I need to eat something

But that means that I have to do my yoga - 'cause I don't eat until I have done my yoga, most days. But before that I have to do my blog - why? So that both my loyal readers and I can feel like we have accomplished something today. And accomplishing something always makes feeling happy just that little bit easier.

Yesterday was a lovely day - the weather was bizarre, low 60s on the 29th of November. But it is always pleasant to have a temperate day when it is not expected. I didn't do a whole lot - except for going to meet with Sebastiano - my Spanish oral presentation partner - at the college pub, which I don't think has a liquor license. So why is it a pub? Anyway, we worked for about an hour - he had some corrections and suggestions. I am also planning on going to see Wendi tonight and ask her to read it with me a few times - maybe she will make a few suggestions and corrections... And then Friday is the day of oral presentation! Hurrah! I will be happy to be done with it. And it will be my last day of classes. Double hurrah. Maybe I will take more classes again one day - but next semester I need to be footloose and fancy free to be able to try and sell books.

Speaking of selling Diary of a Plate Addict, I am sending off some more copies today. One set to someone whose set got lost in the mail, one to Jeff, my great and long time friend, a couple to my sister. Juliet pointed out that the cost felt high to her. And it is high. I am the first to admit it. I pointed out to her that the book costs a lot to print, ship and I pay taxes on it. Then there is all of the time and effort that went in to creating it. And people are going to be buying it as a souvenir/impulse buy for the most part. I am counting on beer to help sales! It is, after all, a full color book. And although, as was the case with Bar Dreams, it is not a breathtakingly wonderful book - it is good and solid and enjoyable. Since I am charging $20 a pop, I suspect some people will balk at the price. Oh well. I am not going to discount my efforts at this point. Maybe when I get to April 15 and find that I have only sold 5 copies, I will change my tune. But for now, $20 it is. It is sad, though, that more of my "friends" haven't bought copies. Whatever. Moving on. Anybody else tired of hearing my whine about no one buying copies of the book?

Anyway, I cooked turkey tetrazini last night. Simple stuff. I think I needed more pasta in the dish. Oh well. It was still tasty - I used all of the leftover turkey that Juliet gave me. Yippee!

Anyone ever heard of playing blackjack with the stakes being a truth or dare question? Fun stuff. :)

Pictures from November 29, 2011:

These were packed really, really well from the printer!

Pretty - a better camera could have done a better shot...

More stuff and less turkey would have been good - live and learn!

Tons of Tuesday!

Here it is, a beautiful overcast, drippy day, in Geneva, NY. The sun isn't shining, the birds are confused because it is almost 60 degrees out (don't know where the degree character is - option 8? • - Nope, that's a bullet...) on November 29. Sigh. I was going to call handy people to see what their stories are - the roofing guy said he was coming while we were away. If he did, he didn't do anything - so I won't expect a bill. The other guy still hasn't finished up his work or done any of the other things that we asked him to do. Which is also ok, cause we won't get a bill for anything that he has done until he finishes one of the tasks at least. Good for him for being busy! Just wish he would do a little work around here... Anyway, that is two things that I don't have to do. Another thing that is on my mind to do is to call the Finger Lakes Care people and see if I can set up an appointment to talk with someone about what services and support are available to me. Part of me just wants to wait to do that until I get back from the trip to Raleigh (where I will, I will, I will sell lots and lots of copies of Diary of a Plate Addict - at least 3.) Which is what I will probably do. We shall see how I feel today.

Trying to figure out what to do for food this week. I don't want to cook too much because that means leftovers and I don't really want any leftovers in the refrigerator while we are away. If I am to do more traveling with mom next year, I really need to find someone who can come and water mom's plants. She would be saddened if they died. And a sad mom is, well, an unhappy mom. Obviously. Last night I threw some food together for a filling but not too tremendously tasty a meal. Oh, I do have the Turkey that Juliet gave me. Hmm. I could probably do something with that. I will have to look in the cookbooks and see.

Ok, I went off and did other things for a bit - read some e-mail, looked up recipes, that sort of thing. I'm back now. Didja miss me? :)

Photo from November 28, 2011:

Left over Ling Ling Food!

Once upon a time...

