My Bit of Earth

Eight Random Thoughts for a Wednesday Night

1. I got a massage tonight.  I do not ordinarily splurge on things like that, but I had a gift certificate so, you know, I had to go.  It was nice, except that, um, she hurt me.  Like, seriously hurt me.  I probably should have said something, but I was afraid that maybe it needed to hurt.  Like, maybe there were knots in me that were so bad that they could only be purged by pain. 

2. I have a cool, new comment thingy on my blog.  I was reading SouleMama this morning and saw that she had it, and went all, "Wow! How do I do that?"  And she emailed me back and told me, and now I have a cool, new comment thingy.  Try it out, for reals--it's pretty awesome.

3. Sweet Husband and his "Scotch-night" friends taught Moe how to balance a toy on his nose last night.  I've been trying to do it forever, and they get him to do it when they're all half furshnickered--figures!  (Pictures soon though, I promise--it's so freakin' cute!)

4. But while that all was happening, I was at the first night of my Photo shop class.  Compared to what I knew when I walked in, I now feel like a Photo shop ninja master--and I've still got seven more classes to go.  I forget how much of a buzz I get out of learning completely new things until I just go do it.  It's a good drug.

5. And speaking of learning new things (via Janet at foodperson) the University of Missouri Extension is doing food preservation classes this summer.  They've got pressure canning and dehydrating and freezing and pickling and all kinds of stuff.  I already know how to do some of those things, but a) even with the things I think I know how to do, I always wonder if I'm doing it "right" and b) I'm scared of trying learn to use a pressure canner without a real live human supervising me.  So, I think I'm going to sign up for a few!

6. Have you all played around on Tumblr at all yet?  Random, yes, but the easy-posting format is just a lot of fun.  Some of my favorites are [oneshouldreadeverything], death by chocolate is a myth, it's mary ruffle, and infinite Wisdom springs from infinite Love.  Oh, and, of course, Tumledore.

7. Speaking of which, did you know it's 113 days until the Half-Blood Prince movie comes out?  Almost time to start a 100-day countdown.  And the trailer looks soooo good!  I think this is my favorite of the books, so I'm crazy excited to go see it.  (And it's [mostly] the end of Michael Gambon as Dumbledore...oh Richard Harris, why did you have to leave us?)

8. What is Sweet Husband doing as I type this?  Coming up with his own internet randomness.  Example, weird test answers: "What is a Hindu?  It lays eggs."  

And with that, I think it's officially time to put the internet to bed for the night!

Random (Almost) Spring Thoughts on Sleeping

We had to leave town for a little family emergency on Monday (everything's OK, no worries), so blogging and everything else this week has gone all topsy-turvy.

But, briefly....

Does anyone else get all conflicted about their sleeping habits in the Spring?  Some mornings I want to leap up as if I might "hear golden trumpets".  (Props to anyone who knows what that's from.)  But some mornings (like today) when it's just the perfect temperature (cool enough to snuggle under blankets, but not cold), and a yummy smelling breeze is coming in through the window, and there's a bird chirping idyllically outside....mmm, it would have been such a perfect day to stay in bed for awhile!

What is this day again?

Ya know how, when you're dating someone, you have all these little anniversaries....the first time we met, the first time we kissed, the first time we ate cheeseburgers on the hood of a car.  It's all very romantic, even if it is slightly cloying to outsiders--a sort-of inside joke that always makes you smile.

But then you get married, and it becomes less so.  Although, I'm told there are some couples that do keep celebrating those little days, it's always seemed too sugary-sweet to me.  Because once you're married you have the BIG anniversary.  The day you promised the be-all-end-all-forever.  And suddenly celebrating cheeseburgers seems superfluous.

However, be that all as it may, today Sweet Husband and I have been together for ten years, and I can't let that go without mention.  

But, in thinking about the fact that this day was coming up--although I remember we decided a long time ago that "March 3rd" was the day we "officially" got together--for the life of me I couldn't remember what actually happened on March 3rd....  

