Danielle's Semi-Daily Journal

We've moved...

2009-12-31T15:01:00.003-05:00

Alright, so...

The new blog is up and has begun. This blog will no longer see new posts.

So sad... but it's time for new stuff!

Head on over and check out the new blog!

We're Moving...

2009-12-28T12:37:00.002-05:00

...to a new blog!

Effective January 1, 2010 I will be moving to a new blog.

The link to the new blog will be announced on that day.

Thank you to all of you readers who have been so patient with my lack of posts over the last year or so. :)

Spreading the News - Jewelry Giveaway!

2009-12-28T11:09:00.004-05:00

One of the blogs that I follow (Fantabulously Frugal) just posted about a great giveaway that is happening right now!

Link to Awesome Jewelry Giveaway: CLICK HERE

If you enter through the Fantabulously Frugal website, then you will also be entered into one of HER giveaways for $25 PLUS the company that's doing the jewelry giveaway (Lushae) will donate $50 to a charity!

All you have to do is put this banner (or one of a few) on your blog or website.

Super cool? I think so. GO ENTER!

Jim-Bob

2009-12-05T09:38:00.004-05:00

My brother is coming to New England in a couple of weeks to have some Christmas time with his girlfriend's family. If schedules work out, I will be able to hang out with them while they're here.

Jim and I are close and even though we fought a lot when we were kids - we always have been. There's a favorite picture of mine that my mom has when we were little. I was maybe 7 or 8 and Jim was maybe 4 or 5. I was reading to him in his bed after our jammies were on (we were peanuts so we both fit in the bed) and we fell asleep. My mom caught this and took a picture.

In high school, when Jim was a freshman and I was a senior he ended up melding well with my friends. He even came and hung out with us when I was in college, and helped me move countless times. When he went into the Navy, I went and visited him with my roommate during spring break. As we've gone through the ups and downs of becoming adults, we've been there for each other and even though we've not always seen eye-to-eye on our overall world views - I still know Jim's there.

Jim & Me - Tennessee, October 2008

That said... sometimes when I shower I think of the funniest prank that was ever pulled on me, courtesy of Jim.

When I was a sophomore in high school and not quite old enough to work a part-time job, my parents made a deal with me. They paid me "X" dollars a week to stay home with my siblings 5-6 hours a day or so and make sure they stayed out of trouble. I got up when my parents went to work, showered while they ate breakfast or watched TV, made them lunch, and just hung out all day spending time with them. I was allowed to have a friend over, so sometimes a friend or two would come over and we'd all play games. It was the best summer job I've ever had.

One day after I finished showering, had my hair in a towel and a bathrobe on, I went to exit the bathroom... and couldn't.

I tried again... the door only opened about 2 inches.

I heard giggling.

I tried a third time... 3 inches.

More giggling from my sisters, and full out laughing from Jim.

I slowly tried again and was able to get the door open far enough to see what the "problem" was.

Our house was a typical New England 1940's-1950's 3-bedroom ranch. This meant that the three bedrooms and the bathroom were on the same hallway, and my bedroom was right across from our bathroom. My brother - in all of his 12 year old ingenuity and comic genius - had shut my bedroom door, taken a jump rope, and tied one end each to the bathroom door and my bedroom door. Thus, when I tried to open the door - I could not.

Then he and my sisters sat outside the bathroom and waited for me to try to get out. And laughed at me.

The problem was that he left too much slack and I was able to open the door slightly. So... needless to say the same trick was tried again a week later, with less slack allowed so I could NOT open the door at all. This, of course, caused them to laugh harder.

At the time, I didn't think it was that funny. But now, looking back, it is one of the funniest moments in our family's history. I kind of wish my parents had been home to see it (they're the same people who hid my Easter Basket in the most obscure place because I got up last, and it provided family entertainment).

Thanks, Jim, for that hilarious memory.

I Know I've Been a Bad Blogger - BUT!

2009-12-03T08:18:00.004-05:00

So I love free stuff. It's true.

I also love it when I WIN free stuff. That's even more exciting. People used to joke in college because I won lots of stuff including a Palm Pilot and a signed UMass Lowell hockey jersey.

So? What does this have to do with anything?

There's a giveaway over at Fantabulously Frugal and YOU SHOULD ENTER!!!

She's giving away 3 different gift sets. 2 of them will be chosen at random, and 1 of them will be given to the person with the most referrals. :)

Here's the link: Contest! Contest! Contest!

What are you waiting for??? Go over there and enter this amazing contest and make sure you tell her that Danielle Athanas sent you. :) :)

Top-Iron-Chef-A-Thon

2009-10-30T18:53:00.004-05:00

Steve and I recently went to Jamaica, and before we went we "met" some people from various parts of North America on a message board. After several emails, we 4 couples decided to get each other some gifts from areas we're from. Each couple bought some sort of food product; we got everyone cranberry jam and Fluff, the couple from PA got a big ol' stack of large Hershey products, the couple for TX brought Tex-Joy seasoning, and the couple from Canada brought Maple Syrup.

Then I came up with the brilliant idea of trying to make a meal using the some of the ingredients we got or bought as highlights. Here's the selection:

Fluff, Cranberry Jam, Tex-Joy Seasoning, Maple Syrup, Hershey's Milk Chocolate

First thing I did was whip up a dessert. I melted the Hershey bar over a double boiler, broke up some graham crackers, stirred those in and swirled in some Fluff while the chocolate was hot. Scooped clumps out onto parchment paper and VOILA - S'mores Bites!

After that, I tackled the main course. The first thing I worked on was the stuffed chicken breast. I whipped up a stuffing of:
- 1/4 cup cranberry jam
- 2 tbsp. maple syrup
- 1/2 cup feta cheese
- Dashes of cinnamon, garlic powder, and crumbled some dry sage
- Salt & Pepper

I then slit the chicken breasts and scooped some of the stuffing into each one (makes 4, with enough to put some on the top of the breast for a minute at the end of cooking). Then popped them in my electric oven on "Broil", 10 minutes per side.

Off to the side dish! I washed, cut, and boiled about 800 grams of red skinned potatoes. While those were boiling, I sautéed half of a Vidalia onion and measured out about a cup of sweet kernel frozen corn. When the potatoes were cooked and drained, I mashed those bad boys up with about 3 tbsp. of Earth Balance (or whatever butter product you would use), the onions, the corn... AND - Tex-Joy seasoning for flavor. I have no idea how much I put in... until Steve and I decided it tasted right.

When it was all done and plated, here is what it looked like:

We enjoyed the meal with my cousin Andy and his girlfriend Shayna. It was pretty darn good. Steve said he wants me to keep the chicken in the recipe rotation, and the potatoes as well. The S'mores bites were also quite tasty.

So - for my Jamaica Pals - here some ideas for what you can do with your goods.

Cold Salad for Summer Picnics

2009-06-27T14:44:00.003-05:00

When the weather starts to get nice and the grills start to fire up people's minds turn to eating outdoors. Whether it's a barbecue in your backyard or a picnic on the beach, enjoying a meal together outside with family or friends is one of life's great pleasures.

This year, I decided I needed something easy and unique to be able to throw together on a budget that would work for any cookout or picnic. The answer?

Refreshing Couscous Salad

Ingredients:
- 1 cup dry couscous (cooked to package directions)
- 1 Red Delicious, Gala, or Fuji apple (cored, diced, and tossed with 3-4 drops lemon juice)
- 1 cup chopped broccoli, steamed and cooled OR 1 cup frozen chopped broccoli, thawed (with 1 or 2 runs of the knife through it to make slightly smaller)
- 1/2 sweet or Vidalia onion, diced and caramelized
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Dressing:
- 1/4 cup champagne wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp grapeseed oil OR 2 tbsp light olive oil
- 1 tbsp orange OR lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp dried sage, crushed
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
- Salt & Pepper

Method:
- Prepare couscous, apples, onions, and broccoli.
- Toss first four completed ingredients in large bowl with raisins. Set aside.
- In small bowl, combine all dressing ingredients and whisk for 30 seconds to combine.
- Drizzle dressing evenly over couscous mixture. Toss so that the dressing coats everything evenly.
- Add grated parmesan cheese and toss.
- Transfer to portable bowl that has a lid (such as a Tupperware or Pyrex container) and put in fridge for at least 2-3 hours to allow ingredients to blend. For best results, prepare the night before. Serve chilled.

So far I've brought this to a picnic with friends and a pot-luck cookout with our small Bible study group and haven't taken much home either time. Tomorrow I'm going to another small cookout with some close friends and I'll be bringing it then too. My litmus test is always how often Steve asks me to make something, and this is one that he has asked me to make for each event since the first time I made it.

My thought: It's got a light flavor that is definitely a great accent to a summer or spring outdoor meal. Plus, it's super easy to make - start to finish takes 30 minutes or less. Tomorrow will be the third appearance for the salad, and hopefully the weather will hold out for our cookout!

Thoughts While At the Gym

2009-05-19T07:11:00.002-05:00

It occurred to me that my brain goes all over the place when I'm at the gym. Today I tried to remember some of the random things that passed through my head...

- Do I want to listen to my iPod or watch the Today Show? Not feeling music, Matt Lauer it is.

- I feel like Al Roker doesn't match today.

- Why can't Republicans and Democrats remember WHY they are doing what they're doing instead of fighting with each other? It's never good for a family when mom and dad just fight all the time, what makes them think it's good for the country?

- Why did I bring my phone in?

- Wow, "Atlas Shrugged". That's some pretty heavy reading for the gym.

- I wonder what the story is with those two. He started to talk to her recently, I never see them with anyone else, no wedding bands... romance at the gym?

- I wish Planet Fitness offered aerobics classes...

- Michelle Obama made the Maxim 100? OK then.

- Jim Cramer was awfully calm this morning... so different than when he's on "Mad Money".

- Oh man. Maybe they'll do the Cosby Show reunion while I'm at the gym. Better pay attention.

- Wow! Even the guy who played the grandfather is going to be on the reunion... he has a walker? Wow. Time has certainly passed...

- I love the little old ladies at the gym. They're so cute.

- Glad those people who got lost at sea scuba diving are OK. I wish I wanted to scuba dive because Steve wants to...

- Has it really been 25 years since the Cosby Show debuted? I wish I had DVR... oh well. I'll just look on Hulu later and see if the interview is posted.

- Why oh why do women get all dolled up with hair and make-up to go to the gym? I guess that's not as bad as the perfume though... makes me gag when I'm trying to work out. I can't be the only one. How do you address that with someone? It's awkward like the BO conversation...

Grampa's Faith

2009-05-06T09:09:00.004-05:00

"Who's that blonde woman sitting next to your Aunt Shirley?"

In a room that saw anywhere from 125-175 people over the course of the day and knowing that my family is larger than I could ever put my head around, I looked at this small blonde woman in the black raincoat sitting with her legs crossed on the other side of the room. She looked sad and respectful, occasionally glancing over at Grampa.

"I have no idea... but, there's a better than 90% chance I'm related to her. I'll ask my mom, she'll probably know."

A few minutes later my mom came over to where we were sitting. "Who's that blonde woman sitting next to Aunt Shirley?"

This meant I was not related to her, but I could tell from the way that she was sitting and the way she kept looking at Grampa that she definitely played some sort of important role in his life. My mom walked over to her and introduced herself with a smile; a trait she definitely got from Grampa. I watched as the woman stood up and spoke to my mom, holding her hands as she explained her relationship to him. At the end of the conversation, my mom gave her a big hug and left the room.

I went after her, because she was crying.

"Mom, what happened? Are you OK? Who is that woman?"

"She's some sort of minister. For the last three years she has found Grampa on Sundays when he can't be at church and made sure he received Communion. She visited him in rehab, and in the hospital, and always made sure he received."

This small blonde woman with the respectful smile and the black raincoat was my Grampa's Eucharistic Minister.

I thought back to one of my early visits with him at Greenbriar (the rehab facility he most often went to in order to get his strength back). On the wall I saw that they had Mass on Tuesdays rather than Sundays. I brought this up to Grampa, and he expressed his frustration that the rehab had no way to serve Communion on Sunday. This was very important to him... and God responded by sending him someone who would serve him each week. This small blonde woman in the black raincoat was indeed a very important person to Grampa.

When I think about Grampa, I think about a lot of things. I think about french toast and baseball and puzzles and coffee and good books and a big happy smile. But... I also think about his faith. This was a man who carried his rosary with him to every hospital visit, every surgery, every recovery in the rehab. A man who shed a tear when he heard the song "Amazing Grace". A man who lived and breathed Christ's love through his love of his family and his work through the Knights of Columbus. A man who when he found out that I had come to Christ wanted to see the program from my church, and who was more excited than my other family members when he found out we were running a youth group. "That's very, very important," he told us.

I haven't cried much this week. I thought and prayed about it this week because I find it strange that I'm NOT crying.

Then I realized...

I'll miss Grampa terribly. He was a cornerstone of our family and taught us what family meant. He was an amazing person.

But he was strong in his faith in Christ. Grampa is at peace now, and has taken his place in God's Kingdom. I'll see him again, not for a long time, but I'll see him again in Heaven.

And there is an amazing comfort in that.

I won! Honest!

2009-02-06T07:42:00.004-05:00

So... despite my absence from the blog world of late, I've received this awesome award from Kristin - one of my oldest and dearest friends and author of the Pink and Green Teacher Blog! It's the "Honest Scrap Award", and as a recipient it is now my duty to:

- Pick 7 blogs to give this award to (I'm trying to pick people Kristin didn't award it to!).
- List 10 Honest Things about myself.

And the newest winners of this award are:

- Mags over at Ms. Maggie Moo Talks to You
- Greg over at We're Taking Bets That...
- Matt and his blog at Matt Bortmess' Blog
- Nina at My Food Revolution
- Danielle and Nigel of the Dallaire Family
- Amy and her family at the Lembke News blog
- Missy over at Austin & Missy's Blog (and check her other blog out detailing the adventures of opening a café in Downtown Lawrence).

Now for 10 honest things about myself:

1. I committed my life to Christ on September 9, 2007 and while it hasn't always been easy learning how to live as He wants us to - it's a decision I can say has lifted me spiritually and has given me a different set of eyes to view the world through. I love how the beauty of the whole thing is that He has forgiven us, He understands and loves us as we are with all of our faults... it truly is "Amazing Grace".

2. My dream job is to be a stay-at-home mom someday, even though selling airplane parts is a pretty cool job.

3. I have 3 close girlfriends that I have been friends with for more than 10 years (2 for 15 years each and one for 13 years as of this September). While I don't get to see them as often as I might like to, it's amazing to know that when I do see each of them it's like we never spent any time apart.

4. I love the beach and even though it's stuck in 1989 I wish I could go to Hampton Beach every Wednesday in the summer with a picnic dinner to see the fireworks.

5. I used to hate seafood, but in the last couple of years I've grown to love a lot of it. That said - I still am not a fan of the two New England staples: lobstah and clam chowdah.

6. I am scatterbrained and as a result I don't always think before I speak. This has been known to get me in trouble or in disagreements on more than one occasion.

7. I don't mind traffic and usually take it as an opportunity to either spend some time in prayer, people watch the cars around me (it's amazing how many people pick their nose in traffic...), or sing really loudly.

8. I eat breakfast every morning, usually some sort of cereal.

9. If I could get paid what I get paid at AMETEK to instead spend time cleaning my house, read, and crochet all day I would quit my job in a heartbeat.

10. My husband is also my best friend, which makes marriage a little bit easier to grow into.

You've Got Mail!

2009-01-09T21:15:00.005-05:00

Some weeks are really terrible for mail. Nothing but bills, junk advertisements, more bills, more junk advertisements, and the occasional credit card offer.

But then... there are weeks like this one. When the mail is just amazing.

On Monday, I had a long awaited swap-gift arrive from a swap I was in on Swap-Bot. It was late; it was supposed to be mailed by December 15 and didn't get sent until January 2. But... it was worth the wait. Those who know me know that I love me a good scarf... and also I love purple and pink. This was all three:

Then there were a couple of days of a mail lull... until Thursday. As part of my Christmas gift, Steve gave me a homemade gift certificate to order any apron I wanted from Etsy, an online emporium of handmade goods. I love so many of the aprons that are for sale by Etsy's various merchants, but I had to choose one. I finally decided on one from Bella Bee handmade aprons, potholders, and accessories. I ordered it a couple of weeks ago, and was thrilled when it arrived.

Then today was the final piece of mail awesomeness arrived - a surprise package from our friend Kimberly! In it was a Pop Rocks Chocolate bar, a coupon for $0.90 off at Whole Foods, an all-natural candy cane (dyed with vegetable based dyes)... and 2 Korknissers made with corks from our own collection!

It was, indeed, an amazing week for mail.

"Stuffed" Portobello Caps

2009-01-05T18:25:00.003-05:00

Late last week, I wanted to make Steve and I a tasty dinner without meat. We're finding that since we're counting our calories, that one of the easiest things to eliminate on a day we don't have a ton left is meat since it's so high in calories. As I often do when I'm so moved, I opened up my fridge to see what was there. I found a package of portobello caps that needed to be used, as well as a bunch of other ingredients. I set to work and came up with....

"Stuffed" Portobello Caps with Cheesey Peasy Rice
Serves 2

Stuffed Portobello Caps
Ingredients:
- 2 large portobello caps, washed and stems removed
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup diced red pepper
- 1 cup diced sweet onions (or Vidalia)
- 1.5 tablespoons dried basil
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- Salt, Pepper, and Garlic Powder (to taste)
- 3 tablespoons shredded parmesan cheese, divided
Method:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Place the mushroom caps smooth side down and sprinkle visible side with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Turn after 2-3 minutes and repeat on the other side.
- Remove caps after both sides have cooked for 2-3 minutes each and set aside on an ungreased cookie sheet, smooth side down.
- In same pan (respray if needed), sauté garlic, red pepper, and onions until edges of onions begin to brown.
- Add basil & oregano, stir it in until completely incorporated and remove from heat.
- Divide the pepper & onion mixture in two, completely filling the two mushroom caps.
- Sprinkle with 1.5 tablespoons per cap of parmesan cheese.
- Cook in 350 degree F oven until cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.

Cheesey Peasy Rice
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup dry brown rice
- 2/3 cup frozen peas
- 3 tablespoons grated parmesan & romano cheese (the kind you put on pasta)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt & Pepper, to taste
Method:
- Cook rice to package instructions (usually takes about 30-40 minutes). **Note, I usually eliminate the butter or olive oil and the rice turns out fine.**
- In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add about 1-2 tablespoons of water so that the rice is almost sticky when it's finished.
- Cook the peas in the microwave for 2 minutes, to allow them to thaw and slightly warm.
- When rice is finished, combine rice, peas, cheese, garlic powder, salt & pepper over low heat.
- Remove from heat and serve.

Virtual Christmas Card

2008-12-27T08:39:00.003-05:00

I hope that all of you had a bright, wonderful, and Merry Christmas!

Here's a virtual toast to an exciting and awesome 2009, full of more awesome experiences and adventures.

Taking T-Bones for All They're Worth

2008-12-04T07:47:00.005-05:00

If you live in the Southern NH area, you probably know about a small restaurant chain called T-Bones. They have locations in Salem, Derry, Hudson, Laconia, and Bedford NH as well as 2 sister restaurants - Cactus Jack's - in Manchester and Laconia. Their menu has tons of variety, all their food is made to order (you can modify it however you want), the prices are reasonable, and the food even tastes pretty darn good.

Those that know Steve and I know that a) we're planners and b) we like to look for the best possible bang for the buck. Enter our annual taking of T-Bones - with this year being the most lucrative one yet. Here's a comprehensive list of how you too can take T-Bones for all they're worth.

1. Sign Up for the Paybacks Program: This is T-Bones instant win for people who go there 2-3 times per year (maybe 4 depending on what you get). For every $100 you spend in food you get a $10 coupon for use at a future visit. Oh yeah - it's also free to sign up.

2. Pay Attention: Every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas (and also at occasional other points to raise money for charity) T-Bones offers a deal where for every $5 in gift certificates you purchase you get back $1 in gift certificates. Free T-Bones money. Also, this year I paid attention and caught that for the first time ever, and for a limited block of time, T-Bones was allowing gift certificates purchased to go towards Paybacks points. This means for every $100 in gift certificates purchased - $10 coupon back. If you need to buy a gift for someone this is a great way to make $5-10 in free gift certificates for yourself OR do what we do (since we don't know many other people who go to T-Bones) and get yourself free T-Bones money. This leads to number three...

3. Be Prepared: If you like T-Bones/CJ's, and you know that you and your significant other are going to go on dates or want to go out to dinner at some point during the year, plan ahead. Each year Steve and I have in our annual budget anywhere from $200-300 that we block off to pre-purchase our date nights to T-Bones. With their $5 in GCs get $1 deal, this means we're guaranteed $50-60 in FREE T-BONES MONEY by planning ahead. This year, we were able to do $300, which means we've got $360 in gift certificates AND (remember what I said about this year's limited time Paybacks offer?) another $30 in Paybacks coupons which means we've got $390 set aside for our date-nights and emergency "Don't Eat At Home Tonight" funds.

Ridiculous? Yes. Amazing? Also yes. For those that didn't catch the math on that - for $300 in gift certificates we got a 30% return on our investment and almost $100 in free food at T-Bones by planning ahead.

Oh... I'm not done yet.

