Hi all,
Housemom walked in on me this evening in the kitchen, grinding away making oat flour and using the cookbook holder (hangs from the cabinet) to read Brisingr simultaneously. She immediately exclaimed over how domestic I'd been today. Although I've done this several times now, I'd never had such a party. My workmaster dropped off our milk can (whoops. but not my bad this time...), stayed to chat and try out the grinding and grab some hummus, two staff kids/teens came by and also had to join in and so we had a lively gathering.
And after hot cocoa we ended up having a balloon war. It was hysterically funny, with the balloon careening around the kitchen catching everyone unawares, even Connie was in peals of laughter. A fun, and very silly, 15 minutes!
But back to the beginning of the day...
This morning housemom finally realized that when I said "tomorrow" I meant that today I would start in the stain glass shop (I'd told her last week too about the possibility...). It wasn't a problem, and I got to the shop on time. I spent the beginning time helping a villager put together what will become a mosaic. There's this great looking owl, and I pieced it together over the wood board with an outline to guide me and glued it in place. Then I learned how to cut glass...what a humbling experience!
It requires a lot of finesse, since the "blade" is a rotating wheel set in a pen. You have to press just hard enough to sound like you're ripping silk. I didn't manage to do it once properly, although it still cut. Then you have to grasp with pliers along the edge and bend to get it to snap off cleanly. This, of course, didn't go so well. Luckily, the workmasters (a married couple) were very supportive and just laughed off my mistakes and encouraged me to keep going and helping out occasionally. After cutting the long strips off a flat plane of glass, I had to score them into cubes to make the tiles. The male workmaster just snapped them off by hand, which was a challenge...until one decided to go into my hand. I stared at the thin line and thought "huh. I would've thought that would make me bleed..." and then the blood came.
Not the best way to end the day. It's not a serious cut, but it is on the finger used for pressure for the cutting. Nicely done, right? Well, hopefully it will be mostly healed up by next Tuesday...
So, I was very pumped up afterward and enjoyed lunch and rest hour. Although I spent most of rest hour planting mint that Sam had brought home - extra cuttings from the garden. Now we'll see if it'll grow. On a more positive note, the seed tray has started to show some signs of life, and I'm sure that after tomorrow most of of the spots will have tiny sprouts poking out to meet the world.
Tomorrow will be a big day for cooking - spaghetti with meatballs from a family recipe. PLUS some french baguettes...yum!
(IF all goes well..cross fingers out there...)
Hope all is well,
Steph
PS - Congrats to my youngest brother on reaching state speech!! Very proud!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Why Do Cows Have Gutters?
Hi all,
Living with Maria never has a dull moment. She followed up this gem with: "Do cows have seizures?". True, cows were the hot topic of the day, as they moved some into the field by our neighborhood - but I'm not exactly sure where the seizure question came from.
Maria has some unique qualities, her sense of ever-present wonder is one of them. And vastly unappreciated before and during breakfast, unfortunately. The most common phrases are:
"WHAT'S THAT?!?"
"What's it's name?"
"What does it sound like?"
"Is it ----- or is it -------?" (insert any word, and then repeat...she likes to give you the semblance of a choice, kind of...)
Eventually, I've realized that certain topics must just not be mentioned until the last minute, such as: doctor's appointments, visitors, phone calls, mail, and any special events. Because she can fixate like no other. Fortunately, I can tell her that we're going to drop a conversation, and that works for a few good hours, usually. That, and avoiding eye contact at the table, because then the stream never stops...
Today was a good day.
Aren't you glad?
This morning was pretty low key, and after my surprise success with the yogurt last night (it turned out beautifully after a spell on the warm dryer), I was emboldened to attempt hummus. I'm not sure how great it was in comparison to other types of hummus, but I liked it...
I made Mexican Millet for lunch, with nachos with cheese and beans. The millet turned out the best yet. Not only did I not burn it to the pan, I had some red pepper and it really helped it to taste great. It was hard to believe it was millet!
We had a neighborhood co-worker meeting (boo for lack of nap...) where I did get some chain work in during the mostly extraneous-to-Steph (and the house for another month or two...they're planners here...) information. Apparently I will be getting a crash course on doing the finances for the villager's personal accounts (how we give them their money to pay for things and how to account for it) - which pretty much boils down to: Math.
And we all know how much Steph loves math.