I watched Once Upon a Time again last night - I just don't think the show is going to make it. Grimm is probably better, but I haven't watched it. Last night, the story was bad, the characters were all blah. I don't know, I just didn't enjoy it. It seems like every other week the show is decent. Sigh.

Once upon a time, I liked paying bills. I guess that was when I was pulling down a good salary and I was caught up or even ahead of all of my bills. That was a sweet year or two, back in the 90s. Sigh. Boy, the economy has come a long way from there - and so have I!

Once upon a time - well, ok, enough of that. Yesterday, mom and I had more adventures. We went to see Happy Feet 2 - I liked it more than mom - she wanted more dancing. I hope she enjoyed it a little bit at least.

Then we went to Ling-ling for Chinese food. And we decided to take the food away. I don't know why, but Sunday was one of the expensive days. What is that about? Friday and Saturday, I can understand, but why Sunday? Oh well - we brought two containers of food home with us. Mom ate most of hers, I ate about half of mine. We are having that for lunch. I don't know yet what is on the menu for dinner, but something fast and easy as I have Spanish lab (as it turns out my last Spanish Lab) tonight.

I am confused by the lack of Diary of a Plate Addict purchases. My erstwhile friends are not stepping up at a rapid pace to help a starving artist keep food on the table. And to support my meager artistic efforts. What is that about? Oh well - I guess I am just in a pessimistic swing about book sales for the time being. I will swing the other way again. Just watch! :)

Pictures from November 27, 2011:

This is what 300 copies of Diary of a Plate Addict looks like

Happy Feet Two!

I could use a massage

I am sore. Not horribly, incapacitatingly sore, but sore. And a massage is always welcome. Oh, to have a romantic partner who liked swapping massages. Someday, perhaps. Maybe I will look for a therapist around here who isn't too pricey. A nice, back, leg, arm and head massage. Mmmmm...

Long driving day yesterday with a break at Karl's house for a couple of hours. We managed to get up fairly early yesterday and got out only about half an hour later than I had wanted. Mom wanted to go get me a pair of winter boots, which I haven't owned in 20 years. At Paul's or Juliet's suggestion we went to Reny's to look first. Found a pair fairly quickly that met my needs. Helped by a young man with a sort of mohawk who seemed to be able to read the boxes. Mom was surprised at how quickly I got something that satisfied. I tend to shop that way. If I am looking for something, zip in, evaluate quickly and purchase. I am not a huge fan of endless browsing, though I have done that too on occasion. Then it was five and a half hours to Karl's house. Only one bit of a slow down - where 295/90/84 meet and diverge. Luckily it was just very slow, not that much stopping. Yippee!

We got to Colchester just as Karl was stopping working on house decorating. We shared some of his tasty turkey soup and chatted. Candace had done the midnight madness shopping and stayed up all night. Karl got himself and the kids up at 5 am to meet her and do some more. Crazy people, but I think they had fun and might have saved some money. Both good things. I think it was good for mom to see the house, the kids, Skyelyn and Jacob, and to see Karl and Candace. We didn't stay too long, and hit the road again right around 5. 5 More hours back to Geneva and we were walking in the door right around 10 at night. Not too bad, really. Yippee!

Pictures from November 26, 2011:

The view in Maine

The stream by the side of the Maine house

Candace, Jacob and Skyelyn

Three of four were looking my way - Jacob, Karl, Skyelyn, Mom

Fun Adventure-let Friday

I got a partial day off yesterday, which is always a good thing. Mom opted to not accompany me on my adventure-let. Got up and got out at a reasonable time and drove to scenic Hallowell, Maine. This city is just South of Augusta - might even be considered a suburb in other circumstances. I found The Liberal Cup easily enough. Nice signage. There was a slight wait for a table, but not long enough to even notice, really. I sat in the front part of the establishment. There was more seating in a second area, away from the bar. I liked my seat. I got to see lots of people. Yay people watching! My server, Angel, was very pleasant. Although she had only been there a few weeks, she was obviously a seasoned server. I immediately ordered water, lots of ice with a lemon (this is kind of a test and also how I like my water). And I asked if they had a sampler of their beers. They did - a paddle of six for $5. Yippee!