4. Don't Forget Your Calendar: T-Bones has an annual calendar that has coupons for each month of the year. These coupons are each good for one appetizer, one dessert, or one kid's meal and have a value of up to $9.99. Now... here's the thing with the calendars: they are available right after Thanksgiving and they typically go pretty fast. If you don't get them the first week after Thanksgiving, there is no guarantee that there will be any left - so make sure you get out and get them!

But wait! This year there's more!

Remember I said that we bought $300 in gift certificates? We found out about a super-secret added bonus last night. This year, when you buy over $100 in gift certificates, you get a dual spice pack containing the T-Bones House Seasoning and the Cajun Seasoning blend they use at Cactus Jack's. Inside the pack is also a recipe card containing the recipes for NH's Best Burger and Cajun Fish Fillet.

There you have it. That's how you take T-Bones for all they're worth. If you've never been to T-Bones or Cactus Jack's, we highly recommend it because the food is great and the waitstaff are usually super friendly and attentive. Then if you like it, we've given you a guide for how to get the most bang for your buck when you eat there.

Enjoy.

The 2008 Annual Pull

A Day in the Life: Photomentary

2008-11-29T17:39:00.006-05:00

The events you're about to see are real. They took place on Friday, November 28, 2008 and are all from my perspective. Please be aware that some images may not be suitable for underage viewers. They contain graphic images of chores, video games, and other such things.

I woke up around 8:45 AM. I decided to be a nice wife and let my husband sleep in. While I waited for him to get up, I started a load of laundry. Darks, to be exact. I couldn't remember if I added soap... so I checked.

As I waited for the laundry to finish washing so I could move it to the dryer, I noticed a slight rumble in my tummy. Hunger. I hadn't had breakfast. Since I knew I had time before Steve got up, I made a cinnamon breakfast flatbread using a recipe for pizza dough. When Steve got up, it was ready. We had flatbread and coffee. It was good, and satisfying. The rumbling stopped, and hunger subsided.

We finished breakfast and Steve left the house to do errands. Laundry had since finished and I had washed and dried our sheets. It was also time to rotate the mattress. I walked into the bedroom and was faced with the following horror:

It was awful. The clean sheets, the bedding... the PILLOWS! But I was brave. I rotated the mattress (it was light, and easy) and made the bed. 20 minutes later... the horror had passed, and peace was had.

Then I realized I needed to make reservations for my 10 year mini-HS-reunion. I was late, and nervous that the slowest restaurant in Salem would be full. I called... no problem. 9 people could easily fit. I sent a message out to the eVite respondents.

Then... it was time. The floor had to be swept. I had just done it two days prior... but yet... the dust monster won't leave my apartment. Just two days and THIS was what I saw... I beat it, and threw it in the garbage. No dust bunnies in THIS house.

I was tired. I needed my fix... of Guitar Hero. But I couldn't get it to work with our new system. Steve had to fix it... and then I rocked it.

After I was done rocking it hardcore (well... really easycore) Steve settled in to play his video game.

And I added the next set of ingredients to the Amish Friendship Bread starter... only 3 more days til I make a loaf:

I then continued on to work on the latest dishcloth to go with my Christmas stash (beware: this could be yours...)

A few minutes into working on the dishcloth... our phone rang. It was our friend Chris asking us to come to dinner. We got in the car and headed out.

We went to Lowell Beer Works where we partook in good food and spirits.

Then we left to return to their place and play games.

It was at this point my camera battery warning light turned on and I knew my photomentary was over. I was not a good photojournalist and did not properly charge my battery that morning. Maybe next time...

...and also maybe next time I'll do something a bit more exciting.

Muchas Gracias

2008-11-27T00:09:00.003-05:00

In the past on Thanksgiving, I've done the cliché list of things that I'm thankful for. I could most certainly do the same thing this year, but I realized as I started to write out a list that it all boils down to basically the same thing.

I am thankful for the things that God has given me.

When I say that, I don't just mean "things". Sure, I'm thankful that we have the means to have a roof over our heads, good clothing, plenty of food for ourselves and to have people over to eat with us, etc. etc. etc. When I say I'm thankful for the things that God has given me, I'm also speaking about much more than that.

I thank God for my family who has been continuously loving and supportive, even when I may have fallen short of the daughter/sister/cousin/granddaughter that I could be. I am humbled by their unconditional grace and love each and every day.

I thank God each morning for a wonderful husband who sees my every - yes EVERY - one of my ups and downs. Yet still he is here with me day in and day out. I thank God for helping us to endure the bumps of the first years. In the last couple of months we've had so many "a-ha" moments about navigating marriage and we're starting to see the growth both together and individually come out of those moments. I'm thankful for the excitement that stirs in my heart each time I see him or hear his voice, because I know in that moment of heart palpitation that we love each other. I thank God for our most fun and silly and awesome moments together as husband and wife.

I thank God for Steve... period.

I thank God for the ability to love. I thank God for our marriage.

I thank God for the friendships I've had in my life and that I will have as I continue on. Those that have endured have helped me to learn what it takes to have patience and love together through the ups and downs of life, and those that have faded have helped me to see where I fall short as a friend to others. I have learned and tried to grow in those times... and I have also learned the grace of God in those moments, as well as the strength of forgiveness.

I thank God for the people He's brought in and out of my life.

I thank God for the small things of beauty that surround us. A child's smile, the giddy laughter of high school students, gerbera daisies, leaves falling around my car as I drive under a tree, apples, a couple holding hands, notes of music drifting through the air... the list is endless...

I thank God for the opportunities he has given me to serve him in any number of ways. Be that large growth opportunities in my career or life-changing opportunities at church, I've begun to develop a desire to go all "Dead Poet's Society" on these opportunities as they arise. Figure out what God is calling me to do, reflect on it in prayer and move down the path with an eagerness to grow.

Mostly... the biggest thing I have to give thanks for this year is the relationship I've grown to have with God over the last year, but especially the last 6 months or so. I've gotten such a different perspective on life since I began to follow Christ, and I am so grateful and humbled by the events of the last year or so. I have grown to see His hand in everything, and I look forward to what the next year (and years) will have in store.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone.

Blueberries, Beer, and Bruins

2008-11-21T06:50:00.005-05:00

I was recently invited to come along to a Boston Bruins game with my good friend Mags. She scored some sweet tickets fo' free on Craigslist and when asked to go - I heart Mags, so of course I went!! I took the train down and met her for dinner at Boston Beer Works, a local restaurant chain that brews 16 kinds of beer at their restaurants in Boston (2), Salem, and Lowell.

It was a triumvirate of excitement: a girls' night out with Mags, my first Bruins game, and trying out a "famous" new restaurant. Holy crap - my head essplode.

First of all - I have to say that hanging out with Mags is one of the most fun things ever. It's so nice to hang out, laugh about life, and just have a good time. It was great to see one of the hometown teams win a game on home turf (7-4, it was a REALLY good game).

But the point of this post is not to get into the inside jokes that Mags and I have or give you a blow-by-blow of the game. It's to tell you about the obligatory sports night beer that I partook in at Boston Beer Works.

First, let me show you:

That, my friends, is a Bunker Hill Blueberry Ale. The little balls - for those that have not had a blueberry beer at a place that does this - are wild Maine blueberries.

I'm not much of a beer fan. There are some that I don't mind, but usually for a beer to really grab my attention it has to have some sort of character to it - a flavor if you will. There are a couple of Dogfish Head IPAs that do this and my favorite bottled beer is the Harpoon UFO Raspberry Hefeweizen. I recently had a sip of a Pumpkin Spice ale that I thought was just great. This beer ranked up with some of my favorites with absolute certainty.

The beer itself was (as you can see) a lighter ale. It had a crisp taste with not a lot of bitterness as it went down. There was the definition of a light beer, but with the sweet hint of blueberries as it made its way across your tongue. It was enjoyable and didn't feel that filling on the stomach - which is good, because a lot of beers can feel like you ate 3 dinner rolls by the time you finish them. Without a doubt, this was one of the best beers I've had while I've been out to dinner someplace.

The neatest part though were the little blueberries. As I drank the beer, every so often one or two of the little guys would make its way into my mouth and add a wee bit of blueberry "pop" to the taste of the beer. At the end of the beer, I had 5 or 6 blueberries left at the bottom of the glass which I dug out with my fork to eat. It was the perfect ending to the beverage - instead of beer that had a slight taste of blueberry, I had a mouth full of blueberry that had a slight taste of beer. As we were having our meal, the blue globes of goodness kept rising and falling up and down the brew as kind of a "blueberry beer lava lamp" (as Mags put it).

Oh... the food at the restaurant was quite tasty too. But with a name like Boston Beer Works, the beer had to live be at least decent and it most certainly was.

It's easy to eat green...

2008-11-15T23:58:00.003-05:00

Two of our closest friends are going to be moving to California soon, and tomorrow we're going to be having a going-away party for them. It's a potluck, and being as I couldn't think of anything good that I already knew how to make - I decided to create something new.

Inspired by the year-round greenness of Southern CA (for the most part) and my most recent post about peas... I set off to Hannaford and got to work. At the request of Steve, I'm putting in a bit more effort to write down the things that I create and made sure to write down every single ingredient I put into this dish.

The result: Green Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
- 1 lb. penne, cooked to package instructions
- 1.5 cups frozen peas, thawed (but not cooked)
- 1 each/6 oz. bag baby spinach
- 1/3 cup chopped green onions (scallions)
- 2 cubanelle peppers, seeded & chopped (approx. 1 cup)
- 1 medium cucumber, seeded & chopped (approx. 1.5 cups)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan-Romano cheese
Dressing Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp Champagne wine vinegar
- Zest of 1 lime (approx. 3 tbsp)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp thyme
- 1/4 tsp sage
- 1 tbsp dried parsley
- Salt & Pepper

Method:
- Cook & drain pasta and put back in pan.
- Immediately incorporate entire bag of baby spinach in with pasta and cover pasta pan. Stir in between vegetable choppings to wilt the spinach, and cover immediately after each stirring.
- Once spinach is wilted, in bowl combine pasta/spinach and all remaining vegetables.
- Make dressing per ingredient list above, whisk together in small bowl.
- Pour dressing over contents of bowl and stir until everything is evenly coated.
- Add cheese and stir until cheese is evenly distributed.
- Allow to sit overnight in fridge so ingredients can settle and "meld".
- Serve chilled.

I took a bite before I popped it in the fridge to make sure it didn't suck. I thought it was pretty darn good, and can't wait to see what it tastes like tomorrow after settling all together overnight.

300th Post - And it's a lame one!

2008-11-12T21:19:00.004-05:00

In honor of my 300th post I've decided that I want to pay homage to one of my favorite vegetables and one that I think is often overlooked for its wonder...

The Pea.

I LOVE peas. I was that weird kid that would go for seconds, thirds, and sometimes fourths on that little round vegetable that most children just play with. Oddly sweet yet still having that distinct taste of a green veggie, I would mix it with my potatoes, rice, or just eat them plain. When it was my turn to pick out the vegetables at dinner during the week, I would push aside those cans of green beans in search for my little round darlings.

As I grew older, my love for peas did not fade. Once in college, a friend of mine and I were watching some good old "Bad Dating TV" late one night and got the munchies. She asked what I thought I wanted... and I paused. There was only one thing that could satisfy my college midnight craving that night: peas. We went to the campus convenience store and each bought a can. I busted out my good old crank can opener, dumped the contents into a bowl, and after 2 minutes had a delicious and relatively good for me snack.

My room smelled like peas for a week.

College ended and still my love for peas endured. I discovered sugar snap peas and the wonder of them in salads and stir fry dishes. They're tasty, but still not as delectable to me as a good old fashioned side of peas. In my quest to eat healthier I've abandoned the old stand by of canned peas in favor of frozen peas to reduce the sodium and maximize the vitamin value. I've discovered that peas can be good in so many things... in homemade pot pies, in pasta salads, and in homemade soups just to name a few.

What is bringing on my sudden desire to spout the beauty of peas?

This week I've been on a comfort food kick, and one of my favorite stand-bys for comfort food is boxed macaroni and cheese with a serving of peas mixed in. I've evolved over the years from store-brand mixes to organic boxed mac & cheese with thawed frozen peas. Every so often I'll even do a one-person homemade mac & cheese like I did tonight (1 serving each of pasta, peas, and cheese with one serving of Smart Balance all mixed together... mmmm) when Steve isn't going to be around for dinner. Mix that all together and garnish it with a good amount of black pepper. There's nothing that says comfort to my tummy like that heaven in a bowl.

So there you have it. My 300th post, and a profession of love for one of my favorite veggies. Enjoy... and peas be with you.

Just a Friendly Reminder...

2008-10-31T05:44:00.003-05:00

As Americans we are one of the most priveleged nations in the world because we have a say in who the leaders of our towns, states, and country will be. If you feel strongly for one candidate or another (or... alternatively against one candidate or another) and you're able to: make sure you get out there and vote.

Why? More importantly: Why not.

Also - make sure you become up to speed on the other candidates you'll have to vote for in this election as well as any propositions that are on the ballot this year. While the choice for the President of the United States is certainly an important choice to make, every choice you make on that ballot is important and effects our country.

Travelin'

2008-10-26T08:00:00.005-05:00

I haven't been around much this month because of travel. I've learned that I'm not one to enjoy this much travel and I like being home. My husband is here, I know where I am, the foliage this time of year is great... I've come to appreciate New England more since I've been traveling.

The bulk of my traveling this month has been/will be for work. Two weeks ago and then again this week I'm stationed at our Costa Mesa, California facility. On the one hand, the weather is nice and the conference room that I park in has a view of the Pacific Ocean (and 6 oil derricks) about a mile and a half away. On the other hand, after work I leave, have a fancy pants dinner (I know, oh darn... but I enjoy cooking for Steve and I), go back to the hotel, perhaps exercise, crochet and go to bed. Alone. It's almost like I'm just killing time with no real purpose. Then there's the almost 12 hours in an airplane. The good news is that the company flies us JetBlue, so that's not so bad. Staying at the Hilton isn't terrible either.

But as we drove around California from work to the hotel, it just wasn't home. Things were overly busy, the highway wasn't that consistent (4 lanes, to 6 lanes, back to 4 lanes, to 5 lanes, to 7 lanes with NO SIGNAGE), and everything was just dry. Not much vegetation to speak of, people's lawns were patchy rather that lush and green, and while the palm trees were pretty they weren't the radiant oranges and reds that I'm used to in October. It wasn't home.

The last time I went out there, I got home on a Friday afternoon late. I was hungry, and Steve picked me up at the airport and we walked around the North End to find somewhere for dinner. The heavy Boston accents were comforting as was the cool fall breeze, as was being able to partake in some wonderful Italian food and Mike's Pastry. Then we went home, and the next day hopped in the car to take a jaunt up to the White Mountains with some friends of ours. I took pictures of the vegetation and the foliage the entire trip (until the camera battery died). Looking out over the White Mountains at Polly's Pancakes for breakfast and then at the condo we stayed at next to Attitash was like a big welcoming embrace back home. Listening to the Pats win on Monday night was like a big welcome home party. Knowing that any day now the first flakes could fall from the sky and cast a "dusting" of 1-6 inches.

Picture taken during our trip to the White Mountains, Oct. 2008

Steve picks on me because whenever I go somewhere and come back to this area I start singing "Dirty Water" by the Standells. But it's that refrain, that "Oh... oh... Boston you're my home"... it just continues to ring true. I hate the cost of living here, I hate when we get more than 8 inches of snow... but the more I think about it, the more that no matter where I live or where I go - New England will always be home.

America's Oldest Restaurant

2008-10-07T06:22:00.006-05:00

Last Friday, Steve and I met up with his cousin Doug and spent the afternoon and evening in Boston. We wandered around the Government Center/Quincy Market/Boston Harbor area chatting and catching up. The highlight of the evening was a dinner at the Union Oyster House, which is a Boston landmark and America's oldest restaurant.

We had a 6:00 reservation, but we were running a bit early and arrived at 5:40 or so. They were able to seat us immediately, and so we went to our table and began to review the menu. As was expected - it was completely drenched in seafood. Steve and Doug ordered the Shore Dinner which consisted of lobster (boiled or broiled), a bag of steamers, an ear of corn, and 2 red potatoes. Included in the price was also a cup of clam chowder and a dessert of either indian pudding or gingerbread. Steve ordered the lobster broiled to try something new. From what he said, the clam chowder was quite tasty, the lobster and steamers were really good, and well... let's just say he tried the indian pudding.

Steve's Shore Dinner - Main Course

Not being much of a lobstah lovah (yeah, I said it), I went ahead and ordered the grilled swordfish special which came with snap peas, mashed potatoes, and a roasted tomato. I also ordered the cream of tomato soup as an appetizer and the Boston Cream Pie for dessert (no... I don't like clam chowdah either). The soup was so smooth and tasty; I'm not usually much of a tomato soup person (unless it's with grilled cheese), but this was a great one. The swordfish was also quite good, it flaked right off with the fork and was not over or undercooked. The snap peas were crisp and cooked in a light oil (tasted like with some lemon too). The mashed potatoes were red-skinned mash with a slight taste of garlic and butter. Overall, the meal I had was really good.

Danielle's Swordfish Dinner - Main Course

Overall, our experience at the Union Oyster House was a very delicious and good one. We would definitely go back there again if we were in the city. The food was great and the staff were friendly. If you're ever looking for a place to eat in Boston, definitely check out this historic landmark.

The Best Years...

2008-10-01T07:03:00.003-05:00

September poll closed last night! Here are the results:

Which of these periods of school was your favorite? (20 votes)
Winner:College - Associate/Bachelor's Degree: 10 votes (50%)
High School - Grades 9-12: 6 votes (30%)
Elementary School - Grades 1-4: 3 votes (15%)
Preschool - Kindergarten: 1 vote (5%)
...and apparently we all hated middle school as it got 0 votes. Masters/Doctoral programs also got 0 votes - which means you're either with me and it's too stressful or you haven't been there yet.

New poll up on the right! Because of the timing of it, it'll only be up for 2 weeks and October will be a 2-poll month. So get your friends to vote quickly!!! :)

Once You Pop...

2008-09-30T07:27:00.011-05:00

As most of you know, I have gotten semi-addicted to craft swapping (and as some of you also know, I've also had my 15 minutes of fame as a result). A couple of months ago, Kimberly and I were up to no good again and decided to gather up the troops and have an in-real-life swap. The theme we chose: Pringle Can Swap!

Basic Premise: Empty and clean out a Pringle can. Fill it with at least 75% homemade goodies and up to 25% purchased goodies. Give it to your partner.

The first thing we did was ask (sucker) Steve into pairing us up Round-Robin style so we could keep it super secret and be surprised by who was giving us our cans). Once we had our partners - we got to crafting! Last Saturday was the swap date, and the six participants got together at Kimberly's place (me, Kimberly, Nina, Kristin, Marie, and Laura) for the final event.

We had yummy food including Pringles and dips (of course), yummy vegetarian chili, and some Grandma's Grains (which I forgot to get a picture of).

After that we got to poppin' and swappin'! Kimberly gave her can to Kristin first:

Then Kristin gave her can to Laura:

Laura's can of goodies went to Marie:

Marie passed a can to me next (I LOVE THIS SCARF!!):

Then I passed along to Nina:

And to bring it full circle - Nina gave Kimberly a pile of goodness:

Not only did everyone do an awesome job with their various crafts, we had an awesome time as well. Kimberly and I commented that we should have done this a lot more often! Last year was the Magic Yarn Ball Swap, this year was the Pringle Can Swap... I wonder what next year will bring... ;)

You Saved the Princess

2008-09-14T14:21:00.002-05:00

Anyone who has ever played the Super Mario Brothers game (the first one) for NES remembers beating the game on level 8. Well.. anyone except me who never made it past level 6, but I watched many people beat the game.

Seth McFarlane of Family Guy and American Dad fame has a new Cartoon Cavalcade thing that he's doing. I popped on YouTube briefly and found this by doing a search for Family Guy. I like to think of this as the alternate ending to the NES Mario Game.

Enjoy.

Use What You've Got - Day 3

2008-09-11T06:48:00.003-05:00

On Day 2, we didn't eat dinner in (see below post) but our lunches did consist of things we already had at home. Last night was dinner in, and when I opened the fridge there were definitely things that had to be used before they went bad. So I quickly whipped together a tasty little pasta dish that consisted of:

- 2 leftover homemade chicken fingers, cut up into little pieces
- 1/2 cup frozen chopped broccoli
- Some leftover roasted red pepper sauce
- Ronzoni Smart Taste rotini
- Dash of cheese

On the side I made more little toasts out of a quartered hot dog roll, sprayed with olive oil spray and dashed with Brady Street seasoning. Divided up the pasta into the 2 dishes, spread the cheese on top, and threw the bowls and bread under the broiler for about 3 minutes to toast the bread and melt the cheese. The result was a quick, tasty dinner that emptied out a bit more of our fridge.

Today we won't be attacking our stash as much because it's leftover Chinese food for lunch and then dinner from the Hannaford salad bar before youth group. However, as I was looking for stuff to make last night, it occurred to me that I can probably continue this next week while Steve is away - at least to some extent.

New Sleeping Arrangements

2008-09-10T06:26:00.005-05:00

Yesterday I did a bit less cleaning out of my cabinets because Steve took me out to dinner at my favorite local restaurant - Grand China. The reason is because we were out and about getting stuff for our...

...NEW MATTRESS!!

