Now We're Cooking - Bread Pudding.

So I'm selecting YouTube videos (a new one each day) for my friend to put on his website at Zdaily and came upon this one just now. Yum.

Now We're Cooking - Bread Pudding.

Something I Just Channeled

I don't talk about it much, but I'm always in touch with Spirit. It's like a connection that just is never severed. I'm so used to it now that I don't think about it all the time, but I sometimes pull it all back in and remember to give thanks.

I'm reading a book right now, "Home to Holly Springs" by Jan Karon. It's the first in the Father Timothy novels. It's got to be the 6th or 7th or even 8th that I've read by Jan Karon about Father Tim and Mitford. Anyway, I've mostly been crying through the whole thing, no waiting for the end on this one to let loose. It's a terrific book. I'll write more about it in my book blog, but out of the blue as I was heaving a big ole sigh and wiping my eyes Somebody in Spirit just said to me, "It’s all a prayer no matter what is said just like it’s all a polka no matter where you put your feet."

Where I Read Books

There’s nothing more satisfying to me than reading a book. I’ve had a streak of good luck lately with the ones I’ve been picking up at the library. Back in April of last year I decided to write reviews about the books I read. I can’t say as how they are really good literature or that they would, in any way, make a mark on the book reviewing world, but I’m having fun with them. Maybe over time I’ll get better at it. For now, I think it’s fun to write the reviews. And, since April of 2007? I’ve reviewed 56 books. The blog is Where I Read Books.

Pauline as Pop Art

I stumbled upon The Warholizer where you upload a picture and it is converted into pop art.

Oh, Well....That Sucked

Channeled Recipe – Dump Cake

So, it’s Mother’s Day and I wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary. It had been a long time since we’d done a channeled recipe and that’s what I was up for.

So, it’s in the oven. I do hope it turns out. Actually, if you see this on the web it did. Otherwise we’d have another go at it.

And, I argued with them through the whole thing…I wish I was more gracious about this. Maybe if I did it more often and wasn’t so faint of heart and a more daring-do sort of person.

Dump Cake ala Seth and Assorted other Folk in Spirit

Grease and flour the little pan. I believe it is 9”x9”. We won’t know until it comes out of the oven. I’m not measuring it now. It’s hot. But, they say it is 9”x9”. We’ll go with that. If it’s any different I’ll fix the recipe.

Pour in half of the cake mix. I used Pillsbury yellow cake mix.

Prepare the apples: I peeled and diced up about 4 or 5 apples. There were some brown spots and I had to cut those out, so if you’re using really primo apples you’ll probably only need 4 of them. In the end it measured 2 cups. I put them into a sauce pan and added one TBS of butter and ¼ cup of brown sugar. Cook them up a bit. The juice from the apples comes out so you’ll have a bit of liquid to work with. But, watch them towards the end…it could all start burning on you if you’re not watching. In all? About 3 or 4 minutes. Just until they’re soft. Oh, and throw in a handful of raisins towards the beginning so they plump up nice too.

Pour the apple and raisin mixture over top of the dry cake mix in the pan. Sprinkle about half of the remaining cake mix over the apples and raisins. Pour over a whole stick (1/2 cup) of butter that you’ve melted in the microwave. Now, top this with what is left of the cake mix. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar if you want to. Oh, and I sprinkled a little cinnamon sugar into the apples as they cooked too.

Mix it up a little bit. Not until it is smooth. Just lumps and bumps and it looks sort of interesting. Top with a ¼ cup of nuts.

Put it into a 350 degree F oven for 45 minutes. I’m using a convection oven, so if you’ve got a regular oven this might go for an hour. Use your cake tester to see if it is done.

I suppose you’d better let it cool a bit before you cut into it. I imagine this would be really good warm with vanilla ice cream.

The Results: It burned. At half an hour the top was like totally burned. So, if and when I do this again I think the oven should be at 325 and the time about half an hour and I watch it like a hawk. I ate the part that didn't burn and it was good with vanilla ice cream like I thought it would be.

How To Draw

Oh, I have to go investigate this. How to draw stuff. I'm such a ditz about drawing and any little tips thrill me to death. So, at How Stuff Works there's an entire huge, absolutely huge section on how to draw stuff. As I do it I might even post my attempts!