Beer arrived and I ordered a reuben - also kind of a test. I have had many reubens all over the place and sort of get a gustatory impression of a place from their rendition - plus fries. The beer was mostly ok, with two good ones - their cream stout was tasty and their cask IPA was also good. The others were kind of blah. Drinkable, but not worth noting here. Soon the reuben came along. It was good, not great. I was fortunate to have a member of their mug club sit next to me. Apparently the deal is if you drink 250 beers in less than a year, they give you a mug with your name on it - and refills are less expensive than they are for other people. Not too bad. Not too difficult if one lived near by - which I don't. Oh well.

Still, all in all, a nice place and I would probably go again. Will it make it into the book (if the brewpub book happens)? I don't know.

Next, toodled back to Juliet's house where we had a few hours to kill before heading out to dinner. I played Skyrim. Which I told them to all think of like reading a book. I don't know if they bought that, but it did make me feel a little better. An RPG is sort of like a book - there is a story, with little side stories and the character does have a trajectory, if not an arc.

We decided to go to Darby's in Belfast, which I know I have been to at least once before. Mom and Juliet ordered lamb, I ordered beef short ribs that sounded better than they ended up being. Oh well. And Paul? Well, just as we were getting ready to get into the car to go to dinner, his pager went off and he had to go in to the hospital. I am glad I am not a doctor, for many reasons - being on call is one of them!

Back to J&P's and quickly to nap so that we could rise early today and get on the road. More of that in tomorrow's exciting installment of - The most boring life on the planet! :)

Pictures from November 25, 2011:

The Sign

Festive beer board

Looked good, but needed something - maybe more dressing, swiss cheese and sauerkraut?

Although my entree wasn't delicious, the mussels were great!

Happy Thanksgiving

See, a day late and a dollar short! :) Seriously, it is weird being a day behind. Well, sort of weird. Yes, yesterday was Thanksgiving here in America. I put a status of "Gobble Gobble" up on Facebook. A sort of triple entendre...humor happens in threes. Apparently. I wouldn't know, really...

Thanksgiving is a weird holiday. We are supposed to be giving thanks for all sorts of things - not just in our personal lives, but in a larger scope as well. How much thanks giving really goes on? We didn't share anything to be thankful for at the dinner table last night. And just what would I have said? I would be thankful for getting up that morning. For having a family who is mostly in good health. None of us is homeless or addicted (well, some of us are obsessed, but that is for later in the blog). All good things. I am thankful that the world hasn't imploded yet. And that mother nature and the universe are still conspiring to allow us to live here on planet earth! Yippee! Nebulous things? Perhaps. Still grateful though. I told a friend the other day - be happy about the things that you can be happy about and work to change the things that you aren't happy about (and can change). Yay happiness!

We had a pleasant day, all things considered. Lunch was lots of leftovers - I think we ate up most of them. I said I would have the leftover beef as a late night snack, but that didn't happen. Too full. Because Juliet orchestrated a wonderful meal. Turkey, sweet mashed potatoes, pearl onions in a yummy sauce, broccoli, dressing, gravy and cranberry sauce. All homemade. And then for dessert, both pumpkin and apple pies! Yum city. But I did have to sit and digest for a long time before going to bed! Mom got treated to a slide show of Paul's pictures - he does take some great ones! I played all day and have the aching back to prove it. (This is the obsession bit.) Luckily, I have gotten to a point that I am not as obsessed as I was. I still would like to play, but I am also capable of entertaining other activity options. Yippee. Juliet cooked all day. And Paul was on call - both yesterday and today.

Juliet and I had a slightly depressing talk about the future last night. I need to process it and figure out what the future looks like regarding mom. Sigh.

I didn't step outside at all yesterday and am not upset about that. Today we might go boot shopping (for me) and I might go to a brewpub near Augusta. We shall see. For now, I just want to get this posted!

Pictures from Thanksgiving, 2011 - November 24:

The view from the Maine house

Looks a bit like whistler's mother...

Turkey

Loaded with some of everything!

Pies!

Snow Day!