I am admittedly oddly excited about the fact that we bought a new mattress set. Why? Because even though I work full time, have bills, rent an apartment, cook dinner every night and clean up - sometimes it hasn't hit me yet that I'm now a "grown up". Maybe it's because we don't have kids yet or the fact that I haven't hit that magical "30" number in age or the fact that I'm back "in" school. I'm not entirely sure what or why, but sometimes I forget that I'm an adult with responsibilities and the little things like this remind me that I am indeed all growed up.

For a little while now, Steve and I have been contemplating getting a new mattress set. Originally we were going to get it when we were going to buy the house, but when that didn't pan out it went on the back burner. However, after a few more months of uncomfortable sleeping on a hand-me-down 11 year old mattress - we decided to start looking. If you weren't aware (which, we weren't) - mattress buying is a process and a half. We must have laid on about 20 different mattresses between 2 different stores before we decided on what we would get. I can't remember the exact model name, but after about 4 total hours of laying on mattresses we decided on a Nature's Rest something-or-other that was soft enough for me and firm enough for Steve all at the same time.

Yesterday Steve stayed home from work to wait for the delivery and take away. The fine delivery people from Jordan's Furniture came in, took our old mattress away, and replaced with the Nature's Rest. When I got home last night and put my bags down, I went in and plopped on the new mattress. Even more comfortable than in the store. Then Steve showed me the crazy part - the mattress was manufactured on 9/4/08 - it was delivered only 5 days after manufacture! We thought that was pretty darn cool.

The one issue with the new mattress was that it is a larger mattress in height than we previously had. As such, when we put the sheets that we had on the bed they were just slightly too small; one or two false moves and the fitted sheet would pop off the corners. That meant... NEW SHEETS!!! And, since our cheap bed-in-a-bag comforter was starting to pull apart where the quilting was and the inner cotton was getting thinner... we figured we may as well look for a new comforter as well. After a lot of examining sheet sizes and visiting 4 different stores for comforters, we were able to find sheets and a comforter set that we agreed on.

The end result? A grown-up looking and comfortable bed and a fabulously comfortable night's sleep.

Oh yeah... about the cabinet cleaning... our lunches came from food already in the house; I had an egg salad sandwich and Steve had a PBJ.

Use What You've Got, Baby!

2008-09-09T06:37:00.004-05:00

No room left in the pantry...

No room left in the freezer...

No room left in the fridge...

Crap.

This week I've decided that for the need for space in my pantry, freezer, and fridge I'm going to be doing a series called "Use What You've Got". After a few canning events, various accumulated leftovers, and buying more stuff for the freezer I've realized that I have no where to put more food. My goal this week is to buy as little food as possible and make every meal with what I already have in the apartment. The only exception to this might be Friday when we have friends over for dinner because most of what I have is odds-and-ends that will make lots of great food for 2 people, but not four.

So without further adieu:

Use What You've Got: Day 1
Last night was pretty easy. I had a package of boneless country style pork ribs that needed to be used and also a big container of leftover veggies that were a couple of days away from the trash. Sunday night Steve put the ribs in a blueberry marinade (from the blueberry canning day this summer) to sit overnight and I tossed them on the broiler for 10 minutes per side. I then reheat the veggies and gave them proper position on the plate (protected from the blueberry juices). Pork is garnished with some whole pickled blueberries (from which the marinade came). The little toasts are one whole wheat hot dog roll quartered, sprayed with olive oil, sprinkled with Brady Street, and toasted under the broiler for about 3-4 minutes (careful eye so they didn't burn).

The package of pork ribs also allowed me to make a meal for an elderly woman at our church and also save 2 for myself to eat next week when I fly solo while Steve's in NYC at technical training.

Thunder! Lightning! Wild Hurricanes!

2008-09-04T07:23:00.004-05:00

OK folks - here are the results of the August poll:

Which weather event is your favorite? - 19 Total Votes
- Winner Thunder & Lightning - 9 votes (47%)
- Rainbows/Sun Showers - 5 votes (26%)
- Blizzard Conditions - 4 votes (21%)
- Torrential Downpours - 1 vote (5%)
- No love for: Tornadoes, Hurricane Force Winds, Golfball Sized Hail, or Light Flurries

Congrats to Thunder & Lightning! I have to admit that is my favorite as well; there's nothing like sitting on a porch on a summer night, protected from the rain and watching a thunderstorm. It's pretty relaxing and amazing to watch.

New poll off to the right! Make sure to tell all your friends to come and vote - it's the American Way!!

Pardon Our Appearance During Ranting

2008-09-03T05:26:00.003-05:00

I'll update my poll tomorrow evening, but I have to get something off of my chest first.

I hate parties.

**Begin Rant**
No, I don't mean birthday parties or baby/bridal showers or holiday parties. I mean political parties. I hate it when people align themselves with a party and then stick WITH that party just because they like to call themselves a Democrat or a Republican or a Libertarian. For crying out loud even INDEPENDENTS are a party now... I was listening to Joe Lieberman's speech last night on NPR and all the while he was calling himself a Democrat. Then the telecaster gets on and corrects him, calling him an "Independent, former Democrat". Well... excuse him for breaking away from the norms of the Democrats, but the man is standing there calling himself a Democrat. I felt like they were getting in a "I'm a Democrat"/"No you're not you traitor" argument without even talking to each other.

Aligning yourself with a party can give you this sort of group mentality and then poison your mind to think that the other group is all bad. Over the last few months, I've seen more blogs/"news" stories and more talking heads and heard more radio personalities say things like "Only the Republicans could screw something like that up" or "Guh, stupid liberal Democrats, they don't know what they're doing". Why in the WORLD do people say/write things like that? How do you know that 99% of your readership/listenership don't consider themselves Republicans, or how do you know that your best friends don't consider him/herself a Democrats? What ends up happening is that you get more readers/listeners that buy into that sort of destructive pattern, and then THEY go around saying things like "Only the Republicans could screw something like that up" or "Guh, stupid liberal Democrats, they don't know what they're doing" - it's just perpetuating the wheel of hate!

One of my favorites is when people proudly state "I'm a registered Republican/Democrat". Let me let you in on a little secret - THAT DOESN'T MEAN A THING! I live in New Hampshire which means that presidential primaries are a BIG DEAL here. In order to vote for the person you want to vote for in the primary, you must be registered for their party by a certain date. That's something that I believe to be true in most states, but it also means that there are a lot of people who might be registered to a party that either a) don't want to be registered to a party or b) isn't the party of who they'll vote for in the next election or general election. Take me for example. I'm a registered Republican right now. Why? Because I wanted to vote for a Rudy Giuliani in the presidential primary. Does that mean in the next election I'll stay a registered Republican? NO! In the LAST election, I voted for Wes Clark. Guess what - DEMOCRAT! So being proud of how you're registered doesn't mean a hill of beans - it just means that the person you want happens to be in that party. WHOOP. DEE. DOO.

And don't EVEN get me started on elections. This is the worst of the worst, people who are supposed to be setting an example continuing to perpetuate the ridiculousness of the party system. Candidates slinging mud at each other and each other's PARTIES. Whatever happened to just debating about moral values and policy issues and how you're going to solve world hunger? Instead they rant on and on about the Republican mistakes of the last 8 years or the liberal agenda of the Democrats. JUST TELL ME WHERE YOU STAND ON THE ISSUES. Abortion, gay marriage, the economy (which, by the way, presidents should have NOTHING to do with), the military, foreign policy, and lots and lots of other things that are way more important than pointing out the flaws of the moral base of the other person's party. I want to know where YOU stand, Mr. or Mrs. Presidential/VP candidate. Not where the other guy doesn't believe what you do. Give me a BREAK!
**End Rant**

So now that I'm done ranting... what's my point to all of this?

Last night while Joe Lieberman was speaking he referenced a quote made by our first president, George Washington. I don't remember the exact words but the spirit of the quote was that political parties would be the biggest downfall of our democracy. And here we are, over 200 years later living the downfall. People taking stands on party lines instead of really looking at what a candidate stands for. In stark contrast to Washington stands Hillary Clinton, urging her voters to come to the arms of Barack Obama because he's a Democrat, and Democrats have to stick together. Or all the times that our current president George W. Bush talks about the need for bipartisanship, and then mentions the need for Republicans to come together.

Hey people - before we're in a party, we're first Americans. Americans who have ancestors that fought hard for our rights of free speech, overall democracy, women's rights, abolition of slavery, and all sorts of other wonderful freedoms that help us to have an identity as a nation. People in other less fortunate countries don't look at America as a beacon of party lines - they look to us as a beacon of freedom. I think that it would serve us all if before we began to look to party lines for guidance and wisdom that we remembered we are all Americans and being a Democrat or a Republican doesn't make us any less of one.

In the coming election, I encourage you to follow your own heart and your own beliefs to the little boxes on the ballot. Choose who best fits where you stand right now in your life, and not which party you think is best or how good of a job you think G.W. Bush or Bill Clinton did as a president. Do your research on the candidates and use your individual thoughts and your own right to vote - not the urging of a party line - to guide your decision.

For your research purposes:
John McCain
Barack Obama
Candidate Comparison

Pie in the Sky

2008-08-19T06:45:00.003-05:00

On Steve's birthday, we had a bunch of people over to hang out and instead of cooking or having a pot-luck we just ordered a bunch of pizzas from Sal's. Once everything was said and done... we had 2 full pizzas left over. I had pizza for lunch every day for 2 straight weeks (no, I'm not kidding - one slice of pizza is a tasty lunch). By the time I had eaten the last piece, I was looking forward to our weekend away to Vermont so I could have NOT pizza.

The Friday we got there we were hungry, and Steve said "What do you think about Pie in the Sky for dinner?"

Initial reaction: Guh, pizza?

Steve handed me the menu to look over for a few minutes to decide between that and a Thai place we had passed. I figured I'd ought to give the menu a fair shot since Pie in the Sky had been so highly recommended to us and they do serve more than pizza. Which I was sick of.

Or so I thought.

They have a few specialty pizzas there and one of them immediately caught my eye: the Blond Vermonter. I knew I had to have it, and no longer would I be sick of pizza. I was right.

The Blond Vermonter is a thin crust pizza brushed with olive oil, then covered in a layer of Vermont cheddar cheese (likely Cabot), then sprinkled with sliced ham and topped off with a layer of Vermont apples. I know it sounds weird - but trust me, it was one of the most amazing pizzas I have ever eaten. There's just the right mixture of more bitter tastes with the sharp cheddar, a salty bite with the ham, and the balance is sealed with the sweetness of the juicy apples. It's then cooked by a talented fellow in a wood-fire brick pizza oven, and served on a wooden pizza board.

The Blond Vermonter, in all of its delicious glory

I ordered a small (Steve had spotted chicken marsala on the menu, and he's kind of a sucker for it) and it was bigger than I had thought it would be (it says 12", but really it was more like 13" or 14"). When Steve finished the chicken from the marsala, he passed on the pasta because there was no way I could finish the pizza myself - and it was too wonderful to pass up. I now think that at some point in time I'll be making Steve and I a pizza like this at home. It might well have made its way on to my comfort food list. If you're ever in Stowe VT, stop by Pie in the Sky and try this amazing pizza.

So Freakin' Cool - Knitting Boobs for a Cause

2008-08-16T19:13:00.002-05:00

If any of you out there knit and are looking for a way to touch the lives of someone, I highly recommend you read this:

Friends and Boobies on TV

And this:

Wow! The Knitting Experience Cafe

This is by far one of the coolest, nicest, most touching ideas I've heard in a while. Sure, we've all heard of blankets and hats and scarfs and gloves for charities - but BOOBS?? That's brilliant! So many breast cancer survivors end up having to have a masectomy, but to be given a false breast (and a comfortable one at that) immediately intsead of having to wait? That's amazing.

Spread the word and help (if you know how to knit!).

Sudden Rain

2008-08-16T13:43:00.003-05:00

The weather here in New England this summer has been kind of bizarre for this area of the country. The old addage "if you don't like the weather in New England, wait a minute" has really been fulfilled.

This morning I woke up and saw the sun and a clear blue sky grinning at me through the window, politely asking me to throw on some walking shoes and a baseball cap and come for a walk. I accepted the invitation and went outside, the sun glistening down upon me and the birds chirping. I came home after 1.34 miles and was glad I did.

This afternoon, to take a study break I decided to go to the drugstore. I noticed on one side of our driveway the clouds were beginning to look menacing while the friendliness of the morning skies was still off on the other. When I came out of the drugstore I felt a stronger wind picking up and noticed that the grocery store had sent their baggers outside with umbrellas to help the little old ladies inside. Thunder in the distance, and halfway to my car a lightning bolt came down somewhere far behind the Grand China restaurant. One drop... two drops...

As I closed the door to my car, the skies opened up and let loose a flurry of the biggest raindrops I've seen in a while. Thunder crashing, lightning dancing across the sky, giant puddles forming in the road and sidewalks. It was really an amazing thing to watch from the protection of my little Corolla on my way home. When I pulled in the driveway, I just waited a minute and listened. I listened as the rain came down upon my car and made rivers down my windshield. I listened as the thunder crashed in the distance and faded at the end of each rumble. I waited and just listened for a few minutes before I came inside. It was pretty relaxing, and if I didn't have homework I would have just sat there until the storm passed.

View from our window onto the street, no cars - just rain

Sometimes I Ask... WHY?

2008-08-14T06:40:00.002-05:00

So I wasn't going to post today. I didn't have anything appropriately formulated in my brains.

But... this... this was just too... disturbing to let pass by. I saw this as one of Ravelry's new crochet pattern links today and was just... I wanted to cry. Before you click on this linke be warned: you're about to see an unhappy baby with an pickle and antennae on her head: OK Click here... but don't say I didn't warn you

Does anyone understand the Katamari Damacy thing? And if you do, would you subject your innocent child to putting that thing on their head? The last picture the child just looks so blatently uncomfortable and unhappy.

I go to work now... weeping...

Four-Sixty

2008-08-13T06:53:00.004-05:00

I currently drive a 2004 Corolla LE with just over 70K miles on it. It's been in one accident and had a flat tire recently, but overall it hasn't been any trouble and is a great little car. The A/C and heat both work almost instantaneously when I need them to. I keep up with the scheduled maintenance and it's running quite fine. I have a confession to make though, which I'll get to in a second.

My first car was a 1988 Ford Taurus. When I got it, the transmission sounded like one of those little toy cars that you pull backwards to make go. The alternator didn't work properly for the first few months because the prior owner had decided that a Toyota alternator would do just fine. The radio did not work, so a small cheap one had been installed underneath the dash.

My second car was a 1992 Pontiac Grand Prix. I gave it a mobile library with bumper stickers from the Goo Goo Dolls, Static Mind, and a couple of other select bands. The odometer was stuck at about 75K but the car must have had well over 100K when I got rid of it. This car had a very interesting quirk in that the ignition was junk. The only way I could get the car to start sometimes (and this is true, I have witnesses) was to SLAM the door shut as hard as I could so as to jar the ignition into a position it could start in.

The last car I had before I got my Corolla was a 1992 Buick LeSabre. It was affectionately known as "The Boat"; my brother once joked when I picked him up from the train station while he was in the military that though he was a Navyman, a boat was not necessary for his transportation. This car ran well, better than the other cars I'd previously had. The only problems it had were the multiple leaks (oil, transmission, radiator, and power steering) and a very loud bang that sounded like you were crashing into something if you turned the wheel too far to the left. The guys at Tweeter were quite worried when they pulled the car out of the bay after removing my Alpine when they heard that noise.

All three of those cars had one thing in common: the air conditioning did not work, and so I was left to the vices of 4-60 air conditioning. For those of you who don't know, 4-60 air conditioning is when all four windows are down and you're driving at 60 mph. This also means that in order to hear the radio, you have to blast it. Have to. Which of course means that you have to sing at the top of your lungs. Yes, with the windows open... and the wind blowing through your hair, and the driver's tan getting more prominent with every mile of road you cover.

Whatever you say about it, driving 4-60 air conditioning is kind of fun. Of course, in this day and age of fuel efficiency it's not the best thing for your gas mileage. Also, I am now blessed with a car that has reliable air conditioning for my warm weather needs. But sometimes (and here's that confession) I do miss the 4-60 air conditioning, usually on a 75-80 degree sunny and dry day. So when I get off the highway, I'll roll down my windows and indulge in a little 4-35 or 4-40 air conditioning. I'll roll down the windows, blast the music, feel the breeze and sun... and smile.

Trying New Foods - The Hula Burger

2008-08-05T06:41:00.006-05:00

In an effort to try and expand our food horizons, Steve and I have been actively trying to test out new foods both at home and when we're out to eat. The latest successful new food attempt at home was the Gardenburger Gourmet Hula Burger: a vegetarian burger with a bit of a sweet kick.

The description on the outside of the box mentioned that it contained pineapple and sweet onion. I cooked them up according to the box directions and then put them on a standard hamburger roll. This was the only mistake; these burgers are pretty big and should be eaten with either a larger roll or no roll at all. We did add a bit of melted cheese to them as well.

The first thing I noticed when I took a bite was the distinct taste of coconut, so I grabbed the box and looked at the ingredients. Indeed, there was coconut in the burger. The burger was a rice base and contained the aforementioned coconut, pineapple, sweet onions, and ginger among other yummy ingredients. Throughout the meal, there was definitely a sweeter taste that was accented by the Pickapeppa sauce that we used as a condiment. I served up the burger with some green beans and homemade oven-roasted "fries" that were seasoned with Penzey's Southwest seasoning (which I'll get to in a minute). The only "criticism" I have of the burger is that though it was good, I would only be able to handle half of it the next go-round. This is not because of the burger itself, but rather the eater preference of my own which dictates that I don't like an awful lot of sweetness/ginger at once. Some people like that, I can't take as much as this burger offers. That said, Steve loved it.

Now... about the fries. I sliced the potatoes in fry-shaped wedges and placed them in a mixing bowl. I then sprayed the fries with olive oil cooking spray and added a fair amount of the Penzey's Southwestern Seasoning. Then I cooked them for 12 minutes, flipped them, and cooked for 12 more (at 400 degrees). They were quite yummy, spicy and good without a lot of that "ouch" spicy burn. So yummy. Those... I could eat a lot of those. ::grins::

Fire Up the Grill!

2008-08-03T16:23:00.003-05:00

The results are in for the July poll and besides realizing that I need to post more to get readership up... I now know what to make if y'all come over for a cookout!

Which of the following is your favorite dish at a BBQ? (13 people voting)
Winner Tie! Potato Salad - 3 votes (23%)
Corn on the Cob - 3 votes (23%)
Macaroni Salad - 2 votes (15%)
Watermelon Slices - 2 votes (15%)
'Burgers & 'Dogs - 1 vote (7%)
Lemonade - 1 vote (7%)
S'Mores - 1 vote (7%)
BBQ Chicken - 0 votes

I have to admit that my favorite is Corn on the Cob, so I'm glad to see that it placed. I'm also kind of surprised to see BBQ Chicken not get any votes. Maybe it's all that stickyness and bone fighting that has it so low on the list. Man... now I want to go to a good cookout...

At any rate, August's poll is now posted. I was inspired for this one as we drove down the Mass Pike today looking in awe at the sky as rain was on one side of us and blue skies were on the other. Vote away and tell your friends!

Train Station

2008-07-23T06:07:00.005-05:00

Over the 4th of July weekend, Steve and I went to Maine with our friends Dan & Kimberly. We did a lot of cool stuff while we were there, including visits to Acadia National Park and downtown Bar Harbor. One of things we had the opportunity to do while there was to go to an old train station in Oakfield (Kimberly's grandmother was volunteering at the museum housed in said old train station).

Now it's time for a secret: I've always had a thing for checking out old things and seeing the way things used to be. I've often wondered what things were like in other times. What was it like to live in an old castle? What was it like to live during segregation? What was it like to be one of those people who travelled around the country in covered wagons? Things like that. The time travel of the movie Titanic is what I always found so fascinating about it when it first came out. Going to a place where things are pretty close to what they looked like 50-100 years ago is kind of like time travel, and it's one of those things that I secretly really enjoy.

While Kimberly & Dan were chatting with family and Steve was trying to get an old typewriter in the train office to work, I walked around with our camera and took some pictures. I tried very hard to make sure I didn't get much - if any - modernization; the cars in the parking lot or the houses around the old train station for example. Apparently the tracks are still in use while the station serves merely as an old museum, displaying the history of the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad, but no trains came while we were there.

This sign fascinated me. Apparently, the women and men were separated while they were waiting for their trains. I can only imagine what that must have been like, to arrive at the train station with your husband only to have him disappear in what I picture to be a cloud of cigar smoke and jovial laughter.

At any rate, if any of you are ever in the market for someone to go with you on a brief jaunt back into history - let me know. Museums, a historical homestead, any of that... the way things used to be is something that has always fascinated me and I'd be more than likely be willing to tag along.

Is it football season yet? How about now?

2008-07-14T21:52:00.003-05:00

It's that time of year when I start to get bouncy.

In less than one month, NFL preaseason starts. Patriots Training Camp starts next week.

The fall is by far my favorite time of year. The leaves are turning in the trees. The apples are getting picked and that means that it's time for pie, cider, crisps and September's Yankee Candle of the Month - Macintosh. School's starting again for kids of all ages.

And most importantly - football starts.

