My Bit of Earth

Two Things I Love This Week

Number one: Orangette.  Truly, this girl has me wanting to cook like a whirling dervish.  (Whatever that might be exactly.)  On advice of several other bloggers, I ordered her new book, A Homemade Life, from the library.  It's a wonderful mix of stories and recipes and family and food--I devoured it in one sitting and quickly moved on to both her blog and her monthly column for Bon Appetit.

The latter is where I found her recipe for homemade mayonnaise.  Holy.  Hell.

Our favorite brew pub makes it's own mayo.  A friend and I have been known to go and make a meal of it...with a few fries on the side, just to get some veggies in.  Is it completely awful that I can now recreate that meal at home?

Honestly, the mayo takes about ten minutes to put together, but the results are so worth it.  And if I had a mayonnaise making jar (or, more practically, a stick blender) it wouldn't be any work at all.  I used a bit more lemon than Orangette recommends (let's call it the juice of one whole lemon), and per Alton I will store it in the fridge for up to two weeks--if it lasts that long!

Number two: hank&cheef.  Yes, I'm still eschewing paper tissues when possible.  I really don't even think about it anymore, I've officially made handkerchiefs a habit.  (Except for the other night when a visiting friend asked for a tissue.  Felt less than hospitable pointing him to the bathroom tissue, but handing him one of my handkerchiefs--even a clean one--seemed kinda...eh.  Anyone have a good solution for that?)  At any rate, because allergy season is here and because they were super fun, I ordered a few new handkerchiefs. 

They arrived today.  Completely soft.  Completely cute.  Although they came all the way from Canada, the company uses the most minimal packaging I've ever seen, so that probably evens out a little, right?  Next time maybe I'll just have to order more than three at once--I see some owls in my future!

Welcome to Kansas Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Several months ago, Sweet Husband met an internet-scooter-friend in person.  Nice Scooter friend did not leave Sweet Husband in a ditch, but rather the two hit it off well, and we have since spent several evenings in his company, often being highly entertained by Nice Scooter Friend's formidable story telling skills.

As we both got to know and like Nice Scooter Friend better, we heard more and more about his girlfriend who was living in New York, but thinking about moving to Kansas.  Gradually, "thinking about" turned to "coming for sure", and earlier this week she and a friend set out driving in a westerly direction.  Via updates from an increasingly more excited Nice Scooter Friend, we were able to follow their progress cross-country--they did a little sightseeing along the way, they spent a night there--the whole thing had the air of a modern-day "schoolmaster's bride".  Deliciously romantic!

And at last, this evening, the much anticipated lady arrived.  We popped in for a bit to say hello, and--perhaps because I was thinking of the story still--it didn't seem right to show up without something welcoming in hand.  

For the occasion, I chose Banana Bread with Cinnamon Sugar and Chocolate from my newest blog crush Orangette (more on that later!).  I cannot vouch for the bread, as I didn't try any, however, it smelled incredible and the "bowl lickings" were 'nummy!

For the recipe, read on.

Lit Flicks Challenge Recap

This month is the end of the Lit Flicks challenge.  

If you will remember, at the beginning I planned to read six books over the course of the challenge.  I ended up skipping two of the book/movie combos I originally chose (I just couldn't get into The Contant Gardner, and I couldn't find M. Butterfly on DVD), but I finished the rest and then some.  Here are the books I read and movies I watched with links to my reviews:  

Brokeback Mountain

The Dark is Rising

About a Boy

What Dreams May Come 

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Twilight

Thanks to Jessica at The Bluestocking Society for encouraging me to read some great books and watch some great movies! 

An Inspiration Board

I love inspiration boards, but I can't do clutter.  (I know, I know...it's creative clutter, but still.)  So, for awhile now I've been saving bits of ideas--you know, "that would be awesome for a garden" or "that would be great to make for dinner in the summer when tomatoes are good"--through electronic means, i.e. tucking away a link, scanning a picture, etc.  Not terribly organized, but whatever.