As can be said of many places, the weather here in Maine changes rapidly. When I looked at the weather for the week before leaving Geneva, there wasn't a hint of snow in the forecast. Then, suddenly, a snowstorm was called for - six inches - and sure enough, that is what happened. Yippee! It looked yucky out there. And it was. So yucky, in fact, that I balked at moving my car for the plower who comes and cleans out Juliet and Paul's driveway. I have no snowboots, no winter like apparel and the stuff was blowing around and ick. So Juliet just ran out and did it. Yay her! I managed to stay inside and do much like I did yesterday. More Skyrim. I know, boring for the rest of you - but this is just the sort of game that I enjoy. Still would like to design one one day. Growing up, as I did, at the advent of D&D, it is a little surprising to me that I never became a DM (Dungeon Master). It seems like it would have been perfect for me - creative, directorial. But I never did. And although I played, I never got into it as much as some people. I still enjoy it, whenever it does happen...digression!

So, what all happened yesterday, besides playing? Well, we had lunch and a tea time visit. Lunch was brunch - yum - and the visitor is a neighbor of Juliet's, Laura. Lovely woman. I just popped down to say hello and then left the three of them - mom, Juliet and Laura, to chat. She only stayed an hour. Not one to overstay her welcome!

Next exciting event - dinner! Juliet cooked salmon pasta and a great salad. It is going to be sad to have to go back to my own cooking. I tried to articulate the problem I am having with cooking - picking a menu - and Juliet was very helpful with pointing out cookbooks. I will have to look through some of the ones we have at home and see what pops out at me.

And that was it - the sum total of excitement yesterday. Today is Thanksgiving! Hurrah! If it weren't for the pilgrims, I wouldn't be here. Things would certainly be different...So for that part, I give thanks. For what we did to the indigenous population - well that continues to suck. Someday, the human race will evolve as a whole and most of us truly will love each other as family. Right. Well, it could happen! Here's to a happy planet!

Pictures from November 24, 2011:

Yay snow - on the outside!

Brr

Brunch for lunch!

Salmon pasta for dinner!

I think this is a great mom picture!

Non-productive

And that is totally ok by me! I had a totally non-productive day yesterday, aside from two things. And both of those are not "productive" in the sense in which I think it is understood here. Well, the first is. I wrote and published a blog post! Yay me! And yay you for reading it! Yay us! I do get a sense of accomplishment from finishing a post. The other is, well, I bought a house. Yup! And it only cost 5000 gold! Goodness, it took me a while to save up that much. Oh, and I started a course of study at the college. In Windhall. I think that's where it is. Oh, did I forget to mention this was in Skyrim?! Yup, I played basically all day. And my eyes did not rot out of my head! That is an accomplishment.

Juliet made a yummy dinner, lunch was delicious left over chowder. And Mom took a shower! I don't know why she doesn't like to shower, but she doesn't. Maybe it is genetic, cause I have pushme-pullyou (one of the coolest animals ever imagined) feelings about them as well. So, three things, though one of them was vicariously productive.

And today, more of the same! I hope you all have happy Wednesdays!

Photos from November 22, 2011:

I might just have to kidnap Velvet...

Remember this picture when you look at tomorrow's pictures

Juliet cooking, mom folding laundry, Augustus playing Skyrim...

Yum!

Travel Day

And when I say travel day, I mean, all day travel! Goodness. From 11 am to 9 pm. I might actually be getting to the point in my life when I am not willing to do these drives straight through. We shall see, but this one was nip and tuck, especially during the first 6 hours or so.

Getting ahead of myself. The day started, gray and dismal and cold. Joy. But my 82 on my Spanish exam brightened my day. Yippee! I could have gotten an 88 but I messed up the conjugation of beber (to drink) in the subjunctive three times. Or maybe four. Anyway, only two more grades to go - the oral presentation, which I am sure we will do fine on, and the final - which worries me a little, but not too much. I will have a whole week to practice verb conjugations after I get back from selling 300 copies of Diary of a Plate Addict (my internal goal) in Raleigh. Ok, I doubt I will really sell 300, though it would be awesome. Book sales are not going as quickly as I would like. I am at 996 and holding. Sigh. Anyway, moving on...

Got home and got packed. Mom was all packed and mostly ready to go, which was great. Of course, she did go to the bathroom just as we were ready to leave. But better then, than needing to stop five minutes after getting on the road. It didn't take me too long to pack, though I packed a lot - including the xbox. I know, a sad testament to my obsessions. Sigh.

