Happy Post-Thanksgiving!

It looks like posting once a month is becoming a habit for me. I'll see if I can do a little bit better next month.

Well, I hope everyone had a good holiday. The weather here has finally turned into true fall/winter weather. It was almost 80 degrees on Tuesday (I think we set a record), and then Wednesday it was in the low 40s for the high. It's been cold the rest of the week, and last night we even had some stray snow coming off the backside of a front which hit the north and southeastern parts of the state. It's been cold and mostly overcast (of course, the second I wrote that, the sun came out), and I'm loving it. I've been holed up at home all weekend, and that's where I intend to stay.

Life has been truly insane the last few months. Work is more crazy than normal--more employees going and new ones coming, it never seems to end. I've been working on my own big project, and then a major player up and left, which left my boss with a huge, very important and crucial-for-the-company amount of work dumped in his lap. Not good. I've been running around trying to get the end-of-the-year shopping done (I try to stay out of all stores except the grocery from Thanksgiving until New Year's), and it's been hard to keep up. It's been nice to just stop for a few days and enjoy the quiet (or as much quiet as I can get--my apartment complex is driving me crazy, but I'll address that later).

I seem to want to nest more than normal for this time of year. I think it's maybe because I need that security and comfort that home provides more than usual. I've been trying to eat better, so that means cooking more. And then, lord have mercy, I truly jumped off the ledge--I started baking bread.

My mom baked bread quite a bit when I was a kid, but it was always the same thing--white bread in loaves and rolls. She always baked the bread too brown for my taste, but I loved tearing the soft insides out of one of her warm rolls--yummy. I've never had any desire to bake bread, and I can't tell you what started this mess, but I have been having a fabulous time:


This was my first loaf, made 2 weeks ago from a mix. It's European herb cheese bread, and it was awesome and surprisingly easy, even with the kneading and waiting.


Anyone who knows me will know what comes next--I'm now obsessed with bread, just what my waistline DOESN'T need. But I figure I can take a lot of this to work and pass it off to my coworkers, so it can't be all bad.

This was the first loaf out of my new breadmaker (see?--obsession), a french loaf made from scratch, just water, flour, sugar, and yeast:




So simple, but soooo good. I made a pasta casserole to go with it--vegetable rotini mixed with a mixture of yellow squash, zucchini, onion, orange and yellow sweet peppers, tomato paste, italian seasoning, and lots of cheese:


Add a salad, and this was a great meal.

Today's bread experiment is the NY Times's No Knead Bread recipe from last year. It's a slow rise that takes about 20 hours to complete. I'm anxious to see how it turns out.

You will probably be shocked to know that I actually knitted some a couple of weeks ago--I know, it's hard to believe. I picked up the sock I started LAST November and did about 20 rows. I couldn't even remember the pattern, how sad is that? My plans this afternoon include trying to sit down and spin or knit a bit. I've been reading a lot lately, and I'm not talented enough to read and knit at the same time.

The garden is about done for this year. This week's freezes have taken out most of what's left. I have a flat of pansies that I still need to plant, maybe later next week when it warms up a bit. I just lucked out and hit the plant stand on its last weekend and bought a huge mum plant for less than $5.


As for my apartment, things here are not getting much better. We had a new manager/maintenance/grounds guy, and he and his wife were here a month and then were gone. Apparently we have a new management company, something we didn't know about until they left the note about the manager leaving. This last Tuesday night, a couple of guys kicked in the door of an apartment in the building across from mine. Luckily it was only a little after 7 pm, and someone saw them and ran them off, but I think they did get something from the apartment. It's just been one thing after another, and it's not making me very happy about staying here. Also, we have a new anti-illegal immigrant law here in Oklahoma, and I just read today that if a landlord is found to have illegals living in one of his properties, that property can be seized by the state. I'm sure that would mean that all the other tenants would be tossed out so the property could be sold. That doesn't make me feel very secure, either. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what options I have other than moving into another apartment, but I continue to explore my options.

Unless something intervenes, Missy and I are planning on taking this Friday off to go play--OKC, you've been warned. (And Missy, you will probably be getting bread.) I'll be wearing my new t-shirt:


I think that's enough of my ramblings for now. Maggie and I hope you all have a safe and warm weekend.

I am now a certified "Bad Blogger"

This should be obvious, if you look at the date of my last post. I've become totally lazy, and my blogging has suffered--not really, though, since I don't seem to have much to talk about lately. But I'm here now, so let's see, what's new . . . .

The weather is definitely moved into Fall--we are having cooler nights and somewhat cooler days (finally). It looks like the first of next week will bring lows in the 40s and highs in the 50s, which means that the garden will start saying goodbye for this year. It's tried hard to rally these last few weeks--I've had a few tomatoes, and several plants have bloomed again, but I think this will be the start of the last hurrah. At some point I'll have to tear everything out, throw it away, store it away, and then get the pansies and mums planted--hopefully I can start doing some of that this weekend and into next week.

And hold the presses--I actually have plans for a Saturday night! My last place of employment is having a fundraiser in conjuction with another group this weekend. It's an "All City Wine Tasting" and should be a blast. I will get to see some old friends, and I've talked a few people from my current job into going as well, so it should be fun. Best part--a friend of mine has volunteered to be the designated driver, so I can have as much fun as I want (although it won't be as much as the last time, for sure--ugh!).