It was making me a little crazy actually.  It's just that, there were a few weeks there where things were kinda fuzzy.  He liked me.  I liked him.  But, being awkward teenagers, we were both kind of dancing around the idea of actually discussing it.  This resulted in three potential events, all of which happened on or about March 3rd; all of which could have been our "starting point".

First, it could've been that it was the first time we hung out together with a group of friends.  We were at a restaurant before a school basketball game, and a few people were joking about stealing the silverware, just to be funny.  I (goodie-two-shoes) opined that would be terribly wrong, so Sweet Husband (practical joker) secretly slipped a spoon in my sweatshirt.  And, to my credit, I did laugh when, with mock horror that I would commit such a transgression, he pulled the spoon out of my pocket later.  And, of course, a boy that makes you laugh is always worth getting to know better....

Which leads to the second possible event.  On what I think was the following weekend, I had my friend set us up on a double date with her and her boyfriend.  Chinese food and "Raiders of the Lost Ark".  During the movie, Sweet Husband slipped me a note, "Hello.  I like you."  For several years, I honestly thought that was what we were celebrating on March 3rd.  

But, the thing that was tripping me up was that I know we still didn't really talk about it.  And he did not--as he will never live down for the rest of his natural life and possibly into the afterlife--kiss me goodnight.  (Yeah, I know.  Completely sexist of me, I could've kissed him too, blah, blah....I've been holding this grudge for ten years and I'm not letting go of it now.)  And, on top of all that, as aforementioned, I was 99% sure that night was a weekend.  March 3rd was a Wednesday in 1999, so that didn't work.

The third possibility was that March 3rd could have been the night that he actually did kiss me--or maybe I kissed him?  Can't remember that part, but I know it was a few nights after the note, on a school-night, in the park by the lake.  And his hat was on backwards, which--while I'm ordinarily not a fan of--seemed terribly charming at the time....

After trying to figure this out for the last few days--and deciding it's a really good idea that they give you a piece of paper with the date on it when you get married--I finally decided to own up, and, last night, sheepishly asked Sweet Husband, "Soooo, what exactly does tomorrow signify again?"

Turns out, he's not positive either.  He thinks it was the night at the park--"It was our first date by ourselves"--but can't be sure.

 At any rate though, it's been ten years since something-or-other that was good. :)   

Poll: Zits

I have a zit on the side of my nose.  I'll spare you the photograph, but, suffice to say, it's one of those under the surface buggers that hurts like hell and you can't even squeeze to hurry along because it's so far buried.  (Yes, I'm not above picking.)

Although even as a grown-up I've never had perfect skin, this particular zit is bringing back memories of my teenage years.  While, looking back, I didn't have acne as bad as some people did, at the time I thought it was tragic.

Age has fortunately given me perspective, and now I can laugh about it....

...all the silly remedies...Japanese sand scrub, funky smelling homemade masks, no chocolate, no soda...

...the time my baby brother told a caller that I couldn't come to the phone because I was dabbing Clearasil on my face...he was 7 and thought it was hilarious, fortunately it was only my aunt--but I didn't know that until later!

...the time a friend--who was ordinarily actually a nice person--commented that both I and a boy that I liked had matching zits....

Ahhh, good times, good times...I'm laughing my ass off, really....

Anyone else want to commiserate with a good zit story?

Poll: What Pisses You Off?

I am generally an even tempered girl.  Long fuse.  Will de-fuse rather than exploding.  Peacemaker.  Arbitrator.  So on and so forth, etc.  

(Truly, it's almost pathological the lengths to which I will go to avoid a fight.)

But today, I am pissed.

Wanna know what makes me so angry?  When prosecutors other attorneys try to raise procedural bars to a claim that just needs to be heard, and in all fairness, should be heard.  Like, not a case where a defendant sat on his hands for two years or is just making shit up, but a case where it should be obvious to anyone with half a brain that this guy wanted to appeal and the court system has just completely failed him.

