Results of Buy Nothing Day

I admit it, I made a purchase today. I don't necessarily consider it something that I would "ban" for "Buy Nothing Day," but, obviously, I did buy SOMETHING, so I didn't buy "nothing." What, exactly, did I buy? A "for here half-decaf grande americano" and a "for here grande soy light abuelita mocha." B and I went to Ristretto this afternoon, enjoyed our coffee, talked, read, I knitted and tried to finish a killer sodoku puzzle. It's a local business that serves local and organic products, it's very close to our house, and what I purchased was, technically, food.

--Erika

Football and Acorn Squash

Reason number 43, "Why Erika NEEDS a Root Cellar:" B and I decided to move our squash (acorn, sugar pumpkin, and zucchini) to another location in our house (where our current "cellar" is... more like our current place to store things that should be stored in a cellar). We ended up tossing some fantastically large acorn squash across our living/dining room... Seriously, some of the squash were bigger than footballs! The two pictured below, with a U.S. quarter, spent another 4 weeks on the vine!

--Erika

Buy Nothing Day

Check out here for more information.

--Erika

Zucchini Relish

My first iMovie on my mac! It's me, making zucchini relish. The video looks pretty good on DVD format, but when formatted for the web, it's hard to read the subtitles (if you can make the display bigger, you can make them out). Another warning, this is just how I make zucchini relish - use a tested and USDA approved method for your home canning. The recipe I used came from The Zucchini Cookbook by Paula Simmons.

Happy Canning...

--Erika

The End of Things...

Things that have ended for me in the last two months (in no particular order):
1. The post-bac elementary education program - I was sick the last day :-( but it's over! I'm done, my teaching certificate will be in the mail when grades are in for the quarter!
2. My grandfather passed away on 25 June. Read his obituary here. What a horrible disease, Alzheimer's, the thought of it actually makes me angry. There was so much more to his life than what he suffered through in the last several years.
3. If #1 is true, I'm officially unemployed. (Yes, Dad, I'm looking for a job.)
4. Again, if #1 is true, I'm done with a gnarly commute. Riding the bus and carpooling certainly had their benefits, but I'd much rather not have to do either (translation - I want to walk or bike to work - meaning work needs to be closer!)
5. My physical addiction to coffee. Yes, this has a lot to do with #1, however, since I was sick on the last day of school, and my last coffee was the day before - Wednesday, by Friday, I was going through serious withdrawals (I talk like I was on something other than caffeine...). Poor B. He put up with so much of my sniveling! 'I have a headache, but I can't take anything!' 'I'm hungry, but I don't want to eat,' 'Don't touch me; will you rub my shoulders; leave me alone; I need a hug...' What a trooper.
6. The one I've been putting off - the end of my excuses for not blogging.

Independence Day News...

Not that there is anything special about my news today... it's just news. Headline: the MacBook I've been jonesing for, for months finally materialized today! In other news: THREE DAY WEEKEND!!! Booring middle story: The most pressing homework I have for this weekend is to draw something with the theme of "Zebra and Shoes" for my art class... Sad news: For those that haven't heard yet, my grandfather passed away last week. Closing news: Jessi Marie is becoming a pansy. She's never been afraid of thunder or fireworks, and last night, I had to give her "pet rescue remedy" 'cause of the thunder and fireworks. Note: do NOT give Mrs. Wigglesnort the full dose of "pet rescue remedy" unless you are prepared to CARRY her everywhere - I've never seen a drunk dog, but watching her last night... makes it nary a stretch to imagine one.

--Erika


P.S. I've been waiting to say this: made on a mac

:-)

Procrastination

For those of you that don't know me... I'm a procrastinator by nature, and sometimes it gets the best of me. I've been putting off blogging again because I had other things to do... like sleep, feed the dog, laugh at the videos of my kiddos, drink coffee, slam my finger in a car door and keep the screaming tirade that follows G-rated, and many other things.

So, why now, you ask? I'm sitting in a dungeon with four other souls, all of us staring at the large, bright screens that fill the mac lab on campus. Carrie and I are working on a video for our kiddos... but we can only work one at a time. But, Erika, you have so many other things you could be doing, other than blogging right now! Yes, dear reader, you're right - but what uses less of my brain, cleaning out my notebook and organizing it, or typing a scattered and potentially embarrassing blog post?

Well, just so the whole two of you that read my blog are clear, I will try to continue posting on a regular basis. My definition of regular: more frequent than I wash my hair, less frequent than I change my underwear (HA, it rhymes!).

This, dear readers, is why you don't blog at 11:28 pm.

--Erika

P.S. The Giant Crack Bird was back this weekend!