Work was interesting the co-op. I learned how to do invoices and deposits through the computer system and helped with some normal food stuff. I ran the shift mostly by myself, but it was a pretty uneventful day.
Oh. I did forget: I got the news at the meeting - I'm Going to the stainglass workshop tomorrow morning!!!
Not that I'm at all excited about it. Well, maybe you can't tell because FB doesn't show the bolding. But the exclamation points should help...
Hope all is well,
Steph
Living with Maria never has a dull moment. She followed up this gem with: "Do cows have seizures?". True, cows were the hot topic of the day, as they moved some into the field by our neighborhood - but I'm not exactly sure where the seizure question came from.
Maria has some unique qualities, her sense of ever-present wonder is one of them. And vastly unappreciated before and during breakfast, unfortunately. The most common phrases are:
"WHAT'S THAT?!?"
"What's it's name?"
"What does it sound like?"
"Is it ----- or is it -------?" (insert any word, and then repeat...she likes to give you the semblance of a choice, kind of...)
Eventually, I've realized that certain topics must just not be mentioned until the last minute, such as: doctor's appointments, visitors, phone calls, mail, and any special events. Because she can fixate like no other. Fortunately, I can tell her that we're going to drop a conversation, and that works for a few good hours, usually. That, and avoiding eye contact at the table, because then the stream never stops...
Today was a good day.
Aren't you glad?
This morning was pretty low key, and after my surprise success with the yogurt last night (it turned out beautifully after a spell on the warm dryer), I was emboldened to attempt hummus. I'm not sure how great it was in comparison to other types of hummus, but I liked it...
I made Mexican Millet for lunch, with nachos with cheese and beans. The millet turned out the best yet. Not only did I not burn it to the pan, I had some red pepper and it really helped it to taste great. It was hard to believe it was millet!
We had a neighborhood co-worker meeting (boo for lack of nap...) where I did get some chain work in during the mostly extraneous-to-Steph (and the house for another month or two...they're planners here...) information. Apparently I will be getting a crash course on doing the finances for the villager's personal accounts (how we give them their money to pay for things and how to account for it) - which pretty much boils down to: Math.
And we all know how much Steph loves math.
Work was interesting the co-op. I learned how to do invoices and deposits through the computer system and helped with some normal food stuff. I ran the shift mostly by myself, but it was a pretty uneventful day.
Oh. I did forget: I got the news at the meeting - I'm Going to the stainglass workshop tomorrow morning!!!
Not that I'm at all excited about it. Well, maybe you can't tell because FB doesn't show the bolding. But the exclamation points should help...
Hope all is well,
Steph
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Average
Hi all,
I have to admit, that today lacked any of the drama of yesterday. This for me, of course, is a good thing. Although I am pretty sure that my first attempt at doing yogurt from start to finish ended up being a spectacular failure. I'll have to go check after I post. However, 5 hours after I put it on the dryer to set, it was still all watery. So, probably not a good thing.
Tuesday is Garden Market, and I was relieved to find carrots and onions. We go through an average of 2-4 onions a day, and carrots can be good fillers. It's harder to fill the mornings when I don't have to cook, but by doing this and that I managed and kept the work crew pretty busy.
Lunch was pretty terrible. After one bite of the amorphous (but similar to creamed mashed potatoes) entree, I resigned myself to eating the 6 bites of salad and choking down the grainy tapioca. Honestly, I would have been pissed to pay $8 for something that tasted like that. That's a decent budget (especially considering the dessert is usually pudding of one sort or another...), and you could make some really good stuff. But I don't think the person who runs it is overly fond of her job, because the meals are usually rather lackluster. Thankfully, there were leftovers to heat up when I got home.
Rest hour sucked because the children were running around and screaming like hellions. Since housedad is back, I think both parents are trying to foist them off on eachother. NOT happy to be surrounded by their shrieks. It also bugs the villagers who also like to nap during this time. I don't think I'm being too unreasonable here, either.
Today we got our big weekly shipment in, so the co-op was busy putting things away. We also got the 100 dozen eggs that will get delivered by the bakery tomorrow. I'm still not sure why they come to us first, but there's probably some reason. Perhaps not a good one, but one somewhere...
