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!