and jams (peach, plum, strawberry), as well as freezing tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, squash, etc.  I hope to do a LOT more of this next summer!

6)   Found restaurants in my area that support local farmers – not a huge number, but Omaha does have them.  Local schools buy local too – at the last Nebraska Food Co-op pickup, the chef from Creighton Prep High School stopped in to pick up a huge order for the school cafeteria.

7)   Planned to host a local Thanksgiving – our thanksgiving this year will be mostly-local.  We’re serving a locally-raised heirloom turkey, local pies, local bread, local carrots, local sweet potatoes, etc.  Since other family members are bringing food, too, it won’t be entirely local, but close.

8)   Bought from local vendors – as part of the Nebraska Food Co-op, I have access to locally-grown as well as locally-produced items, and I’m happy to support local dairies and bakeries.

10) Visited a local farm.   Just last weekend, ML and I visited Kvam Farm in West Point, NE for a tour.  Being part of the co-op gives us abundant opportunity for more tours in the future.

 

So, what’s left on the list?  I haven’t 2) lobbied my supermarket, or 9) asked about origins.  But there’s plenty of time for that during the dark winter days ahead.

 

I've fallen (off the wagon) and I need to get up

6 months. 6 months without buying any new clothes (other than a few misc belly dance items). But still, aside from that, nothing from the mall, nothing from the internet, no new cute clothes. Until this weekend. I went to New York City with my siblings to watch my brother run the NYC Marathon. And I shopped. Way too much. I bought a new jacket, a cute reversible hoodie, a pair of jeans, a pair of gloves and a scarf (that purchase was a necessity – it was cold!), a couple of tops…it was bad. I have learned something about myself. I have absolutely no willpower. The only way for me to avoid buying new clothes is to complete avoid the opportunity. If I’m presented a chance to buy something, I will take it. Much like my inability to just say no to chocolate, I have no control over my shopping impulse. It must be completely avoided.

All that being said, I love NYC. All the people, the public transportation – I mastered the subway and the New Jersey Transit system – the sights and sounds – that was all good. Traveling with siblings? Not so much. Suffice it to say, this was our last family vacation.

One of the highlights of the trip, aside from witnessing the marathon – that was cool! - was stumbling into this little burger joint with my brother. Appropriately named Brgr, it was seriously the best hamburger I ever had – gruyere cheese, avocado, herbed mayo, a side of sweet potato fries…and then I noticed the sign on the wall. It was grass-fed, all natural, hormone and anti-biotic-free, humanely-raised meat. All sauces were made on-site, using locally-sourced ingredients when possible. How cool is that! It was totally an accident, too. J

Another very cool aspect of the trip was meeting my mother’s friend’s future sister-in-law, Ally, who designs handbags. She has two lines – recycled-material bags (aGaiN NYC) and sustainable-material bags. Both sell for more money than I have to spend, but it was awesome to meet people who share that kind of passion about sustainable production. I am horrible jealous of her and her fiancé, though – they lived in a million $ apartment in the West Village and have artsy/creative jobs. So not fair. J

But I’m home now, and tired from all the walking that we don’t do enough of in Nebraska, tired from carrying my heavy carry-on bags everywhere because we didn’t plan that part very well, tired from arguing with my family, being generally bitchy and frustrated, and getting in rather late from the airport. I’m ready for a nap and getting back to my routine. I’m climbing back on the no-shopping bandwagon. It was a momentary slip and I’ll recover. Eventually.

sugar coma

We have leftover candy, and the DH’s low-carb diet is going to force ME to finish it all. Not that I’m complaining… J We had a pretty good run of trick-or-treaters last night, even some trick-or-cheaters – the kids that came back more than once… Kids these days, huh?

Our own “kid” wasn’t too thrilled with his costume. Yes, I’m one of those crazy people that dresses her dog in clothes. But I do it for a good reason – if he has a shirt on, he doesn’t move and that keeps him from jumping on people. Oh, and he’s cute!

Tomorrow morning, I’m heading to the airport with my siblings and we’re off to the big city. My younger brother is running in the New York Marathon and invited my sister and I along to watch. He actually invited us so we could plan the trip for him and defray his costs, but he won’t admit that outright… I’m not sure I’m looking forward to this trip. I haven’t packed yet, I have a slight cold, and I’m super cheap. Being cheap in NYC doesn’t seem like it will work out too well. Gee, don’t I sound like a pleasant travel companion? I’m sure it’ll be better than I make it sounds, but optimism is not my thing today…