The Vegetable Orchestra

My mother always said, "Don't play with your food."

Farting Around at YouTube

Now, I have to go work....no more fooling around.

Relaxing After Dinner

I thought I'd post a series of pictures I took this evening. This first one is Sheba enjoying the last of the afternoon sun. She's over on our neighbor Phil's porch.

This is the bouquet Dennis brought home for me. That man is so good to me. I always like to get some pictures on the first day or so while the blooms look so fresh.

Mattie preferred to sit up on the ledge where I've got my kitchen garden: oregano and chives.

Samantha is our guard cat. She watches over the neighborhood and ensures the family is safe. Her interest in flowers is fleeting.

Sam is in the distance in this shot. I'm still trying to figure out how my camera works so the flowers in the forground are in focus and Sam in the background is not. By the way, I'm using a Sony MVC-FD75 FD Mavica 10x Optical Zoom with a 3 ½ inch floppy disk.

Shelby is very interested in the flowers.

The Dog, The Cat and The Rat

Gregory Pike, from Telluride, Colorado talks about his friends.

Shelby Peeking Out

Hidden completely from the world under the bitty kitty cover Shelby peeks out at me.

Waving a Magic Wand

Don’t you sometimes just wish somebody would wave a magic wand and make it all be different? That’s what movies are for. Here’s a technique you can use to make it seem like somebody has been waving a magic wand in your life. I call it the indirect approach. It sometimes takes awhile, but it does eventually work.

First you have in mind what you want to have happen in your life. Then, you figure out to the best of your ability what steps you would need to take to make that desirable thing happen in your life. I can almost guarantee you that there will be 25 steps you’ll need to take that you haven’t thought of yet, but don’t worry about it. Anyway, you pick one of the steps and start working on it. Nothing seems to be happening. So, you abandon that step and do another one instead. Your enthusiasm has not yet flagged. You work on the next step for awhile and nothing seems to be happening. So, you abandon that one too and rock back on your heels considering. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea.

You forget about it.

Now here comes the very weird part of all of this. This is the part I’m still trying to figure out. Whatever it is that you were going after starts to happen anyway. Except, it is not exactly as easy as you thought it was going to be. It isn’t a straight line to getting what you want. Things, other things in your life need to change. Mostly, it’s about you changing. That’s really the only thing you’ve got control over anyway.

But, this is about focusing in on something really intently, the wanting, the desiring, the needing of whatever it is that you want to make happen and then letting go of it. Forgetting about it, but still somehow in the back of your mind having a faint glimmer of the original wish so that you begin to almost unconsciously chip away at that list of requirements you thought you would need to accomplish in order to get to wherever it was that you wanted to be going.

Here’s an interesting part about this too. Okay, so in the beginning you had a list of 18 things you figured you’d need to know or do in order to accomplish said thing. You started in on doing them, but in the doing of the first 2 items the next 16 didn’t need to be done exactly the way you’d lined them out on paper, they changed slightly.

Mrs. Hughes

Watch Mrs. Hughes. This is hilarious.

Si, Seniorita

I got a lot done today. Deedude started two loads of laundry for us and I finished them up. I also got the ironing done. Also went to NetLibrary.com and downloaded a Pimsleur Spanish Language Audio Book and did the first lesson. “Perdon, Senorita. Habla Inglis? No, Senior. No entiendo.” Anyway, it was a good half an hour I spent with my first Spanish conversation. There is no accompanying book to read so I’m sort of guessing at the spelling. But, anywhere I can learn something about Spanish is going to be good. And, did I mention it was free? I was able to get a membership to NetLibrary via the Oakland public library. If you’ve got a local library card I’m sure you would have no problem signing up. You can download audio books or e-books. I’ve got 21 days with the Spanish course and saved the audio book to my desktop. So, I felt pretty good about that.

Tomorrow is a big day. We’ve got an appointment to take Captain Jack into the vets. I hope DeeDude is able to get him into the carrier. So far, neither one of us has ever been able to even touch Jack. I’m sure I’ll hear about it later on. I’ll be at work when all of this unfolds.

