A Wednesday like no other

Philosophically speaking that is. In many ways, it was just like lots of others...in other ways, it was totally unique. Totally (said in that obnoxious way that I so love...)

So herewith the day of Wednes. I got a few FB letters written, puttered around the house, made mom some lunch. Yay!

Then off to downtown. I had started to roll my collected coins - a bi-annual affair - and ran out of quarter and penny rolls. I stopped in at the bank and got a bunch of each of those. Yippee! Then to Stomping Grounds to visit my friend James (where I got to meet his lovely wife!). He had been surprised that I had written a couple of books and thought he might be interested in carrying them in their store. Yippee! I left him with five of each and will be happy, of course, if any sell. And I also saw a book that I had to buy - Wild Bill Hickock. I am not sure why I am fascinated by him, but I have always been. Looking forward to reading it!

From there, to Beef and Brew for beer Wednesday! Lorraine was behind the bar - feeling poorly (feel better Lorraine!) and a guy named Gary was sitting drinking Coors. Yum (not). We ended up having a nice conversation as the afternoon slipped by. I also had my three beers - damn you Saucer for making that a habit - I had Rooster Fish's Firehouse Blonde - a pretty tasty blonde, actually, Redhook's Flagship Beer - ESB - an English Style Bitter - one of my favorites from Redhook - and Goose Island Honker's Ale - out of Chicago - probably my least favorite of the three - but still tasty.

Next stop, Wegman's! I needed a chicken for dinner. And for the first time in my experience - they weren't out and waiting. So I had to wander around the store while they finished cooking. When I got back, the vultures were circling - there were at least five people waiting for chickens! We had fun chatting while the store workers boxed them up. Sadly, no garlic chicken - but lemon pepper sufficed. Yay! Dinner was quick and easy - I just cooked some string beans and called it a day!

Yippee for Wednesdays!

Oh, I think I mentioned that my camera finally died. After 8 years or more of truly amazing service. So I am using my mom's camera. One of the nifty things about it, is that it knows which orientation a picture should be in - no rotating! Yahoo!!

Anyone want to guess how much change that represented?

Stomping Grounds in downtown Geneva

Yay!

$80+

O Christmas Tree...

When is the "right" time to take the Christmas tree down? I am aiming for sometime in the New Year, (2012) though when exactly I am not sure.

I think my book tour plans are firming up - I was thinking that much more than a week in a hotel at a time would be difficult on mom and probably too expensive especially with the lackluster sales that Diary of a Plate Addict seems to be having. I think I will make the first two legs about a week each. So, maybe three days at each Saucer, instead of a week at each. I will write to Jeff (manager of the Raleigh Saucer) and see if he thinks this is a good plan - and if he is still willing to help me contact the other Saucers. Though, the first two I am fairly familiar with - Charlotte and Columbia. My current thought is to leave on Friday, January 20 and to return to Geneva around the 29th or 30th depending on whether we stop overnight on the way back or not. Then a similar trip to Tennessee in March. Then maybe a trip to Texas in April. NY in May for mom's birthday. June - a trip west - Maybe across the top to hit Kansas City going - and other points on the way back - like Las Vegas, San Francisco and any other place where there is somebody who is interested in getting together.

Yesterday was beer day at the lovely Beef and Brew. Yippee for beer day! I had three beers - all Ambers - Ithaca's Cascazilla, Sacket Harbor's War of 1812 and Widmer Brothers - Drop Top. It is always nice to see Lorraine and Tiffany. Ran into Melissa, a woman who is moving back to Geneva after being out in the world for a while. And generally just had a pleasant time. My thoughts on my beer blog progress - but I haven't actually asked anyone to participate yet. Maybe I will wait until I finish all of the beers at Beef and Brew before asking...

I also cooked mexican food for dinner last night - chicken quesadillas, rice and refried beans. I cooked the rice from memory last night and added a smidge too little water - so it was too dry - but ok. It might make good fried rice tonight for Chinese dinner (egg rolls). I think I could stand to buy some more spinach, since my Daily Challenge today was to eat something with omega three in it - like spinach...

You do know that comments are encouraged, right?

Photos from December 28, 2011:

Book Eight of WOT! Woo hoo!

Anew Daily Challenge friend is going to Costa Del Sol, so I thought of her...