'Cause the thing is, I don't really mind losing cases.  Of course, winning is better, but there are some cases where you just know going in that it isn't going to happen.  But to not even let my guy have his day in court?  Over a complete technicality?  Urgh, urgh, URGH!  It's so unfair and unjust, that it makes me want to just....spit!

Keep me company here--what pisses you off?

The Boy Makes Eggs Too

When Sweet Husband and I first were married I had this silly idea that we should divide the household labor exactly down the middle, tit for tat, he cleaned half the toilet, I cleaned the other half.  (Not really on that last one, but you get the idea.)  It was most certainly related to my childhood, I'm sure.  Seeing my mom work more than full time and come home and do all the household chores too.  Not me, I vowed.

Yeah, that didn't last very long.  Not because Sweet Husband's a slacker--because he's absolutely not--but because keeping score like that is not practical or even--as I quickly figured out--really even healthy.  Instead, we've gradually evolved into a pattern that may not stay perfectly equal every second of every day, but does equal out over time.  Meal planning and recipe hunting, my job.  Weekend breakfasts, his.  The result?  The lovely plate of eggs and goodies you see before you.  I think it's a pretty good deal.

(And the perfectly round eggs?  Egg rings--absolutely gorgeous!)

Poll: By Any Other Name

I'm a name collector.  On any given day, I have a little running list in my head of fun names, silly names, puppy names, names I love, whatever.  I didn't know this was an official hobby until J.K. Rowling declared that she does it also, at which point I decided I could come out as a name collector too.

I was doing a little research for this hobby the other day (on the social security website) when I discovered that both my brother's name and my sister's name have broken into the top 100 baby names.  As my name--Meryl--is not even in the top 1000 and hasn't been forever (there were only nine babies given my name in 2007), I sent my Mom a teasing email--something about loving them more, etc.  (She wrote back that it really means she loves me most--so see Nice Sister and Brother, I am her favorite!)

 

Actually, although I've had a love/hate relationship with my name over the years, I've always been proud that I was named after my Dad.  And I've always loved what my name means--blackbird--because I like names to that have good meanings and with "blackbird" I get a song and everything.  I also recently found out my name was somewhat popular in the 50's, which I really like.  Because old-fashioned names are cool now, after all, so maybe there's hope.

What about you?  Do you like your name?  Have you always?  Is there a story behind your name? What are some of your favorite names and why?

Seven Things That Are Making Me Very Merry On This Christmas Eve Eve

1.  It's the last day of working before the loooong holiday weekend--yay!

2.  Tomorrow at this time-ish I will be heading towards family and presents and one of Sweet Sister's so-hard-it's-almost-painful welcome home hugs.

3.  Maine Momma's beautiful odes to snow and light. 

4.  This article--"The Joy of Celebrating a Godless Christmas"--on Slate that echos my feelings about the holidays completely.  In short, Jesus isn't "the reason for the season" for all of us and that doesn't make our Christmas any less meaningful.  Very nicely done in a way that speaks up for us atheists and agnostics without denigrating those who are religious.

5.  That Nice Mommy just called asking me to bring some freezer jam for Christmas breakfast.  I feel like a wise little chipmunk pulling out my carefully stashed summer berries for winter feasting. 

6.  Dear Veens who ever so sweetly named me "The most awesome pic taking Girl" on her blog.  I'm abysmal at doing the "pass it along" things, but I do so appreciate the nice thought.  (And congrats on the upcoming wedding--I can't believe you're still managing to blog and comment on blogs and not be going crazy and stuff!)

7.  The thought of a possible road-trip adventure.  I haven't decided for sure if I'm up for it yet, but I'm considering busing it to DC for inauguration and some Supreme Court argument (one of my co-workers has a case there on the 21st).  Any bus riders out there have thoughts?

And, while you're thinking, what's making you merry today?