Oh, and I went to Curves too. Also, went two rounds on my Plarn tote bag. Plarn is plastic yarn. You make it out of plastic grocery bags. Mine is about 3 inches high now. At the rate I’m going it will be August before it’s ready to actually tote anything.

After Note: We cancelled Captain Jack's appointment with our vet and decided to spend time on getting him tame. We thought shoving him into the carrier, probably sustaining scratches up and down our arms and a trip to the vets would be too cruel right now. So, I figured one way to start is with food. It's his favorite thing around here anyway. He didn't like that I held out slices of ham to him yesterday morning and eventually took a swipe for me to drop it and let him eat it on his own terms. What a cat. Anyway, it's progress of a sort.

The Shit Key

You know how with computers you can do these short cuts by pressing the Alt key and something else, or the Ctrl key and another key and do some quick operation? Well, I was just surfing the blogs at Blog Explosion and happened upon somebody who was explaining some neat shortcut that could be accomplished by pressing the Shift key and another. Except, my eyes, not being as good as they once were read Shit.

Look, I just woke up. It was this odd little spike of adrenalin as I read about the Shit key. I wondered for a second or two where on anybody’s keyboard there could possibly be a Shit key. This stopped my forward momentum for just a brief glitch in time. And, then I looked at it again. No, it was the Shift key. Oh, my world settled down again. The keyboard is safe again.

Getting old sucks.

Menopause Jewelry

Here's another one from my sister:

My husband, being unhappy with my mood swings, bought me a mood ring the other day so he would be able to monitor my moods.

We've discovered that when I'm in a good mood, it turns green. When I'm in a bad mood, it leaves a big frickin red mark on his forehead.

My Private Part Died Today!

Here's another one my sister just sent me:

An old man, Mr. Goldstein, was living the last of his life in a nursing home. One day he appeared to be very sad and depressed. Nurse Tracy asked if there was anything wrong. "Yes, Nurse, said Mr. Goldstein, "My Private Part died today, and I am very sad." Knowing her patients were forgetful and sometimes a little crazy, she replied, "Oh, I'm so sorry, Mr. Goldstein, please accept my condolences."

The following day, Mr. Goldstein was walking down the hall with his Private Part hanging out of his pajamas, when he met Nurse Tracy. "Mr. Goldstein," she said, "You shouldn't be walking down the hall like that. Please put your Private Part back inside your pajamas. "But, Nurse, " replied Mr. Goldstein, "I told you yesterday that my Private Part died." "Yes, you did tell me that, but why is it hanging out of your pajamas?" "Well, he replied, "Today's the viewing."

Do You Hear That Flushing Noise?

If I had my druthers I think I'd take next Wednesday the 26th and maybe Thursday the 27th off from work. I believe spending a really quiet time at home would be the best way to ease past a bunch of really low biorhythms.

If you can't quite see them in the upper picture Emotional (in green), Physical (in red) and Intellectual (in blue) are all in the toilet.

In the second picture Passion (in yellow), Wisdom (in light blue) and Mastery (in fusia) are also in the toilet.

You can get your own biorhythms read for free by going to http://www.facade.com/ and clicking on the biorhythm button. All you need to know is your birthday.

This doesn't exactly mean it's going to be a horrible day for me. It means I might have a particularly trying day. I know everything will be okay in the end. I know all will be well. I also know I don't want to burn any bridges or sign any contracts that day and I certainly want to keep my mouth shut.

However, if what goes down also comes back up again then on April 10th it's all going to look a lot better:

Where I Got Interrupted

When you are talking to somebody what is the thing you want them to remember about you when you walk away? Is it that you kept saying, “Uh” every other word? Is it that your personal hygiene might be improved by a look in the mirror every once in awhile to make sure you don’t have spinach stuck on your front tooth or you’ve got a booger sitting there waiting for you to do something about? Maybe they’re getting along in years and come from an earlier time and don’t understand the slang you use incessantly. Or, maybe they cringe every time you say, “You know”…which you do say a lot.

Why would you even care? Well, if it’s some girl or guy you’re trying to impress leaving them with a favorable memory will make it easier for you to talk to them next time. What about if you’re going on a job interview? Here’s a pointer. Don’t talk about yourself so much. In other words, keeping your mouth shut and not volunteering information is likely to get you the job more than opening your shirt and baring all.