It's that time of year when I debate whether or not I'll go to a hometown football game at my high school alma mater for a cheap Friday night, sitting behind the band eating a bad hot dog and drinking too-hot Swiss Miss hot chocolate. It's the time when I start stalking ESPN to find out about any last minute free agency pick-ups and disposals. It's that time when I debate whether or not the preseason games are worth watching. It's the time of year when I reminisce about my freshman year in high school when the coach saw me in gym class and wanted me to try out for the freshman football squad, only to have my parents tell me "no". It's that time of year when I remember that one of the reasons I agreed to march in the MHS Marching Band Color Guard was so I could get into the football games for free. The time of year when I want to spend my Saturday afternoons rallying some troops to play a game of Nerf touch football (I've been unsuccessful in recent years, so if you'd be interested... comment please!!!).

Football season is on the horizon.

I'm looking forward to getting together with friends, all donning our favorite Pats jerseys and yelling at our respective TVs in either joy or misery. I'm looking forward to getting chili or pulled pork or other various football foods ready in the Crock Pot before church so that my house smells like football time when I get home. I'm looking forward to waiting in anticipation for each game, hoping like every other Pats fan that maybe this year will be number 4 for Brady's Boys... and if it isn't, that at least it'll be another darn good season.

It's so close I can taste the barbeque sauce.

When Steve and I started dating, one of the first things I told him in the "getting to know each other period" was this:
"Listen... I like football. I'm a big Pats fan. Every Sunday, I watch football. A lot of times I watch multiple games in one Sunday, from 1:00 PM until well after 8:00 PM. So... I don't know if you like football or not. You can either come with me... or count me as lost for the day from September to late January."

Those of you who know us know he chose the former. When we were first dating, he wasn't a big football fan. Over the last 5 seasons, he's come to see the light of the goodness that is football. It is definitely one of the things we thoroughly enjoy doing together.

Steve & I in Disney World sporting our Pats Pride

I'm like a 5-year old at Thanksgiving who knows that in just one short month Santa will be coming. Only for me, Santa Claus isn't any taller than me and wears a blue shirt with a white collar and a pink tie every game... and his head elf wears a raggedy old hoodie with the sleeves cut off.

It's coming...

Free Pass to Awesomeness

2008-07-13T07:08:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, after a year and a half of living in Salem NH, Steve and I finally went to the Kelley Library and got ourselves library cards.

I don't exactly know what took me so long to get my hind quarters over there and get one. Growing up, my mom made sure that one of the first things we did when we moved to a new town was get library cards. I remember when we lived in Methuen and would go every 3 weeks on a Saturday (the lending period was 3 weeks) and refresh our book stock. My mom would get Stephen King and Danielle Steel books, my dad would get a couple of Louis L'Amour books, I would pull all sorts of books out from all sorts of genres, I don't remember what my siblings would get but they got lots of books too. During the summers in the Children's Room, my mom would make sure we had our checklists in hand for our summer books. Buy a book for high school summer reading? No way! We'd get it from the library. Missed "Anne of Green Gables" on its yearly PBS viewing? No worries! We'd get it from the library.

In college, I discovered that my library card wasn't just good at the Nevins Memorial Library (Methuen's town library). The Nevins is part of the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium, and my little card was good at all sorts of libraries - including the Chelmsford and Lowell libraries, which were right near campus. Need to read "Ethan Frome" for a literary criticism class? Need to read a million youth fiction novels for a youth fiction class? I didn't buy a single one; instead, I frequented the Lowell and Chelmsford public libraries.

I've always enjoyed and had a fondness for the library. For some reason, though, I just procrastinated getting a card when we came to Salem. Maybe it was because of all the books that I already had lined up to read and the Netflix account we signed up for. I foolishly thought "Library? Pshaw! I've got plenty!". But then Kimberly was getting all these awesome crochet and knitting books from the Chelmsford library, and Kristin was talking about potentially joining a book club at the Salem library.

I knew it was time. And I needed a quiet place to study anyways.

I filled out the form and the nice librarian lady gave me a packet chock full of information and a little white and green card - my free pass to awesomeness. After I did some reading for school, I went ahead and poked around. I got the following list of goodies:

- 2 audiobooks: George Carlin's "More Napalm and Silly Putty" and the autobiography of The Pythons (of Monty Python fame).
- A cookbook: Grill Pan Cook Book. This came on the tails of Steve and I discussing that I haven't cooked on my grill pan in a while. How convenient.
- 2 CD's: One from Michael Hedges (a guitarist that we became more interested in after seeing our friend Tony perform) and one from pianist Keiko Matsui. We've listened to the Michael Hedges CD and it's awesome, and will be checking out the other one today in our travels. I don't know which CDs I got, and I forgot them in the car.

I am so excited about having a library card again.

So here's my final thought: Everyone needs to get a library card. There are so many things at the local library just waiting to be discovered, and it's FREE!!!

"I Speak for the Trees"

2008-07-09T06:45:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the delay on the poll reporting, folks!

The June poll closed last week... here are the results:

Which Dr. Seuss Character (of these) was your favorite? 16 total votes
Winner The Lorax (5 votes, 31%)
Sam I Am (2 votes, 12%)
The Cat in the Hat (2 votes, 12%)
The Grinch (2 votes, 12%)
Horton (2 votes, 12%)
Cindy Lou Who (2 votes, 12%)
Sam I Am's "Friend" (1 vote, 6%)

I suppose in this time of increasing environmental awareness, I'm not entirely surprised to see the Lorax with such a resounding victory. A furry little fellow who inspires children to speak for the trees and take care of their environment, not only is it a classic Dr. Seuss story but it's an applicable one as well.

July's poll is up in the sidebar. Make sure to vote and tell your friends! I've got more updates up my sleeve for the coming days too, so the unexpected hiatus will end shortly.

Sand Masters

2008-06-29T06:45:00.005-05:00

Last weekend we headed up to Hampton Beach for the 8th Annual Master Sand Sculpting Competition. I was very excited to attend as I'd wanted to see these ever since they started to compete at Hampton and also since seeing the show on the Travel Channel "Sand Blasters".

For the Hampton Beach competition, the artists have two segments that they do. The first is a giant group project that consists of a bunch of different sculptures paying homage to the event's advertisers/sponsors. The second segment is a 21-hour individual competition in which each artists works on their individual creation until 4:00 PM on the last day. At that point time is up whether they have finished or not. There are several cash awards consisting of the top 5 sculptors and then the People's Choice Award.

During the voting for the People's Choice Award, beachgoers get in line to take a ticket (admission is free). They then walk down the row of sculptures and cast their vote on the way out. Steve and I voted for different ones, and the one that he chose is the one that achieved the People's Choice Award (well deserved, but as you'll see I went for clever over technical detail).

Here are some shots of the overall winner, the giant group project, and Steve & I's choices for the People's Choice Award.

Overall Winner: Japanese Garden

Shot of the Group Project

Steve's Favorite: Tropical Paradise

My Favorite: Salvadore, Daili, Llama (get it?)

I had a fantastic time and I will definitely be going again next year. If you're looking for a summer activity that's fun and inexpensive, I highly recommend attending one of these events. Hampton Beach's will be from June 12-25 next year, so be sure to go!

Millions of Peaches, Peaches for Me!

2008-06-24T22:10:00.006-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to get together with some girlfriends and do something that I'd never done before because I was too scared that I'd screw it up.

What, you ask, did I do? I participated in a Canning Day!

A few of showed up at Marie's house with a pound (or more) of peaches each, and learned how to can. We made peach jam and canned peaches. With 5 of us going at the chopping, stirring, measuring, pouring and other canning related activities, the afternoon flew by and before we knew it we each had a big ol' jar of peach slices and a couple-few jars of jam.

I learned two things that day:
1) Canning is really easy, although time consuming and definitely a useful skill to have.
2) Canning is something that I really enjoyed doing, but would never do it by myself. I know myself, and I'd get bored with it pretty quickly.

Here are a couple of action shots from the day. In July it looks like there's going to be a blueberry session, and I hope I can make it!!!

Chopped peaches for jam and slices for jars

Kimberly choppin' away

Finished Slices

Finished Jam

Seven Words You Heard Today on Television

2008-06-23T21:39:00.003-05:00

"George Carlin died today at age seventy-one."

One of our generation's (and our parents' generation's) greatest comics passed away. I was in a brief state of disbelief this morning when I heard the news on NPR, and was immediately brought back to high school. I had memories of sitting on my bedroom floor with a soda and bag of chips, getting cramps in my side from laughing so hard. Memories of driving around with friends quoting Carlin skits and seeing who could remember them more accurately.

Sure, George was almost always profane and sometimes controversial but today's comedians would not be able to be as silly and open as they are if it weren't for his work. His style definitely changed comedy (see this article in Time) and laid the groundwork for comedy as we know it today. Folks like Dane Cook, Jeff Dunham, and Jim Gaffigan can thank Carlin for the freedom they have in their comedic stylings. In an interview with Larry King, Carlin refused to be called "ground-breaking", but admitted he had a perverse pride at being on the positive side of a Supreme Court ruling for his "Seven Dirty Words You Can't Say on Television" (indecent: yes; illegal: no).

I know and appreciate that there are people out there who did not like Carlin's material in stand-up, but that wasn't the only place he could be found. He was also the first host of Saturday Night Live in 1975, "Mr. Conductor" on "Thomas the Tank Engine", and had roles in a number of pop-culture movies including "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure". While you may not agree with his views, you can definitely say that he did not lack in an interesting take on life as well as a high level of observation.

I always knew there would be two celebrities/comedians that I would feel a tug of sadness when they left this world. George Carlin was the first... I will warn you to get some tissues ready for when it's Bill Cosby's turn.

Rest in peace, George. I hope you were able to get the answers about religion when you got to the other side.

In memorium: a couple of my favorite Carlin skits...

"Baseball vs. Football"

"Airline Announcements"

Economies of LOL

2008-06-20T06:11:00.003-05:00

I know that not everyone likes the LOLCat website icanhascheezburger.com, but I get a kick out of it. Political commentary it isn't, but people are expressing the current state of the economy through their LOL submittals now.

Normally I would try to come up with some sort of witty commentary about how bad the economy is and how I'm tired of overpaying for gas... but really, you know.

"Hello Everybodee!"

2008-06-18T22:27:00.003-05:00

While walking through the grocery store on Sunday, a rack of books caught my eye. This wasn't just any rack of books, but rather a childhood memory situated next to an end-cap of store brand mouthwash: a display of Little Golden Books. I hadn't seen a rack of Little Golden Books in years, and had in fact figured them to be extinct.

And there, sitting beside "The Poky Little Puppy" was my most favorite Little Golden Book ever - "The Monster at the End of this Book", 'starring lovable, furry old Grover'. Grover's drawn form smiled at me from the front cover waving hello. I admit, I clapped and gawked in my moment of excitement. This in turn caught Steve's attention, and he picked up the book, examined the price, and added it to our basket.

Tonight I picked up my childhood and read it aloud. The cover of the book made of the same cardboard I remembered, the binding appropriately pulling up on one side, and the same cast of characters telling me that I was reading one of a series of the most loved children's books for over 60 years. The only change to the cover of this book was the addition of "Visit us online at www.goldenbooks.com" in the lower right hand corner; oddly enough, advertising a web page was not prevalent in the 1980's.

As I read the pages of the story, I was flushed with memories of sitting on the floor in our apartment as a kid. I was suddenly curled up with my 5-year old brother in bed, myself only 8 years old, reading to him and remembering to add Grover's frustration and fear with every word. I was reading to my sisters when I was 12 and they 5 and 2, doing the same thing. Even at almost 28, this is still one of my favorite books of all time. I got giddy when I "knocked over" the brick wall, making a "terrible mess", as Grover sheepishly asks me: "Do you know that you are very strong?"

It's funny how much happiness is contained in these few pages of grocery-store children's reading. For the few moments of reading, I gain a few more afterwards of nostalgic relaxation.

Do You Swap?

2008-06-14T09:57:00.011-05:00

Now that I'm swapped out for a bit, I thought I'd share with you some of the interesting things I've gotten in the various swaps I've been in recently. For those that missed it... I've gotten involved in something called "Craft Swapping". Basically, it's an activity where you sign up for a swap, get paired up with someone, and then make and exchange gifts based on the theme and guidelines. Here are the swaps I've been involved with:

Fill-A-Box Swap: In this swap, you get a flat-rate box from the post office and fill it up with all sorts of fun crafting supplies that your partner can use. I don't remember everything I sent, but here's a snapshot of what I got. I was most thrilled with the cotton yarn as to that point I didn't really have very much:

Coasters Anyone? Swap: In this swap, the only guideline was to make your partner a set of 4 coasters. I sent out a set of 4 crocheted emoticon coasters (using the yellow cotton pictured above) with some coaster related goodies. In return, my partner sent me a set of 4 pink and blue mosaic coasters with some other coaster related goodies:

Dishalicious Dishcloth Swap: For this one, the guidelines were to send your partner 2 knit or crocheted dishcloths. I sent two different crocheted dishcloths to my partner, and in return I got 2 knitted ones in a pretty dark green color; one with a neat pattern and the other with a Mickey Mouse shadow:

Ongoing Wish Swap: I got a few different things in this swap. The idea with the Ongoing Wish Swap is that you claim something off of the wish list of the person at the bottom of the thread, and then you post your wish list. Then someone else claims you, etc. etc. etc. I got and sent three different swap packages in this one. Here are the three that I received:
Cotton yarn, a bookmark, and some fun scissors:

Homemade Notecards and Envelopes:

A whole buncha yarn! Mostly cotton, but also some neat wool:

Super Sea Swap: This is the last swap I received from. I sent a whole buncha stuff that I made, including a fish shaped bag, an octopus, a tea wallet, and some other stuff. We also sent each other some candy from our area; me from New England and hers from Seattle, WA. Here's a big shot of ALL the stuff I received:

Incase you're wondering what the things in the back are, they're sea monster tentacles. Here they are attacking our fishtank:

So that's all the swaps I've done for now. What's really neat about these things to me is that I now have stuff I've made all over the country. I have sent stuff to Washington, Minnesota, Michigan, Vermont, and Massachusetts that I've made. I've sent supplies to Arkansas and one other state I can't remember. That's what really cool about it. I'll be swapping again in mid-late July - and organizing too! I'm going to be the next organizer for the Fill-A-Box swap, which should be pretty interesting. It's quite fun, and I'm glad I started to do it (and so is the US Postal Service).

The Flickr Game!

2008-06-08T19:23:00.002-05:00

Here's my go at the Flickr game, which I stole the concept from fair and square from Kimberly's blog. Click on the mosaic and check out the notes/comment to find out a little bit about me.

If you don't see any notes there, click on this link to see the actual page.

Arsenic and Old Radon

2008-06-05T22:05:00.003-05:00

When you buy a new home, you start to ask yourself questions. Should I upgrade the carpeting? Is it worth it to consider finishing the basement? Do I want a humidifier on the forced hot air? Will I eventually get a shed or park the lawnmower in the garage?

Then there are the more serious questions you ask yourself. Is the construction of this house sound? Is propane gas cheaper than oil or electric? Should I add insulation to the attic? How energy efficient are my windows, doors, and appliances? And perhaps one of the most important questions: How safe is the water?

Nothing can cause panic or stress in the heart of a buyer of a new home like finding out that the levels of certain elements or chemicals are higher than the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) levels of acceptance. Things that can cause panic are Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), Radon, Arsenic, and a slew of various other chemicals that are known carcinogens or various other disease causers. These are both naturally occurring and man-made compounds that can seep into your water and without proper filtration you can unknowingly damage the health of your family and yourself.

You may remember a few months ago I wrote about my thoughts on the book "A Civil Action" by Jonathan Harr. Humans did a darn good job screwing up our environment. When purchasing a home, it's a good idea to do a search on the EPA's SuperFund site to make sure that any sites near your potential home are either cleaned up or non-existant. Man-made chemical messes are known to cause damage to drinking water in nearby sources, including private wells. However, there are also a number of naturally occuring elements and chemicals - including Radon, Arsenic, and Iron - that home buyers should be on the lookout for as well. Sometimes there may be presence of both man-made and naturally occurring elements/chemicals and sometimes it may be one or the other. Either way, a comprehensive water test is always highly recommended.

The good news for any home buyer is that proper filtration can eliminate all of these things down to acceptable levels by the EPA and your state/local government standards. Once filtration is installed and running, a second test can show if the levels have been effectively reduced and if they have been then you're clear to continue with the purchase of your new domicile. If they've not been reduced to your satisfaction, then hopefully you and your buying partners were smart enough to arrange a clause in your purchase and sale to exit cleanly in the event of poor water quality.

The most important thing to keep in your sights while purchasing a home is the health, safety, and well-being of your family.

"Life is like a hurricane..."

2008-06-01T15:17:00.003-05:00

Alrighty everyone! Time for the results of the May Poll. We had a total of 15 people who voted a total of 28 selections. Clearly we had some old-school Disney Afternoon fans voting this month. Here are the cartoons you picked in the order of most to least votes:

Which of these 80's Cartoons should return?
- Winner: Ducktales (7 votes)
- Thundercats (6 votes)
- Transformers (4 votes)
- The Real Ghostbusters (4 votes)
- Smurfs (3 votes)
- He-Man/She-Ra (2 votes)
- Snorks (1 vote)
- Wuzzles (1 vote)

Since I have no control over Disney or the channels that aired the Disney Afternoon, here's a clip from Ducktales that I found on our old friend, YouTube. This is the best I can do for you, friends.

I should also mention that the linked cartoons above take you to Amazon.com. Why? Because they are available on DVD. So while the chances are slim to none that there will be a reprise of these cartoons on the air, you can still enjoy them after school (work) in the comfort of your living room.

New poll will be up soon for the month of June.

Triple P Yumfest

2008-05-28T05:45:00.003-05:00

After a long weekend of camping with friends, the prospect of a good meal and a hot shower are two of the most appealing things you can imagine. However, the thought of prolonging a long weekend as much as possible is often more appealing. So after you've packed up the tent and left your campsite, heading out for a late breakfast together satisfies the desire to add more fun to a weekend and fills your tummy with a good meal.

This weekend Steve and I and 4 of our pals found ourselves in this exact situation. Thankfully, at the beginning of our trip our friend Nathan suggested that after we pack up our cars we head north a few exits to Polly's Pancake Parlor in Sugar Hill, NH. This saved us some early morning "Where should we eat?" discussion and also left us the promise of trying out some famous pancakes.

We were advised that Polly's is a famous place, and indeed they were featured on CBS This Morning back in 1994 and also won one of the "Best of New Hampshire" prizes for 2007. They've been open since 1938 (this would be their 70th anniversary) and have been family owned & operated since their inception. They offer 3" pancakes and 7" waffles made with 5 different kinds of batter (plain, whole wheat, buckwheat, oatmeal-buttermilk, and cornmeal) and 4 different kinds of filling (blueberry, coconut, chocolate chip, and walnut) among a variety of other things. In addition to an awesome pancake parlor, they also have their own maple sugar farm (Hildex Maple Sugar Farm) where they churn out their own maple syrup, sugar, and spread.

When we arrived, we all got cups of some tasty coffee (not sure if it was the coffee or the maple sugar I added to it that made it so good) and contemplated our pancake choices. I ended up getting a Pancake Sampler (2 each of 3 kinds of pancakes) consisting of whole wheat blueberry, oatmeal-buttermilk coconut, and plain chocolate chip pancakes and some country sausage. The waitress (who also cooks up the pancakes) brought out our first of 2 rounds of 3 pancakes and I got down to business.

The pancakes were - in a word - amazing. They do not short change you on the fillings; I had tons of little blueberries, chocolate chips, and coconut in my 3" cakes of yum. The maple syrup was a wonderful addition (I love syrup on pancakes, and as much as I wanted to try the sugar or spread on them I couldn't bring myself to do it) and the pancakes soaked the syrup right in making them that much more delicious. While all three of the pancake flavors were delicious, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my favorite was the oatmeal-buttermilk coconut. I'm usually a huge blueberry pancake fan, but I found the whole-wheat batter to be denser than I was expecting. Don't get me wrong - it was still quite good - but if I wasn't so full I could have gone for 3 more of those oatmeal-buttermilk coconuts. The batter was lighter and fluffier than I was expecting and there was just enough coconut to make it perfect. The plain chocolate chip pancakes were also quite good; I usually find that places that make chocolate chip pancakes use too much chocolate, but these were smaller chips at just the right amount.

The sausage was average... that's really it. Little patties of artery-clogging goodness just as you would expect any sausage to be.

By the time we were done, I was completely impressed and satisfied with Polly's. Next time I'm camping in the White Mountains, I'll definitely insist on making the trip up to Polly's for breakfast on the last day of the trip. The food was absolutely great, the rustic atmosphere was nice and cozy, the staff were really nice, and incase I didn't mention it... the pancakes were some of the best I've ever had.

Identity Kept

2008-05-19T06:57:00.000-05:00

We live in the information age. A time where you can find out pretty much anything you want on the internet. With that has come the fear in the hearts of all of identity theft; those two dirty words that if they ever happen to you mean months of clean-up afterwards. Because of identity theft, we've become a people who are inward and not as trusting. People who panic and shred every last receipt or trace of our names on our mail.