Big Fluffy White Stuff

Wishing won't make it so, but I do wish for a blizzard - or better yet, the big fluffy white snow fall that I know can and does, occasionally, occur. Am I weird for wanting that? Not according to one of my (myriad) nephews! Erich has been harping (well, cello-ing) about snow for months and months! And so far, not a lot of it. We have another dusting here today - and the temperature is relatively frigid. ANd getting frigider as the day progresses. Yay for wacky weather!

Well, I feel the tingling sensation of wanting to get things accomplished today. Anything is possible. But, not likely. Here in Geneva it is already almost 11 in the morning and I haven't even finished my blog! Eeeek! Gotta get cranking. Speaking of blogs, my blogger statistics are messed up, and that is frustrating. Oh well. Life is that way sometimes and we will persevere and survive. I guess I am not reaching my hoped for 50 followers this year. And I haven't figured out how to put Sitemeter on my other sites. Not that I really expect many people are visiting Renotto Press... Are they? Looking and not buying copies of my wonderful (cough, cough) books? For shame! :)

Did someone send me a book called Move the Sock Hole Over by a man named John Funchion? It appeared in the mail and I have no idea how it got to me... Thank you, though!

I tried cooking chocolate lave cakes last night but they didn't turn out very lava like. Probably over cooked them. Well, if at first - yada-yada - so maybe tomorrow or the next day I will try again. I still have the apple cobbler that I made - need to finish that so that I can make another batch that is more, um, moderate. No idea what I am doing for dinner tonight, but I am leaning towards omelets. And maybe some garlic toast. My cheese sauce turned out ok - so I need more vegetables that I can cover in it - cauliflower, broccoli and asparagus come to mind. Carrots and cheese sauce? Not so much...

Jessica Frech (pronounced Jessica) (just joking - pronounced Freck)- the Hyundai ad singer - has her own Kickstarter website page thing. I wish my projects lent themselves to that sort of thing. Maybe after I get the beer blog up and going. I still have a long way to go before I am ready to start posting those. I need more people who are brave enough to be interviewed. I think at least 100 people. Sigh. Eeek. And all that jazz.

Ok, time for pictures. Yay! From December 27, 2011:

This is the mystery book.

Dinner of Wegman's Chicken, brussels sprouts with cheese sauce and spinach!

Mom hard at work writing Thank You notes!

Chocolate not-so-lava cake

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...

Doors are not jars...

I had some fun stuff written, but blogger has been acting up today. Oh well, we shall see if I can recreate it.

Starting with doors - the idea that "when one door closes, another opens" is a nice, comforting, optmistic thought. And in this case, that was the case. Yesterday was beer tasting day. I am, as some of you know, working on a video beer blog. I don't anticipate putting anything up until the summer, but who knows. Anyway, I went to the Beef and Brew, our local purveyor of many beers, to find that their specials hadn't been changed this week yet. So I left. And went to another place with interesting beers - the third place in town with an interesting and eclectic beer selection - Red Dove Tavern. I think I have mentioned this place before. It is definitely one of the hipper, better places to be in Geneva. They have 8 taps and rotate at least three of them quite a bit. I met one of the owners last night, Rune. Great guy. I will look forward to talking beer with him one day. I also met one of the servers there - new to me - Erin. I had two beers - Empire Cream Ale on nitrogen - I think all cream ales ought to be nitrogen pumped - and Elysian Men's Room - a very good example of a Red Ale. Yum! Definitely going back there for more tasting and more taping! Taping and Tasting! Hurrah!

Yesterday was also the first major book mailing day. I sent off copies of Diary of a Plate Addict to each of the fifteen Flying Saucers. I would have included a note, but I thought it would be less expensive to send the note in a separate envelope. Turns out I was incorrect. It would have only cost 12 cents more to send the package first class. Oh well, live and learn! I also sent a copy to the Saucer HQ. Next, I sent 16 letters. saying that I was sending them a book and I was hoping that they would carry it in their merchandise cabinets. Small chance of that, unless Keith and Shannon (Shannon especially apparently) decide that they like the book more than they have before. It is a bit different seeing it all finished. If not, I will just have to hope that all of the Saucers will allow me to come to their places and stay for a few days hawking the book - mostly passively. All the packaging and labeling and such was quite an endeavor! I also sent Heather 5 copies for her use. I haven't asked what she is going to do with them...

Other than that, nothing too exciting. I did cook an excellent dinner - steak, broccoli, artichokes and the last of the lentil and rice box of glop I made a few days ago. Yippee!