To My Very Dear Non-Lawyer Family, Friends, Random Acquaintances

While I'm very fond of most of you already, our future interactions will be much better if you read and understand this:

What It’s Like Defending ‘The Guilty’: Thoughts From a Criminal Defense Attorney

(Go now please.  I'll wait.)

Yeah, and I just have to reiterate this one bit 'cause it cracks me up:

“So, you try to get them off on technicalities?”

“Otherwise known as constitutional protections.”

“Tomato; to-mah-to.”

“More like tomato; garbanzo.”

“Wait a minute. Tomatoes aren’t the same as garbanzos.”

“Exactly.”

(Via S.)

Because You Really Aren't Working Today Anyway, Right?

So you can help me shop instead!

For those of you who have dogs/kids/other messy stuff:

What kind of bedding do you have?  We're about due for new, and I'm trying to scout out something fun.  I keep seeing all these pictures of pretty-pretty white beds, and I love how crisp and modern they look.  But then I think about how dirty they would get after even one run-in with the Wee Welshman's paws, and reach the inevitable conclusion that we are not white bed people. 

I don't want to do a bed-in-a-bag per se (because it sucks when one piece gets shabby and then you have to replace the whole thing because nothing else matches it)--more like something that matches, but isn't match-y?  Maybe a solid color comforter and some fun pillows?  A printed comforter and plainer pillows?

Clearly, I'm befuzzled.  If you've seen something cute or have a good suggestion, leave me a comment pretty-please! 

(Here are a few others that I like:  luxurious fabrics, leslie's blue room, minor details.) 

It's My Birthday....

I've never really been conflicted about my birthday before.  People send you cards and presents, take you to dinner, participate in your choice of activity--what's not to love?

But this year I'm a little....ambivalent. 

In general lately I'm kind of on a see-saw.  There are days (and they are most days) that I really love my life just-as-it-is, right-in-this-moment.  After all, I've got the guy, I've got the job, I've got the puppies.  And then there are days where it's like, "How the hell am I only here?"  Days where I wonder, "When am I going to really become the person I'm supposed to grow-up to be?" 

It's like, when I was Sweet Sister's age, I thought that by the time I was thirty I'd basically be where I was going to be for the whole mid-life portion of my life.  But now that I'm getting close to that, I've realized that my picture of that person is not all that much clearer to me now than it was when I was ten.  Sure, a few more of the big details have been filled in,  but there's still so much to be worked out.

And the part of me that's loving every moment as it comes is very excited about that--all those new things to discover and learn.  But the part of me that's impatiently waiting for the next moment is exhausted and whining, "Why aren't we there yet?"

Eh, I think everyone has those thoughts at one time or another.  Fortunately, wine helps.  So do friends.  And this weekend my lovely friends (acceding to my birthday prerogative to chose the activity) accompanied me on a very nice little Northeast Kansas wine tasting tour.

Perhaps surprisingly, there are roughly six small wineries in my area.  We hit three--Holyfield, Bluejacket Crossing, and Davenport--which fit well into the space of a few hours.  We've been to Holyfield before, so I knew they had a few nice wines, but I also enjoyed Davenport.  They have some fruit wines (apple, watermelon, and rhubarb) that were fun.  Bluejacket's wines were a little too sweet for me, but they had one that was really grapefruity, which my pals all loved.

I didn't take many pictures, but there are a few here.

Five Things I Wanna Do Very Soon and One Request for Good Vibes for a Certain Welsh Terrier

1. Take some pictures inspired by these.  Just need to find some bits of flowers, and perhaps some skinny vases.
2. Make this Christmas tree.  Isn't it so bright and cheery?  I have a spare table top tree, and I think I have enough spare yarn around for the ornaments.  I also stole six toothpicks from an Indian restaurant the other day to make the star, so now I have to make the tree because otherwise the bad karma will be all for naught.
3. Work on my gingerbread house design for the local contest.  I think I'm going to do something like this, as I have a spare globe-y thing and it looks fairly easy?  (I hope?)
4. Knit like a madwoman.  It's addictive, this making things from string and sticks.  In addition to working on a pair o' mittens for myself, I want to get a wee toboggan hat (like this--scroll down) and some slippers (anyone have an easy pattern?) done before Christmas.  Then maybe a blanket.  *Sigh*  So much to knit, so little time!
5. Catch up on my library books.  I have thirteen sitting on my night stand that are overdue!  But I want to finish them before I send them back.  I'm so lucky my wonderful library doesn't charge late fees!