Does this make sense?

It depends. If it were you going on a job interview you’d certainly, at this point in your life, want to bare all. Tell them you are psychic. Tell them you have many friends you’ve made on the internet. Tell them you regularly purchase things online and use your credit card and paypal to pay for it.

Why are you saying these things? I was writing something. Is this helpful?

Yes, we feel it is.

Well, I guess it wasn’t all that an interesting blog anyway. It was sort of lecturish. I guess.

Yes, that it is.

Is?

Well, you haven’t covered it over and deleted it have you?

No.

So, it is in the present tense.

Right. I want a drink.

You don’t drink anymore.

Right. I think I’ll make some lemonade.

What Will They Think of Next?

Who would ever have thought in the early days of the internet that one day you’d be able to google the instruction manual you can’t find. The days of looking for some things are over.

Fraud

I got an email from somebody complaining about me endorsing an absolute fraud on my website. I spent a bit of time looking for the link she was talking about and finally located it coming in as a Google ad. So, I clicked on it (Gods of Google please don’t dun me for a bad click...what can I say?…I was distracted) to find out what she was talking about. Free astrology reading. Okay, so I signed up for it. An email came back almost immediately saying for me to keep looking in my inbox in the next day or so for my reading. I was not asked for my birth time or place which would have really nailed a more accurate reading, but not that many people remember their actual time of birth and I’ve seen other readings where that particular bit of information wasn’t asked. And, there’s also the question of this whole thing still being free at this point. What do you want for free?

But, the whole thing has steered me around to think about what constitutes fraud.

If a person doesn’t like their reading the first thing out of their mouth is fraud. It’s actually why I’m not doing readings anymore. I got tired of people complaining that they could have heard exactly what I had to say from one of those better known psychics. Sort of a backhanded compliment if you ask me, but like I said, I got tired of hearing complaints. Hey, when I spend an hour or two working on a reading I’d like to be paid for my time which, when I quit doing readings was $70. Anyway, I’ve got absolutely no tact at all and at $70 a pop I suppose I should have been gentler. If you’re a twit I’ll say so. People don’t like that. But, twits have just as much right to walk the earth as frauds do.

Casting an astrology chart is almost a no-brainer if you’ve got a nice software program, but is that fraud? I don’t think so. It’s easy.

I’m an old soul. The watchword with an old soul is live and let live. So what? If you got taken by a fraud then you learn and won’t do it again. And, if you get taken twice then maybe that’s a harder lesson for you to learn. What’s that saying? “Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.”

I’m waiting to see my reading. And, I might even spend whatever she wants for a paid reading just to see what she has to say. Just because somebody calls somebody else a fraud doesn’t mean that I’m going to believe them right off the bat and even if they were a fraud it probably wouldn’t bother me. Hey, I’m an old soul. I really don’t care.

I could figure out how to ask Google not to run her ads, but I’m nowhere near ready to do that at this point in time.

Music

I spent a delightful evening yesterday creating a playlist of music to play on this blog. Donna at Made in Heaven gave me the idea of where to go. It’s at http://www.playlist.com/ I was amazed at all the music available. You can search by artist, by title or combination of both. You can also have a look at other people’s playlists. I know I’m dating myself with my music selections, but it’s what I’d like to listen to while reading my own blog. The playlist is down at the bottom of the blog. I've got it set to play randomly or you can turn it off.

Where I Talk about Writing and Then Channel a Story

Sometimes I think about how I’ve never really written a story. It’s something I’m almost afraid of doing. What does interest me, though, is the idea of writing a tiny little story about a character. This would be a character I know from a previous lifetime I think. This would be from another lifetime where I was a writer and this would be a continuation of the story I had started then. Figuring that as a writer in that lifetime I had already spent the time growing my character. I had watched that individual come to life and begin to speak. I had grown with that character and seen how they acted in the world, how they reacted to harsh situations, how they softened and loved. All the hard work, I would imagine, was done. Now, all I have to do in this lifetime is to tell a part of their story. Or, actually, allow them to tell their own story.

This is sort of weird.

Well, no I guess it isn’t. I’m a channel. Secretary to Spirit. No reason why a character can’t also speak through me.