Oooh, I got the ingredients for making chocolate martinis. I don't know why, but they sounded like a good idea...

Pictures from November 9, 2011:

Book mailing process

Cool sign!

Yum!

It's my weekend!

Yes, you read that right! Weekend! Party!! Ok, maybe not so much party. But it is my weekend. A really looooong weekend. My Spanish teacher gave us Friday off and we have Monday off as well. Woo hoo! Lots of time to redo plates in Diary of a Plate Addict. Yippee! Joy and rapture! I have already started to try to figure out how to do it in my head...Hopefully I will get it done today so that we can get the final draft of the book done soon! I wonder how Heather is coming on the other changes I requested. And I still haven't come up with a final line.

And we have exciting weekend plans! All are contingent on whether or not mom feels up to doing them, of course. Friday is a play in downtown Geneva. A group called "The Headless Sullivans" are performing Copenhagen. I think I have heard of it...something about Physics...ought to be enjoyable. Then on Saturday, we are doing something beer related. Maybe a brewery, maybe a pub, maybe both. :)

Speaking of beer, yesterday was beer day at the Beef and Brew! Steve had once again changed up the beer list. Yippee! Three more beers on special. And none of them on my list so far. Huzzah! Spaten Lager, St. Pauli Girl Lager and a hefe weiss. I like going in during the afternoon - I can really chat with people. Speaking of which, I got two people to sit down for beer interviews: Anna, a server there, who surprised me by liking dark beers, and Joe, owner of Joe's Hots, a hot dog restaurant here in Geneva, which I guess I will have to patronize now. I have wanted to, just haven't gotten around to it. He is a beer fan, so we had lots to talk about. After I am done with the first round of trying to sell Diary of a Plate Addict, I will turn more attention and energy to working on the beer blog thing. Still excited about it, just haven't put the mental energy into it that it needs. Oh, that and the Self-Help book and the brewpub book...still haven't decided whether or not I am going to take classes this winter. I am leaning towards no...

Ok, a little xBox aside. It is one of my guilty pleasures, playing on the xBox. I have been stuck playing MW2 for a long time now. Trying to finish up some pointless chalenges. Sigh. It can be really frustrating sometimes. Ok, frequently. I am really just marking time until the next Elder Scrolls comes out in November. I do have other games I could be playing, but right now, none of them appeal. But with my long weekend, maybe I will find time to do some experimenting. (I do also need to do some Spanish homework to keep up - just because we don't have class, doesn't mean we don't have homework...)

Pictures from October 5, 2011:

The next area for repair at 81 St. Clair St.

Mom keeping her nose warm

Repair in the back entry underway!

Mysterious Disappointments

Mysteriously, I am disappointed, in several areas. Mysteriously, because one thing I promised not to write about and the other I am choosing not to write about. I am sure the people who read this can figure out what those disappointments are. Or not. I don't really care.

Moving on. Today is Young Frankenstein day! Yippee! Road trip, new place to eat, theatre - sounds like an awesome day. Glad it is later in the day, though, so that mom has more time to wake up. She took a shower last night, without the histrionics that occurred last time. That made me happy. I am still thinking of looking into "Rebath." This is a company that comes and changes the bathroom into one that is fit for older people. We shall see. If it isn't too expensive, we will probably do it.

Yesterday, I did some errands - library, beer drinking, food shopping and other shopping. I had good fun at the Beef and Brew yesterday. Lorraine was, as always, the day bartender. Becky, a new to them server was working - she is feisty! - and Amy - their pastry chef was also working. So the three of us chatted while I had my three beers. Drinking through their list of 140 beers! I think my going weekly is good for the bar as they are forced to evaluate and go through their stock. Yay me! :) The library was easy - they took Kennedy's Brain off of my list. I am sure I returned it - what happened to it, heaven alone knows. Then food shopping at Wegmans - I had to get the ingredients for making the bbq ribs. Boy howdy they turned out well. I was sad to discover that corn on the cob season is over. :( Oh well, we will eat other veggies. I hope they will last until Friday, which is the next time I am cooking a full meal. Last stop, Wal-mart. I was mainly going there for toilet paper - we needed more - and decided to get mom another set of sheets as well. Personally, I think she ought to get rid of the king sized bed and get a queen or even a double or full sized bed. But that is a conversation for another day. And some napkins. And soda water - Wegman's was out of the kind of soda water that mom likes. Wal-mart didn't have that, but I got her another brand instead. All in all, lots of shopping. And by the time I got home, it was time to cook and clean the kitchen (no, I didn't cook the kitchen...). We didn't end up eating until almost 8 pm. Sigh. But it was worth the wait, in my opinion.