Then yesterday, I read this post on BlogHer about a new microblogging platform called Tumblr.  You can do text, videos, pictures, even audio--either uploaded yourself or (handy-dandy!) pulled straight from the web via Tumblr's bookmarklet feature.  I can toss stuff up when I think it's cool, and delete it just as easily later when/if the impulse passes.  Revolutionary, I tell you!

Without further adieu...An Inspiration Board.  (A permanent link is also in the left sidebar right under the comments.)

Hats for Wee Haitians

My very most favoritest blog these days is Soule Mama written by Amanda Blake Soule.  It's nothing groundbreaking--just a creative mom, her kiddos, and their adventures--but it's just so darn peaceful there.  (Maybe that's what makes it groundbreaking, ya think?)

Last week Mama Soule started a new project called Mama to Mama.  It's mission:

"[W]e craft, sometimes, to bring a little peace to our lives, to our hearts, and to our everyday moments. Taking that just a step further, we can - and do, like so many crafters before us - turn our crafting into peace for the world beyond our homes. The simple act of creating something with intention and heart - for someone in need, can have a beautiful effect on the lives of others. We can, indeed, do something to create a more just and peaceful world...all with the simple, mindful and crafty work of our hands."

In other words, help others by being crafty--excellent!

Her first project is called Caps to Cap Haitien.  There's more info at the site, but basically, we're making baby caps to be distributed as part of safe birthing kits to birth attendants in Northern Haiti.  The hats are made from old t-shirts and there is a pattern here. 

(Aside:  This made the greatest excuse to go through Sweet Husband's old holey shirts.  And when he protested, I said, "But think of the little hatless babies."  And when he questioned if babies in Haiti--where it is awfully warm, after all--really need hats, I read him this.)

If you're itching for a quick something good to do--the holidays always put me in that mood--these little caps were so fun to make.  They look like little gnome hats, and they're super easy.  I made a dozen in about an hour and a half, and I am far from an accomplished seamstress.

The project is going until at least December 10th, so you have plenty of time to join in if you're interested!

Ditch the Disposables Challenge Ends

With all the excitement this past week, I haven't had a chance to post about the end of the "Ditch the Disposables" challenge (posed by the Crunchy Domestic Goddess).

If you will recall, I decided to give up paper tissues.  Although I did have to resort to grabbing a Kleenex in a few emergencies, for the most part it went really well.  (Having a box of cute hankies to choose from did help!) 

The challenge got me thinking about other things we could reduce our usage of around the house, and my focus ended up falling on our laundry room.  I started by making some reusable dryer sheets.  (I can't report on their performance yet because I'm still using up the last of a box of disposable ones.)  Then I started thinking about how we could get rid of those big plastic jugs of bleach and laundry soap that we throw away each month.  After some research, I decided to give soap nuts a try. 

Soap nuts are the dried fruit of the Chinese Soapberry tree.  When the nuts get wet they release saponin, which is a natural cleanser.  For laundry purposes, you put three or four in a little muslin bag, and just toss them in with your clothes--easy peasy!  The nuts last for several washes.  (We've been doing about a week's worth of laundry with one bag of four nuts.)  They really do work just as well as detergent, and when the nuts are used up they can be composted (or in my case, just thrown out into garden to decompose).  It's pretty cool, really.

(I'm still working on a solution to the bleach jug, so if anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.) 

A big thanks, as always, to the wonderful CDG for another great eco-challenge!   

Congratulations....

....alisonwonderland!  You won the Read-a-Thon mini-challenge.  The quote (randomly selected by Sweet Husband):

"Did the memory erasure device work, Uncle?"
"The what?"
"The memory erasure device. You were testing it when I last saw you."
"Don't know what you're talking about, dear girl."

From The Eyre Affair, the first in the Tuesday Next series by Jasper Fforde.

Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful quotes, and alison I'll be in touch to get you your prize!