When you do something like lose your wallet, your system is now trained to go into fight or flight mode. You drive with an unusual lead foot to the scene of the losing, hoping and praying the entire ride that it's still there with all of its contents inside. While you do this, your spouse is there with the other copies of all of your cards calling the credit card companies to place holds and cancel cards. We're a people trained to protect our identity, our very being. No one can be trusted out there.

You whip into a parking spot and run inside. Your spouse gets out and starts checking around where you were parked before, looking in bushes and checking for the 5th time under the driver's seat to make sure you didn't drop it. It's there, on the floor where you were just 60 minutes before that you find your wallet. You open it up to find all of your contents inside, all of your cards and your account numbers and cash. It's been kicked to the side out of the view of most of the people who will walk in, out of sight in the hopes you'll come back to find it.

For a brief moment, you and your spouse have a sigh of relief. In a moment of clarity you realize and remember that the majority of people in the world are honest people like yourself who have no use or want for someone else's wallet. That most people are just like you; afraid of their identity getting stolen and thusly protect others from having that happen to them too. You realize these things... and then you and your spouse get right back in your car and continue to not trust anyone, knowing that the next time a wallet is lost or stolen the same panic will set in again.

So Silly...

2008-05-16T21:16:00.003-05:00

I'll admit. I have a whole blog post drafted about Arlen Specter and Spygate. But that can wait until another time.

Today is Friday, May 16 2008. Today is the day that the New Kids on the Block appeared on the "Today" show and were originally supposed to announce their reunion. I'll be honest, I was kind of hoping they'd come out and perform one of their new songs because I listened to the clip on their website and it seemed kind of fun and catchy.

Instead... here is the first clip that I found:

The NKOTB busted onto Rockefeller Plaza and sang... their old hits. In a medley. And I cannot BELIEVE that Joey actually busted out the old hat with no tap. So silly. And what the heck is with the dancing chicks??? New Kids on the Block don't have DANCING CHICKS!! A few minutes later I did find a clip of their new song "Summertime" and I can totally see myself downloading that on the old iTunes (iTunes... New Kids on the Block NEW MUSIC on iTunes... speaking of things I never thought I'd hear myself say) and blasting it in Lil' Car this summer.

My final analysis... I was VERY close to buying tickets the other day. And, if someone wants to go with me and is willing to spend $71 for the ticket I would probably consider it. Just for fun and because I never went to a concert as a kid, I think it could be neat to go. But there was something about seeing them sing those old songs and seeing all the 25-35 year old girls who SKIPPED WORK to go to Rockefeller Plaza IN THE RAIN wearing their old NKOTB hats (yep... the black ones with the neon green and pink screenprinting... I had one too) and sporting the old pins the size of their head...

I'm too old for boy band mania. Especially a boy band who are now all in their late 30's, married, and have children.

(Here's a clip of one of their new songs. I like it, possibly better than some of their old stuff. Also, I would have been thrilled had they busted out into some "Cover Girl". Just sayin'.)

Daniel? NO!

2008-05-13T21:07:00.001-05:00

The definition of a "pet peeve" according to Wikipedia is a "minor annoyance that can instill great frustration in an individual". There aren't things that are "pet peeves" to me generally. Are there small things that drive me nuts like people who don't squeeze the toothpaste tube properly, leave the toilet paper roll empty, or talk loudly on a cell phone in a fancy restaurant? Sure, of course. Everyone has those things that annoy them. For the most part though, I'm able to get past these things and continue living my life. I "teflon" them, if you will, and just let them slide right off of me. Life is too short to boil over because of the small things like that.

In fact, I'm typically so hard pressed to find a pet peeve that I have to make one up for those surveys. You know the ones; you'll get them randomly in your email from your Aunt Mildred who you see twice a year and you're bored enough at work that you'll waste the 10 minutes to finish it and send it off yourself. Inevitably there's a field that says "Biggest Pet Peeve" or something like that. I usually fill that in with "People who complain about things and yet do absolutely nothing to better the thing they're complaining about". The thing is - while that's definitely an annoyance, it doesn't really make my blood boil over. I wouldn't call the feeling I get when I see people complaining and not acting as "great frustration".

I thought that maybe I was just one of those people who didn't have this kind of annoyance in their lives. Until today.

I discovered today that I do, indeed, have a pet peeve.

I hate... HATE... when people spell my name "Daniel". Daniel is a male name. I - very positively - am not male. I have no problem with the name itself. I have friends named Daniel. They're very nice people. I, however, am NOT a Daniel. I'm a Danielle. A female. With female parts and a female voice and all the things that come with being a female.

The problem is I have a lot of customers who do this. Regularly. It's like they can't take the time look at my email signature and see those 2 extra letters that make it a female name. Or - for that matter - READ. There are definite pronounciation differences between "Danielle" and "Daniel". But - because they're my customers I can't go ballistic on them and tell them that I AM NOT DANIEL. I have to drop subtle hints like slightly changing how I sign an email or something like that. My favorite is when I spell out my email address to them, they email me correctly in the email address - and then STILL say "Dear Daniel" in the body of the email.

Man... I hate when people call me Daniel.

Pizza Creation!

2008-05-10T19:26:00.005-05:00

I've recently been trying out some new things at home to give us a bit of variety in our weekly menus. I found 2 recipes on the Food Network website that I've tried out - one for Moroccan Style Chickpea Soup (which I mentioned previously) and one for Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Fettucine. Both were quite tasty and I thank the Food Network chefs for making these available on the in-tar-web.

After those two successes, I've been getting a bit more experimental with what I've been making. The first thing I tried that worked out really well was a pizza that broke out of the normal "pizza" tradition a bit. Instead of using a tomato based sauce, I used a roasted red pepper based sauce and also used feta cheese instead of the traditional mozzerella. Steve declared that I should share this with the world, so - here goes. Maybe someday I'll find it pop up in a pizza joint someplace (but I doubt it).

Danielle Athanas' Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Pizza

Ingredients:
- 1 premade whole-wheat pizza crust (I got mine at Whole Foods)
**Pizza crust stretches easier at room temperature. I usually buy mine same-day and leave it out while I'm prepping everything else and it does the trick.
- For pan/dough prep: 1/8 cup flour, 1 tbsp. EVOO
SAUCE (makes enough for 2 pizzas, so you'll be able to store some):
- 2 tbsp. EVOO
- 1/2 Sweet Onion, chopped*
- 3-4 cloves garlic, pressed
- 19 oz. Roasted Red Peppers (I used a 12 oz. and a 7 oz. jar), drained and chopped*
- 1-1.5 tbsp. crushed red pepper
- 1 tbsp. basil
*The chopping can be larger chunks; I usually just do strips.
TOPPINGS (for one pizza):
- 1 cubanelle pepper, "cored" and sliced in rounds
- 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes (not the ones soaking in water, the freeze-dried ones)
- 1 cup feta cheese (or more, to your taste)
- 1/4 cup romano cheese, shredded lightly (I use a microplane)

Method:
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees (I have a conventional oven in New England, adjust other ovens as necessary)
- Heat 2 tbsp. EVOO over medium-high heat.
- Saute the onions, and as they start to heat press the garlic cloves into the pan.
- When the onions have started to become translucent (approx. 5 min.), add the roasted red peppers, crushed red peppers, and the basil. Heat for 2-3 min., remove from heat.
- Cut the top off of the cubanelle pepper, remove the inner seeds and slice in circles until you run out of pepper. Set aside.
- By now the onion/pepper saute should be cooled slightly. Put all contents of the pan into a food processor and process until it looks like a sauce (approx. 1 min. or so).
- On a cookie sheet, pour approx. 1. tbsp. EVOO and spread with a brush (or spoon) to cover the bottom of the pan.
- Remove the pizza dough from its packaging and sprinkle both sides with flour. Stretch the dough on the cookie sheet; don't worry if it doesn't touch all the edges, you don't want it to have holes. I usually get it to touch the 2 shorter edges and about 2-3 inches away from the longer edges of a standard cookie sheet. If it's not at room temperature or close, be prepared to fight to get it where you want to be before you add the toppings.
- Scoop half the sauce onto the pizza
- Distribute the cubanelle peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, and romano cheese evenly across the top of the dough.
- Cook in your preheated oven for 12-15 minutes. Slice and enjoy!

(Makes 4 servings of 2 slices each)

The problem when I experiment with stuff like this is that I usually don't write it down. I have two things I made for a picnic tomorrow that I could probably replicate by sight... but hopefully no one will ever ask me for the recipe.

F'Real!

2008-05-05T21:21:00.003-05:00

Saturday night we got home and realized there was no ice made in the house and wanted nothing more than a tall glass of ice water. Being the good little wife that I am, I left Steve to do his homework and hopped in Lil' Car to go to the store and get some ice. I thought I would surprise Steve with a treat so I walked around the store with my eyes peeled for something that would be tasty and treaty. Just when I had given up finding anything that was tasty AND met our want to avoid bad things in our food (high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, etc.) I was met with a small freezer case that read "Start here" and a large contraption above it that read "Step 2".

I discovered the coolest convenience store contraption ever. F'Real Milkshakes.

F'Real Milkshakes might be the coolest thing to ever have happened to the cold ice-creamish snack that Americans love. The concept is simple; run into the convenience store for a snack and get a self-serve milkshake. You start by selecting one of the cups of frozen goodness* from the freezer case (either ice cream or the fruit-smoothie type), removing the foil lid, and placing it in the cup holder. From there, you select the thickness you prefer your shakes (Less Thick, Regular Thickness, or More Thick), press the button, and your cup disappears! The cup holder rises inside the machine where the blender mechanism is located. You patiently wait while the blender whirs and spins away. After about a minute, the cup holder lowers to present you with your tasty milkshake. All that's left after that is to put a lid on your cup, pop a straw, and enjoy.

I waited for two minutes while the F'Real machine whipped up a chocolate milkshake for Steve and a vanilla milkshake for me. I cashed out, and brought Steve home the surprise treat. Oh yeah... I did remember to get the bag of ice too.

*Yes, I read the ingredient labels. At least the chocolate and vanilla flavors have no high fructose corn syrup while the fruit types did. None of them had the hydrogenated/partially hydrogenated oils. In fairness, I did not check the strawberry or frozen cappucino flavors.

"I Am Batman"

2008-05-04T22:58:00.003-05:00

The results are in for the April poll! You all voted and decided that classic is best - the most awesome Batman is Adam West. Here are the results:

Which of these actors made the best Batman? (15 total votes)
Winner: Adam West - 5 votes (33%)
Michael Keaton - 4 votes (26%)
Christian Bale - 4 votes (26%)
Val Kilmer - (13%)
Zero votes for Lewis Wilson (the first Batman who probably none of us have ever heard of) and George Clooney (who I think we all agree should never have been cast for the part in the first place).

Here's Adam West in action. Be sure to vote in this month's poll, now posted off to the right.

Exciting Announcement

2008-04-30T06:12:00.005-05:00

May I have everyone's attention please? That's right, gather around. We have a very important announcement to make.

We signed the Purchase & Sale last night to buy our first house!!

As I mentioned before, we've been looking for a little while at various houses and finally decided that a new construction in Pelham NH would be the best for us. We put in an offer a couple of weeks ago, agreed on a price, and the fun began. For the last two weeks, the Purchase & Sale agreement was in limbo in "Lawyer Land" while the details were worked out. Last night we met the seller's agent at a Dunkin' Donuts (the RE/MAX office was closed... besides, she's a number 3 so we didn't mind chillin' with her at a Dunks) and signed the document stating that we're buying the house.

At this point, we're considering the house "ours" knowing that if it doesn't pass the home inspection we'll walk away from it. That said - it's new construction, everything seems sound in the house so we're relatively confident it will pass. We've been going back and forth to various vendors to choose our options for cabinets, flooring, and counters (which is an adventure by the way, and the names of colors are just ridiculous). We got our mortgage pre-approval, and we fully recognize that after 3 years of paying a cheaper rent than most with all utilities included - we're about to get a reality check with things like an electric bill and finding a propane vendor.

All in all though, we are very VERY excited. Probably as excited as we were when we got engaged. We've been talking about where our offices will go and things we can do to upgrade things over the years and how we'll rearrange things once the Lil' 'Thanases come into the picture in a few years.

A couple of quick details:
- 4 Bed, 2.5 bath colonial with a 2-car garage and a full basement
- 1.22 acres of land
- It abuts a Girl Scout camp and the town has 50-year first right of refusal on their property - so there's a very low likelihood that we'll have neighbors behind us.
- Nice big deck appropriate for cookouts and such things

We get to pick our own appliances, so I'm PSYCHED to pick out and cook up some goodies in the new kitchen. I know that Steve is already devising some technological schemes for the house too. I can't believe that we're actually buying a house, but we are and provided everything keeps going in the positive direction it's going in - it's going to rock.

Soon-to-be Casa Athanas (photo by S. Athanas)

Olive Juice

2008-04-29T16:29:00.004-05:00

I just found the cutest little hat on Ravelry. For those of you who knit (and know Steve's affinity for olives), a few years down the road when Steve and I have a Lil' 'Thanas - feel free to make this for us. The pattern can be found in the book Itty-Bitty Hats. Who knows... I might even know how to knit by then and make it myself, but I'm just throwing out ideas here.

*Photo from Flickr user Kimberlane2050's collection

Cooking Lesson

2008-04-24T05:55:00.008-05:00

I learned a lesson yesterday.

I'm actually a bit nervous when it comes to cooking an "exotic" recipe. If it has the name of a Middle Eastern, Asian, or African country or nationality in the title of the recipe I'll usually avoid it for fear of screwing it up royally and having it taste terrible. I know people who can make Indian or Chinese food on the fly, and I've always thought that was such a cool thing to be able to do. There are some things that I can make on the fly and I can be a bit creative sometimes, but when it comes to non-American fare I get cold feet.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a can of chickpeas (or Ceci, or Garbanzo Beans... whatever you prefer to call them) because I like chickpeas and wanted to keep them on hand. The thing is, I have no general idea what to do with chickpeas besides put them in my chili or process them into hummus. Last night I got up some bravery and made Moroccan Spiced Chickpea Soup (incidentally I had to buy 2 more cans of chickpeas to make it) from a recipe I found on the Food Network website. It was so freakin' good. I got rave reviews from Steve and was advised strongly that this should be a repeated recipe.

Lesson learned: Quit being a chickenpants when it comes to cooking new things. Worst case scenario is that it's gross and you make a PBJ.

Disney Rocks

2008-04-22T06:48:00.001-05:00

As my regular readers know, Steve and I have an all-love relationship with Walt Disney World. I saw a story in the news this morning that gave me just one more reason why.

This couple from Massachusetts lost 3 sentimental rings in their trash while away on their vacation. What did the folks at Disney do? They caught the trash before it made its way to the compactor... and found the rings!

Read about it here: Disney Workers Find Rings Mistakenly Thrown Away

When I say... You think...

2008-04-18T07:02:00.005-05:00

For some reason this meme from The Quarter-Life Chronicles struck me as one that could be kind of fun, so I'm doing it before I head into work.

Directions: read the word listed and note the song that comes to mind. For an added bonus, at the end I'm going to post one or two videos of the songs I listed. For songs that aren't so obvious, I've added a link so you can look at the lyrics.

Drum: "Bang the Drum" by Todd Rundgren (I think this is on my mind because it's supposed to be 75 and sunny today... and it's also the Friday before a long weekend.)
River: "River of Dreams" by Billy Joel
Sea: "America the Beautiful" (You know... "From sea to shining sea...")
Sand: "Brand New Girlfriend" by Steve Holy
Travel: "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)" - Garth Brooks (It's about a trucker. They travel a lot.)
Time: "It's 5-O'Clock Somewhere" - Jimmy Buffet (also Alan Jackson with Jimmy Buffet... either way)
Journey: "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey (I know, I'm so original.)
Number: "1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin New)" by Coolio
Theme: EPCOT Entrance Music (get it... Theme... Theme Park...)
Magic: "Black Magic Woman" by Santana (Now all of you who play Guitar Hero III are going to have this stuck in your head all day. HA!)

And now a select few songs from above... videos courtesy of YouTube.

Billy Joel - "River of Dreams"

Coolio - "1,2,3,4 (Sumpin New)"

Steve Holy - "Brand New Girlfriend"

"Wanna Look at That One?"

2008-04-17T06:10:00.003-05:00

Things at the Athanas pad have been recently centered around finding a new pad. That's right - we're finally taking the plunge and doing the official house buying process. We're hoping that it will culminate in us finding a wonderful home that we can enjoy by ourselves for a couple of years and grow a family into. We've been tooling around and looking at open houses after church for a couple of years now in preparation, working out the things we like and the things we don't like. And now - the time has come.

In our house-hunting travels, we've encountered many different realtors. I've come to the conclusion that most realtors fall into one of three different categories.

1. Weasels. This one is self explanatory. When it comes to answering a question, they may skirt across the issue or give you some falsified answer like "Oh I'm sure those sandbags near the basement door are just there for decoration. It's a very dry basement."
2. Nervous and Rehearsed. These are the realtors who know how to do their job well, but very obviously have practiced the speech for the house they're showing you time and time again. When you ask them a question, they know the answer but typically follow it up with their experience in house-selling; it's almost as if by asking a question you don't trust them.
3. Relaxed and comfortable. These guys know their stuff about the house and even talk to you like you're a human. When you ask them a question, if they don't know the answer right away they're totally comfortable writing it down and getting back to you - usually in a reasonable amount of time. They're straight-shooters who you can typically trust to give you a solid, honest response.

We've met our share across all three of these categories of realtors, and I've been hard pressed to think of one we've met who's fallen in between. We're hoping that the selling agent we buy from falls into category 3; if we're that lucky, then whatever house we buy we'll feel comfortable going back to that person once the house is purchased with any other questions we have. After all - we ARE first time home buyers.

Let it Rain...

2008-04-15T07:38:00.004-05:00

What do you remember the most about the happiest day of your life?

I was listening to my iPod and the song "Let It Rain" by my mom came on (Simpli Lauri, her other stuff is available on iTunes and Amazon... which is just weird, incase you were wondering). Whenever I hear this song, I think of our wedding day. Why? Well for those of you at our wedding, you can probably imagine why. For one - my mom sang this song at the wedding during the meal. For two - it rained on our wedding day. I mean - RAINED. Right when the processional started the skies just opened up. This was kind of disappointing for us because a huge part of the reason we had the wedding where we did was because of the amazing outdoor ceremony spot they had. We were fortunate enough to also have an amazing back-up indoor location, but it was a small let down to have it be moved inside. There was a lot of natural light in the room we ended up having the ceremony in and it really was a beautiful wedding in spite of the rain.

I remember being so afraid of Steve being upset because of the rain. I was shaking and almost crying at one point. In hindsight, I realize how ridiculous that was. We can't control the weather, and we both realized it. Once I came around the corner with my dad and saw Steve standing with our bridal party and the pastor at the end of the aisle nothing else mattered. I was getting MARRIED. To STEVE. We were all smiles the whole day, disgustingly and sugary happy - a mood that no rain, sleet, or snow could take away from us. Steve kept looking at the DJ and saying "My WIFE!!!" with a big smile every time the DJ said "Steve, if I could just get you to stand over here with your wife for a minute". It was a happiness that I remember in our best and our worst moments because really - those are what it's all about.

There's one part of my mom's song that gets me every time. It's the last verse:

"Years went by and the two of us sat and watched our little girl
Promising her life and her love to a man in a brand new world.
The sun flinched back and its deep blue sky quickly turned to grey,
As the mist fell all around us, I heard my little girl say -
'Let it rain! The sun shines in my soul!
Let it rain! You said the stars were mine to hold.
Lift your face up to the clouds, let the rain fall all around...'"

They say that rain on your wedding day is good luck. While I still maintain that "they" only say that to make you feel better about lousy weather on the best day ever, I can say that the rain that day lent a lot of positivity to the event. God blessed us with the rain, the clouds that let just enough light through to let our pictures be amazing, the umbrella that made for some awesome photographs, a lesson in knowing you can't plan for the weather, and the chance to always start the story of our wedding day with the words "Man, it was really raining hard the day we got married, but it didn't even matter".

Le sigh.

I Played the Silver Ball

2008-04-12T22:03:00.003-05:00

Every now and again I enjoy a good game of pinball. I always thought that pinball machines were a neat and inexpensive way to have a good time. The most recent fun pinball memory I have is one I have from last summer. The day after our wedding, Steve and I had a double date with my parents up at Hampton Beach. We got some yummy seafood at Brown's and then headed down to Playland Arcade where my dad got some change and we played a few games of 4-way pinball. It was a blast!

Even though pinball is a very fun game, I never thought of it as much more than just a few machines in various arcades and in the basement playrooms of fun-loving families. I never would have thought it to be a competitive thing. However, recently in Las Vegas there was indeed a pinball championship competition held at the Pinball Hall of Fame/Museum. How freakin' cool is that! Now, I'm no where near good enough at pinball to even ATTEMPT to enter this contest, but I guess it just goes to show that there are contests for everything and always a way to satisfy our competitive juices.

When I started this posting I was going to go a bit deeper into competitive pinball, but then I read about the Pinball HoF/Museum a bit more. The place is run by just a regular guy named "Tim" who one article described as a "Big Lebowski" type guy. The facility is home to 200+ pinball machines of all ages and all fully functioning. Additionally, this Tim fellow is not at all in the pinball business for the money - for himself anyways. Once the money is counted and mandatory expenses like rent, electricity, insurance, and endowment savings (the guy that owns it is a member of the Las Vegas Pinball Collector's Club) the remainder goes into the pockets of the Salvation Army. What a better way to dispose of your quarters in Vegas than in a slot machine in a loud smelly room!