No news on the fiber front--I have been trying to do other things around the house, although I pretty much hit a wall a few weeks ago. I had some kind of a gut bug for about a week, and when I recovered from that, I just didn't have the desire to start back up again. But I've been piddling--I bought several frames (on sale for 40 and 50% off) for some beautiful winery posters I've had for years. I ordered a cute little two-door buffet from Target.com for my dining room, but the box has been in the back of the truck for weeks now. I need to con someone into coming over and helping me carry it up the stairs. I did get my second bathroom cleaned up--I've been using it as storage for all my garden stuff, but I still need to move much of what's outside back inside, so I'll probably have to reorganize all that. And I have so much else to do, and just no desire to even get started. I hate feeling like this--I have to push myself to get anything done, and it absolutely exhausts me. It's ridiculous.

Oh, and remember the two kitties that have been hanging around my building? The couple who lived downstairs and fed them moved out a week or so ago. I didn't see the kitties for a while, and I thought maybe they had caught them and taken them with them. Unfortunately, that's not the case. One of them has reappeared and yes, you guessed it, it has "adopted" me. Talk about a sucker--I must have it tattooed on my forehead--because I seem to be now taking care of this cat, and I've even named him--Tux, because he's totally black except for a small spot of white on his chest. Actually, he's very sweet (now that I'm feeding and playing with him), and I'm enjoying the kitteh love, but man, I will probably worry my head off when winter comes. He canNOT come in this house--Maggie would eat him alive. He's tried to follow me in the door a couple of times, and I have to be careful or Maggie will see him and bolt right out the door. I had to have a heart-to-heart talk with Maggie about Tux, and she's not happy about it--she can't figure out why I keep taking food out the door. I'm hoping there will be peace, as long as I can keep them away from each other.

Work is crazy--many, many changes happening there, and it's pretty tense these days. The employee I supervise has taken a job in another department, and in the last two weeks I've had to interview several people for the position. I was lucky to find someone very qualified who could start immediately, so that was a positive thing, and while I'm sad to lose my current employee, I'm very happy for her as well--it's a good move for her. I have to tell you that these interviews were very depressing for me. Most of the people I talked to were unemployed and just barely getting by. It just reaffirmed to me how hard life is for many people these days. The economy is just not very good, no matter what the pundits say.

Missy tagged me for this:

FAB FOUR MEME

4 Jobs I’ve Held
CME Coordinator
Word Processor
Executive Assistant
Receptionist

4 Films I Could Watch Over and Over
The Court Jester
All of the Lord of the Rings Movies
The Manchurian Candidate (the original)
White Christmas

4 TV Shows I Watch
Bill Moyers Journal
The Simpsons
Doctor Who
The Red Green Show

4 Places I’ve Lived
Meridian, Oklahoma
Guthrie, Oklahoma
Stillwater, Oklahoma
Edmond, Oklahoma

4 Favorite Foods
Chocolate
Ice Cream
Pizza
Chicken

4 Websites I Visit Everyday
Democratic Underground
Talking Points Memo
Americablog
Crooks and Liars
(I've become a political geek--HELP!!)

4 Favorite Colors
red
sage green
blue
purple

4 Places I Would Love to Be Right Now
Vermont - it's leaf-peaping time
Colorado - same reason
Montreal
lost in the Côte d'Azur, France

4 Names I Love But Would/Could Not Use for my Children
I can't answer this, because I've never thought about it.

By the way, go over to Missy's and wish her a happy birthday on Sunday.

I'll try to be back sooner rather than later . . . .

September is for--nesting.

Yes, I'm still alive. I apologize for neglecting the blog, but I've not really put hands to fiber in a while, and I've been focusing on other things lately. I will do better, but it will probably be a few weeks before I can begin blogging again on a regular basis.

For some reason, September has become the month to "nest"--or actually, to CLEAN. I guess it was the cooler temps that kicked in my nesting gene, because I've been jonesing for a cleaner, neater lifestyle for weeks. I took the first week of the month off and spent it working in the apartment. I'm proud of the progress I made, but sadly, I didn't get as far as I wanted--I just don't have that kind of stamina any more. The big accomplishment was cleaning the fridge (don't ask, we'll just leave it at that). I'm now enjoying a clean and relative empty refrigerator, and I'm hoping it will stay that way for quite a while.

My mother used to tell me that I took after my Aunt Wanda, my dad's sister. I always wanted to take that as a compliment--Wanda was very creative and was always making something. I loved to go to her house to see what she was making next. However, the down side to my sweet auntie was that she was the world's worst packrat. There was not a free spot in her entire house. You even had to clear a path to get to the bathroom. It is only now in my older years that I see that I could be headed in the same direction.

So, I have spent quite a big of time throwing stuff out. In the week I was off, I filled up half a trash dumpster full of stuff from the living and dining rooms--mostly magazines and junk mail. While I have a ways to go, it feels so much better now, I can't tell you.

The problem now is that I need storage. I'm off to Target tomorrow to buy a cabinet to use as a pantry--I don't have much storage space in my tiny little kitchen, so I've been using the linen closet as a pantry, but I'm tired of that arrangement.

The bedroom is a total disaster--not a lot of junk, but again, I need some storage and organization. I did go to Garden Ridge this weekend (and remind me next time to take a chaperone with me-I spent way too much money there) and found a new quilt for the bed and some things for the bathrooms and kitchen. Things are definitely looking up!

As for the garden, I'm still watering, but it's on its own for now--I don't have the time or the desire to do a lot. I have a second growth spurt of tomato plants, so I may have some fall tomatoes after all. At some point, probably after October 1, I'll get out there and start tearing stuff down for the winter, but right now I have other priorities.

Life here at the apartment hacienda has been worrisome, to say the least--lots of new neighbors and lots of new problems, some of which have included both the fire and police departments. While things seem to have calmed down some, I not sure how much things will improve. It definitely has me thinking about other options.

I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful fall weather, even though it's not really Fall yet!