Then I tried to study Spanish. I still don't understand, sometimes, when to use Preterite and when to use Imperfect - oh well - at least I am getting better at conjugating the verbs in the two tenses (and present). Yippee!

Pictures from September 27, 2011:

At the Beef and Brew

Ribs ready to roast! :)

Dinner: bbq ribs (homemade BBQ sauce), baked beans and homemade coleslaw!

Remembering Biology

In some biology class sometime, I actually learned something so well that I remember it (mostly) to this day. It was something about trimming the ends of plants and being able to guide the direction they grew. Memory is weird. Can one accept memory loss with equanimity? I guess anything can be accepted with equanimity. At least I hope so.

Saw an interview with Ron Paul done by Jon Stewart. I agree with a lot of what Ron Paul says and disagree with a lot too. I have more socialistic tendencies than he does. It just seems to me that he wants it both ways, though. Self regulation, self determination yet strong penalties for treading on other people's toes. Who enforces the strong penalties? There must be a group in place to do that, mustn't there?

Oh well. My brain was full of Spanish yesterday and I have yet to Spanish at all today. I need to do the "Repaso" for tomorrow's class. My plan is to sit down and do the whole thing in one fell swoop. Give myself 50 minutes just like the exam on Friday. I am slightly anxious about it. The worst that could happen is that I fail the exam, which would really, in the greater scheme of things, not matter a whit. Yippee!

We also had the student community service kids over yesterday. They are so different! And it is great to have them. True, mom was so anxious before they came that she was sick to her stomach with dread. Kolonopin would have helped, had we had it. Once they came, she was all better. We moved her mattresses around, remade her bed and then she took the two girls (women, young ladies, whatever), inappropriately attired (though they knew that yard work was likely), out to clip and such. Katie was in white capri jeans and a thin floral blouse (it has been warm here for the past few days) and Jocelyn was in a very short, light, floral dress. I hope neither of them got poison ivy! I lurked. I think the point of this whole exercise is for the girls to help out and if I am there, they can't do what they need to do.

We had left overs for the most part last night for dinner. Yum! I need to go food shopping and make dinner tonight. I am going to make the bbq sauce again - with baked beans, coleslaw, corn etc. Yay! And I have to go drink my three video beers this afternoon as we are heading to Utica tomorrow. Unbeknownst to mom, we will be dining at a brewpub! :)

Pictures from September 26. 2011:

Jocelyn, Katie and Mom gardening

Left over artichoke, spinach, potato and chicken hash, and cheese ravioli with store bought tomato basil sauce

The Mikado (and other things)

Our adventure for the day was going to see The Mikado at the Smith Opera House. For those who don't know, The Mikado is one of the best known Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas. I have seen it a couple of times. This was an excellent production. Done by the same guy who did the Opera I worked on in the summer. Great set, costumes, singing, sight and lyric gags. All in all, a very enjoyable show. Mom and I got there a little on the late side, but managed to find seats not too far back and smack dab in the middle! Great seats! I saw lots of people from the opera there - also some of the usual, Geneva suspects. I didn't talk to too many - I did speak with Sam which was nice. And Charles and Erika (I apologize for forgetting your name, Erika!) chatted with us in the parking lot - we even had parked our cars next to each other!

Let's see, what else happened that was exciting or interesting...oh, I decided that I really need to spend some time practicing verb conjugation if I am to pass the Spanish Exam on Friday. So I have created a sheet to print out so that I can practice and practice and practice. Sigh. Brute force practicing. Isn't it fun?

Pizza for dinner - leftover pizza - that was enhanced with oregano and garlic salt! Wow, what a difference that made! Yay! I haven't decided what I am doing for dinner yet - but I am cooking something. Most likely breakfast for dinner - though I do need to do some food shopping.

What else exciting yesterday? Hmmm...Oh, I put up the files for Diary of a Plate Addict and got back a message saying that the cover couldn't be read. So I uploaded it again - after opening it on my computer. This morning I got another message saying it couldn't be read. I opened it, resaved it with another file name and re-uploaded it. I also sent a message to Heather to ask her to re-export it. We shall see if we can get it to work...