Okay, I’m ready.

I’m here.

You are?

Yes.

You’re a man.

I’m glad you noticed.

I’m upset about this.

Why?

I was expecting a woman. I can’t write about men things.

I don’t see why not. Actually, I’m telling the story. You’re just recording things.

Well, yes, according to the rules.

And, you made the rules, didn’t you?

Yes.

You’re frowning.

Yes. I’m not sure about this.

I know you are afraid.

Thanks. Like I really need you to see me in all my fine cowardly ways.

Hey, nobody’s perfect.

Okay. We can do an experiment. You can talk for half a page. How’s that?

Well, it’s better than nothing.

Just like a man.

I should take offense at that, but look at what I’ve got to work with. You’re frowning again.

You’re one of those heroes aren’t you.

You’re not describing what I just did.

A squinty thing with your eyes.

I’d describe it a bit differently.

How?

He cocked his eyebrow at her.

Oh. Yeah, that’s better.

I’m brown. No.no.no. I’m swarthy, tan like a cowboy. I’ve been out in the weather for a long time. Riding trains back and forth across the prairies. I’m a cattle buyer. I go to where the cattle are, make arrangements for the Chicago Meat Packing Plant to purchase the cows and then move on.

Is this real?

If you’d quit interrupting we can go somewhere with this.

I’m not sure that’s how cattle buying goes.

That’s your problem. You’re afraid to make a mistake. Just pretend. It doesn’t matter. Just allow the words to roll out.

Okay. So, you’re a cattle buyer. Must be in the Wild West.

Well, it was starting to settle down by then. It was after the Civil War was over. Only that war kept going on for a good generation. Bad feelings on both sides. It took a long time to wind down. Anyway, the story opens in 1880. That’s where I am now. I caught the tail end of the Civil War. Just like you caught the tail end of World War II.

Can I ask what your name is?

Seth.

Oh, come on.

What’s the problem? Seth was a popular name in those times.

Yeah, and it’s also the name of my guide. This is you.

Well, yes, but I’m fully capable of helping you with this particular exercise. Do you mind?

I thought I was talking to a character I’d already written about.

Well, so I lied. Does this mean you want to stop?

No. Go on with your story.

Petulant are you?

No. Just getting tired. I don’t have the stamina for this anymore.

Well, it doesn’t matter. Just relax and let the story unfold.

In the beginning I was able to ride the rails with impunity. I had the job of buying cattle for my company. The people moving west were hungry and feeding them was what we did best. No more buffalo. Antelope were scarce so the raising of cattle was what drove the wave of immigration west on it’s belly.

I wasn’t married. What wife would have a man who traveled as I did? I wasn’t sure I wanted to marry anyway. Though I’d saved money and could afford my own place I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I wasn’t suited to farming. And buying cattle was nothing like raising them, so a cattle ranch was out of the question.

I had no trade like making shoes or black smithing. I was a city boy who’d gotten a job as a traveling salesman. I kept in touch with my family by writing infrequently. They would send letters to me care of general delivery at different cities along my way. They knew, for instance, that eventually I would be back in Chicago and so, when I did arrive in town I’d stop by the post office and pick up a bunch of letters sent in. Mostly it was my mother who wrote to me, though occasionally my pa would write. He was a preacher. I suppose I could have turned my hand at preachering but my heart wasn’t really in it. The war and all. It made people question their faith.

So, although my life seemed lonely it wasn’t really. In all the towns I went through there was always a restaurant or a saloon. I wasn’t a very big drinking man, but I did enjoy company occasionally. The only ones you wanted to watch out for were the cow pokes with their wages burning a hole in their pockets. They tended to drink too much and create an unholy ruckus what with wanting to get laid and accusing each other of cheating at cards when their luck didn’t hold out so good. But, I knew when to make myself scarce from those situations so that I didn’t run into trouble too often.

Once, though, I did have a spot of trouble with as ill tempered a man as you could imagine. His name was Bradley Burns. Son of a bitch was the owner of the local land office and he was a slimy sort of fellow. He used to salt mines and then sell the claims for really high prices.