Welcome to the "Quote From Your Book" Read-A-Thon Mini-Challenge!

A mini-challenge for my fellow read-a-thon'ers....

Ever since I was a little girl I've collected quotes--from books, from people, from road signs--but some of my favorites are from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books.  From Dumbledore's advice to Harry in the first book ("It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live," a good thing to remember for all avid readers) to Ron's funny jabs at Hermione ("You should write a book--translating mad things girls do so boys can understand them!") there are just some great bits!

So for the mini-challenge, give me a great quote from the book you're reading right now.  Be sure to say what book it's from, and also leave me some way to contact you.  My completely arbitrarily picked favorite will win my spare "Muggles for Harry Potter" pin and a lovely bookmark generously donated by Heather at Errant Dreams (see her pretty etsy store here).  I'm headed off to an Obama rally this afternoon, so I won't choose a winner until I get back--we'll say 8 or 9 tonight--but the challenge officially closes at 3 p.m. central time so I won't consider any quotes left after that. 

Find something good and have fun reading!

Quiet Please, I'm Read-A-Thon'ing

Today is The Hidden Side of a Leaf's 24 hour Read-a-Thon.  Although I intended to read for the better part of the afternoon, life has intervened, and I'm only going to be able to read for a few hours this morning. 

In my stack?  The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn (I made the mistake of stopping just as the second of the author's family members was about to be killed, and haven't been able to talk myself into picking this back up all week), and The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge (highly recommended by one of my favorite authors and hopefully a little lighter).

I will be updating via twitter (see feed at right) as I go.  You can check out the list of others who are read-a-thon'ing today here, and the way-fun prizes that will be up for grabs here.  In addition, if you're participating in the read-a-thon, please come back around noon when I'm hosting my own mini-challenge.

Lit Flicks: What Dreams May Come

For my fourth book/movie for the Lit Flicks Challenge (see my post here) I read What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson and watched the movie What Dreams May Come.

I realize I'm starting to lose my credibility when I say I never say this, but, again, I really liked the movie better.

I first saw the movie when I was a senior in high school, and it instantly became one of my favorites.  It just made so much sense to me--the idea that heaven and hell are not ruled by a human-like god, but rather are what we make them in living our lives.  It was broad-brush about the details, to be sure, but on the other hand, it really didn't need to fill them in.

The book tries to explain too much.  It gets into the mechanics of reincarnation, spiritual doctors and gurus, psychics, and the "science" of it all--it ends up just being hokey. 

It feels heretical to say it, but watch the movie, skip the book.

Wednesday Poll: Book or Movie?

For this week's poll, a meme that's part of the Lit Flicks Challenge (see my post here):

1. Are you more likely to see a movie if it’s based on a book?

2. Do you prefer to read the book first or see the movie first?

3. List one movie that was better than the book it’s based on, and one book that is better than the movie.

4. In your opinion, what film is the most accurate representation of the book?

Comment and discuss.

Lit Flicks: Brokeback Mountain

For my first book/movie for the Lit Flicks Challenge (see my post here) I decided to read Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx and watch the movie Brokeback Mountain.

I thought the movie tracked fairly well with the book, so I won't comment much on each separately (except to say that Heath Ledger was fabulous, of course).  Both were very different from what I expected.

I was expecting a love story, maybe something like The Notebook, except with guys.  And while there is a love story involved in Brokeback Mountain, the real central theme that everything else in the plot comes back to is this:  It is a profound tragedy when a person is not allowed to be who they are.

At first, I was actually a little disappointed in the plot.  It was initially heavy on sex without really showing how any type of emotional bond was forming between the two main characters.  But then you get these flashes (the shirts), where you realize just how much these two love each other.  And you realize it's not that they aren't talking because they don't love each other, they aren't talking because they can't--they don't know how to communicate what it is they're feeling.  Which makes the tragedy of it all that much deeper.