Wednesday mom and I are going to see my niece, one of mom's grandchildren, perform in Young Frankenstein in Utica (a touring company from New York). Sadly, that means I won't get to see Yoli for Spanish practice on Wednesday night. Poop. And I will have to do my weekly beer video-ing at Beef and Brew on Tuesday afternoon. Sigh. Hopefully Steve will have changed the beers by then.

That is all the excitement I can think of! Yippee?

Pictures from September 24, 2011:

The Mikado Poster

I don't know how this picture got in here...

Nor this one...

Student Helpers Part II

The student helpers didn't respond to the email. I don't think etiquette is taught anywhere anymore. I mean, it is supposed to be learned at home, but most people don't really have homes anymore, 'cause everyone is out working to earn enough to put food on their tables and a roof over their heads. Sigh. Whatever. The two girls did not send a message back saying - Thank you! Got the message! We will be there on Friday! Instead, they just showed up. One at a time. Jocelyn showed up first - a sophomore with a major and two minors. Just a smidge driven. Very nice. Gave her a tour of the house and spoke with her for about 20 minutes. Mom did not make an appearance. Just after Jocelyn left, Katie appeared. She is a freshman, from New Jersey, who has no idea what she wants to study. Good for her. Better, though, would have been for her to take a year or four off to get some life experience and then go to school. But I am not her or her parents. Anyway, she was nice as well - mom did make an appearance during her tour and put on quite a show. I think it will be great for mom to have these two young women around!

Heather put Diary of a Plate Addict up in our dropbox folder today. I then uploaded it to CreateSpace - only to find out that they have a 48 hour hold on the files while they review them. Sigh. I am seriously beginning to doubt that I will be able to get the book finished and have 300 copies ready to go by the time I need them - October 6 or 7th. Supersized sigh! And a bit of a grrrr. Just in general. Part o the reason for my lack of confidence is because I think there will be issues that will need another iteration once we see the book printed out. I hope I am wrong, I just get the feeling that will be the case. If I miss this window, I won't have another one until January - after Spanish class is over with. And I will miss the Christmas season. Grrrrrrrrr!!!!!! And for some reason, we have the slowest upload speeds I have encountered since using a phone modem! What is up with that? I will call Time Warner eventually and find out.

Had a lovely time at Leaf Kitchen last night. I drank two beers for the video blog. I also had a good chat with a guy who was at Hobart around the same time I was. But he never saw any of my plays (I directed 3 musicals, a staged reading, performed in an additional 3 shows all in three years minus two trimesters (study abroad)).

Ok, sorry this took so long to get put up. Busy-ish day. Yippee!

Pictures from September 22, 2011:

Mom sent these two cute cuddlies to two of her grandchildren

Leftovers with a special sauce for the chicken - that was tasty

Leaf Kitchen receipt - I just liked the clothespin! Great idea!!

Student Helpers

HWS has a class/program for community outreach. The students can note their preferences. Some prefer to work with older people in the community. Mom has had a few over the years - some great, some not so great. We are going to get two starting either Friday or Monday. Yippee! They will only be here for an hour and a bit, but I am sure we can get some things accomplished. Maybe they can even get mom out for a walk. That would be awesome. I have all sorts of things that they can do to help around the house. Especially emptying things out and putting things back, so we can a) get a sense of what remains in the house and b) just move stuff about and c) hopefully let some stuff go. Like the drawers in the kitchen, dining room, shelves in the linen closet, book shelves I mean lots and lots. She says they will also be willing to do light yard work - maybe mom will like them to do something. I know they can help put the porch to bed when that time comes...I for one am excited!

I need to call insurance companies today and get my insurance changed. I am not excited by the prospect. Although I don't fear change, and even try to embrace it - and seek it out sometimes, for some reason, changing insurance companies is freaking me out a bit. Sigh. Has anyone out there done it? Well, I will report my findings in tomorrow's blog.

Turns out that the show that Kristen is in, a revival/touring company of Young Frankenstein, is playing in Utica next Tuesday and Wednesday. I am leaning towards going on Tuesday - but Wednesday might work as well. I will write Kristen and see if she has strong feelings either way.

Spanish with Wendy last night was as fun as always. She is awesome. And she agreed to go have cider with me sometime. After she finishes her applications for grad school (sometime in October). Not a date - she is only 21 after all! Still, maybe she will agree to be video taped for the beer blog.