The drive was long and uneventful. I was tired for much of it, but judicious use of a) mom's nattering, b) sunflower seeds, c) various other food substances, d) the occasional stop and e) sheer will power, I managed to not fall asleep while driving! Hurrah! That is always a win in my book. Traffic was negligible (yay) and there was no inclement weather to drive through. Really, although a long day, it really wasn't a bad drive at all.

And we arrived to yummy fresh chowder that my sister had made. She is such a good cook! One day I will be as good a cook as she is. Ok, probably not. But still, it is something to aim for!

We all went our separate nighty ways and I stayed up and played Skyrim for a long while. And then was a bit cold in bed. I think I need to go out and purchase a nice warm, light quilt today. We shall see if I can face getting in the car to do so. At least here in Maine there are very few year rounders to take up the roads!

Pictures from November 21, 2011:

See! Gray day!

What needed to go in the car

And how it fit!

The first pit stop - there used to be a footbridge that spanned the thruway - long gone

Note that my bowl did not yet have yummy chowder in it

Time to play!

Packing Problems

The problem with packing is that it always falls off...ok, that isn't really the problem with packing. It will take me about ten minutes, once I actually start to do it. I love traveling in the car. That way I can toss in anything that won't fit in my suitcase. I need sweaters or at least warm middle garments as Maine is going to be a few degrees colder than it is here. Instead of packing, or getting ready to go to class, I am typing a bit - I would like to post this before heading off into the Sunrise. Well, the sun will already be well up in the sky, but we will be heading East.

Yesterday we had breakfast for dinner. Yay! Scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon and French Toast. Yippee! And I played a lot. Sigh. Oh, then it was game night! And we played bridge! I think that Charles and James are getting the hang of it.

And I put the garbage out! I know, big news! That's what you all read this blog for, to know when I put the garbage out...

Ok, back from class and time to get cranking!

Photos from Sunday, November 20, 2011:

Skyrim is going with me to Maine...

So, not so appetizing looking - it was a yummy dinner, though!

Yay trash!

Working on my Spanish Oral Presentation

That is my day's task, to work on the Spanish Oral Presentation that will be performed on December 2! And to pack for tomorrow's trip to Maine to visit my sister and brother-in-law for Thanksgiving! I just looked and it is, indeed, a ten hour drive. Without inclement weather and lots of traffic. We shall see how we feel while on the road. We might not make it all the way to Maine tomorrow. Anything is possible. And if we do stop, guess who is looking for a brew pub for dinner! That's right, this guy!

So, yesterday, mom wanted to go to BJs. She got her annual offer to join for two months for free. She has fond memories of getting lots of stuff there. I don't know when she did this, certainly not any time I was around. I don't know why, but I am not a fan of Warehouse/Club stores. Many of the things that I looked at were not particularly less expensive. Maybe some things were - I need to do some price comparisons with Wegman's and Walmart. I want to do apples to apples and that is a challenge, because sometimes the other stores don't do the same count - like English Muffins - mom wanted more English muffins, but they only came in a nine-pack as opposed to the six pack available at the other stores. And pistaciaos, they were $5.40 a pound at BJs, which seems like a good price...So, we went and shopped - bought barely anything and spent $35! Eeek!

Saturday is the day to shop in grocery stores, by the way. You all probably know this, but for those few who don't - they are hawking everything! You can easily eat a three course meal by walking around the grocery store! And the liquor store had wine and liquor tastings! How awesome is that! I didn't partake at the liquor store because mom was sitting in the car, but it is good to know. Maybe that will be something I do another Saturday.

We also did laundry - not a lot of it - but I figured if we were leaving for a week, we might as well do some laundry! Well, most of week.

Last night I made a picnic basket containing the makings of two disparate beverages so I could be ready for any eventuality. Hot chocolate makings and Chocolate Martini makings. We ended up going with the chocolate martinis, which turned out pretty tastily. I would like to try making the hot chocolate. Maybe I will take the stuff with me to Maine and try it there.

Oh, we also went to Rite-Aid. Mom saw an ad (she seems to be more susceptible to commercials nowadays) about a depilatory for one's face. Turns out that it was an Olay product. But we couldn't find it. The pharmacist had heard of it and led us to it. $39.99 for a 12 month supply. Mom didn't go for it. But the reason I bring this up is because my crushed-upon floating Pharmacist is now a permanent pharmacist at that Rite-Aid! Will I ever ask her out? Doubtful, but she is still nice to talk with! I am thinking of transferring my mom's other prescription up there - since it is closer than the hospital and all of mom's other prescriptions are there. I will go to Rite Aid and see how difficult that would be.