In other news, we're trying out a new doggie daycare for Moe tomorrow.  Nice Owner (who is Moe's groomer also) said he would be willing to work with Moe on playing nice with others.  Any good vibes, nice thoughts, prayers, or whatever it is you do, would be most welcome.  I'm really hoping this will help at least a little....

Helpful Hint for People Who Walk Dogs

Or even for people who just walk themselves!

From those fabulous folks at Google (and via the wonderful Welsh-L), I bring you the Gmaps Pedometer. 

Just zoom in on your city, and pan around to find the streets you walk on.  Then click "Start recording".  Double click your starting point and each turn you make along your route.  There are options to automatically do a "there and back" route, as well as make elevation adjustments and count calories.

For example, our typical walk to the garden and back is 1.35 miles and burns 170 calories.  But if we do the big loop downtown to get ice cream it's almost 2 miles and burns 250 calories (not counting the ice cream!).  What a fun little gadget!

Helpful Hint for People Who Send Flowers

A week ago, Sweet Husband sent me a pretty pot'o'flowers at work.  He generally orders from Martha, but due to a bad experience last time (and this crazy hippie idea of ours that it's good to shop locally), this time he decided to try a florist in the town where I work instead. 

Without a website to order from though, he basically had to leave it up to the florist to decide what the ultimate arrangement would look like.  Although the flowers were beautiful, when I brought them home at the end of the week Sweet Husband was surprised at how different they looked than he thought they would.  He commented about how hard it is when you're dealing with an unknown florist over the phone.  You can't just say "do something pretty" because you have no idea what their idea of pretty is.  Once you've built a relationship with a florist and know their sense of style it gets easier, but when you're finding someone new it's kind of a gamble.

My suggestion?  Ask the florist what flowers they have in that day that are gorgeous.  Pick just one kind--this is very important--preferably of a type, or at least a color, you know your lady likes.  Then tell the florist you want x number of them (depending on the size of the flower and what your budget allows) in a plain vase with no greenery or babies breath or anything. 

That's it.  You're done. 

It's classic, it's pretty, it looks good no matter what flower you choose--it's basically bulletproof.  (Think Carrie's pink carnations from Berger in the pre-post-it note episode of "Sex and the City".)

Sweet Husband, impressed with my solution for what has been a perplexing problem for him (whether ordering flowers for me or for his mom or for his sister), said this was such a good solution that I needed to spread the word by blogging about it.  So--here you are--go forth and never fear ordering flowers over the phone again!

EDITED TO ADD:  Here's another example.  See, even grocery store flowers look beautiful this way! 

And There Was Kissing And It Was Good

I understand that there has to be some kind of conflict to keep a plot moving in a television show, but sometimes I don't need angst--sometimes I just want happy.  And tonight, on the season finale of "Grey's Anatomy", there was happy.

Building a guy a house out of candles--how come I never thought of that?  And (for once) he goes to dump the old girlfriend before he and Meredith re-get-together--that boy's learning!  And the whole thing about Meredith and her mother not wanting to kill herself and working through it with the cool shrink lady--all very nice television in my book.

Lexie and George--knew it was going to happen eventually.  George has pretty much slept with everyone, right?  Except Christina, I guess, but that would just be weird.  The thing is I could actually see he and Lexie together.  I didn't like him and Callie, and I equally hated him and Izzie.  But this Lexie thing could work.

Christina and Hahn--I have so been waiting for that to happen.  I like Hahn's character, but the whole way she beats down Christina has been making me crazy.  I just wanted Christina to do something crazy and slap her, or something....but actually this was better.  It was a surgical slap.