I find this Pinball Hall of Fame so fascinating. When I first clicked the link I was expecting some flashy, showy place with a gift shop that sold soundtracks to The Who's "Tommy" musical*. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find a regular guy who has the opportunity to do what he loves AND to do something good for those in need. How cool is that?

Oh yeah... incase you're wondering who won the World Championship of Pinball, it was a 32-year old dude from Salem, MA.

*That's where the famous song "Pinball Wizard" is from, incase you weren't aware.

Googly Eyes

2008-04-11T06:45:00.001-05:00

Anyone who crafts knows that googly eyes tend to be a staple in the stash of anyone who dabbles in creating things that need eyes. Also, anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows that I think that Christopher Walken is awesome. The other day, I got a link to this SNL skit in my email from my friend Kimberly. Because of my appreciation for both googly eyes and Christopher Walken, I thought it was hilarious and have decided to share it with all of you. Enjoy!

D'oh!

2008-04-10T07:19:00.004-05:00

Last night I finished this Homer Eyeglasses Holder for my dad. My mom saw the one I made for myself that looks like Ernie from Sesame Street, and decided that a similar one that looks like Homer Simpson would be perfect for my dad. Apparently he's always forgetting where he puts down his glasses and Mom thinks this is a great solution.

I got the original pattern here, and modified it a bit to get the Homer shape. The eyes and 5 O'Clock shadow were improvised. I sent the pics to Mom this morning and she thinks Dad's gonna like him, so that's a good thing.

Here he is, standing along and also in an action shot:

Tackle-It Tuesday - The Laundry Room

2008-04-08T05:59:00.014-05:00

The purge and reorg continues...

Last night I spent about an hour and a half reorganizing and purging stuff out of the laundry room. I reorganized cabinets, the ledge and shelves where we store stuff, and even ironed a shirt that I was supposed to iron last week. There are a couple of things that still need to be gone through (I'll point them out as I go through the series of pictures) but the pile of stuff to go to the Salvation Army is continuing to grow. At any rate... without further ado...

The Laundry Room - Before and After Series

Full Shot: Before

(You might not notice much difference in the next few pictures. They are, after all, storage. But trust me, they're reorganized. If you look at them as a series you'll notice stuff missing and other stuff just generally in different spots.)

Above the Washer/Dryer - Before & After

Game Cabinet - Before & After

Third Cabinet - Before & After

And now for the grand finale shot... **drum roll**

Full Shot - After

So that's that. Like I said, there's still a bit of purging to do in that room. For example, there's a giant stack of manuals for various appliances that we probably don't need anymore just taking up space in there. Steve's going to look through those and make a decision at some point.

As for next week's tackle... not sure what I'm doing yet. I have a couple of ideas in mind but we'll see as it gets closer.

Happy Beerversary!

2008-04-07T19:11:00.004-05:00

Today marks 75 years since beer was allowed to be sold again after 14 years of prohibition. I had never even heard of this day before until I saw an article on CNN discussing the history of this historic occasion. But alas, today is indeed Beer Day and many people celebrated last night on New Beer's Eve. At 12:01 AM 75 years ago the gates of breweries in the 20 states that allowed beer to be brewed opened and carriages came forth carrying cases and kegs of beer to disperse to a thirsty public. With an alcohol volume of 3.2%, beer was released into the freedom it deserved by a newly elected FDR and his "wet" Congress only a month after his inauguration.

The allowing of brewing of beer help to create 50,000 much-needed jobs during a Great Depression era when jobs and work were sorely needed by the folks of these United States. The beer may have been of poor quality (it is thought that the early beer was more watered down than that beer released after the December 5th signing of the 21st amendment, ending total prohibition), but it was welcomed by the masses with open arms.

Since then, the beer industry has become a flourishing one here in the US and around the world - beer produced almost $295 BILLION in revenue worldwide in 2006. It is a welcomed addition to cookouts, sporting events, parties, and even has inspired a slew of people to host and/or attend beer tastings. People take brewery tours learning about the brewing process and the history of beer constantly throughout the US (there are a number of places you can do that right here in New England). Beer has become a part of our culture even to the point where if you say you drink a certain beer or don't drink beer at all - it may effect what a person thinks of you. No matter what beer you drink, you can be assured that by partaking in the sudsy beverage you are submerging yourself in some aspect of our culture.

Beer is so loved by our society, in fact, that we've even gone about making up a quote and attributing it to one of our favorite American wise men. The quote "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" has often been attributed to.... That's right! Ben Franklin! In actuality, Franklin never said those words and in fact had a lot more to say about wine, water, and drinking responsibly (read more about this here). There are multiple songs about beer - mostly Country, I'm sure - as well as books written about the love and history of beer.

So tonight, order a pizza and some buffalo wings. Buy a case of Bud, 6-pack of your favorite Sammy A's, a draught glass of Guinness or a selection of your favorite microbrews*. Take a trip to a local brewery or pull up some good old Super Bowl commercials on YouTube and celebrate. Give thanks to FDR and the "wet" Congress for allowing us to enjoy a frosty mug of beer whenever we want.

*Danielle encourages her readers to drink responsibly. The suggestion to have a beer is not recommended to recovering alcoholics, pregnant women, underage folks, or those otherwise identified by a medical professional to not drink beer. Don't drink and drive.*

"And if you try to keep us down we're gonna come right back!"

2008-04-05T13:31:00.002-05:00

Okay, because I don't want to ramble on incessantly about it for too long - I promise that this will be my last posting about the New Kids on the Block.

Unless I go to a concert on their reunion tour. Because then you'd better believe you'll hear about it.

At any rate, I've decided that if anyone wants to feel like they're about 15 years younger all that needs to happen is for their childhood boy-band heartthrobs to announce their reunion and plans to come back on the music scene - and still be all heartthrobby. That's how I've felt ever since Tuesday when I first heard of such goings on with my own teenage boy-band crush. Today I just got darn giddy (internally mostly, I can't have those things gushing out now - I'm an ADULT).

For those of you who haven't seen the Today Show clip yet, here it is. Please note the gross amount of 25-35 year old women in the crowd:

Looking back, I have to say that I wasn't the craziest or even the biggest or most extravagant New Kids on the Block fan, but I was still a fan. I knew all the words to all the songs, I owned all the cassettes, I had a couple of posters, I had slumber parties where we watched the Hangin' Tough Live video and stayed up all night singing NKOTB songs. I entered the contest to go on the cruise with them (and lost). My first celebrity crush was on a New Kid. There was something about Donny Wahlberg singing "Cover Girl" that I just knew he was singing to me (yeah right), and I even entered a contest to win a sweaty towel he had thrown from a stage during a concert in a Tiger Beat magazine (uh... gross?). I was going to marry Donny Wahlberg (again - yeah right, but such are the thoughts of a silly 12 year old).

Well... those days passed and the New Kids disappeared. Joey and Jordan went on to passing solo careers, Jon and Danny disappeared, and Donny played a heroin addict in Bruce Willis' bedroom in "The Sixth Sense". I watched my sisters go through their boy band stages with Hanson (Dawn) and N*Sync (Becky) and smiled with nostalgia as they did the things I did with NKOTB. I even went to a Joey McIntyre concert back in 1999 or 2000 when he came to Hampton Beach because I knew it was the closest I'd ever get to going to a NKOTB concert. It was a blast - even though "Please Don't Go Girl" sounded completely different now that Joey's gone through puberty (he sang it for the encore). "The Right Stuff" became the "stuff" of a 1:00 AM dance on a Leadership Retreat in college where I did a tired version of the dance to the amusement of a few female student leaders.

But a reunion? Reunion tours are the things of old washed up rock bands who just want to have one more go 'round, playing the old music and singing out the old songs to the crowds of their middle-aged fans. Reunions, come backs, and such things are not the things of boy bands. Or... are they?

On the Today show and various other outlets today the New Kids have announced that they'll be making a come back. Tons of 25-35 year old women around the country are in a heated frenzy (yes, even the committed and married ones) and there are discussions on my craft boards about the old boxes of face pins, lunch boxes, and posters that people still have. I instantly feel like I'm 12 years old again singing "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)" in my bedroom into my microphone (hairbrush). I don't want to marry any of them now - I'm quite happily married, thank you very much - but I'm excited at the prospect of being able to see my teenage boy band in concert.

I've long since gotten rid of the couple of posters and all the cassettes I had and am left with a NKOTB Greatest Hits CD and memories of a teenage boy-band phase (and a new desktop background at work). I'm excited, and as a friend of mine said to me - I really hope that they don't come back and stink. That would be a giant let-down and they'd fall into the category of come backs that never should have happened.

But... they're the New Kids. And since our teenage boy bands are infallable and never a let-down, they totally won't.

Right?

March Poll Results

2008-04-03T07:04:00.002-05:00

Normally I would have posted this yesterday, but I was too excited about the NKOTB news that I had to put it off for one day.

At any rate, here are the results of March's poll:

If you could have any of the below superpowers, which would you have?
(16 Total Votes)
- Ability to Fly: 7 votes (43%)
- Healing Powers: 7 votes (43%)
- Go-Go Gadget Everything: 2 votes (12%)
- No love for: X-Ray Vision, Laser Beams from your eyes, Fire/Ice shooting from your hands, No Superpowers at all

I have to admit I was surprised that no one chose the weapons simply on the cool factor of being able to shoot something from your body. Now the tough question - if you voted and you're interested in leaving a comment to this: why did you pick the superpower you picked?

April's poll is posted off to the right; it's the long debated question of who made/makes the best Batman. Save your comments on that until the April poll is over please - I'm sure I could post a whole forum for THAT topic.

This is NOT a Drill

2008-04-02T07:08:00.004-05:00

When it's April Fool's Day and you see certain things come across the RSS feed, you often wonder if it's just a joke that the news outlets are playing on you. For example, I was poking through the news on the Channel 5 website yesterday and I see this article about a guy who went through a drive-thru at a Dunkin' Donuts nekkid.

I thought, and hoped, that it was a joke. Turns out it was not and I'm disturbed again. Then there was a slideshow piece I saw about a giant baby head getting delivered to the MFA in Boston. Turns out, that wasn't a joke either.

In any event - NONE of that is my point. Now I'll get to my point.

I subscribe to the Bostonist.com RSS feed on my Google Reader. I'd say about 50% of what's there is interesting, another 20-30% mildly interesting, and the rest is useless. But yesterday... oh sweet yesterday...

I saw this: New Kids on the Block: The Return

Oh sweet mother of all that is amazing in the world. I thought to myself, "This has to be a joke, right?" Turns out - it is NOT a joke. In fact, if you go to NKOTB.com there's a countdown clock that ends on Friday. What is Friday? Well, Boston's most awesomest boy band is appearing on the Today show where it is expected they'll be announcing a reunion tour.

A REUNION TOUR!!! In celebration of 20 years of Hangin' Tough!!!

I'm so excited. Not as excited as when we got married, not as excited as when I got accepted to DWC, but I'm still super duper excited in that giddy 13-year old way.

In honor of the occasion, a clip for you of one of my favorite NKOTB songs: "Cover Girl", sung by Donny Wahlberg. Enjoy.

Tackle-It Tuesday - The Bookcases Part Deux

2008-04-01T07:05:00.003-05:00

Last week I maintained my energy and completed the bookcase overhaul. Here's the book-bookcase before I purged the thing:

Book Bookcase - Before

And here is a shot of that bookcase after, as well as the shelves that were empty after last week's tackle on the other bookcase.

Book Bookcase - After

Shelves on the Other Bookcase

For next week I think I'll be starting a phase of tackling our laundry room. Wish me luck with that; our laundry room is a disaster...

The Story of Us

2008-03-31T19:30:00.002-05:00

I was tagged by Kat to do "The Meme of Us". Here are the answers for ours... I'm not going to tag anyone specific, but if you have a blog and you're married feel free to play along. It could be fun!

How long have you been together?
5 years, 3 weeks and 3 days.

How long did you date?
We still date! You should never stop dating. (But... if you mean the period before which we were engaged, that would be about 2.25 years roughly).

How old is he?
Steve is 26, he'll be 27 in July.

Who said 'I love you' first?
I don't remember exactly, but I think Steve (I can imagine I would have held off so I didn't scare him off!)

Who is taller?
Steve is by about 2 - 2.5 inches

Who is smarter?
We're both equally smart and have areas where one is stronger than the other.

Who does the laundry?
For the most part I do because that's how the division of labor falls.

Who does the dishes?
It's split - I load and wash, he empties and puts away.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
That'd be me.

Who pays the bills?
We're DINKs (Double Income No Kids) with one joint account, but Steve does all the budgeting and bill-paying. I hate it. :P

Who mows the lawn?
Our landlord does. Eventually when we have a house, it'll probably be Steve.

Who cooks dinner?
99% of the time I'm the one who cooks dinner because I'm the keeper of the menu. If Steve wants to cook dinner, he's more than welcome and he's been known to jump in if I'm occupied with something else on occasion.

Who is more stubborn?
We're both equally stubborn in different areas, I think. I can be more stubborn than him initially in a conflict though, I'll admit it openly (yep, even when I'm wrong... I'm working on it).

Who kissed who first?
He kissed me first. Kiss stealer. ;)

Who asked who out?
Uh.... You know, I don't remember. I think it was Steve's idea to go see that Harry Potter movie. By the time we were "official" we'd hung out so much that I don't know who was the perpetrator of the IHOP date the night we became an "us".

Who proposed?
Steve did on July 26, 2005 at Hampton State Beach. It was awesome, he had a whole little speech prepared and everything. :)

Who is more sensitive?
Oooo!!! Ooooo!!! Pick me!!!! I am, for sure. I'm also a crier. Go me. So I'm a stubborn sensitive crier. Someone can send Steve a sympathy card whenever they feel it's appropriate. :)

June 16, 2008 - July 25, 2010

2008-03-30T07:19:00.002-05:00

On Wednesday as I sat in my cubicle listening to my iPod and plugging away at the never-ending pile of work, my cell phone rang. Number unavailable.

I tentatively answered it - the voice on the other end was the admissions counselor from Daniel Webster College regarding the MBA for Aviation Professionals program. He was returning my voice mail and email from earlier that day as well as another email from the week before that had gone unanswered. I was a bit nervous because I hadn't heard back yet, and when I applied in the middle of February I had been advised that it would probably be about 2-3 weeks. That would have landed us at about March 7th with a decision.

I braced for the worst. That must have been what took so long; I'm too green, not enough experience, they don't trust that I won't switch careers to marine biology or something. Maybe the worst wouldn't come, maybe my hopes would come true and I'd get in... but probably not...

And then... he said it...

"I know you're anxious because you have to get approval from your work before you register, so I thought I'd call you ahead of the letters and let you know that you have been accepted. The decision letters are going out today or tomorrow; the reason it took so long is because the start date has been moved from April 14 to June 16".

I let go of the air in my lungs and breathed a sigh of relief. I then listened to him detail that the reason the start date moved for this cycle is because they rearranged some classes for the betterment of the program based on student feedback over the last few years. He then mentioned that the program director had concern about my application because I'm so young in the industry and worry that I'd get lost in all the military and pilot-type people. The counselor told him he'd talked to me about all that, and they decided that my being so young and in a different area of work than most of the people from the industry who take the program that I'd offer a fresh set of eyes and ideas - and that I should never be afraid to speak up in the class.

Needless to say, I was ecstatic. DWC's MBA-AP program is going to own me for the next two years, starting on June 16th. It'll be a lot of work crammed into 2 years and I'm sure I'll be pretty busy - but at the end of it all, I'll have my MBA.

Sweet.

Trying to be More Aware

2008-03-27T07:13:00.002-05:00

In the last 6-8 months or so, Steve and I have started to take steps to become more aware of some of the things we do and how they impact ourselves and the environment. Now, I'll preface this by saying that by NO means are we at the pinnacle of awareness nor are we 100% where we feel we could or want to be with our own individual contributions to this. But there are some steps that we've taken and even if they are baby ones they're still steps.

I'm trying to be more aware and diligent about the small things we do that can impact the larger picture. We're both trying to be more aware of the small things you can do around the house - like... turning the lights off when you're leaving a room. Like (and this is one I'm bad at) not letting the water run while you're brushing your teeth. Another thing that we can all do is re-evaluate how we travel places. If you're going somewhere that's within a mile or two of your home, walking not only benefits your own health (and wallet) but it also benefits the environment by reducing the amount of gasoline you're using. If you don't feel like walking, bicycling offers the same benefits.

A big way that most people help out the environment is through recycling. We don't currently recycle because there's not a good place for us to store our recyclables, but with the spring cleaning we're doing I'm hoping we can alleviate that problem for at least our cans (there's no curbside pick-up where we live). When we (eventually) get into a house, I'm going to make us more diligent about cleaning and sorting all of our recyclables. I also got a tip from my friend Kimberly to save yarn clippings from projects and reuse them as stuffing in future projects. I already use them as yarn markers, but I hadn't thought about as stuffing and had been throwing them away. Then there are those good old plastic shopping bags. A while ago I bought us some reusable shopping bags (and they also supported breast cancer with my purchase!) and we've been using those when we go to the grocery store as often as possible.

I'm also becoming more interested in companies that make efforts in their own manufacturing to be more proactive in the environmental impact of their products. I was recently eating a container of Stonyfield Farm yogurt and saw that they're holding a campaign where you can go on their website and vote for the next yogurt flavor (I'm a Demogurt, I voted for fat free Caramel Apple). While there I noticed that they have a bunch of other campaigns and projects that they work on to protect the environment. There was a whole section that talked about how they went into the selection of the packaging materials they use because environmental impact is huge for them. In fact, if you eat Stonyfield yogurts, they even offer 2 ways to reduce the impact to the environment; you can buy their yogurt in the larger containers (saves something like 11,000 gallons of oil/year I think?) and you can also save/mail in your cleaned and used yogurt containers and they'll recycle them for you. I also found out from looking at their website that there's a whole company that makes toothbrushes and razors out of recycled plastics.

There are also whole groups and forums out there dedicated to finding ways to reuse things. For example, Craftster has a whole forum dedicated to helping fellow crafters find ways to reuse unwanted junk and make in into something useful. One of the most remarkable things I've seen is this resin bottle-cap table made from over 2,000 beer bottle-caps. Seeing these things makes me think of some of the stuff I've thrown away - even recently - due to a lack of storage space and wonder if someone could have made something with it. I also have friends who make things out of what most people would consider trash. On the occasions we do get plastic bags, we either reuse them as small trash-can bags or we give them to our friend Jill who makes "plarn" (plastic yarn) out of them and crochets them into purses/bags. I have another friend Marie who is collecting cardboard juice and milk containers to make blocks for her son. All it takes for these things is a little bit of creativity.

What do you currently do or what ideas do you have for things we can do to reduce waste/help the environment? I'm always looking for thoughts!

Favorite Jeans Blues

2008-03-26T06:01:00.003-05:00

When you find a pair of jeans that becomes your favorite pair, the saddest part is realizing you're going to have to let them go at some point. You notice the wear in certain areas and know that they'll rip soon. Sure, you can reuse them to make a purse or something - but it won't be the same. You won't have that denim providing that comfort you've come to know and love. I came to this realization about a month or so ago with my favorite pair of jeans. Dark blue stretch bootcuts from Lane Bryant, size 18 petite. (That's right - for those of you who haven't seen me in person I'm a short chubby girl and for those of you who also don't know Lane Bryant is a store for girls who wear a size 14-32 and still want stylish clothes. Now you know the "secret".)

Finding pants for me is pretty hard because I've noticed that most of the size 18 pants I find will only fit a woman over the height of 5'5" without needing hemming - and I don't know how to hem. When I was in college, Old Navy used to be the only place that I could find jeans that fit. I fit quite nicely into their size 18 short pants and absolutely loved their jeans. Then a few years ago Old Navy decided to add this "Women's Plus" line and ever since then their size 16, 18, and 20 pants do not fit the same way - and the 16W, 18W, and 20W don't fit right AT ALL. Having given up on Old Navy pants, I headed over to Lane Bryant about 4 or 5 years ago and tried on their 18 petite. Bingo - for about $10 more I found jeans that fit perfectly. About 2 years ago I got the pair that are my current favorite pair.

And now they're about to die. And of course, sometime within the last year Lane Bryant also changed their sizes in their jeans. And it's kind of complicated and somehow the store associates know the formula to decide what size you should wear. It involves colors and numbers that in no way reflect what your size is. It's ridiculous. A woman shopping for LB "Right Fit" jeans is either a 1-8 in size, petite/average/tall, and yellow/red/blue. I'm a 3-Red-Petite. Whatever that means. All I know is they told me a 4-Red-Petite when the measured me and it was too big.

As if women's shopping wasn't complicated enough. This reinforces why shopping for men's pants - which only require you to know your waist circumference and your leg length - is SO MUCH EASIER. You can buy pants just about anywhere and they FIT RIGHT without trying them on. I can go out today and buy Steve a pair of pants and be 99% assured that they'll fit him when I get home. If he tried the same thing... it would likely be a miserable failure. In fact, when I tried to explain this system to him I thought his head was going to explode.