Anyway, I'm not proud of it but it was good ole Bradley Burns who gave me the idea of a job I could do. That's when I turned to robbing banks. I rode the trains back and forth across the land.

And, that's enough for tonight.

Hey, thanks. That was sort of fun.

Where I Complain, Cry and Talk to My Mother

For as many entries that I write these days I delete just as many. They go quickly. I look at what I’ve written and find fault with it. It doesn’t excite me. It bores me. And, if I am not pleased with it how can I possibly expect anybody else to want to read it? I sit here for half an hour and type, pouring my heart out, complaining, crying. It’s menopause. It’s mood swings. It’s something I would keep to myself.

Anyway, enough of that….if it swings one way it’s sure to swing the other way eventually.

I just finished reading, “High Five” by Janet Evanovich and wrote a bit of a review for it over on my book blog. Very cool book. If you were anywhere near me I’d lend you my copy. I’m thinking of taking it with me to Curves tomorrow and leave it in the box by the door. I see ladies pawing through there occasionally. Maybe some day I will too.

See, sometimes I’m sort of frozen. I don’t know why this is, but it’s been that way my whole life. I just say I’m shy. But, it’s really worse than that. I’m frozen. It’s like I don’t know how to dance but I keep trying. Like I’ve got a wooden leg and it swings wide, skidding on the rugs and kicking out at the table legs. But, I try. It’s not pretty. I’m not graceful. I’m not socially savvy. I don’t always say the right thing. I can piss my husband off and not really know what the frap I’ve said to make him angry. I’m like in a fog most of the time. People can talk to me and leave and I wonder what they said. It’s like it blows right through me. Which ain’t a good thing for somebody in a responsible position in an office. I’ll just have to get folks to repeat things and write them down quickly. That way I can go back over them and figure out what somebody just said to me. I wonder if that’s a psychological thing or if it’s just menopause?

I wish I was a cat. That would be easier. If I were a cat in my house. I could sleep wherever I wanted at night. I could curl up on the bed. I could sleep on somebody’s hip or on their shoulders. I could find a box or be on a chair. I could be in the living room or sit on the printer. Right now to the left of me is a cat on a scanner and to the right of me is a cat on a printer. Now, the scanner cat left and the printer cat moved over.

I wish I drank.

It would make things easier.

Maybe I’ll go make tea.

It’s times like this I wonder what the guides think of me. Must be a mess. Just a living, loving mess.

I don’t like to let people see me like this. I hide myself away. I wipe my face quickly to hide the evidence of tears. There’s no reason at all I should be crying.

Why? All I can say is menopause is sucking right now.

And, maybe I’m not so frozen that I won’t delete this mess. I’m sort of reaching for something here and I’m not sure what it is. I just need to reach out and not act like an adult right now.

Go make dinner.

I already ate.

Well, go eat again. You didn’t eat very much.

I could have some soup.

Yes, you could.

Should I delete all that?

No. leave it.

I think this is wishful channeling.

Could be.

My mouth still hurts.

Yes, you were grinding your teeth earlier and it hurt.

Yeah, I guess I shouldn’t grind them.

Grink or grind.

Who is this?

Who do you think?

Mom?

Yes, Sweetheart.

What should I do?

I used to go bang pots in the kitchen.

I can’t do that. Dennis will come and see what I’m doing.

So? He can see you banging pots.

I hate this.

I know you do. You’ll get over it. It will end. Eventually.

Thanks. I love you.

*****************************

Next Day: And, a bit of a post script. I was of two minds about deleting this entire entry. I felt almost as though I had paraded around in my underwear. But, I decided to keep it. Why I'm not sure. I still feel a little strange about it. But, I do feel better and, in fact, felt better immediately after having written it. I think it released a bit of tension.

Middle Aged Woman by Lisa Koch

This says it all......

Plarn

I ran across something called plarn this morning. Plarn is a yarn you make from all of your leftover plastic bags.

Always Stop For Red Lights

I’d like to talk about boring. Like, I think I’m pretty boring most of the time. But, if people were to get a peak into my inside life with the guides I’m thinking they wouldn’t think it was so boring.