After dinner (Maria and Connie were out with their workplace for a dinner...nice!), I did a run to the barn on the house bike. It was interesting as the brakes are practically non-existent. I almost didn't make a turn. Additionally, while housemom said the milk can fits in the basket, I wasn't sure how much of it should be slopping out. Not much did, but it was hardly reassuring.
I'm looking forward to going out for Stitch 'n Bitch tonight. We've been rotating houses, which is kind of fun. I really haven't been in the one we're going to be at tonight, and it's always interesting to see other peoples' house. I just had a thought though, it's too bad that I'm the only one doing chain maille - or we could call it "Maille and Rail". Catchy, no?
Hope all is well,
Steph
I have to admit, that today lacked any of the drama of yesterday. This for me, of course, is a good thing. Although I am pretty sure that my first attempt at doing yogurt from start to finish ended up being a spectacular failure. I'll have to go check after I post. However, 5 hours after I put it on the dryer to set, it was still all watery. So, probably not a good thing.
Tuesday is Garden Market, and I was relieved to find carrots and onions. We go through an average of 2-4 onions a day, and carrots can be good fillers. It's harder to fill the mornings when I don't have to cook, but by doing this and that I managed and kept the work crew pretty busy.
Lunch was pretty terrible. After one bite of the amorphous (but similar to creamed mashed potatoes) entree, I resigned myself to eating the 6 bites of salad and choking down the grainy tapioca. Honestly, I would have been pissed to pay $8 for something that tasted like that. That's a decent budget (especially considering the dessert is usually pudding of one sort or another...), and you could make some really good stuff. But I don't think the person who runs it is overly fond of her job, because the meals are usually rather lackluster. Thankfully, there were leftovers to heat up when I got home.
Rest hour sucked because the children were running around and screaming like hellions. Since housedad is back, I think both parents are trying to foist them off on eachother. NOT happy to be surrounded by their shrieks. It also bugs the villagers who also like to nap during this time. I don't think I'm being too unreasonable here, either.
Today we got our big weekly shipment in, so the co-op was busy putting things away. We also got the 100 dozen eggs that will get delivered by the bakery tomorrow. I'm still not sure why they come to us first, but there's probably some reason. Perhaps not a good one, but one somewhere...
After dinner (Maria and Connie were out with their workplace for a dinner...nice!), I did a run to the barn on the house bike. It was interesting as the brakes are practically non-existent. I almost didn't make a turn. Additionally, while housemom said the milk can fits in the basket, I wasn't sure how much of it should be slopping out. Not much did, but it was hardly reassuring.
I'm looking forward to going out for Stitch 'n Bitch tonight. We've been rotating houses, which is kind of fun. I really haven't been in the one we're going to be at tonight, and it's always interesting to see other peoples' house. I just had a thought though, it's too bad that I'm the only one doing chain maille - or we could call it "Maille and Rail". Catchy, no?
Hope all is well,
Steph
Monday, April 12, 2010
Shuffles and Hows
Hi all,
I got an e-mail yesterday telling me what we'd be doing for the orientation course. We were going into Hudson to work on a garden for the house there. It was funny though, because the e-mail asked us to bring "shuffles, hows and rakes". Of course, it's from a non-native English speaker, and it just made me smile. It came really early, so he probably wasn't totally awake yet. It's a nice feeling to know that even after being in a country for many years, it still takes a long time to get down every aspect. Hope for my German...
Anyhow, we did go, although I was a little vague on how to best help. I settled for picking up the cardboard they'd put down to keep weeds out (didn't work) and separating out the packing tape and broken glass shards. The guys pretty much manned the shoves in order to dig out the paths to elevate the beds. I wasn't feeling up to taking any crap though, although I did manage to turn the tables on the silly German who figured I'd be afraid of a gardener snake. Right, as if I didn't have 3 brothers and spend a good amount of my childhood searching for them.
However, the day wasn't my best. I managed to have my first official minor meltdown...over tofu. It pains me to write that. Although I'd gotten 8 hours of sleep, I think I was still on edge over yesterday. We had 3 guests for lunch, including one I'd had to reschedule. So I knew exactly what I was going to make. It's happened before that we've run out of something (both at home and the co-op) and I've just moved on to the next thing. However, the fact that there wasn't any tofu in the village (I called numerous houses...), the cars were ALL booked and that both housemom and dad were taking the youngest to a doctor's appointment hit me hard. Normally if I get upset I can run to my room, have a minor freakout, and compose myself in about 2 minutes. Or walk around the house ranting to myself. Not so much an option. Housemom started to go on with what I could do, but I had to gesture that I needed 5 minutes and get a quick cry out.