Anyways. I've been trying to figure out what possessed LB to come up with this crazy numbering scheme. I can kind of put my head around the colors; the colors are for different body types and curvatures that women have. Line up 10 women and there's a slim chance their curves will fall in the same spot. But the numbers? Why not just have the same number sizes instead of these weird specialty ones? Sure, I might be a size 3 at LB but there's NO way I can go anywhere else and pull a size 3 off the rack and expect it to fit anything other than my arm. Or maybe one half of my leg. Why not maintain the same 14-16-18-20-etc. numbering system??

The only thing I can come up with is that they're trying to help the overweight ladies feel better about themselves. In about 10 minutes I went from wearing a size 18 to a "size" 3. I'll never be a size 3 anywhere else - even if I lose a bunch of weight, that's just not my body type. But man... can you imagine the excitement if I lose weight and get to a "size" 1!!

Whatever. I'm not going to try to figure it out. My new pants fit and they fit mostly comfortably, so I'll just be happy with that.

Tackle-It Tuesday: The Bookcases, Part 1

2008-03-24T21:23:00.005-05:00

Ah, Spring Cleaning. This time around I'm going to be focusing on decluttering our apartment, getting rid of things we don't need, and generally making the place more presentable and comfortable. I'm going to be doing this process over a couple of weeks, and for today's Tuesday Tackle I began the process of reorganizing our bookcases. I started with the "trinkety stuff" bookcase this week, and next week's post will be our bookcase that houses books. Here we go!

Bookcase #1 - Before the Purge

Bookcase #2 - After the Purge and Sort

The purge and sort did a couple of things:

1. It got rid of some of the stuff that we weren't quite sure why we were holding on to. I have a bunch of stuff that's either going to the Salvation Army or up for grabs (including 2 Nerf Guns, if anyone is interested) and a bunch of stuff that made it's way to the Salem Transfer Station because it was broken.
2. For those things that we are holding on to, they were sorted into 2 different places. Those things that we were holding on to for memories went into the wooden box and any useful toys that we've accumulated were gathered together into the Patriots ice bucket you see on the bottom shelf. We didn't want to get rid of all the toys, because with our friends starting to have children we figure they'll come in useful if they're ever over.
3. The freed up shelves will allow us to have more space for our overflowing store of books on the bookcase in the other room.

So there you have it! Next week - Bookcases Part 2!

Takin' Me Back....

2008-03-24T06:29:00.004-05:00

I wish someone would hand me $8,600.00 and tell me I had to buy one thing with it, and had to buy it for myself.

When I was a kid, my favorite toys were my He-Man playset. Yes, I know I'm a female and yes, I had Barbie dolls too; but there was something exciting about setting up Castle Grayskull and yelliing at the top of my five year old lungs "BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL - I HAVE THE POWER!", taking the Prince Adam get-up off of my He-Man action figure and getting him ready to battle the evil skeletor on our living room floor. I mean, let's face it - if Barbie and Ken battled, that wasn't awesome - it was modelling domestic violence. And domestic violence isn't cool.

Defeating Skeletor and freeing Eternia from his evil grip - that was cool. Especially when he was defeated with the He-Man action figure that you loaded pop-caps in the back so that when he punched he made a "POW!" noise.

See? Cool. And it was even cooler when he had a chick sidekick in Teela and then a sister named She-Ra who could help with all this evil butt-kicking.

So what does my childhood love for He-Man action figures have to do with wanting an extra $8,600.00 to blow on something?

I'm not sure how I found this article, I think it was one of the headlines on my GMail RSS feed. There's a guy named Robert Burden who found a box of his old childhood toys and instead of throwing them away made these awesome paintings out of them. There's a gallery in Seattle who is currently exhibiting Burden's work and they're viewable online. These paintings are just incredible, and my favorite one is of BattleCat - He-Man's trusty tiger-steed - that is selling for $8,600.00.

Really if I had the ability to buy this painting, after 2 or 3 years I'd beat myself up for buying it. After all, it is just a large picture of a plastic green tiger and in your living room would be kind of tacky. But you have to admit - this is a pretty cool idea that this fellow had and I wish I lived closer to Seattle so I could see this exhibit live and in person.

You Get what you Give

2008-03-22T09:19:00.002-05:00

Every so often I'll come across a piece of news or a study that sparks my interest enough for me to share it with others. As I was on Boston.com reading about one of the new cornerbacks that the Patriots signed for this season, I saw this article in the "most read" listing off to the right. A new study is showing that money can indeed buy you happiness - if you're spending the money on causes that benefit others rather than yourself. This is a concept that isn't really in the forefront of most people's minds, and I think that our society has a lot to do with that.

Here's a case in point: Think of the last Super Bowl and the commercials you saw. There were commercials for the new Toyota Corolla, Hyundai, Cadillac, and ETrade. These are all things that encourage you to build up your own assets and squirrel away your money for your own benefit. We were bombarded with commercials to buy things that benefit ourselves. Sure, you could argue that you could buy your new Toyota Corolla and then start a pro-bono courier business picking up the eldery or something, but let's face it - the likelihood of that is extremely thin. Now think some more... do you remember a single commercial during the Super Bowl or World Series - two of the most watched television events - encouraging you to be altruistic? I certainly don't. The Etrade commercial had a great opportunity; the one with the baby? When the baby said "What did I do with all that extra coinage?", he could have said "Well, I bought myself a new shirt and then I took a homeless guy to lunch". Instead... he got a clown that admittedly creeped him out.

Now think of the last time you saw a commercial for the Christian Children's Fund (it was the first thing that popped into my head for a charity that does TV commercials). My guess - you were home sick from work or school and were lying on the couch. The last thing on your mind was helping other people; more likely you were trying to remember if you'd had enough orange juice that day or if you'd taken your antibiotics when you were supposed to. Most of the commercials I've seen for charities or other such altruistic things are buried in the depths of daytime TV or late late at night when everyone is sleeping.

And so, I'm bringing attention to this study to give it a little bit of publicity. It's not every day that you hear scientific evidence supporting the idea that giving is a good thing. There's tons of biblical evidence showing that God and Christ want us to give with our hearts (in fact, here's a Google Search for you on "Biblical Giving") and stories of the experiences of others. But for some people, that's not enough to be convinced; they NEED that scientific link to show them that it's concrete - and here is a study showing that. If the Bible isn't enough and the testimonies of lots of other people isn't enough - here is science saying it's so.

For good measure... a personal experience: I was in Boston with Steve and a couple of friends a few years ago. We were searching for this wine store called "Wine Sellers" or something like that and couldn't find it. We walked by a quiet old homeless man who was humbly whispering and asking people for money, just a small bit of change. As so many people do, we just kept walking and when we passed him, he quietly said "Have a good night, and God bless you". Steve and I looked at each other - all we had were larger bills and some advice in the back of our heads to not give homeless people a lot of money because they might "just spend it on booze". Someone was thirsty, so we ducked into a CVS to get some water. There was another homeless man at the entrance opening the door for people and holding a cup, smiling as people entered and exited. I bought the water and asked for the change back in ones. On the way out, I put 2 or 3 dollars in the cup of the man at the door. Then I turned around and gave my friends and Steve each a dollar, and kept 2 or 3 in my own hand. When we walked past the older gentleman again (we didn't find the wine store so turned back around to go the other way), we put the dollars in his cup as we past. His face lit up as he saw these dollar bills in his cup and he stood up excitedly.

"Oh, God BLESS you! I can buy dinner now, this is a whole meal! Thank you so much, have a great night!"

With that, he promptly tucked his cup in his pocket and ran across the street to the Burger King for a warm meal. I felt SO good for like, two weeks after that experience.

I fully appreciate that most people who read this blog are pretty altruistic in nature anyways and likely already give of themselves and their finances to various causes to benefit others. My hope is that maybe some websearch will land people here that might not typically think to be generous to others.

Gone with the Wind

2008-03-19T05:51:00.006-05:00

Ladies, picture this if you will... Gentlemen, pretend you're the beau in this story.

You're walking with your beau through the streets of London on a lovely date. You've just had dinner at a wonderful restaurant, a feast of luscious Fish N' Chips followed up with a wonderful dessert of tea and cake (bear with me - I've never been to England and have a limited knowledge of what they serve. I only know what they have at Epcot in Disneyworld). You look at him and are filled with love; you know in your heart he's the one you'd love to spend the rest of your life with.

As you walk hand in hand down the streets of London talking about life, you look in your beau's eyes and can see that there's something on his mind. You stop walking, turn, and grab both of his hands. You look in his eyes and ask him if there's something on his mind, something he'd like to talk about.

He looks back at you, full of love and concern. He begins to profess to you that you are his whole life, that he can't imagine living with you in his world. You complete him, and he hopes that you can share your life with him for all of eternity. You are filled with love and anticipation, watching his hands and hoping that this is it. You wonder if he'll reach into his pocket for the engagement ring...

And then it happens.

He tells you he had a whole elaborate plan to propose to you tonight. He tells you of the $12,000.00 (USD) ring he saved up for and purchased. He tells you about how he put it in a balloon, a helium filled balloon, thinking it would be super sweet if he gave you a balloon and pin and then you popped the balloon and the $12,000.00 ring fell out. Then... he tells you about how when he left the balloon shop with the helium-filled balloon containing this gorgeous $12,000.00 ring, a gust of wind came and lifted the balloon into the sky.

The ring is gone forever, he tells you. Maybe some kind soul will find this popped balloon somewhere and wonder if that's the deflated/popped balloon with the ring in it and maybe find the ring and get it back to him somehow. But... will you marry him anyways, because the loss of a $12,000.00 in a helium-filled balloon in no way decreases how much he loves you.

And... scene

I promise you I did not make this up. Well, I kind of did for blogging purposes but the loss of a $12,000.00 ring in a helium balloon really did happen. This guy isn't getting married any time soon... he has to save up and get a new ring first.

Tackle-It Tuesday: Attack of the Small Yarn Monster

2008-03-18T05:36:00.005-05:00

What started as a smaller amount of yarn for a girl who barely knew how to crochet grew into a big pile of yarn that overtook my corner of the office for a girl who can't put the hook down. Steve was starting to twitch in his left eye because the pile of yarn was such a mess; disorganized, all over the floor. Even I was starting to be bothered by the pile of yarn that never seemed to stop growing (I'm liking clutter less and less in my "old" age). After a bit of thought about it, I headed to Wal*Mart and picked up a couple of flat containers and got to work.

Here's a picture of my yarn pile before I got started, after I had taken a bunch of it out of the corner and put it in the middle of the floor. I have to say... you can't tell but there's a LOT of yarn crammed into those 2 milk-crates. I didn't realize it until I dumped it out. There's also one more flat container and a small drawer full of yarn that I completely forgot to take out for the picture; that ended up getting dumped out and re-organized as well.

After 2 hours, I had all my yarn sorted and stacked up on the top shelf. You can see it all here in 4 flat storage containers and one large shoebox size container. The after-organization shot:

You can tell from the bottom container that it's still pretty crammed in. This is about 1/3 of the yarn I have; I still have another 4 of the larger storage totes in our storage unit full of yarn. I promised myself I would try very hard not to buy more yarn until 2009, and I promised Steve in February I wouldn't bring anymore in the house for another 3-6 months. I have plenty here to keep me occupied until May, that's for sure.

Acrylic has Cooties

2008-03-13T05:56:00.004-05:00

When I was growing up, I only ever thought there was one kind of yarn - Red Heart acrylic. My grandmother had a big dresser full of it, and I played with it to make bracelets for my friends. I watched her knit blankets, mittens, and hats with it and crochet clowns with it. She had all the colors of the rainbow and back again in her dresser drawers. As I got older and found an interest in crocheting, I discovered that there was a whole world of yarn. In flipping through some of the forums on Ravelry, I've discovered there's a whole culture surrounding different yarns. For some it seems as though yarn is a way of life.

By no fault of my own, I have a bigger yarn stash than I ever would have thought I would have - mostly various acrylics and acrylic blends of various ages. I've never found fault with acrylic yarn, but have discovered of late that there are a whole lot of people who are anti-acrylic. Most have valid reasons for not liking acrylic yarn: it irritates hands, it's made of petroleum based stuff and isn't good for the environment, people don't feel it breathes the same as natural fibers, etc. But then there are a few yarn snobs out there too who just flat out discriminate against acrylic yarn and its users. One person on one of the forums I read asked for advice on making a sweater out of Red Heart Super Saver acrylic yarn, and was told:

"I can't help you because you're using acrylic. You need to get some real yarn, made from animal fibers. If you look in a zoological book, you will not find an animal named "acryl." Therefore, ask your question when you're using an animal fiber."

Wow. That's terrible! Don't get me wrong... I would love to get my hands on some more cotton yarn or maybe even some specialty yarn from a neat animal like a yak. My favorite yarn I've found so far is Paton's Classic Merino Wool. But what the heck is so bad about acrylic yarn that a few people have to become yarn snobs about it?

Acrylic yarn is affordable, softer in a lot of cases than our grandma's acrylics were, easily washed, and versatile in the projects that you can make with it. I see no real reason for the snobbery that I've recently learned about regarding acrylic yarn. At least (from what I've seen) this elitist attitude seems limited to a few select people, while most accept that people are free to use whatever yarn they feel is best for their projects and budgets. For the latter attitude, I am thankful.

Bottom Line: I don't think it matters what yarn you use. What you make with it comes from your heart. The patience and care needed to use needles, hook, or loom to put it together is worth more than what yarn is it made of or how much the yarn costs. The end results are made with love.

Resources:
Acrylic vs. Wool Yarn
Acrylic Yarn thread on "Get Crafty"

Update from the Land of Hooking

2008-03-12T05:09:00.004-05:00

I know, when Thing-A-Day ended you all wondered how I was going to fill my time. No need for worry, I'm doing quite nicely.

I recently signed up for another crafty website, Craftster. It's a forum for people who do all sorts of crafty things across the gambit; really, if you can think of it and it's a craft someone on Craftster probably does it. I've decided that there are a few things I absolutely love about Craftster since I joined up about 3 weeks ago. There are a lot of different crafts on there so I can see what lots and lots of people are doing that are crafty and artsy. There are also ways to get advice on various topics and lots of inspiration for different ideas.

Something that Craftster does (and Ravelry does too, though I find Craftster's forums easier to navigate) are craft-alongs. I've started one (a Turtle-Along in the Crochet forums) and posted for two others (Muppet Eyeglasses Holder and White Elephant Crochet Along). I'm also participating (starting this month) in the 2008 Color-Along for any craft where a different color is assigned every month and you make something in that color. There's a Strongbad craft-along that I'd like to get involved with sometime this year too (though admittedly I haven't checked the Strongbad Emails in a while). It's really neat to see what different people are doing with either a similar theme or a similar pattern.

The other thing that I think that Craftster does well are organized swaps. These are swaps where crafters are paired up to send each other presents. The thing to these swaps is that you have to be a Craftster member for at least 1 month and have posted at least (I think) 15 times in order to participate in a swap. There's one coming up that has a closing date the day that my one-month-iversary with Craftster occurs that I'm really interested in. I sent a message to the organizer - and I got my reply that a spot is being held for me! I'm really excited about this for some reason, so I bookmarked the thread about the swap so I can send my information in on the 22nd.

They also do a monthly craft challenge where people make things based on the current theme and then submit them to the forum. At the end of the submittal period, Craftster users vote on their favorite project and the winner gets a prize. This month is a Dollar Store Challenge, and I'm feelin' up for a run to the brand new Dollar Tree in Salem for this one. Submissions are due between April 1-5, so I have plenty of time to get my tax-free dollar shopping and cheap creation juices flowing.

And... on a non-Craftster crafty note: I figured out a way to get yarn cheap when my ginormous stash finally begins to deplete. People list yarn they're trying to offload on both Craigslist and Freecycle. Ooooh baby. Plus, there's a website that sells yarn in bulk at decent discounts that I found recently.

I also just found out that it's National Crochet Month. I have 19 days left in the month, so in honor of National Crochet Month I'm committing to finish a total of 5 projects in the next 19 days. I have three in the works already, plus a Stitch N' Eat this coming weekend - so I don't foresee this as being an issue.

Oh man, this craft "bug" isn't letting up at all; I'm like Christopher Walken needing more cowbell. When we get a house (someday), and I have a craft room... watch out...

Bored? Lonely? Call a MEETING!!

2008-03-11T06:32:00.002-05:00

Meetings are useless.

I got an email recently telling me I need to attend more meetings from the same person who tells everyone that they need to attend more meetings. Meetings in which 90% of what is discussed does not at all affect me, my job, my customers, etc. Meetings in which none of the questions that are now popping up will be addressed, because these topics are NOT typically part of the meeting.

I attended these meetings in the past; this is how I know this.

Why is it that Corporate America insists that meetings are a good idea? Meetings do nothing except create circular conversation and prevent employees from being productive. It's been suggested to me that I bring my laptop with me and do other work while I'm in these meetings. Sure, I could bring my laptop to a meeting and do work while I'm there but doesn't that defeat the purpose of me going to the meeting? Aren't I not paying attention at that point? Furthermore, should I also bring the papers and paperwork I need to do my work to the meeting? I'm sure that looks awesome and will get me brownie points in the eyes of my peers and superiors.

Manager: "Danielle, what's that?"
Me: "This? Oh. Purchase Orders from Joe's Aircraft Manufacturing."
Manager: "This meeting is about Bob's Aircraft Maintenance. Your work is irrelevant to this meeting. You're fired."

See how that goes? (OK, so maybe it wouldn't be that extreme in real life, but you get my point.)

Why all the meetings? Wouldn't it be more efficient to send an email or even stop by someone's cubicle and say "Hey, here's what's going on and here's what I need YOU to do"? Or send out an action item memo with what actions people need to take? I've (and I'm sure other people have) sat through too many meetings where the person running the meeting will say "Here's what needs to happen", then to have 20 minutes of arguing about NOTHING, only to have the "what needs to happen" be the final conclusion at the end. I think that everyone's time across the country in every company would be better spent in a more efficient communication medium than a useless, unproductive meeting.

I live in Dilbert.

Forgiveness

2008-03-10T07:14:00.002-05:00

I saw this picture on Bostonist.com and it really struck me for some reason.

The concept of "Forgive and Forget" is one that I never could decide exactly where I landed on. On the one hand, the spirit of the phrase seems to be one that suggests we forgive people for the wrongs that they have done to us and forget the hurt that was caused by it. This allows us to continue to move forward in relationships or at least be cordial to people rather than complete dissolution and never wanting to see or interact with these individuals again.

On the other hand, one could argue that if you forgive and forget that you do not fully experience the life lessons to be learned because we "forget" the wrongs that are done to us. This coincides nicely with the "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me" phrase that people have often heard. If you decide to completely forget the wrong, do you remember not to place your hand on the hot burner the next time it happens?

Then again, one could also argue that this phrase means to forgive people for their wrongs, learn from the hurt, and "forget" could be a metaphor for handing the burden to God for Him to forgive the person.

I admit this to be more of a brain dump than it is full out thoughts and articulate notions. But that picture really struck me this morning, and now I think it'll likely be on my mind for the better part of the day.

"Finding Cures, Saving Children"

2008-03-07T20:11:00.002-05:00

One week from today, I'll be sitting in the lobby of Jordan's Furniture in Reading with a bunch of other volunteers behind the Jelly Belly store. The phones will ring and I'll answer, cheerful and willing to help out those calling even though I'll be straining to hear them over the hustle and bustle of music and people.

That's right - it's time once again for the Country 102.5 Country Cares for St. Jude Kids Radiothon.

Next Thursday and Friday March 13-14, tons of volunteers will arrive and tons more people will call in to offer up one-time donations and become a more "regular" Partner in Hope. Steve and I have been Partners in Hope for the last 2 years, and I have to say that it is so encouraging when we get the pictures in the mail once a month detailing the stories of some of the kids we're helping. It's so heartwarming when you hear the quotes of the parents who are so grateful for the work that St. Jude does for kids around the world on a daily basis.

What does St. Jude do? The short version of it is that they help sick kids get better. Kids with major, catastrophic illnesses - mostly cancers - who without St. Jude would never have a chance to just be kids. They perform crucial research in battling these diseases and the work they have done has helped to greatly increase the chance children have to keep on living once they are diagnosed. I give to St. Jude because I believe that every child deserves a chance to live and BE a child. To enjoy the simple things like afternoon wiffleball games on a spring afternoon, or sledding down a hill on a winter's day, or jumping in leaf piles on a fall Saturday, or swimming in the neighbor's pool with their friends in mid-July. The things that most kids take for granted because they don't realize that there's an alternative.

I'm not going to beg all of you to give to St. Jude, even though I think it's a wonderful cause. I will ask you to give if you can. I'll post the number up here next week as soon as I know what it is so that you can call and add to Country 102.5's tally for the two days. If you don't want to call, and you want to donate, please feel free to go to the link in my sidebar for St. Jude and donate there.

If you can't give financially, there are other things you can do to help children who are suffering from these diseases. You can either pass the word along about the wonderful work that St. Jude is doing to your friends, or you can go to Make a Child Smile and find out how you can send your love to specific children in need of cheer.

Here are some links that you might find helpful.

Country 102.5 2008 Radiothon Site
St. Jude's Homepage
Make a Child Smile

Thanks for reading. If you're interested in a perspective other than my own, here's a perspective written by Tony Sirico (better known as "Paulie Gaultieri" on The Sopranos).