Like yesterday on the way home from work. There’s an approach of road that dips down and then goes uphill toward a stoplight. Inevitably, when I arrive at that particular light it is always red and I’ve always got to be stopped for a bit before it turns green for me. Yesterday, somebody in spirit said to me, “Don’t even slow down. Just keep going and the light will be green.” I laughed and said, “Yeah, right.” But, I did in fact not slow for the red light. At the last minute I chickened out and began to apply the brakes when the light turned green for me.

The guy facing me in the intersection must have thought there was some crazy dingbat lady driving the way I was laughing with nobody else in the car with me.

A Slice of Time During the Morning (Channeled parts in bold and italics)

I bounce between two schools of thought about the entries I make in my blogs. On the one hand I am a long winded writer. It’s just a more natural flow for me to examine the minutia and find it absolutely fascinating. The tiniest little detail is worthy of being brought into the light to be examined. In really getting into whatever it is I happen to be writing about it is not uncommon that I lose track of how long the piece is getting.

On the other hand people tend to get bored. My husband’s eyes will glaze over and he develops a noticeable twitch when whatever story I am telling him grows too long. He says to me, “The Short Version!” I counter with, “This is the short version!”

Is this what is called being caught between a rock and a hard place? I think not. I believe I can take awhile to tell a story and to that story come the folk who don’t mind spending a bit of time. It is difficult for me to manage the short version. It’s like sweeping the icing off of the cake and presenting somebody with a bald and rather forlorn looking cupcake. Something is missing.

But, people like the short version. My boss is like that too. I wrote up the story of a disgruntled customer the other day. It caught everything the person had to tell me of their complaint. Finished, I was pleased to see I’d kept it all to one page. And, that was when I said, “It’s too long.” So, I erased the bottom 8 inches of the story and rewrote it. Now, interestingly enough, deleting all that large amount of story did not in any way cause one moment of consternation for me. Rather, it was like I got to write some more.

It’s not like vomiting on the page like was the case once upon a time. I’m taking the time now to spit judiciously. Oh, this is sick.

Dear, you are having a ball this morning.

Well, yes, you’re right. I don’t know where I’m going with it though. I’m just writing.

Yes, we can see that. Is there a story you’d like to tell?

I’d like to talk about what it’s like for me to read. How the letters move to sounds. How the letters on the page are like paint and are like music to my ears. Am I going bi-polar?

I think not. Continue.

I worry about that, you know.

Yes, we know you are worried about it. You will know if and when it happens. Your husband will be sure to say something to you.

Okay, in the quiet of this lovely Sunday morning maybe I ought to address whatever psychological shitty things need to be aired.

What a way with words you have.

Right. Well, it was fun a moment ago. Now, it isn’t fun anymore.

We realize that examining psychological issues is not your favorite thing to do. Why did you make the shift from writing about nothing to having a purpose?

Well, you were sort of standing there and I figured I ought to do something useful.

Your father would not consider this useful at all.

No, not much of what I do is.

So, there you have something to center in upon if you are so inclined.

You know, I was thinking about doing Byron Katie’s, “Loving What Is” work earlier today for somebody else. Maybe I should do it for my father too. I know when I did it with the kid downstairs everything between us altered. That was 2 years ago and it has never gone back to when I was so angry with him.

That is a good thing to do, however, your first inclination to move to the standard stand up on the table and beat the crap out of it with a baseball bat would also do more toward moving you into a rather productive time for the remainder of the weekend.

Like that, huh?

Like that, Dear.

Saving Grace

One of my favorite television shows - Saving Grace

La Vie En Rose

I just finished watching "La Vie En Rose" the movie about Edith Piaf’s life. I loved it. Just fell in love with it. I am not at all surprised by all the awards this film has won. You’ve got to watch this one. I got it on demand from NetFlix.

Elvis and Pat

I say things like, “You should record your dreams.” I don’t take my own advice. So, here to remedy that is a selection of a couple of my most recent dreams.

The first one this week Elvis was there. It was really cool because a dear dog we had when I was young was also there. Elvis was playing with him. When I woke up I said, “Too bad I wasn’t lucid. How much more cooler could it have gotten?”