Ok, gotta strip the bed, take a shower and call insurance companies - not in any particular order!

Photos from September 21, 2011:

Artichokes and corn! Does corn count as a green vegetable?

I don't know what that is or how it ended up there - but I thought it looked like a present left by someone...

Everything cooking - spinach and rice glop, corn and artichokes

Welcome Follower 34!

Nice to have you on board. And you comment and everything! How cool is that?!

The book series I mentioned in the comment is called The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson. I read it a while back and remember enjoying it. Historical Science Fiction, I think is the sub-genre.

So, I got a seven out of 20 on my first Spanish quiz. Oops. I hope I did better on the in-class composition today. I think I did. We had to come up with 16 verbs. I don't know 16 Spanish verbs. Or maybe I do. We shall see.

I went to the Games Night last night and started taping the beer at Leaf Kitchen as well. They have an eclectic selection that doesn't seem to overlap Beef and Brew's so far as I can tell. Yippee!

And I went to Spanish Tutoring with Daniel last night. Not awesome. I basically sat there and worked on my own. Oh well. Maybe Sunday I will go and see Jade. It is sad that my favorites work the nights I like to go downtown. Well, not anymore. I probably won't go downtown on Mondays any more. And Wednesday I will be going during the day. And Thursday night, Leaf Kitchen. My goodness, what with Game Night sometimes at Charles' on Sundays, my time is filling up!

Heather sent me a couple of requests for Diary of a Plate Addict. I am going to work on those this afternoon and send them to her today. Yippee!

Mom is odd. Yesterday, the coldest day we have had yet, she did not complain about being cold. Maybe it is her medication? I just don't know. And today she was again discombobulated about going to Physical Therapy. Not as badly as on Monday, luckily. Sigh.

No plan for tonight, other than sitting around the house. It seems that mom's DVD player is on the fritz. Sigh. Maybe I will look for an inexpensive one at WalMart or on Ebay. One day.

Pictures from Thursday, September 15, 2011:

Salmon, veggies and some pasta for dinner

Work on the sidewalk repair continues

People hard at play! :)

Drizzle Day

Getting a late start today. I think I needed the sleep. Yippee for sleep, petit mort. I do like to dream. And I think my dreams are in color - or at least sometimes I remember color in them.

My picture taking has become a little labored. I am not taking as many pictures of the food I produce, partially because I am producing boring food. And I am not taking many pictures around the house because I have taken them all already. And out and about, there is just the college, which I again have photographed ad nauseum. I would like to take pictures of my Spanish class and class mates - perhaps they will let me at some point. And the "teaching fellows." I met the last one last night, Wendy; her Spanish name is Yolanda, so she goes by Yoli. Very nice. Very enthusiastic. Very helpful. She is a bio-chem major and Spanish Double Major.

I went to Beef and Brew last night as well. I might have to stop going there on Wednesdays. It started to fill with college kids at around 9:30. Not that I don't like college kids, but it turns into a bar at that time - lights low, loud music, very crowded. So it is hard to video tape. Again, I would like to get some college kids talking about beer for the video blog. Maybe one day. I only had two beers and I think one of them I had videotaped before. I really need to go through what I have taped already and write it down. Sigh.

Yesterday was also productive for Diary of a Plate Addict! I assigned the book an ISBN number and got the bar code for the book. Those are both in Heather's lovely and capable hands! Yippee! Working on the Library of Congress Control Number...Baby steps. Oh, and I started talking with Createspace about doing their program rather than Lightning Source's. It looks like it is a lot less expensive up front and gives me more money in my pocket in the back end. Thank you Charles for suggesting it! Heather hasn't said anything, yet, about whether or not we want to put anything on the spine. I am torn - I think it is more professional when there is something on the spine, but it is also a teeny weeny spine...

Mom stayed in bed almost all day yesterday - ostensibly because it was so cold - 65 or so outside. She did finally get up for dinner - which was a kitchen sink omelet. Of which I did not take a picture. Sigh. We also figured out her zoloft, with the aid of my latest crush, Lindsay the floating Pharmacist. Yippee!

Ok, here are the exciting pictures from yesterday, September 7, 2011:

 My camera takes a long time to be ready to take a picture...

The boots on the left are totally "in" just now - every other female student was sporting a pair yesterday.