Earth Hour 2008

Saturday 29 March 2008
8:00 to 9:00 PM

Who: EVERYONE
What: Turn off your lights (better yet, also turn off the TV, computer, radio, etc., unplug appliances, turn off the heat/AC, stay out of your car, etc.)
When: See above
Where: EVERYWHERE
Why: A symbolic stand against global warming
More info? Check it out here.

Happy New Year!

Last night, we watched "New Years at the Needle..." I believe Seattle will be the laughing stock of the world until "we" can redeem ourselves with a spectacular fireworks display. Check out the article and video at KING5.

I'm not sure if it's writer's block, or if I'm just not inspired; but whatever it is, it's going away... Coming up will be posts including my reading list, thoughts on New Years' Resolutions, and of course, more "Random Link of the Week" websites to peruse!

--Erika

Finals Week, etc.

Finals week for Fall 2007 is here... ACK. I have a big project for my science class that was half done, then I decided to change the topic yesterday. All I have left to do are add some goals and make it look pretty! I think (hope), everything else is pretty much done.

As for Mrs. Wigglesnort, her new nickname, Princess Goopeyeye, is starting to fit once more. It's not nearly as bad as before Dr. C. flushed out her eyes, but it's certainly not normal. She doesn't seem to mind. She's been busy chewing off the box that B and his dad built to cover a faucet (they knew she'd eat up the Styrofoam kind), chewing up anything else we leave out in HER backyard. After the storm (the one that flooded most of the South Sound), the weather guys said it was not windy, and about twenty minutes later, her kennel blew over. She seems to think this is great - we can't put her up!

In other news, the Christmas Tree is up. It's a pre-lit tree, which basically is a sales ploy. "We've already put the lights on here, so you don't have to!" That really means that they've put green wires on a green tree and marked them with green print on green paper to tell you where they go. So far, only the bottom 1/5 of the tree is lit.

That's a lot of writing. Time for a *new* feature!!! Erika's Random Link of the Week! This week's link is in tribute to all those people who think "OH, CRAP, Erika's a vegetarian psychopath, isn't she!" Granted, I'm not a vegan, but this blog is worth the recognition. "What the Hell Does a Vegan Eat Anyway" is this week's Random Link of the Week! It features pictures and recipes of daily eats of a couple of vegans!

Maybe my link of the week will turn into something more frequent, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

--Erika

Thanksgiving Weekend

I actually left the house this weekend... I really didn't want to, I hate fighting traffic and seeing people go crazy over consumerism. If I was up to speed on things, I would have posted something about "Buy Nothing Day" before Thanksgiving. My redemption in this is that I went to a coffee shop (Ristretto Cafe) to do homework. If you get a chance to try their Abuleta Mocha - you've gotta! It's more than delicious!

I wish I had something else to say right now. I bet you'll never hear that from me again!

--Erika

It's FAST!

I'm posting this picture just because I can. Previous pictures took more than 20 minutes to upload, this took less than 7 seconds! Thank you mom, for high speed internet!


I called B from the bus station today... and our cable modem came today! I was so excited the whole ride home... I talked to H and we planned on chatting at the "watering" hole at nine tonight... well, let's just say that B and my first experience with high speed was amazing... we were giggling like small children, completely unaware of the time. When H called at 8:58, I felt awful, but then she told me she wasn't there yet either.





Anyway, B and I had SO much fun on youtube.com, I really liked the pit bull video - explaining how pit bulls are what you make of them - if you treat them like any other dog, they'll be as sweet as can be, but if you abuse them and teach them to fight, they'll do just that - respond to abuse by fighting. If you know Mrs. Wigglesnort, you also may see glimpses of her in the pit bull video... something we should watch on the days when we doubt her make up. Anyway... check it out here.





In other news... I just started another book, Autumn Blue by Karen Harter. Heather is letting me borrow her copy (got it tonight). I read the first four pages (out loud), and after the first paragraph, I knew I'd be up all night reading it... I can already see myself standing at the kitchen sink, washing a cereal bowl, looking longingly out the window past the grasses behind the trailer...





I've gotta get back to one/some/all of the following: sleep, shower, book, youtube, homework, etc. :-)





--Erika

And It's Raining... Suprised?

So, classes start tomorrow for the kids in BSD! Two days down, 180+ to go! I still haven't been assigned a teacher yet, but I'm not too concerned - it'll definitely be a 6th, 7th, or 8th grade class - which is SO much better than K-4! (I'm leaving 5 out, I still haven't formed a complete opinion of fifth graders yet.)

I think Jessi Marie knows that I'm going back to school and that today is just a holiday. She's been ultra cling-y and had a very sad look on her face most of the day. We have a foot stool in between a table and chair in the living room, which happens to be right in front of her "spot" where she sits with her chin on the window sill and looks out. So, today, instead of just going to the other side of the window - Jessi (the adorable 70 pound "lap dog") crawled UNDER the table to get around the stool. Now this table isn't very big - it could easily fit inside her crate or dog house, so you can imagine how bad Jessi wanted to look out *her* window...

