Q is for...

Up, Down, Strange, Charm, Truth, & Beauty… My first Quarks. Is it too late to go back and finish my Physics degree?

Q is for Quantitative Data… What I have been entering all weekend and plan to analyze soon! The Qualitative Data is slowly following.

Q is for Quadragenarian… I may only be 38 but I am feeling every bit of forty-something today!

P is for Pottery

I miss working at Osage Clayworks. I miss making something beautiful out of dirt. I miss opening the kiln after a fire and seeing the magic. I miss the feel of slip on my hands. I miss creating.

On one of my more recent trips to Arkansas this spring (for data collection purposes, of course!) I had the opportunity to stop by Osage, AR and to visit with my friend, Newton Lale, at Osage Clayworks. Newton, ever affable and the most wonderful host, chatted with us while we watched him throw a dozen dinner plates. He amused Orion by handing him a wad of clay to play with. We hung around for about an hour listening to stories of local potters and the whirrr of the wheel; the entire time I watched Newt's thumb- out from the center and up over the lip, out from the center and up over the lip, and again.

As I watched Newton I thought of my "everyday dishes" at home and how when I wash them, I can feel the subtle ridges left by Newton's thumb. I am lucky enough to have a set of Newton's Stony Dishes (dinner plates, salad plates, and chili bowls) that John's mom bought years ago and later decided were TOO heavy so she gave them to me. About two years ago I added eight tall coffee mugs with handles to the collection.

We have a bigger house now. With room for John's grandmother's kiln. We're looking for a wheel. Who knows, perhaps by this fall I'll have my hands back in the slip bucket.

Dubious Crock-pot Experiment #1

It has been forever since I've been to the grocery store. But I am in that "use what you have in the pantry" mode. I am also in that work on the dissertation every spare moment mode. And to top it off, I had a PDS book study in Knob Noster this afternoon and I have an Advisory Board meeting tonight! When would I make dinner and what exactly would I make?

I decided to write down what I did on the off chance that what came out of the crock-pot hours later would be edible. About two hours into cooking I was delighted by the smells coming from simmering crock-pot on the counter. Perhaps dinner wouldn't be so bad after all. I am home for only a few minutes before rushing off again. I gave the contents a stir and a taste. I am looking forward to dinner later! I went ahead and made rice (for Orion) and I have flour tortillas as well. I dare you to give it a try. Let me know what you think. And please suggest a name for this recipe using comments or by sending me an email. I am not sure I can call it "Dubious Crock-pot Experiment" forever. Especially if I decide to submit the recipe...

Dubious Crock-pot Experiment #1

What you need:
Can o' Black Beans
1/2 Bag of Frozen Corn (More if you like!)
4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts; sliced or diced (You decide.)
Garlic and Onion Powder
Cumin and Cayenne Pepper
Cilantro
1 Onion; chopped
1 Jar of Salsa (As spicy as you want!)

What you do:
1. Open can of black beans and rinse. Toss in crock-pot.
2. Toss in half bag of frozen corn.
3. Place chicken on beans and corn. Sprinkle with garlic, onion and garlic powder, cumin, cayenne, and cilantro.
4. Top with chopped onion.
5. Dump jar of salsa on top.
6. Place lid on crock-pot, turn on low, and leave it for 4 to 5 hours.

Serving suggestions:
A) Serve over chips topped with cheese for a "chicken nacho" kind of meal.
B) Serve over rice.
C) Wrap it up in a flour tortilla topped with cheddar cheese.
D) Use it in a salad topped with Ranch dressing or sour cream.

O is for...

... Orion, of course!

Clean Sheets

Happiness is sliding into a bed made with crisp, clean sheets. Growing up in my mother's house we changed our sheets weekly! However, in my house I push the sheet issue... Changing them every two to three weeks (Yes, I can hear my mother gasp all the way from Florida!). I rationalize by reminding myself that I sleep alone, that I shower before bedtime (My friend Shannon agrees that if you go to bed clean, your bed sheets stay cleaner longer.), and that I am saving water by not washing three sets of sheets every week (I am earth conscious!).

This weekend was John's turn for clean sheets. Essentially we all got clean sheets when we moved in, but several of his blankets and such missed the big cleaning- I made that my Friday and Saturday goal! Little did I know that the pets, both Nola and Alison, would conspire against me... Nola, muddy from the yard, slept in a nice little circle on Orion's white, flannel sheets! (Of course Orion is partly to blame as he didn't wipe her feet clean or make his bed...) and Alison decided to vomit (again) all over my bed. I think she was trying to get off the bed, but she moves so slowly these days, she only succeeded in spreading it out aways. Ewww! So this weekend everyone ended up with clean sheets and clean blankets and comforters.

If clean sheets are such a pleasure and such a joy to me, perhaps I need to change mine more often. I could make up for it by not changing the boys' sheets for three or four weeks (Another gasp from Florida!).

