Peaceful scene from a walk

 

A Moment of Zen

 

Will You Look at this Sky?

 

Semi-Homemade Thanksgiving

 
 
 
This year, Jason and I were on our own for Thanksgiving, and I decided to cook. Please imagine me dictating this post in Sandra Lee's snotty, nasally, condescending voice.

The only dish I made from scratch is mashed potatoes. I add a little bit of garlic for extra flavor without too much extra salt. Jason really likes it, though I'm not sure he knows WHY he likes it.

I heated up a pre-cooked turkey breast, which had a great, peppery taste. I love peppered turkey from the deli!

I made Stove Top stuffing, cornbread variety.

Crescent rolls from a tube.

I heated up corn and beans which I did not grow myself.

I bought a pecan pie and a frozen pumpkin pie, and used Cool Whip instead of whipping my own cream.

As far as beautifying the table, we appreciated the beauty of our new table without adornment, and the cleanliness of it with no cat hair or cat footprints or cat on it.

It was a success! I only very slightly burned the crescent rolls, and everything was ready at the same time: 12:40. I had predicted that it would be ready between 12 and 1, so it was right on. I don't think I've ever coordinated so many dishes to be ready at the same time before. I really admire that my Dad is an expert at timing meals with many dishes.

After we ate, Jason loaded the dishwasher and hand washed some stuff while I cleared and cleaned the table and put away the leftovers. That was really nice! It's so nice to split up the clean-up.

Then he watched football and I watched You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle while finishing making some ornaments. I love watching movies and doing a project. It was a great day, with a lot of appreciation for how much I have and how lucky I am to have time and means to do the creative things that make me so happy. I am also so lucky to know so many great people. Thanks, my friends, for adding to my life!!!

Making stuff for Christmas

 
Here are some little dolls and ornaments that I made for Jason's little nieces and nephew. I didn't make the whoopie cushion. I doubt the boy will like the crocodile/dinosaur ornament I made for him, but I worry about him feeling left out since his sisters will each get two little things.

I like that fat yellow bird a lot. I may make some more like it.

The Morning After

 

After Thanksgiving, that is. I woke up and it was really foggy outside. I love the fog, possibly because my mom used to love fog (and maybe she still does, but I haven't asked her lately). I don't see it very often right by our house.
 
Then this morning, we had a perfect blanket of snow outside. The weather people had predicted that we might get flurries, so it was quite a surprise Friday night when it was snowing big, fluffy flakes. I love the look of trees covered in snow, especially when the snow has no effect on my commute to work or other travel plans. Since I work from home, I have a feeling that I will enjoy the snow more this winter than in any year since high school.

Fall/Winter Uniform

 
This is how I'm dressing lately: boots, colored tights, skirt, and some kind of top. I love it. If I could get my skin to clear up on my chin, I would be extremely happy with my appearance right now: cute outfits, cute hair -- I've got a good look going right now!

hair update

Sparky, what do you think of my wings? Sometimes I make it smoother, but today I went for some little wings. 
 
I bet someone out there has been dying to have an update on my hair! Well, your Thanksgiving wish is coming true!

First of all, of course I couldn't resist buying my own razor comb, as suggested by Sparky, and slicing away at my own hair. So, I've been cutting it myself for a while. I am very happy with it! It was tough to figure out to do the back myself, and it takes me a long time since I have to look in a handheld mirror and the bathroom mirror, pick up the hair I want to cut, put down the hand mirror and pick up the razor comb, and finally cut.

BUT! It is finally looking how I originally wanted it to look! This is the haircut I asked for months ago, and then two more times after that, and it never came close. I don't have the back exactly how I want it, but I don't really know what's wrong with it, so I can't fix it yet. It's good enough though.

I also dyed it brown, and at first it was black around my face and I got to wear pretty heavy, dark eye makeup and lipstick and look fairly goth. I put on full coverage foundation to get my complexion as white and un-freckled looking as possible. It was fun! After a few days, it faded to this color, and it's lasted for almost a week. I think this dye is finally going to take. I've dyed it red at least a few times and had it fade back to strawberry blonde, which would be cool except that I'm tired of dealing with dark roots and light hair for now. FOR NOW, I am liking it being similar to my natural color. I reserve the right to blondify or otherwise alter it in the future.

I had a dream the night before last that I went back to Sonia and got it cut, and she cut my bangs in a heart shape. So, they came down to a point in between my eyebrows and then arched up over each brow. I actually thought it was SUPER CUTE in the dream, but I was SO PISSED because SHE KNEW that I was growing out my bangs to have a chin-length bob, and she cut them short again. I have such a vivid memory of looking at myself in the mirror and feeling both really happy at how cute I looked, but really angry that Sonia betrayed me again. It makes me giggle to think of it.
I don't know why, but my camera won't focus on my incredible artwork. It must be intimidated by my talent.

New Fish

We got three new mollies tonight, two speckled black and white, and one black one. Already, Little Blackie was picking on Skeletor, the white catfish. Skeletor is at least three times as big as Little Blackie. The two Speckles bit each other a few times, too. YES, I put food in there as soon as I let them out of the bag. They seem to have settled down now. Big Blackie, the swordtail we've had for a long time (maybe a year -- I can't remember. At least several months.) doesn't seem that interested in the new mollies. I thought she might like having company, since Skeletor and the algae eater mostly hang out on the bottom.