Danielle Does the "News"

2008-03-06T22:31:00.003-05:00

I haven't taken a shot at the news in a bit, so here are some things that caught my eye recently:

- Use up those gift cards! Did you know that when a company files for bankruptcy, they'll suspend the use of gift cards until further notice? As consumer confidence tumbles and luxury item purchases move to the back burner, companies like The Sharper Image lose out. When they file for bankruptcy, that's bad news for consumers who have gift cards. So if you have any gift cards hanging around, you might want to use them (unless they're for Wal*Mart, who in rough economic times is highly unlikely to go bankrupt).

- Watch your mouth in South Pasedena, CA. Starting this year, the first week in March will be "No Cussing Week" there, and while there won't be any fines for playing your cuss-filled music too loud or flipping off that kid who accidentally kicked their ball in the road - there will be plenty of shame filled looks and tongue-clucking if you're caught! For SHAME!!!

- It's not just "women's work" anymore. Men are doing more work around the house then they were 40 years ago, a new study shows. Not only that, but the amount of time that men are spending on childcare has tripled. The payoff - one psychologist suggests more sex. Maybe that's why the amount of time on childcare has tripled...

- For a good time??? A dad who wanted to save money threw his two kids - ages 2 and 3 - in the dryer for a spin. Bitter irony are the fines and what not that he'll have to pay for burning his son. So much for that idea... genius.

- We got Death Star! Scientists observing star WR104 in the constellation Sagittarius have noticed that it's in a supernova stage, and that if/when it blows there's a good chance that Earth will be in the line of fire for some Gamma Ray action. The bad news - some scientists think that this kind of thing is what may have caused the mass extinction 443 million years ago. The good news is that some scientists believe that this could take hundreds of thousands of years to come to fruition... so there's just a *little* while before we need to really worry about space-suits outside.

And just for fun for those who didn't get my "We got Death Star!" reference, a YouTube clip.

Can't Sleep, Wanna Craft...

2008-03-05T06:46:00.002-05:00

I've been getting a craft bug lately, and I can't seem to get rid of it.

What started this? As you all know, I enjoy a good crochet project and have been moving forward in the crochet arena for a little while now. I also dabble in some drawing here and there and when the mood strikes me I'll pick up a latchhook kit or make something with paper. I've also got a scrapbook that is dying to be started/put together that I need to get my act in gear on. I have a general knowledge of sewing things by hand, but my skills in that area are poor to fair at best.

Then there are a couple of things that I don't know how to do yet that I would love to do. One of them is knitting, and I think I've mentioned that in here before. Even though it takes eons longer than crocheting to get a project done (unless you're making a korknisse from what I can tell) it seems like such a beautiful thing to knit. Another is sewing with a machine, something that I never quite learned how to do and would much rather do than sew by hand. Then I was poking around Craftster and was looking at some projects made with polymer clay. I couldn't help but think about how incredibly cool they were and how neat it must be to make these beads and figures by scuplting them.

Add to that the fact that last week, a friend of mine offered to pay me to crochet something for her as a gift to give to someone. That started the gears turning again. Crochet for MONEY?? Craft for MONEY?? That was not something I ever thought I could do before. I start thinking about the possibilities... and decided I needed original designs, or designs that people don't mind if I make something with and then sell. I spent a car ride on Saturday crocheting a quick scarf out of some bulky yarn and decided that it would be the start of my inventory build-up. I thought to myself, that was fast... I should get some more of that yarn!

The gears kept turning... I need... a SEWING MACHINE! I found a reasonably priced one and added it to my Wists so I wouldn't forget which it was. Now it's time to start saving up to buy the sewing machine... then I can learn how to use it, and make things out of leftover fabrics, and old clothes, and add those to my inventory...

Oh man, and I already have all that YARN...

Then Steve puts an idea in my head... can I make a Mario? I already wanted to come up with a pattern for a crocheted pencil scarf that was inspired by a knitted one I saw... now maybe an amigurumi Mario too... I don't know if I have the confidence for that... but the worst I can do is try...

And now I want to just make things. Make things for my inventory. Make things for other people. Make make make.

The craft train is chuggin' in my brains...

Anxiously Waiting

2008-03-04T07:38:00.002-05:00

February 13, 2008

In December 2004 when I was finishing up my psychology degree at UMass Lowell, all I knew was that I needed a job. I had bills, wanted to move out of my parents’ house, and I wanted a better car. As most college graduates do, I formatted my resume and posted it on monster.com for the hiring world to see. Not long after that, I received a call from AMETEK Aerospace & Defense to interview for an entry-level job working in their Contracts/Customer Service area. I interviewed both via telephone and in person and was hired for the position.

On my first day there, I was skeptical. I knew virtually nothing about the aerospace industry and had only ever been in a plane once. I did not see myself in the position for longer than a year, at which point I assumed that I would move on to bigger and better things. After all, why would a woman with a B.A. in psychology and zero engineering knowledge want a long-term position in the aerospace industry?

After about three months at AMETEK, I found myself in a pleasant state of surprise. What I found was that though I knew virtually nothing about what I was doing when I started in January 2005, I was hungry to learn as much as I could. I did research on what thermocouples, flowmeters, and pyrometers do. When I heard the name of an airplane that I hadn’t heard before, I tried to find out as much as I could about it. Driven by the adages that our department goes by–“know thy customer” and “know thy product”–I continually tried to learn as much as I could with each new issue that came up. When a new term that I didn't recognize was used in a meeting, I jotted it down and asked an engineer when the meeting was over. I became fascinated with how things worked on airplanes, and I engaged in the process of learning about how the industry works.

When one year had passed and I looked back over the time I spent at AMETEK, I realized something: I love my job. I love almost everything about it. I love that there is so much to learn about the history of the industry, and I love how much the industry is growing. I was assigned to teams for new development projects and began to learn more about our customers and the aircraft that they were developing. I find myself continually amazed at all the different kinds of aircraft that exist–both commercial and military–and I am excited when I can identify them when I see them flying overhead. Working in the Contracts/Customer Service department at AMETEK, I often find that I not only enjoy what I’m doing, but I can see myself paving a career path in the aerospace world.

Last summer I had the opportunity to visit one of our customers in Wichita, Kansas. I toured the factory where their aircraft are made and saw where AMETEK’s parts are placed on the planes. Back in my hotel room that night, I thought about the day and where aerospace fits into the bigger picture of the world. I concluded that by working for a company in the aerospace industry, my small role is one in a much bigger machine that contributes to the culture of our nation and the world. Commercial airlines get people to and from vacations, family reunions, business meetings, and all sorts of other things that keep us connected to each other. Military aircraft defend our nations and are tools that help to give people freedom. Med-Evac helicopters and Air-Cranes that drop water on wildfires help save the lives of our friends and loved ones.

The reason I can see myself paving a career in this industry isn’t because I love taking orders and entering them in the computer, and it’s not because I enjoy chasing expedites and finding out why a customer’s order is delayed. I can see myself in this field because I know that on a higher level, I am helping people. I want to pursue my M.B.A. in this field because I want to continue to learn, strive to grow, move forward, and continue to use my abilities and talents to contribute to the growth of the industry.

And now I sit, anxiously waiting for that letter telling me whether or not I am worthy enough to pursue my MBA with an Aviation Profession focus.

Dear DWC, please advise status of application. Love, Danielle xoxoxox

What Next?

2008-03-03T08:07:00.000-05:00

Ok folks, I need your help again. I'm trying to figure out which of these books to read next. Below are the books that I'm torn between with a link to a place you can find a description, and then there is a poll for you to vote in. Cast your vote, and if you have any comments to add please feel free as well.

Here are the books I am considering for a next read:

The Ragamuffin Gospel
Walt Disney: An American Original
Schindler's List
Mayada: Daughter of Iraq
A Farewell to Arms

And... here is the poll:

Polls close at 1:00 AM because I want to start reading tomorrow, so please be sure to cast your vote today!

February Poll Results

2008-03-01T09:43:00.003-05:00

The polls have closed! Here are the results from the February poll:

Which of the listed popular movie series is the best? (16 total votes)
- THE WINNER: Harry Potter, 5 votes (31%)
- Star Wars, 4 votes (25%)
- Die Hard, 2 votes (12%)
- Back to the Future, 2 votes (12%)
- Ghostbusters, 1 vote (6%)
- Pirates of the Carribean, 1 vote (6%)
- Lord of the Rings, 1 vote (6%)

Thanks to everyone who cast a vote! This month's poll is now open to the right in the sidebar. Send your friends on over to my blog to cast their ballots too (plus, who doesn't like more readers really).

Blog the Vote

2008-02-29T07:48:00.006-05:00

Without disclosing my own stance, I'd like to take the opportunity to encourage my readers to make an effort to get involved in the political process.

This year's race for the presidential nomination has been exciting and heated on both sides of the aisle. Up until the primaries started and the candidates started to get their delegates in a row for their respective potential nominations, there were something like 8 or 9 people in each party who wanted to replace George Bush as our nation's leader. You can't get away from the political advertisements or political news stories on TV and radio. Sometimes this can all be overwhelming and hard to sort out sometimes, which can make it difficult to get involved in the process.

We as Americans have the right to vote and choose who leads our nation, which is something that people around the world are constantly fighting for. However, not everyone in the nation is voting. In 2000, roughly 52% of the population who are eligible to vote got out there and voted. This means that half of the people are speaking up for all of the people. While they're expecting that number to be higher this year, it still will likely not be 100%, or even 90% of the eligible population.

If you're not registered to vote, I encourage you to do so. Sure, we're only one vote individually, but that one vote could break a tie and that's where the power lies.

Some Links For Your Reference*:

On the Candidates:
Republicans: John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul
Democrats: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton
Green Party: Ralph Nader

Other Links:
CNN Politics (They have a good breakdown of delegate counts and percentages on the front page)
Political News Daily
The Electoral College
Rock the Vote
Register to Vote (Also has some additional voter education links)

*If you're reading this and you have some additional links that can help people learn more about the voting process or the current candidates, please add them to the comments. Or just comment anyways.

Where's Bert?

2008-02-26T19:29:00.005-05:00

OK, I have no idea why but I really really love my latest crochet project. Some of you may have seen him already, but he's my new eyeglasses holder.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you: Ernie.

I found the pattern for Ernie a while back and he's been sitting in my Ravelry Queue for a little while now, just patiently waiting to come to life... er... whatever. I whipped him up in just a couple of days and now he sits proudly on my dresser, patiently waiting for me to go to bed and put my glasses on him.

And I'll have you all know that last night when I did just that, it caused Steve to laugh and tell me how much he loves me. It's a good thing he knew how big of a dork I am when he asked me to marry him! Then I showed a picture of Ernie to my mom today, and she suggested that maybe I make one for Dad for his birthday because he's always forgetting where he puts his glasses down. Only she suggested a different character. I'll save that for later, incase that comes out equally as awesome.

At any rate, that's Ernie. And he's awesome. He might be one of my favorite projects so far.

"Get the cards..."

2008-02-23T11:02:00.005-05:00

Springtime. I know it's spring because she's pointing out the birds perched on the feeder outside her window. "The finches are out." A sure sign that spring has arrived in New England; as far as Nana was concerned that meant that soon the flowers would start blooming. That, and the Sox' first home game is flashing across the TV sitting on the kitchen table.

We sit in her kitchen. My brother is standing behind my aunt, my cousins are behind me in the living room and my sisters sitting next to me. They came up with Jim from Tennessee to see me, he came to see Nana.

Nana sits in her chair, gazing out the window most of the time. She smiles at us when we laugh at each other, something that happens often. Her attention returns to the TV momentarily; Mike Lowell just got a home run. Sox ahead, 1-0. She smiles again, "They're going to win again this year."

"Sure, Ma." Gail shifts in her chair and takes a sip of her Diet Coke. She asks me what I'm doing this week, and do I want to grab dinner. I say I'd love to. Josh and Amanda have to leave; they have to work this afternoon. I ask Dawn if she's going to Tennessee with Jim or if she's flying back. She said she's going back with Jim, Jim says he's leaving tonight. I turn to Becky to ask her when she's leaving. Her mouth opens to answer...

And then she's gone. She has disappeared. Jim, Dawn, Josh, Amanda, Gail... they're all gone. It's me and Nana, sitting in the kitchen just finished dinner. The local Channel 5 news is on, the weatherman telling us to expect more snow this winter. We chat for a minute or two after I throw away the plates from our Chinese food.

"If you go under there and get the card shuffler, and then go down the hall and get the cards we can play." I reach down to the cupboard to get the shuffler, and she's still talking to me. I have to look through her rings soon...

Wait... it occurs to me...

I walk over to her chair and close my eyes. She's still talking to me, though now I don't know what she's saying. I reach out to her chair where I know she was sitting moments ago. I put my hands out to feel...

And she's not there. She's gone. I fall to my knees in tears, alone in her kitchen.

I hear the sound of a snowblower getting rid of 6 inches of snow. I hear Steve's slow, sleeping breathing next to me. 9:08 AM, Saturday morning. I take a deep breath, and get out of bed. There's a lot to do today.

Six Words

2008-02-21T22:09:00.003-05:00

I saw this on my friend Kristin's blog (see "Kristin's Corner" on the blogroll to the right) and thought it was a neat idea.

The exercise is to write your life's biography in six words and accompany it with an image. After two days of thinking about it and trying to sum 27.5(ish) years into 6 words, here's what I came up with. It encompasses me in the past, definitely me in the present, and how I hope to be in the future:

I always want to keep growing.

What about you? Do you have six words?

A Couple of Quick Things

2008-02-20T08:25:00.004-05:00

Very quickly...

- I finished the Sunshine Bunny last night (see below) for Grammy Kathy's birthday gift. As I stood back and looked at it, I decided I LOVE crocheting and I even know why. It is so cool to start with a pile of string essentially (yarn) and end up with a something after a day or two or five.

- I've also decided that my cousin Krista is my Guitar Hero Hero. She railed on the expert level last night and it was amazing. 86% on "Evenflow" her first time trying it.

- I need to start watching the clock more at night so I get more sleep.

- I found this website yesterday and was fascinated by it. It's all about gyroscopes (which AMETEK used to make for navigation purposes until about 12 years ago). Very interesting stuff.

- I am trying very hard to practice patience about waiting to hear back on whether or not I got into Daniel Webster's MBA program.

- April 14th is not that far away if I do.

Knight Industries Three Thousand

2008-02-17T23:18:00.003-05:00

That's right. K.I.T.T. is back.

Kind of.

Steve and I just watched what I am presuming is the premier of the new Knight Rider series. It was billed as a movie, but the rumor I heard is that it's actually going to be a series. For those of you who know Steve personally, you know that this means that he was very excited when he found out about this movie yesterday.

This time around, K.I.T.T. is a hawt Ford Mustang. The driver is Mike Traceur - a less hokey guy than Michael Knight was, even though he's Michael Knight's son. The premise is the same: super awesome super-powered talking car, dashing young man "driving" around in said car saving the day. I have to admit, after watching this new installment of the series (I'm considering it a much better continuation, actually) I am excited and hopeful for more episodes. They did an awesome job with the revival and I'm sure that tons of old Knight Rider fans agree with me.

Since "24" hasn't been on this year, the new Knight Rider is a suitable replacement. I deem it so.

I leave you with this interview with The Hoff. I think he's intoxicated. Either that or just... well... The Hoff. Hokey Hoff.

Some Things Just Shouldn't Be Made

2008-02-16T09:26:00.005-05:00

Since I joined Ravelry last fall and since I have gotten more excited about reading patterns and crocheting to them, my search for fun or cool or awesome patterns has led me down some odd and disturbing roads sometimes.

I have a thing for page-a-day calendars. With my new-found love for crochet patterns, this year I got myself the 2008 Crochet-A-Day pattern calendar. Some of the patterns have been fun/cool/awesome and I've held on to those. Others that I don't think I'll ever do I have offered up to a co-worker who also crochets, and if she's not interested it goes to the recycling bin. Here is one that is destined for the recycling bin:

Lace-Up Moccasins

Yes, I found it on eBay when I googled it. Yes, I noticed that the seller called it part of an annual publication. And yes, I also noticed that whatever poor sap ended up buying it paid a total of $2.50 after shipping (which, I can't believe they charged a dollar for shipping when a standard $0.41 stamp would have sufficed).

Seeing that pattern yesterday prompted me to think of some other patterns I've seen that just should NEVER have been brought to fruition. Here are some examples, and I'll preface this by saying that these are the ones that disturbed me. Deeply.(Beware - some of them might be NSFW or you might not want your mom [we'll call that NSFM - Not Safe for Mom] around for. Yes, I just said that about crochet patterns.)

Example One
**Link fixed**Example Two

Then there are some things that are just plain ugly. Rather than post a million links here of those ugly things, here's a link to a wonderful collection of crocheted uglyness (I might have mentioned it before, but oh well).

What Not To Crochet

I'm sure at some point in time I'll inadvertantly make something that's ugly, but I promise I'll try not to. And please, be honest if I do.

Apologetic Cynic

2008-02-14T18:27:00.000-05:00

My apologies are extended to anyone over the years who has fallen victim to my "Why I Hate Valentine's Day" rant.

Seriously. Let me explain. (This is a longer post, so you're warned now.)

Valentine's Day has a pretty rich history. From what I can gather from the reading I've done on the holiday (and I read and then wrote this, so I might forget stuff), it started as a Christian holiday to honor 3 different men named Valentine who were martyrs. In fact - there used to be 3 different Valentine's Days. Sometime during the medieval period and/or the Roman Empire people started to use it as a time to celebrate fertility of women. One culture used to sacrifice a goat and then slap women with it, and they welcomed this because they believed they would become fertile. It was also a time used to celebrate the beginning of bird-mating season and the coming of spring. It also became a time for courting and often times men would buy the woman of their heart's desire gifts during this time to woo her.

But then things started to change. In 1847, a woman in Worcester MA decided to make the first Valentine's Day cards and sold them in she and her father's general store. This ballooned over the next 100 or so years to more cards, chocolates, stuffed animals, and flowers. Then in the 1980's, the diamond industry started to convince the men of America that they needed to impress the ladies with jewelry too.

Somewhere along the line, a wonderful festival of love, happiness, and merrymaking became a commercially driven pressure-filled holiday. Valentine's Day became dominated with the colors of red and pink, and came in second place behind only Christmas as having the most greeting cards purchased and sent. It became a holiday filled with pressure for men to shower their ladies with gifts, and a day for people who didn't have that special someone to sit at home miserable and mow down on Ben & Jerry's. The chocolate and flower industries flourish on these days selling cliche heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and marking up bunches of roses to ridiculous margins.

All I could ever think was - Why?

When we were little kids (at least for me anyways), Valentine's Day was different. It was an opportunity to show everyone why they were special, an excuse for a classroom party. Everyone got each other little cards with their favorite super heroes or cartoon characters on them, and even the bully of the class was caught smiling. It was a day when we were encouraged to love everyone and to show everyone that they were special.

Then 7th grade happened.

In the 7th grade there were no more parties with paper bag mailboxes taped to our desks. It was the first year we were left on our own to celebrate Valentine's Day. I went to the store and found some cute little cards and lollipops to hand out to my friends. I was one of maybe 3 people who did this, and I felt dumb. All other gifts and cards that were given were between the boyfriends and girlfriends of the middle school, while the poor 12 year olds who didn't have a significant other - which were most of them - felt stupid and depressed while the other kids carried their stuffed animals and balloons around. This trend only got worse through high school, and by the time I was 15 (even though I had a boyfriend) I grew to detest the holiday. Until I was about 20, I wore black on February 14th out of protest.

Seriously I did.

As I got older, I heard some of my peers talking about how they expected their boyfriends and fiances to get them jewelry and say things like "If I don't get flowers on Valentine's Day I'll be devastated". I watched girls sit in their dorm rooms and either get drunk, cry, or be bitter. I used to drive by a flower shop to get to work when I worked in Stoneham, and from Feb. 13-15 the price of their roses skyrocketed from $12/dozen to $40/dozen. I heard stories of people who either had to wait 3 hours to be seated at a restaurant or who had to make their reservations months in advance to get dinner. I heard voices of frustration and recounts of fights because of long waits, or too much money spent, or not the right gift given. And I wanted NO part of it.

This works out for Steve because he has less pressure on him this week. But at the same time, for a while he had to suffer through my cynicism and complaining about how dumb Valentine's Day is. "I don't need Hallmark to tell me when to love you" is a standard sentence to escape my lips this time of year. Anyone who comes in my path this time of year has usually heard my standard rant, and how no I don't get or want flowers, and how no I don't get or want jewelry, etc. etc. etc.

Here's the reality: I can celebrate Valentine's Day without being a codgery old man (in attitude only) like I've been doing for the last 12 years, and I can do so without participating in the commercialism of the day. I can spread the love and encourage others to spread the love to each other. This day could mean something again. To everyone.

I can make my own cards, cookies, candies, and give them to lots of people. I can continue my tradition with Steve of a non-traditional date and gift night on Valentine's Day. I can do all sorts of things without complaining about the over-commercialization of the day and encourage other people to celebrate in different/creative ways.

I vow to start right now. Valentine's Day 2008.

And I again offer my apologies to anyone who's ever heard the "Why I Hate Valentine's Day" rant. From now on you'll only hear the "How I Work Against Commercialization of the Day" discussion. I'll also do the same for Mother's and Father's Days, because the same applies - only without the past history of hatred and instead a deep appreciation for my parents.

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For More Information:
History Channel on V-Day
Antivalentinism
Hallmark Holiday