Finished the game I was playing and stayed up a little too late starting Skyrim. Not sure still if I am going to take it to Maine with me. Hmm.

Pictures from November 19, 2011:

Lovely BJ's

Mom sorting - I almost wish she wouldn't...

Goodies!

Yummy!

Maybe, just maybe

I can see why people over medicate others. I am, minorly, tempted to put mom back on the Aricept 23. The Aricept 10 mom is actually now getting up for lunch and initiating outings! Today, she wanted to go to BJs! Eeek! But that is for tomorrow. For today, we have yesterday's news. dit dit dit, dah, dah, dah...

dit dit dit (by the way)

Anyway, what exciting happened yesterday? It was Friday, wasn't it? Oh, yes, we went to our Monthly (or thereabouts) outing to Friendly's. No matter how much mom says she likes my food, or thinks I am a great chef (which isn't true), I think that she secretly would rather eat out at Friendly's every other day. Or maybe once a week. If we were weller off, I wouldn't mind not cooking. Though I do actually enjoy it. And, as I have said aforetimes, hand washing dishes. I ordered and received book seven of the Wheel of Time Series - the beginning of the three books in which a week or two passes. 1800 pages and a week passes. Sigh. Anyway, that helps to make the time more pleasant in the kitchen.

I also had a meeting with my language partner from Spanish Class. Sebastiano is a very nice gentleman who is here teaching Italian. Apparently they only have one semester of Italian, mainly to prep kids who are heading to Italy on a semester abroad program. Maybe I will take Italian from him next year. Anything is possible. Anyway, I needed a partner for the oral presentation and rather than put myself and any of the kinder through that, I grabbed him. Yippee! I haven't done anything on it, but plan to do some tomorrow. It isn't for another two weeks...

And that is about it. Toasty towels, did I mention those? That is one of the things that I love about the winter here in Geneva, is radiators and therefore, toasty towels! Yippee! Getting out of the shower and drying off with a toasty towel - there isn't much better!

Ok, time to post this sucker! Have a good one, blogophiles!

Photos from November 18, 2011:

Toasty towel!

Eeek, snow on my car! Whatever will I do?! :)

To Skyrim or not to Skyrim

I broke down and ordered a copy of Skyrim - the next Elder Scrolls RPG. Sigh. I probably shouldn't have done it for three reasons - 1) it may well be a huge time suck - 2) I can't really afford it and 3) I already have games I haven't played. Sigh. Double sigh even. Well, I have resisted the temptation so far. I must admit that I am toying with the idea of taking the game, box and monitor with me to Maine when we go on Monday. We shall see.

Maybe I oughtn't to write my blog after I have eaten lunch. More leftovers and some freshly made coleslaw have put me right to sleep. Well, I did get up a little early today to be wide awake for my Spanish exam - which I am pretty sure I passed, but that is about it. I got confused on one verb and misconjugated it all over the place. Poop! Maybe I will just take a fifteen minute power nap and get right back to it. Ok - naptime.

Well, that's a bit better.

Two more great people have purchased copies of Diary of a Plate Addict - Tim, a friend from High School, and Matt, a Saucer friend who I haven't seen in at least a year, maybe two. I got both packages in the mail yesterday! Yippee! Only 996 more to go to reach my goal of 1000 copies sold by April 30, 2011. All help is appreciated! :)

Mom and I went out yesterday, at mom's instigation. We went to a closing/going out of business jewelery store and I convinced her not to buy a watch for anyone. Nor any jewelry. It was tough, but I stuck to my guns. We did end up going to the Linden Exchange across the street. Years ago, mom took some clothes in there that she thought were decent and worth some money. The Linden Exchange would sell things for whatever they thought they could get and would give a percentage of that to the donor. Well, mom is sure that they put low prices on her stuff so that the workers could buy the things for themselves, instead of putting higher prices on the things and her getting more money. She hadn't been in, to her recollection, since then. Must be 10 or so years at least. Anyway, we ended up getting a sweater, that she thinks is too small now, a kid's piece of clothing that we are going to give to Karl and Candace for one of their kids, a towel, because mom liked it, and three stuffed animals - a kiwi, an ostrich and a fish. Mom likes her stuffed animals, here in her second childhood! $11 dollars and mom was a happy camper (instead of a watch for $150)!