I also baked Chocolate Zucchini Bread (see below) today. It isn't overly chocolate-y, which is what I was nervous about when baking such a loaf. The only complaint I have for this one is that it says to wait 20 minutes before removing the bread from the loaf pan - GOOD LUCK. unless you line your pans with parchment paper, removal is much easier said than done. Other than that, it's a wonderful sweet bread - not too crispy outside, still moist inside.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread
3 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
1 ounce melted Baker's semi-sweet chocolate
2 t vanilla extract
3 c. whole wheat flour
1 t salt
2 t cinnamon
1/4 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
2 c. grated zucchini

I mixed everything except the flour together, then sifted in the flour and mixed well. The batter seems a little runny, but don't worry! Grease 2 standard loaf pans (see my comment above) and preheat the oven to 355. Pour batter into the loaf pans and bake for an hour (or as needed for the toothpick test). Wait 20 minutes after removing loaves from oven before removing bread from pan.

I also made some great oatmeal raisin cookies too... I'll update with pictures and a recipe in a week or so when B and I FINALLY GET CABLE INTERNET!!! WOOHOO!!! (Thanks, Mom!)

--Erika

Back to School

My last day of "summer." POOHEY! I've gotta meet K for carpool at six thirty in the morning - about three hours after my usual bed time. It's gonna be a LONG day! We'll have four days with our cooperating teachers, then the kiddos start school next week. I'm half excited and half terrified - the "2nd" graders I had this summer were cruel, so how cruel can 6th, 7th, and 8th graders be!?!?! In other news, Mrs. Wigglesnort is going to have a long day as well - I don't think she's been in her kennel with the door closed at all since summer quarter finished. I guess she'll have to get used to drinking out of a bowl instead of her faucet. HA!

I have about twenty hours of stuff I want to do, and I should be heading to bed in six or seven hours... so I should quit procrastinating and get to work.

What a Weekend!

What a weekend, indeed! My plans were to go to O'town for a baby shower and come home... but... Friday, I went to school with M and helped set up her classroom, then we BBQ'd and the boys rode their quads at D's. Saturday morning I stopped by A's shower and then rode with G&M to Ocean Park! We came back Sunday, but had a WONDERFUL weekend!


I read somewhere that the definition of a boy is "a noise with dirt on it." Need I say more?

M and C...

Meadow and Nana LOVE the ocean!

--Erika

The Continuing Adventures of Actually Girl and Annoying Boy...

B, Jessi, and I left Friday, just after four in the afternoon, for Oly. Needless to say, that wasn't my fastest trip down there. Friday night was poker night with Mom and J, Saturday's highlight was the family BBQ - and B's "keg..." Sunday was spent at yet another family BBQ. Welcome home to M and S!

So a little rant for ya'll... I was channel surfing (yet another reason why we should get rid of cable - what a waste of time!), and I happened upon Dr. 90210... some doc was getting rid of the breast tissue of a "female to male" transgendered patient. As the doc was closing his incisions, he said that the patient's nipple was too feminine (camera zooms in, but the image is blurred out), so he was going to take a slice out of it. Before the slice is even completely gone, the blurring goes away! So my question is this (let's just ignore the whole transgender issue for this one), when is a nipple "acceptable" or not? If it's a masculine looking one, it's okay, even though the biology says it's still a girl's nipple? And a girl's nipple is unacceptable because..... Oh, wait, they're a sexual item, so women need to keep them to themselves, especially in stores where skimpy and revealing lingere are sold, eventhough their baby is hungry and wants to be fed. Wait a minute... None of this makes sense?!?! I KNOW (can you taste the sarcasm yet?), We'll fix this one easy - Only SELL girl nipples at sex stores and have MEN breastfeed, that way they won't offend anyone when their little one is hungry in public.

Okay... I'm off my soapbox... HA!

Yesterday's concert...

So, B and I went to the fair - in Lynden, WA - to see my FAVORITE band, Third Day, yesterday. They were awesome! There was a big tadoo about who was sitting in what row (good grief, can't we all just find a seat and sit?!), but other than that, a wonderful day at the fair!

As we were leaving, we decided to go through the dairy building one more time, hoping to find a nice cow to take a picture of for one of B's co-workers, but we didn't find one. We were about to leave when we passed a large pen where there was a new calf and his momma - and B didn't believe me when I told him the little guy had to have been born while we were in the concert. Another onlooker said he was about an hour old. We stood by and watched him take some first steps and look for momma's milk; which he finally found after trying her neck, legs, and chest.

More later - with pics!

--Erika