We also got a new Black Mystery Snail. Don't tell him, but we haven't had much luck with snails in the last year. I think we have had three pass away.
Here is the algae eater, with two empty snail shells behind it!

Skeletor is hiding and he won't come to get his picture taken! What a jerk.

Parsi Chicken Soup with Rice

This is one of my favorite cold-weather meals. Jason goes back for seconds, so you know he really likes it. I think it originally came from a San Francisco newspaper, which I used to read when I lived in Napa in 1998.

3 lbs chicken, cut into chunks
6 c. water
1 tsp. salt
3 Tblsp. oil
1 c. onion, cut into chunks
1/2 inch piece of ginger root, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 tsp. chopped garlic
1/2 tsp. red chile flakes
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 c. tomato paste
cooked basmati rice

Cook the chicken in the 6 cups of water with salt over medium heat for 20 minutes.

In a food processor, or with a hand blender**, puree the onion, ginger, and garlic.

Heat oil in a skillet and over medium heat, fry the onion paste for 3 minutes.

Add the cumin and chile flakes and stirfry the mixture for 3 minutes more.

Add the mixture to the chicken and water, along with the tomato paste and simmer over moderately low heat for 20 more minutes.

Serve over rice, or add the rice to the pot. Yum!


**Mine is this same set, but I just checked, and when I bought it in 2006, it cost me $24.99. If you can find one at a reasonable price, they are incredibly useful and convenient. But I don't think it's worth $114.99. And certainly not $199!!

Fun with hair

 
 
Jason's been having fun with his beard this week.

First Snow

 

Yay Yay Yay!

Things are looking so good for the President, Vice President, Congress, and my state government. Change really IS coming, Maverick, but you're not!

I am so giggly at CNN's holograms of people who are at other locations. There are so many Obi Wan jokes, and the guests have a glowing line outlining them. The nerds got to go SO crazy for this election!

I am also loving that CNN has two full tables of pundits analyzing everything they can think of, PLUS Anderson Cooper-Vanderbilt, PLUS Wolf Blitzer. They have those fancy touch screens full of all kinds of graphics and charts.

I'm working, too, but checking in with TV every so often to make sure I'm still happy. So far, so good.

Update on the Writing Commitment

Well, I did a great job for a few days, and wrote quite a bit. Then, on Thursday, I worked from about 10AM until 4AM, and I forgot to write. And now it's Monday, and I still haven't written since Wednesday. It's only one sentence that I'm expecting of myself, so there's really no excuse.

I am interested in becoming a more committed person, like I used to be. I used to decide to do something, and then I just did it. I didn't argue with myself and make excuses for why I didn't really have to do it, or I didn't have to do it NOW. Okay, maybe I did, but it seems like it's a lot worse now. I didn't used to be aware of it, so it couldn't have been this much of a struggle.

So, I have to realize that life is going to keep getting in the way of the things I want to do, and I have to do it anyway. I have to shut down that Monkey Mind that keeps messing around and making rationalizations, and saying, "this is stupid. I'm above this." (Whatever "this" may be, Monkey Mind will think it's dumb.) (Monkey Mind is an idea that I've read about in terms of meditation. You try to meditate, but your darn Monkey Mind keeps saying, "I should do XYZ. I don't have time for this. This is so stupid. My butt hurts from all this sitting." But my Monkey Mind messes with me about all kinds of commitments.)

I really want to prove to myself that I can disciplined and decide to do something and then just freaking DO IT! But, I will cut myself this much slack, my friends:
Since this week is the busiest week of this season for my work, and I will probably have at least two days of working 12 hours or more, I will begin again with my writing commitment on Saturday the 8th. The rest of this month, my work hours will be much more reasonable and I WILL be able to spend a few minutes working on my novel.

This month is the month when bloggers are supposed to blog every day. Just so you know, I won't be doing that. I already missed two days, so it shouldn't be a surprise to you. I may post 30 entries, but they won't be One-A-Day. Okay?

Two Weeks Ago

 
 
 
We had a party, with dinner. I made a flourless chocolate cake, which you can see on the counter. It looked awful! But it tasted great, especially with vanilla ice cream to cut the rich, rich chocolate flavor.

Our kitchen was a mess while I was cooking enchiladas and making guacamole. It was a lot of fun. Maybe in a few months, we'll do it again. By then, we will forget how much work it was.

It's been windy here

 
And my tree is naked!

Halloween!

Jason and I were Flesh-Eating Zombies for Halloween this year. This is the first time we've ever dressed up together for Halloween, and we've been together for almost 9 years.

We went to a party at Jen and Ryan's house, and it was fun. We didn't know most of the people there, so we got to meet and socialize with strangers. We haven't done much of that for a few years now. Important events included a zombie attack and Sarah Palin shooting a moose!

I used two kinds of fake blood on my face, and one of them stained my face for a couple days! It might still be stained right now, but I've gotten used to it. Luckily, I didn't have to do anything that required me to look unlike a clown. I think makeup would have covered it up, but it was nice that I didn't have to test that belief.

I hope you had a great Halloween! Please tell what your costumes were.