Went to a reading last night with no expectations. I like to live with no expectations. Anyway, Wyatt Mason was the presenter - critic, author and now journalist. The piece he read was about his visit to Beijing and meeting Ai Wei Wei. I had heard of Ai but didn't know much about him. The piece was great and reminded me of my time in Beijing and in China - though I was there years and years ago now.

On the way home, I noticed that it had indeed snowed a smidge! Yay!

Photos from November 17, 2011:

The store that mom almost bought a watch in - apparently it has been open since 1905 or so.

Two more kind and brave souls bought copies of Diary of a Plate Addict - 996 to go!

Mom's Linden Exchange haul!

A poster for the reading I attended

First snow in Geneva. Probably not the last. :)

Oh, woe is me...

Ok, not really. Just joshing. Really, nothing too much to be woeful about. I wanted to write woe-y. There, I just did.

Actually, things are, mostly, just dandy. Besides of course, not really having an income stream to speak of. And mom's alzheimer's, which thankfully doesn't seem to be progressing too quickly. Or is this a leaps and bounds sort of disease? Anyone? And I am, minorly, falling apart. My left ear is not happy now. Whatever.

Small things, just small things. Like only two people have bought copies of Diary of a Plate Addict from my cool website. (Not really cool, but functional). How am I to achieve my goal of 1000 copies sold by April 30, 2012, if no one buys any copies? Hmm? Riddle me that, Batman! I did put up events all over the place. So far, a few people (Thank you) have RSVPd that they will come. As many have said they aren't coming for one reason or another. Three of them don't live in Raleigh, so that is understood. The others are going to get the FB axe after my visit down there. Well, the ones who said no without posting something on the wall at least. I also was granted the power to create meet-ups by my friend Steve of the Tri-Beer (what a great name) meet-up. So I created a meet-up for the book release event. Yippee! Busy day yesterday. For one, I ordered 300 copies of DPA. It looks like I might sell a tenth of that when I am in Raleigh. Sigh again. If I only sell 30 copies in the Raleigh store, where I am, or at least was, fairly well known...but that is just fear and silliness talking. If I can't sell at least 100 in the week I am there, I will just have to cry. :)

Yesterday was a pleasant day! I ate a lot for lunch, trying to finish up some leftovers and empty out the fridge for our week of travel. (Then we are back for a week, then gone for another week). Still lots more to eat. Yay? I played a bit, went to Spanish Class (where I think I did pretty well on my review/sample test), had beer Wednesday (more on that later) and went shopping. I did not run into anyone to throw my card uselessly at this time. :) I did buy a box of Charleston Chews minis which I mostly devoured for some reason. And a few wastebaskets - the pretty, woven reed baskets that mom had in the house are all dying from old age and usage. And I cooked a frozen dinner from PF Changs which was pretty good. Not my favorite - I will have to try another one. Today is going to be coleslaw day again. Yippee!

Ok, back to beer Wednesday. As you may or may not know, I am working on a video blog project, drinking through all of the beers available in bars in Geneva. I chose to start with the bar called Beef and Brew because they have 140 different beers to choose from. Best selection in town. Steve, the bar manager, places three bottles on special each week. Awesome for me! He is sometimes good about changing them, sometimes not so good. He didn't change them last week, so this week, when I came in, he gave me one for free! Yippee! And it was Samuel Smith's day - Nut Brown Ale, Imperial Stout and Oatmeal Stout. I think these are some of Eric M's favorites. I liked the Imperial Best. And they were all on sale for $3.50 a piece. The Saucer ought to do something like that as well - have some specials on their bottled beer. It was nice to chat with Lorraine (server/bartender) and Tiffany (bartender) and some patrons. Yippee!

Photos from Wednesday, November 16, 2011:

Yup. Scissors. Art.

Lots of food!

Lorraine Art

For Anthony, a cook at Beef and Brew in Geneva

I think there are four pieces left...