The next one I remember is I was once again in the hallowed halls of learning. Me, an old lady who was going to go back to university. Only, there were crowds all around. It was confusing. It was a madhouse and I really didn’t want to be there. My room hadn’t been vacated by the previous occupants and it just didn’t look like I belonged there. I said so, which is the first time in one of these learning dreams that I’ve said I don’t belong there anymore. In the next scene I’m in a hallway wending my way past hoards of students and finally I get into the administrative area. I’m much happier. I said, “I’m a secretary and this is where I am comfortable.” Then, I see an old lady who is crouched on the floor trying to gather flowers that have fallen. I lean down and say, “Pat? Do you remember me?” She is nearly blind, but she says, “Sure I do, from about 20 years ago.” The lady I’m with sort of steers me around Pat who was our office manager back when I was a secretary at the University of Maryland all those years ago.

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71 words

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Company Coming

Here's a hint that might help folks to get your house picked up. You pretend that company is coming. You might actually be somebody who gets a lot of company. In our house we don't see more than our neighbor for long stretches of time, but DeeDude informed me yesterday somebody is coming by on Monday to see how he puts his books together. They've given him photos to use for previous projects and the man just wants to see the creative process at work.

I looked at DeeDude yesterday and said, "You know what that means, don't you?" He said, "He might not even come farther than the computer. Remember the lady who came and I picked up the place and she didn't even go past the front door?" I said, "It doesn't matter. It matters that the place is clean and picked up and we know it is clean and picked up. What if she wanted to go into the bathroom and there were cat turds all around or something awful like that?" He reluctantly agreed.

So, for about 20 minutes this afternoon DeeDude and I need to do a, "Company Coming Cleaning".

The good thing about this method of cleaning is it doesn't last very long; just about half an hour or so, which isn't all that long when you think about it. It's a mad rush through the house picking things up and putting them away. In theory if company is parking their car on the street outside you can throw things into the closets and just close the doors. If you have time you vacuum. If you don't have time you get the dust buster out and hit the highlights.

Bierocks

Here are the bierocks I made last weekend. TipsFromTheTrailer.com inspired me to a great dinner.

I used one pound of hamburger and a pound of sausage, browned with a chopped onion and then mixed in a shredded head of cabbage. Seasoned and when cooled down a bit put a soup spoon at a time on a round of bread dough. These pictures are from before they all got baked. Next recipe I make I'll be sure to snap a picture before we plow into them. Man, these were good.

Out of a recipe using 3 cups of flour in my bread machine I got 12 rounds of bread and used up about half of the meat. So, it really makes a lot. Oh, before I loaded on the meat I put some shredded mozzarella cheese on the dough.

So, it went bread in hand, cheese and then meat. Pinch up the ends of the dough and put the pinched and sealed side down on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. I brushed them with an egg wash to make them shiny. Bake at 350 degrees for half an hour or so. These were really terrific. DeeDude gives it a big old thumb's up.

We also thought we might try some Swiss cheese instead of the mozzarella.

Saturday Morning

I have a job. Lots of people do. Sometimes I don’t feel like being there, but I go anyway. We’ve got bills to pay and the money I earn there is necessary for my family’s finances. Also, I’m expected to be there every morning and stay through the day doing “stuff”. What’s my point? I do this every day. Well, every week day. I’m regular as clockwork. I can’t point to any great body of work that I complete every day as what I did that day. I just get stuff done; the things that come up. Sometimes I have time to work on a project, but mostly it feels like treading water. But, if I weren’t there to do the stuff I do I think a lot of people would be unhappy. So, even though this isn’t a particularly soul satisfying job it is necessary for both my finances and for getting stuff done at my company.

My point? If I were as regular with my at home projects, if I chipped away at them the same way I show up at work every day I would have a hell of a lot more done that I could point to.

For instance:

All my jewelry projects. I’ve got lots and lots of supplies. Now, I have an Ott light to be able to see well anytime at all. All I need to do is clean up the area, organize my supplies into a more manageable collection and have at it. So much to learn. So much to do.

All my web-based projects. Oh, these are extensive. Some of these I started years ago and have just not continued on in any consistent basis. Most would have to do with updating Talking to Spirit. There’s something wrong with that site that it just needs a facelift. A new page or something. I’d started one called, “Last Words”. The last words famous and not so famous people have uttered as they slipped this mortal coil. That was a project I felt I could get my teeth