Millet Pizza, Karaoke and Adrenaline: Oh, MY!

Hi all,

So, obviously I've been a huge blog slacker lately, and mostly that's because I've been lacking sleep. The last three days running I've been up until midnight. But I'll start with Wednesday and run you through it...

Wednesday morning was a flurry of activity surrounding my millet-crust pizza. I have a bunch of pictures, that hopefully I will be able to upload. I'll play them in the slide-show, although I'm not sure if the tags/comments will pop up then. Just have to check it out, I guess! Anyhow, the pizzas turned out delicious, and we had almost a whole one left at the end. My highest praise from Sam: "Wow, this is the best American pizza I think I've had here...not bad!"

Did I mention I think he might have a slight death wish?

Seriously though, you couldn't even tell there was millet in the crust, although it was about 1/3 of the crust. After lunch we had a neighborhood meeting and then the "support" meeting for my house, although the format isn't too promising, so they're going to change it. Honestly, except for finding out when I might be going over how to run expenses for the villagers, I didn't get much out of it.

Wednesday night I introduced Polo to the joy of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog". I then spent a majority of the evening with Flo, in the woodshop. Flo has a slightly lackadaisical style of running around in the workshop, which sometimes didn't inspire much confidence. But his willingness to simply give it a go (and his knowledge of how to work the machines, which was pretty flawless) made it work. We're working on a box planter (a rectangle with tapered ends: BAD IDEA!!! MATH!), and that is present tense. After 3 hours, we still aren't done - knocking off around midnight. My favorite quote of the night:

(Before Flo starts using the table/round saw thing)
Me: "Uh, shouldn't you wear goggles?"
Flo: "Naaaah, that's just for in the videos!...You just close your eyes!!!"
Flo: "Uh, don't tell *housedad* I said that, mmk?"

Anyhow, even though we didn't get it close to finished (silly math, and angles and stuff), but I had a great time. I learned how to use the joiner, the planer and the band saw. And I still have all my fingers!

Thursday had a great morning. I went to the glass shop and was delighted to find out that I got to start a project to learn how to do it from start to finish. I got an outline of a 6 by 8 inch rectangle. I was told to fill it in with lines, with a few slight curves. So I did. Then I found out I'd be using up scraps (totally ok with!), but it complicated things, as many of them are quite tiny. So my piece will be predominantly blue and green - unless I keep breaking the pieces (which took me an hour to find the 18 of them initially), and so the joke is that it will end up yellow and red. I'll post pictures later...when I'm done.

So I was a happy girl coming home. The afternoon went by swiftly, and although I'd planned on going to bed early, I got myself roped into "Barryoke" again. Mistake. Sam initially wanted to go, but when he found out that we'd be leaving in 10 minutes, he decided he couldn't shower in time. So I said I'd give him 15 minutes, which he agreed to. Then, he suddenly was all "Oh! I don't have anything to wearrrrrr. As we looked into his closet I pointed out something - "No! That's black!" (okkkkk?). Then, seeing he had a pair of clean "trousers" (British English that he learned keeps popping up...he also says "Kawn't" instead of "can't"), he decided he might be able to make it work. I told him he was a such a girl.

So I picked up the other 3 people that were going (managing to get surprised and then run into a very poky and sturdy rosebush: bruise), get some gas and come back for him. He was almost ready...seriously...

Anyhow, Barryoke was a complete catastrophe for me. 1. I was stone cold sober 2. The song "Breathe" is sung by about 3 different people, apparently. And the song I knew was NOT the first two. I got up by myself (legs almost gave out), and stared in horror as the wrong lyrics came up. After 1 minute of trying, I made my apologies and basically ran away. Luckily, the rest of the group I was with jumped right in. Afterward, it got explained that it was the wrong song, yada yada yada, and I went back again.

Guess what?