And I am left wondering. How often do you change your sheets? Please vote in the poll to your right and/or leave a comment below! I am eager to hear.

Happy Easter ~ Happy Birthday

Angelo PilDong Choi - Wearing Orion's Tigger Shoes!

Happy First Birthday to my little LoLo!

Spring Break Lament!

What happened to spring break? Is it over already? Where did it go? What did I do with all that time? Well, I'll tell you!

Saturday, the first day of break, my friend Ruthie came over and helped unpack about three (3) dozen boxes of books! Not only did she help with the books, she brought lunch from Wendy's AND made dinner in the crock pot!

I spent Sunday unpacking a little bit more and packing for my trip to Arkansas. Orion and I left around 2:00 that afternoon. About two hours later than I had hoped. We arrived at Shannon's house at 6:00. We joined Shan's entire family for dinner at Pizza Hut. We had fun. It was lovely. But Orion drank too much caffeine at dinner! I was not a watchful mama and I paid that evening with less than four hours of sleep trying to get HIM to sleep. Ugh.

Monday dawned early. We were up at 5:30 and out the door by 6:15. We made our way to Fayetteville where I found a parking spot on campus (I was there by 7:15!) and hiked up the hill to collect some more data for the dissertation (!gasp!). Orion waited in Peabody Perks, the coffee shop, while I did my thing. He chatted with faculty, staff and students while avoiding his homework. Once I finished I sat with him for a while and we worked on his school work. We had a dinner date that evening with Michael and Robin and couldn't decide if we should go back to Shan's (an hour away) and sleep or just tough it out. We decided to tough it out and save on gas money and drive time. So we spent the day visiting with Amber and Lux and hitting the local thrift stores. It was a gorgeous day and we even spent some time flying a kite at Gully Park. What a blast. I had received some bad news about a young friend of mine and we had hoped to visit her, but she was not allowed "non family" visitors so we dropped a note off at her house for her before heading over to have a fabulous Mexican meal with Michael and Robin and La Hacienda. Yum! It was 9:45 by the time we got back Shan's and we were plum tuckered out! But the best news was that Shan had decided to take a mental health day on Tuesday to spend with us!

Tuesday was another fabulous day! Absolutely! We woke up. Got dressed and jumped in the Honda and zoomed out of town. Shan bought us breakfast at McD's and we were headed down to the Buffalo River in no time. The weather was perfect. Sunny, mid sixties, blue skies! We spent several hours sitting on the bank of the river looking for Odin Stones. I took my shoes off and stuck my feet in the icy water! It was pure bliss. We then headed up to Osage to visit with my friend Newton Lale at Osage Clayworks. Orion made a few pinch pots while Newt 'threw' about a dozen dinner plates and we chatted about all sorts of things. What a perfect day! We came home via Route 62 through Eureka Springs and Garfield so we got to view the changes to E.S. and the growth out at Beaver Lake. We were plum tuckered out when we got home. Shannon made fabulous tacos! I cannot wait to try her recipe myself. Shan's family joined us for dinner Tuesday too! Did I mention that Tuesday was perfect!

Wednesday I did nothing. Shannon's dad picked Orion up at 5:30, in the morning, and they did farmer things all day. I slept till about 8:30, showered, did laundry (mine and some of Shan's) and finished the first season and started the second season of Grey's Anatomy. Shannon enticed me to stay that evening with the promise of making Chicken Shannon (a recipe John created some 15 years ago for Miss Shannon herself!) as I hadn't had it in forever! We visited the local grocery after Shan got home from school and I prepped while Shan cooked. We fed another host of folks for dinner that night too! Shan's sister joined us and Shan's friend from school, Kelly, and her daughter Summer. Orion went to bed early, but I stayed up to watch more Grey's Anatomy!

Thursday Orion and I made a leisurely trip back to Missouri. We stopped at several flea markets in the Eldorado Springs area. I purchased some nifty '70s glassware that goes perfectly in our new house. We made it home about the time John finished work. After dinner I got a second wind and unpacked boxes, mostly in the kitchen this time, till 2:00 a.m.

Friday I was slow to start. Sore from the hard work. But I had to get up. The flooring guys were supposed to come. Orion and I spent that morning in the garage unpacking more boxes of books and all sorts of forgotten treasures. The flooring guys arrived just after noon and I no longer have carpet in my bathroom (ewww!). I have a lovely, bright linoleum. Much better. But those guys sure did stir up the dust. The bad news is that I still don't have flooring in the foyer. Seems the door is too low or the floor is two high. So there's some debate about how they plan to fix that.