With it's beautiful, open Western landscapes, the movie underscores the loneliness of the story, and the book, at 64 pages, is a super quick read.  Pick a melancholy, stormy Fall evening and curl up with both.

Quickie Shower Challenge Has Ended, Now Ditch the Disposables

I'm really digging that CDG these days (that's "Crunchy Domestic Goddess" for those not in the know).  She comes up with great eco-challenges--not so involved that I feel overwhelmed, but definitely conceived to change un-environmentally friendly habits for the long haul.

You will remember her "Quickie" Five Minute Shower Challenge that went from June to August (see my post here).  I loved that one, because, in addition to saving water, shorter morning showers = more sleep.  Just by becoming conscious of the time I spend (i.e. using a kitchen timer) I was able to cut my average shower time in half--from twelve minutes to about six. 

That challenge is over now (although I'm still setting my timer most mornings), but the CDG has issued a new challenge for September and October--Ditch the Disposables.

To participate, think of one disposable item that you regularly use that you could give up.  It has to be something NEW--no cheating and selecting something you don't use!  There's a great list of ideas at the link above.

I chose to give up paper tissues in favor of hankies.  I had a lot of trouble picking something (we already don't use or have much limited our use of many things on the idea list), but I've recently discovered the usefulness of cloth handkerchiefs (this is gross, but the paper stuff just can't keep up when my allergies really get going), plus they're softer on my nose, plus I figure I can make several cutie hankies from fabric scraps I have lying around (like my napkins, but bigger).

Anyone want to join me on this one?  If so, get the full skinny here.

Preach On!

Those of you who hang out here will recognize "S" of "Preaching to the Choir" as a semi-regular commenter.  (Truth is, I think I might be one of the "choir" of friends that led to her choosing that particular blog title.)  If you haven't been by her blog, you should.  I often find that she says just what I would want to say--if I were minded to come away from the butterflies and sunshine and light and talk about political and social issues more often--and usually makes at least a little more sense than I would make in saying it.

I bring this up today particularly, because she has two posts up that are both about issues near and dear to me. 

The first, "We defend family values!* (*as long as the family has a Dad married to a stay-at-home Mom, 2.3 kids, a minivan, and a dog.)" is about a clearly anti-gay ballot issue in Arkansas that, if passed, would prohibit unmarried couples who live together from adopting or fostering children.  Honestly, the bigotry and heartlessness of this (both to the children languishing in state facilities and to the parents who want to adopt them) bothers me so much that I have trouble forming coherent sentences, so just go read S's post.

The second, reflects on just how close Hillary came.  Even though I was an Obama fan before it was cool to be an Obama fan, this race brought out so many conflicting emotions in me.  I was one of those little girls who wanted to be "the first woman president" too.  I can't say I don't think the right person won out in the end, but, like S, it breaks my heart a little that Hillary was "thisclose".

Again, she's got some good stuff up over there.  Go, read.

Lit Flicks Challenge

Saw this Lit Flicks Challenge on Stacey's blog and decided it looked like fun.

The idea?  Read five books that have been made into movies and then watch at least two of the movies--all by February 28, 2009.

I decided to pick movie/book combos where I haven't seen/read at least one or the other.  (After all, if I had just picked Harry Potter 1-5 what would have been the point?)  I couldn't quite narrow myself down to five, so--since there are six months in the challenge anyway--I picked six movie/book pairs.  I'm also planning to watch all the movies instead of just two.  (Why?  I don't know, why not?)  My list....

• The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper and Seeker: The Dark Is Rising
• Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx and Brokeback Mountain
• The Constant Gardener by John Le Carré and The Constant Gardener
• About a Boy by Nick Hornby and About a Boy
• What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson and What Dreams May Come
• M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang and M. Butterfly

I haven't seen the movie or read the books of the first three.  (Yes, I know, the fact that I haven't seen Brokeback Mountain yet--given that it's practically a cultural icon and I'm a big Heath Ledger fan--is a little shocking.)  I've seen (and love) both About a Boy and What Dreams May Come, but I haven't read the books.  I've read the play M. Butterfly (and it's one of my favorites) but I've never seen the movie (which I think I'm going to have to order on VHS, because I can't find a DVD version anywhere).