And speaking of Hahn, Hahn and Callie--about time!  And Alex and Izzie too, although that was not nearly so cheerful.  When Justin Chambers went off about how he took care of his Mom and therefore he could take care of Rebbecca, I realized just how much they haven't really let him stretch his legs yet.  You could just see the crazy simmering right below the surface--it was well done.

And there was lots of kissing!  A much more satisfying end than last season.  Anything important you guys think I missed?

This Could Have Been Life Changing

I'm not a beer drinker.  Never have been, maybe never will be--even the good stuff makes my throat close up a little like I'm going to vomit. 

This has never been a problem so much as it was in my college days.  I was an amicable party guest, perfectly willing to BYOB; but often the drink I brought was a bottle'o'red.  And somehow precious few college boys--and the house parties were always at the houses of boys--own one of those little silver keys to the divine, aka a corkscrew.  Yes, I eventually learned to travel with my own, but before then, or if my corkscrew had been left behind somehow...eh, the memories....

Picture if you will, a group of gallant--possibly already slightly inebriated--young men standing around a countertop staring intently at my merlot:

"Well, we could just break off the neck...."

"Or maybe we could stab it with a knife and then pull it out?"

"Hey, why don't we just push it through!"

Needless to say, I learned to enjoy the tang and texture of bits of cork with my wine.

But then today, while aimlessly browsing the web, I found the most amazing solution.  On a website called "Instructables"--which would be a really cool site even without the next part, as it seems to offer step-by-step instructions for almost anything you could want to do--I found these directions for opening a bottle of wine with only a piece of string!

Brilliant!  Incredible!  If only I had known then....

Thankfully, most people I hang out with now do have a corkscrew somewhere, but I may have to tell them to pretend they don't just so I can try this nifty trick.

Five Questions

This is in response to a meme (definition: an idea, project, statement or even a question that is posted by one blog and responded to by other blogs) that is circulating.  How it works is, a blogger answers 5 interview questions, submitted by the original blogger.  After being interviewed, a blogger invites others to play along, and interviews anyone who asks.  I saw this first on KathyF's blog, "What Do I Know?" (see parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), and asked her to interview me when she was done.

Here are the questions she asked and my answers:

McDowner

I can't help myself....I must rant comment on the season finale of Grey's Anatomy....

After having the lyrics to "Didn't We Almost Have It All?" (the episode's title) in my head all week, I wasn't really expecting it to end with everyone doing the chicken dance at Burke and Christina's wedding.  However, I think it ended up being even more depressing than I thought it would be.  As Shonda Rimes wrote today in the writer's blog, "I did my level best to burn it all down this season, to burn it to the ground . . . ."  But, to get on with my rant....

Dear Jayhawks

If it's not too much trouble, could you please try and win by a few more points today against UCLA than you did against Southern Illinois?  I know--a win is a win is a win--but if you could just make it a bit less stressful that would be great.  Thanks!!!

The Chocolate Chip Cookie Gene

My mom makes the most amazing chocolate chip cookies; they're a perfect consistency, just the right mix between crunchy and cakey.  Sweet Husband's mom is also a great baker, and his sister even gets creative and throws in things like oatmeal and nuts. 

So how is it that neither Sweet Husband, nor I, can consistently make decent chocolate chip cookies?

We try so hard--following the recipe on the Nestle Tollhouse bag to the letter--exact amount of flour and sugar, perfectly "softened" butter (not too hot or too cold) . . . . But somehow it just rarely works out.  We either get gritty batter that leads to cakey, off-tasting cookies; or we get the runny stuff that turns into cookies so hard you could use them as projectile weapons. 

Tonight we ended up with the gritty batter.  It wasn't even good enough to lick the beaters, so we didn't even try bake a batch of cookies--just scraped the batter straight into the trash can.  If not for the obvious proof otherwise, I would say it's just not in our genes . . . .