Home Alone...Plus 4

Hi all,

Well, plus 18 if you count the cats and the chickens, but they won't help much if the house burns down. (I thank a co-worker next door who suggested this possibility.) As of 8 AM tomorrow I will officially be holding down the fort. It's ok though, I mean, I've been here a whole 2 months...what could possibly go wrong? Yep.

Anyhow, I've decided that having a blog is a lot like having a boyfriend. Not too many people actually care one way or the other. Additionally, you end up saving up the funny little tidbits of your day, so that you can impress them with your wit and charm. Or just because you think they would/should d be interested. Or the former.

Except some days you just don't want to talk. You only want to cuddle. You might not know this, but blogs are notoriously bad cuddlers.

At any rate, there aren't any fascinating tidbits today. I made granola since the bakery didn't last week (and there's absolutely NO WAY that I'm eating more oatmeal) and I'm not sure how much I like it, but I'll blame it on the recipe and quinoa. We had some good meat lasagna at the cafe and I slept like a rock during rest hour. The co-op had the order in today, and there's a temporary co-worker coming to help out. An old staff kid come home to visit and for R&R. Which is fine, because we're down 1 co-worker and 1 villager this week. We had leftovers for dinner and I learned how to lock up the hall and will be doing that starting Thursday to next Thursday.

Now, about that cuddle.

Hope all is well,
Steph

I'd Tap That

Hi all,

Really though, as an English major/degree I'm practically obligated to share my knowledge on the finer details/slang of the language - right? That's what I tell myself as I unleash the shadier aspects on the poor, unsuspecting Germans here. Although usually it's in context...

Today I decided to join the "sap run" as the orientation class was canceled. If it hadn't been for the gorgeous, above 50 degree weather though, I definitely would've had "nap" win out. The premise is basic. Grab buckets, empty buckets hung on tree into buckets, lug buckets back and pour through a "strainer" into giant tank pulled by lawnmower/tractor to be pulled back to the "sugar shack" to be boiled down into sweet, sweet maple syrup. In reality, this means some accidental dousings (good idea to not wear a white t-shirt...) and snow down your boots. Plus some particularly mucky treks down by the creek to get to those lovely buckets... It was as hard as I thought it'd be, but we did manage to end early. Anyhow, you can see where the "I'd tap that" humor came in. I was assured they'd laugh at it the next time.

This morning was pretty hectic, but my morning crew on task in a majorly good way, and I managed to not only make lunch (some fried rice and some absolutely fantastic tofu and carrots!) but also get the leek and potato soup done as well. The tofu was marinated in a sesame sauce with balsamic vinegar, cilantro, onions, soy sauce, brown sugar and lots of sesame oil. I'd never really cooked it before, and I was really pleased with the intense flavor and that it was cooked perfectly. I made too much for a group of 5, but tomorrow we'll have leftovers for dinner.

I found out that housemom won't be coming home until Thursday evening, and housedad will actually be leaving Wednesday morning. So there will be about 36 hours of just me. I mean, I have the neighbors popping in 3 times a day to do meds, so it's hardly like I'm out of range of getting any help. And I'm hoping that I'll be able to get a weekend off out of this, to be used sometime this summer for visiting family!

On a completely different note, read this:

http://matadorchange.com/the-facts-about-water-infographic/

Gives some interesting perspective on bottled water.

Hope all is well,
Steph