First up for September will be Brokeback Mountain.  Follow the link above it you're interested in joining in!

You Might Be a Winner

And the winner of the print is....

Congratulations!  I will be in touch for your address, and have it in the mail to you as soon as it's done being displayed at the fair.  And thanks to everyone else who played along!

Now, if you've caught the giveaway bug and want to try for more, head on over to Not Quite June Cleaver where a lovely, eco-friendly tote bag is currently up for grabs!

Celebrating With a Giveaway!

Somewhere that I'm not going to take the time to look up, I said something along the lines of, "I'm going to use this blog to write what I want to write, and if someone wants to read it that's fine.  If not that's fine, too." 

I'm not sure I was being completely honest about that. 

Because, although I still pretty much write what I want to write, over the past few months I've discovered that blogging really is a lot more fun when people are reading and commenting on your posts.  As a result, I've gotten in a habit of fretting over my blogs stats a little bit--via both the official Typepad counter and through the number of subscribers I have on Google Reader.

And this week has been a good week for that, because this week, for the first time ever I had at least 200 hits each day and over 30 subscribers.  Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, I know, but for my little ole' blog it's very nice indeed!

To celebrate, my very first give away!

I'm entering an 8X10, matted print of the picture above in the county fair at the end of July (yes, it's addictive).  If you'd like to have it to be yours after that, leave a comment on this post.  Make sure your email is correct because otherwise I won't be able to get it to you.  I'll close the comments at midnight next Thursday, July 24, 2008, and pick the winner by random drawing.

Blueberry Salsa Tests at the Apronista

My first ever guest blogging stint is over at The Apronista today.  I wrote about blueberry salsa testing for the upcoming county fair, and the recipes are yummy, so go check it out!

Sweet Sunflowers

Go see!  Go see!

The fabulous Tracey, of Shutter Sisters founding fame, chose my sunflower field photograph (you can see a cross section of it in my banner) for this month's "One Sweet Shot" on Shutter Sisters.

My little camera and I are ever-so-proud!  Thanks so much for the recognition Tracey--I'm tickled to death that it made you smile!

Wednesday Poll: Just Do It?

A few weeks ago, Sweet Husband heard a report about the book, "Just Do It: How One Couple Turned Off the TV and Turned On Their Sex Lives for 101 Days (No Excuses!)".  The premise? The author and his wife made a pact to have sex every day for 101 days, then wrote a book about it.

I haven't read the book yet, but judging from the fact that I'm 20th on my library's hold list (and they just ordered an extra copy!) I'd say I'm not the only person who is curious about how this all worked out for them.  To give you a feel for the scale of the project, 101 days is every day from now until October 17th.  And they had sex every day?  Really?  No "I had a bad day," or "Gosh, I'm exhausted," or even, "I'm feeling under the weather"?

And then (and this is the part that intrigues me, I admit) they wrote a book about it?  When Sweet Husband first told me about that part, my first reaction was, "Hmm, that would make an interesting blog."  We talked about it for a minute or so, and quickly realized it would be fine as long as we could guarantee that only complete strangers would read it.  (No, I don't have a new secret blog--complete anonymity is not possible!)  I mean, Douglas Brown's mother and mother-in-law are probably going to read his book.  I'm fairly "out there" with my personal life, but that's just a little...yeah....

So, for this week's Wednesday poll:

Would you make a pact with someone to have sex everyday for 101 days?  Think you'd keep it up if you did?  And--assuming you made it through--do you think you could write a tell-all book about your experience?  If you're a blogger or writer (or even just active on the internet) where's the line for you of things that are private and things that are not?

Comment and discuss.