Yup. Not the right song. Better yet, I'd never even heard this one before. Luckily, the only people around really were from the group (or worse??), and so they got to suffer through 3:37 of song that Steph didn't know. Highly humiliating. I mean, I don't claim that my voice is great, but I can do o.k. if I know the lyrics. But I didn't. Do you know how long 3:37 can seem? The best part was that someone suddenly said "Oh! I know the song...it's by Anna Nalick!" Yup, also called "Breathe" (2AM). However, I think I am now done with Barryoke forever - or at the very least, a single act. I have conceded defeat, and now have a cringe-worthy karaoke story.

Moving on. Phew.

Today I made spaghetti an meatballs (frozen from last time) and a funny bread recipe that involves very little yeast (1/4 teas), no kneading, 18-22 hours to set and you bake it in a dutch oven. It turned out the way it was supposed to, although I wasn't sure at the time. It was a crunchy, moist dough that the 2 co-worker lunch guests also seemed to enjoy. I had to do the village town run afterward, and due to car misunderstandings, I was almost late. And the post office was closed. And a prescription wasn't filled. And the post office was closed. And, I didn't get a nap for the 3rd day in a row. Whine Whine Whine.

The co-op was good in the afternoon though. Food Processing came in with their hummus, and in honor of Wendy (favorite dinner guest), they labeled the batch "Roasted Bahummus". Very cute. She thought it was hilarious (although she thinks she's saying "hummus" and doesn't really get the joke, but she's such a sweetheart!). Tonight I had some of the evening off while the villagers and Sam went to a dinner/performance. The children were out with their father, and housemom was out too. So I had some quiet time, and transplanted some of my tomato seedlings. They're shooting up like crazy, but I haven't any place to put them (cue the planter...lol).

Anyhow, up at 6:30 being nice to drive Sam to the trainstation. I'm a total glutton for punishment. But I swear I'll get a nap tomorrow...

Hope all is well,
Steph

Table Talk

Hi all,

I realized I forgot to tell a story from last week. We had my favorite dinner guest over and we were trying out the hummus that food processing had made. At first I thought my little brain was pulling tricks on me, but then after 2-3 repeats it clicked that what I was hearing was actually correct.
Every time she asked for the hummus she said "Bahummus!" I was really tempted to ask if she thought there were some islands by the same name. But I somehow restrained myself.

Tonight we had Sunny over for dinner. She's a gabber, although she was quite disappointed because our old male co-worker was her favorite. Halfway through a discussion on voting she decided to break into the convo to talk about how she'd cried because he left. And how he had probably cried too. Undaunted by the non-reaction to her post, she decided to target me (as I was oh-so-convienently placed across from her). She likes to flatter people and this was no exception:
"You're so CUTE!"
"Thanks Sunny, you're cute too."
"You're so CUTE!"
"...You're so cute I could eat you up!"
*Blank look*
"Uh...what did you just say? I did not hear..."
"I said, You're so cute I could eat you up!"
"OK! Eat me up!"

How do you respond to that?

I was quite dismayed this morning to find out that housemom had decided I should take Friday off. I finally start to get know people and get included into events, only to get a day when everyone is working?!? I mean, it'd only be the once, because she'd be out of town and otherwise I wouldn't get ANY time off. However, I thought I could probably ask for a weekend sometime then. Anyhow, she seemed pretty determined I should accept this offer and I was mulling it over as I returned an umbrella. When I mentioned it in casual conversation I was told that another co-worker also had the day off. However, he already had plans...to go into NYC. I got invited to go along, and after determining that I wasn't actually crashing concrete plans I agreed.

I hold no certain awe of NYC, as the last time I was there (thanks for that highly traumatic illegal cab ride, mom and dad...) wasn't exactly all so reassuring. The Museum of Natural History was really sweet though. However, even if we just end up wandering around (hopefully the weather will be nice?) it'll still be better than being trapped in my room!

I also decided last-minute to make a run into Hudson to go to the only thing open (ie, Wal-mart) for a few ingredients for a cake I'll need to make and a few household items. After announcing my grand plan on FB - and asking if anyone else wanted to go, and not getting any response - I realized that I actually don't exactly know how to get there on my own. So I may not go tonight afterall...It's not cowardice, but an hour by myself with the possibility of getting lost in the dark holds very little appeal for me. So maybe it is cowardice. Meh.

Hope all is well,
Steph