I went to the grocery store early Saturday amidst a flurry of flakes. Huge, fat, wet snow was falling from the sky at an amazing rate! But it was warm and it melted by noon. The rest of the day, some eight hours, was spent working in my library. I foolishly thought I could just toss books onto the shelves and that I would organize them at another time. I couldn't stand it! I caved. I ended up alphabetizing (by author's last name) my two bookshelves of young adult literature and my one bookshelf of popular fiction. Four other bookshelves were organized by subject/category. Astronomy, religion, art, history, philosophy, dictionaries, literature, poetry, and the list goes on. I have three stacks, roughly four feet tall each, of children's picture books that need to be organized (most likely alphabetical by author's last name, but non-fiction will be categorized by subject area), another bookshelf to be assembled, and about six more boxes of books in the garage! Nearly everything else has been unpacked. Now I am just in the process of shifting it from one place to the next.

Sunday... I spent today wondering where in the heck my spring break disappeared to and chastising myself for organizing books instead of grading papers (ugh!). Today I cleaned both bathrooms again and finally got my shower curtain up! I will get to shower in my OWN bathroom tonight. W00T! The house is coming together. I still have curtains to hang. I've not even made it to the basement to unpack the games or goodies down there.

Now I must mention how helpful Orion has been throughout this entire move. He carried boxes and boxes and boxes to the new house. And he's carried nearly every box in from the garage for me. He removes the empty boxes and brings more to be unpacked. He has swept and vacuumed and match me step for step. Thank you, Orion!

Happy Birthday Ma!

Mom celebrated her ?8th birthday on Saturday! How old is she? I'm not tellin'! But she's just about 30 years older than I am.

I hope you had a fabulous day, Ma!

Blogging My Shame ~ Feeling My Pain

To bowl or not to bowl. That was the question at hand this evening. I gave in and bowled. Much to my pain and much to my shame!

It seems that I over exerted myself on several occasions this past week during the move and my left hip has been nothing short of testy. Last night it was really hurting and I promised myself to take it easy today, which I did, and I just fiddle farted around the kitchen. So I decided I might just have a few frames in me after all.

Tonight's scores: 125, 87, and 106. While these are not nearly as shameful as last week's bowling scores, I really felt I should have done better. My average has slipped from a 102 to a 101. Sharon, my boss and team mate, would point out that I scored above my average on two out of three games and that over all, I was 15 pins over my average.

It's just after 10:00 p.m. and I cannot find a comfortable way to sit (ouch!) and I am waiting for the dishwasher to finish so I can run another load before I head to bed.

Having a dishwasher is heaven. Having a laundry room on the main floor is paradise. But what is that funky smell? It seems to be getting stronger!

Revert

I have returned to the previous format for my blog. I decided, after much thought, that I liked the clean lines and plain blue background that I originally chose. With this change, readers may once again leave comments.

Mom Saves the Day

Wednesday night was our first official meal in the new house. I was pretty tired and had a voracious appetite... I worked on campus that morning and had spent about four hours at the old house cleaning- and somewhere along the way forgot to eat. So I find myself at the new house in a kitchen that is piled high with boxes. Essentially I have a pot, a butter knife, a few things from the fridge at the old house, and my hunger.

I looked around the floor of the kitchen and spotted a milk crate of canned goods and in the corner I found two onions. Red Beans & Rice! Inexpensive, easy, and satisfying. I grabbed up the rice cooker (red is hard to miss!) and got it started before proceeding to chop onions and toss them in to the pan on the stove. But wait, the stove won't heat up! The oven works, but the burners won't heat! Crap! I'm starving. And out of the corner of my eye I see a stainless steel, electric skillet that mom gave me years and years and years ago. I believe it was part of her cookware set from the 70's. The skillet rocks. It is completely immersible, stainless steel, and has a liquid core so it heats evenly. And even though it is stainless, things don't seem to stick! So I fired up that bad boy and got my Red Beans Cookin'! Thanks mom!

A Whirlwind Move

They say you never know who your friends are until you need help moving or hiding a body! Based on the help we received this past weekend, we are truly blessed! Not only did our friends swoop down to help us, Mother Nature lent us a hand as well- Saturday was a windy 65 and Sunday a toasty 75! Of course, Monday was 22, but we're NOT complaining!

Saturday morning came early. Perhaps too early. But we were up and putting boxes into the car and truck by 8:00. Friends began arriving shortly there after! Nearly a dozen folks showed up to help us pack up the kitchen, tote boxes, lift furniture, carry books, clean the "new" house, and lend their vehicles. By 3:30 that afternoon both the basement and house had been emptied, save for the washer & dryer, the stainless steel prep table, the futon cushion, and a basket of laundry!

That night we had dinner at the house of two good friends. Sunday night we had dinner at another friend's house and yet another friend brought us the best tasting pot roast I've eaten.

We got water on Monday, so our first night in the "new" house was Monday. Tuesday the phone followed us. Wednesday John spent some time setting up the computers and such. Thursday finds me reflecting on a pretty intense, but very special week, digging through boxes looking for plates, finding treasures not seen in two or more years, and resting a bit to share my story with you!

I promise (really!) to take and post some pictures, but I honestly don't know where my camera is!