And now it is cold

According to the weather report, it will be chilly for the next few days at least. Yippee! Cool and rainy. Gotta love it. At least the grass will be green. That was one of the things that was weird about living in California, was all the hills turning brown in the summer due to the lack of rain. I do miss California sometimes. I try, though, not to dwell in the past too much. Now is nice. :)

Not much planned for the day - mom does have PT. She is so funny. She worked really hard, sort of, to get the doctor to ok physical therapy - and now she doesn't want to go. Luckily we only have four weeks of it altogether.

So far, today, all I have done is listen to a Spanish lesson. Yippee! I wonder if I will go back and listen to them again. Maybe. We shall see. They each take about 40 minutes which is a big chunk of time. Yesterday, I went to Spanish class and found out that most of my answers on my homework were wrong! I just don't get the Preterito and the Imperfecto in Spanish yet. And I am not solid on the conjugation of any verb. More practice is the only answer. We watched a video which was fun - a music video. And told a story. Most of the people in the class seem pretty boring so far. And 50 minutes goes really quickly - well 55 minutes. Language classes ought to be two hours long so that there is lots of time to practice. Good thing there is the teaching fellows thing. I went again last night and plan to go every night until I feel more confident. Molly was the person on duty last night. I liked her a lot. I liked Jade too. And Hazel is growing on me. Apparently there will be someone else tonight and a guy from Colombia on Wednesday. Yippee for new people!

I also went to the lovely Beef and Brew last night. I had my three beers and videotaped a bit. I need to make a list of the beers that I have videotaped and had there. I have, sadly, lost count a little. I don't know if I am at 19 or 16 or what. Sigh. And Mike, one of the owners, said they are going to increase their total number of beers to 200. Yikes! Getting close to Saucer numbers...

Happy Tuesday, all!

Photos from Monday (September 5, 2011): (Just thought I would change things up a bit...)

 A wet Geneva day.

 I just thought this was a neat picture...

One use for my new vase!

New Interface

Same blogger. I need to breathe and relax and enjoy the new interface. Yippee. It is so, I don't know, stark feeling perhaps. Anyway, I don't think it will affect how the blog actually looks - hmm, maybe I will need to take a look at a post and see. Someday. Ok, later today, even. In a few minutes perhaps, depending on how easily the thoughts flow. Yesterday was another day - not scintillating, not terrible. Getting up early to go to class isn't, yet, onerous. We met our Teaching Assistant or whatever she is called. Hazel Morales. Not overly impressed with her just yet. We shall, of course, see. There were some new faces in class, and a couple of people weren't there. Like the other old guy. I wonder if he will be there on Friday. I kinda hope not. So far, I like Frannie best, of the students in the class. Mainly because she is the only one who has taken the time to actually talk to me. Oh, I found a free flashcard maker for my iPhone and have started making Spanish flashcards. I have always found flashcards helpful - not actually going through them, usually, but the making of them helps me a lot! We have homework for tomorrow (eeek!) which I will do today. I am torn about the workbook - I would like to leave it pristine so that I can sell it back. I still can't get over how expensive educational books are. Anyway, yay Spanish!

Mom had another PT appointment yesterday. Honestly, just getting her out and about is a good thing. She has an exercise to do at home, which I don't think she will ever do. I will try to help her to do it, but neither of us is much for exercise. Yes, I do yoga every day, but just a little bit and nothing too strenuous or laborious. While she was PTing, I went and ran a couple of errands - I got a replacement for a pot with a broken/dangerous handle (yippee), a new trashcan for mom's bathroom and two of four replacement drip catchers for the stove. Mom gets bees in her bonnet - the most recent was that the drip pans needed replacing. It is easier to just do it than to resist. After picking her up, we discovered that she had left her purse there. Sigh. She has also been on a bit of a cleaning streak - perhaps because Ginger is supposed to be coming today. Anyway, I try to encourage these whenever they occur (once every six weeks or so, it seems...)!

Work continues on other fronts. I did a few pages of Diary of a Plate Addict yesterday. I think I am up to page 49 in the text (59 in the file). I hope to have completed copies in my hand by October 1 so that I can go to Raleigh and sell copies the week of the 8th. Gee, lots to do for that, then! I also did some more video taping last night for the beer video blog. Not getting enough other people involved yet. And I haven't looked at any of the footage. I just haven't made the time for it. I really need to get caught up in Spanish and get DPA done before getting into the whole vblog thing. Though that won't stop me from working on the footage. And drinking the beer. I think I have put 13 in the camera so far. All right friends, followers and fans, time for pictures from August 31, 2011:

The doorway to Spanish learning! Just walk through... 