Yes, I can cry.
So there.
Anyhow, I got it out of my system, feeling quaky and made it downstairs just before they left to the appointment. Her suggestion was pretty good, and her comment of "You'll probably find this funny this afternoon..." was apt. Although I found it funny about 20 minutes later.
Tofu.
Anyhow, I decided to rally myself and also make apple crisp. Halfway through I read a variation with Walnuts and thought "Hey...that might be good" and then I realized-
"Oh, only if I wanted to kill Polo!" (Co-op coworker who came to lunch today)
He's allergic to certain nuts and fruits.
Of course, I realized as I put the crisp in the oven, that apples would indeed be on that list of things he can't eat.
Go Steph.
So I called him to run through a list of what he can't have, and it turned out that he can have most things if they're cooked. So I toasted the crap out of the almonds for the salad.
Things turned out very well for the meal, although I'm thinking there was a bit too much kale in the kale/mushroom/broccoli/leek/onion/garlic/butter/white wine and noodle dish. But it wasn't anything to be ashamed of, and everyone liked the crisp - including Sam who has something against cinnamon...of all the crazy things!
So, that was a fun morning. Well, it turned out all right at any rate. Especially as we had ice cream for tea break...
Hope all is well,
Steph
Steph
I got an e-mail yesterday telling me what we'd be doing for the orientation course. We were going into Hudson to work on a garden for the house there. It was funny though, because the e-mail asked us to bring "shuffles, hows and rakes". Of course, it's from a non-native English speaker, and it just made me smile. It came really early, so he probably wasn't totally awake yet. It's a nice feeling to know that even after being in a country for many years, it still takes a long time to get down every aspect. Hope for my German...
Anyhow, we did go, although I was a little vague on how to best help. I settled for picking up the cardboard they'd put down to keep weeds out (didn't work) and separating out the packing tape and broken glass shards. The guys pretty much manned the shoves in order to dig out the paths to elevate the beds. I wasn't feeling up to taking any crap though, although I did manage to turn the tables on the silly German who figured I'd be afraid of a gardener snake. Right, as if I didn't have 3 brothers and spend a good amount of my childhood searching for them.
However, the day wasn't my best. I managed to have my first official minor meltdown...over tofu. It pains me to write that. Although I'd gotten 8 hours of sleep, I think I was still on edge over yesterday. We had 3 guests for lunch, including one I'd had to reschedule. So I knew exactly what I was going to make. It's happened before that we've run out of something (both at home and the co-op) and I've just moved on to the next thing. However, the fact that there wasn't any tofu in the village (I called numerous houses...), the cars were ALL booked and that both housemom and dad were taking the youngest to a doctor's appointment hit me hard. Normally if I get upset I can run to my room, have a minor freakout, and compose myself in about 2 minutes. Or walk around the house ranting to myself. Not so much an option. Housemom started to go on with what I could do, but I had to gesture that I needed 5 minutes and get a quick cry out.
Yes, I can cry.
So there.
Anyhow, I got it out of my system, feeling quaky and made it downstairs just before they left to the appointment. Her suggestion was pretty good, and her comment of "You'll probably find this funny this afternoon..." was apt. Although I found it funny about 20 minutes later.
Tofu.
Anyhow, I decided to rally myself and also make apple crisp. Halfway through I read a variation with Walnuts and thought "Hey...that might be good" and then I realized-
"Oh, only if I wanted to kill Polo!" (Co-op coworker who came to lunch today)
He's allergic to certain nuts and fruits.
Of course, I realized as I put the crisp in the oven, that apples would indeed be on that list of things he can't eat.
Go Steph.
So I called him to run through a list of what he can't have, and it turned out that he can have most things if they're cooked. So I toasted the crap out of the almonds for the salad.
Things turned out very well for the meal, although I'm thinking there was a bit too much kale in the kale/mushroom/broccoli/leek/onion/garlic/butter/white wine and noodle dish. But it wasn't anything to be ashamed of, and everyone liked the crisp - including Sam who has something against cinnamon...of all the crazy things!
So, that was a fun morning. Well, it turned out all right at any rate. Especially as we had ice cream for tea break...
Hope all is well,
Steph
Steph
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