Spinach quiche cooling! 

Hard to tell, but that is a new drip thingie...

Vaguely Unsatisfied

Yesterday left me feeling vaguely unsatisfied. I think it is because I didn't really get anything done that was one my list of things to accomplish. I did no work on Diary of a Plate Addict. I did not look at any Spanish. Sigh. I guess I just have to do a lot of both today to help get over that feeling.

On the other hand, I did have a few adventures, which is a good thing. First adventure, meeting a Plenty of Fish friend for lunch in Skaneateles. Which was a half way point for us both. I think I have only been to Skaneateles once before. Nice little town and deserves more visiting which may or may not happen. We ate at Johnny Angels, which is a bit like a Five Guys burger place - though they do serve Yak there. Good food. Nice company!

Next stop, Middle Ages Brewing in Syracuse. Matt and Sharon, behind the taps, were both nice. I also met Michelle and Jeff - regulars who were stopping in to get a growler filled. Great atmosphere. It seems to me that "beer people" are more outgoing and friendly than "wine people." Maybe I am not giving wine people a chance. I have been to a few wine bars and wineries and at those, at least, the people there have been more stand offish than people at beer bars and breweries. Then again, maybe it is me, and I change a bit depending on my surroundings. Maybe I am less outgoing and friendly at wine things than I am at beer things. Naw.

Then home to cook a dinner out of the freezer (Bridget - are you counting?) of frozen peas and leftover shrimp eggrolls. We really need to eat those up - the frozen vegetables and the eggrolls. After the Daily Challenge to look and see how long things are supposed to last, I realized that the things in the freezer really need eating up. Sigh. I do so like fresh things. Hmm.

Lastly, went down to the Beef and Brew and continued work on my video blog. Still no firm plans how to craft an episode. I am waiting on a piece of software - Toast - to start editing. For credits, I was thinking of a montage of people's faces, but so far I only have five or six different people on tape. I would like ten or twenty. And for music for the beginning I was thinking of an orchestral version of 100 bottles of beer on the wall. I think it might be...

Oh, while there, I was told that I was sometimes a bit creepy and annoyingly know-it-all like. Both are true, can't deny it. I am creepy because I tend to be focused on someone and ask them a lot of questions. And know-it-all like because I do actually know a few things and like to share. Like how to pronounce Framboise... Whatever.

Pizza on the Patio at a local Winery is the plan for tonight - and maybe the State Fair tomorrow - depending on the weather.

Pictures from August 24, 2011:


Yak!


Skaneateles lake looking as choppy as it can be!


Me, Michelle and Jeff at Middle Ages Brewery in Syracuse.

It is begun

More than one "it" actually. The first thing is going through the proofreaders comments and fixing what I fix. This will take a few days, at the rate I am going. But it is good for me to read through the book at a slow, thorough pace. Diary of a Plate Addict hopefully will be better for this effort. My goal, still, is to finish my go-through by the end of the week.

I also started teaching myself Spanish. Ok, that isn't strictly accurate. I started trying to do a chapter a day. I got through one chapter. Yippee!

Lastly, I started my video blog. I took about half an hour of video and haven't put it on the computer yet. I know it is going to take me forever to get this all done. Many hours to end up with two minutes of video. Not more than that - including intro and credits. Maybe 1:30 of actual content. I am not as attractive as the woman who does the words thing, Hot for Words, so I can't have a very long episode length. My goal here is to start posting in September. End of September. We shall see.

I see some interesting things on my walks around town. Last night I saw a vase abandoned by the side of the road and decided to take it with me. Matt and Zach at the Beef and Brew absconded with it! Who knows where it will end up? I also saw someone sitting on some steps with their laptop. My guess, using the free Geneva Wi Fi since they don't have Wi Fi in their home...

Other than that, I cooked dinner last night - yummy pork with lots of veggies. And made lunch - leftovers for me.

Ok, time to get on with my day. Mom had a Physical Therapy appointment this morning and that has thrown my "schedule" all out of whack. Sigh.

Pictures from August 22, 2011:


Our freshly painted front steps - they only look orange because of the way the sunlight was hitting them.


The sun is setting earlier and earlier. I like the spaceship look to that cloud!


Here is the vase - I hope it finds a happy home one day!


Here is the person sitting on the steps doing wi fi!