Month: October 2011

October 28, 2011 – Friday 5

~ Julia ~ 1 Comment
Well, I have finished my housesitting stint and decided to make a 4-day weekend out of it, too. So I’m here at home, posting on the interwebs!
There were a few things that I wanted to get done with my weekend, including organizing all of my quilting supplies so that when I get some spare dough, I can actually finish it. I thought it would take much longer, but I was pleasantly surprised that everything was mostly in the same spot in the basement and was easy to pack up.
A while back, Charlie and I were on the search through some of my college boxes for his printmaking tools, and ended up finding a whole bunch of old art supplies, college dorm detrius, and books. Since I was on a mission to get the quilting stuff organized, I went through those boxes, too. I cannot believe that I moved some some of that crap multiple times! I guess that goes to show you that a lot can change in five years. Next move I make, I’ll definitely be more prudent about what goes into boxes.
Before we get to the Friday5, here’s a few other things that I need to get done this weekend:
  • make Ham and Lentil Soup in the crock-pot
  • make two different dips for a Halloween potluck on Monday
  • use my 30% off at Kohl’s to buy a pair of interim business pants that fit (more on that later)
  •  switch out the summer/winter wardrobe (apparently, Cleveland weather strikes again, and we went from high-50s to mid-30s in two days)
And with that, onward, to the Friday5!
  1. What’s something you enjoy eating that many others would be grossed-out by?
    I love taking pinapple chunks from the can (can’t eat fresh pinapple because it burns my mouth), putting them in a bowl, and salting them. I love the combo of sweet and salty.
    Also, when DadZ makes soup, he breaks open the bones, scoops out the marrow, salts it and puts it on a cracker and we eat them as a snack. It grosses Charlie the hell out that we eat it, and I can’t eat many of them (too rich), but I do love it on the occasions we do have them.
  2. Which of your personal traits is most likely to make others want to avoid you?
    I get snippy pretty quickly with people.
  3. If you could wear a bracelet that had the power to keep certain kinds of people away from you, what kind of people would you repel?
    Emotional blackmailers.
  4. We are all capable of overcoming our biases, of course, but what’s a physical trait (in others) that pretty much turns you off?
    I’m going to go with pee hands. Wash your damn hands after using the bathroom, people!
  5. When you feel a case of the blues coming on, what do you do to fend off the bad feelings?
    I try to get up and get moving. If I get busy with something, I will tend to forget why I was feeling bad in the first place.
Source: Friday5.org

October 21, 2011 – Friday 5

~ Julia ~ 1 Comment
I got a lot of feedback on my last post, both here and from FB, all of which I really appreciated. My first inclination is to always go too hard on myself (that way no one else can dole out worse judgement, right?), but I realized that self-flagellation isn’t necessarily the best spark for change. I’m just committed to making that change, and do better going forward, and I feel much better now.
I’m in the middle of a house-sitting stretch, which has been a lot of fun, and a good change of scenery. Who doesn’t want a change of scenery? I’m also taking some time off at the end of the week to get some personal projects done — especially all of those craft projects that are 80% of the way there, and need a good, four-hour stretch of uninterrupted time for some headway. Who knows, I might even get some reading done, as well.
Onwards, to a late Friday 5!
  1. What everyday task is more difficult for you than it should be?
    Putting my clothes away at the end of the business day. I have about a 30% accuracy on this. Most of the time, I leave them looped over the footboard of my bed, where they pile up until Saturday, and I go through a massive clean.
  1. What everyday task do you usually put off for as long as possible?
    Answering my voicemails. I don’t know why, but I have the worst dread in collecting them.
  1. What everyday task do you perform especially well?
    Keeping my living/working areas tidy. I’ve gotten way better at this as the years go on.
  1. What everyday task has most recently been added to your every day?
    Making my lunch, either before work, or at the end of the day. I’m making a concerted effort to control the food I put into my piehole, and the integral part of me doing so means I need to be on top of the lunch situation every day so that I’m not trolling for quick and dirty lunch options.
  2. What everyday task makes the least sense to you?
    You’re asking this of someone who will turn the simplest of tasks into the most process-oriented excercise ever. There are very few tasks I do in a day that don’t make sense.

Source: Friday5.org

Those Who Gossip With You…

~ Julia ~ 2 Comments

I don’t know when it happened, but I became the girls I hated most in school. I became the mean girl. I became the person who couldn’t wait to pass judgement on someone else to a third party.  I could spend endless words speculating on why and how, but the whys and hows don’t matter. What matters is what I have become.

The realization hit me today while a viscous, black dread metasticized in me as I feared to my core that someone I maligned overheard my impulsive, careless words.  I am no better than those girls who tormented me all those years ago…

It’s mean. It’s demoralizing. And at some point, I became part of the problem.

I know I’d feel terrible if some of the things that I’ve said about others were things I’d heard said about me. I could write it off as a symptom of my defect: that I feel badly enough about myself that it feels better to know that, “Hey, I’m not as bad as So-and-So.” But it’s no excuse. The only fruit of Gossip’s loins is bitterness.

I’m deeply ashamed by my behavior. But I want to get better; I want to lift off the heavy yoke of my malice.

So I whisper only loud enough for the Divine Spark to hear, please help me. Help me be a less angry, more patient, more kind, person. Help me use my words for grace instead of venom.

By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach. Winston Churchill

Mmm Pie!

~ Julia ~ 1 Comment
Well, I’ve bought another year subscription for a Flickr Pro account, so you will continue to see photos cross-posted between there and here, and some expanded photos there.
Because pie crusts are so damn finicky, I tend to avoid making apple pie, even if it is several people’s favorites. But, since I got the press punch I mentioned in my last post, I thought I’d make a go of it. Here’s how it went:



I ended up making two: one for my family, and one for Sunday Night Dinner. They were hits in both houses.Here’s some tips I have about pie making:
  • use your grandma’s recipe: she knew what she was doing
  • use lard: it’s not as bad for you as those would have you believe, as long as you are using non-shelf-stable (i.e. needs to be refrigerated) stuff
  • roll out that pie dough on sheets of saran: much easier to roll, way easier to get into a pie pan

And, now I have enough leftover apples that I think I’m going to make some Apple Brown Betty.

October 14, 2011 – Friday 5

~ Julia ~ 2 Comments
It’s felt like a long week this week, between what I believe might be shaking the last legs of this mungy hay fever I’ve been dealing with, and two personal training sessions. Definitely looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow, even if it’s only until 7:30.
Decided last minute to skip Mansfield’s Haunted Prison Experience this year: it just wasn’t in the budget, and I couldn’t get myself jazzed up to travel down to Ashland and take a day off of work. That might make me lame, but so be it, I guess. That said, I did actually schedule some time off of work next week to relax and get some personal projects done.
When I was at Lehman’s last, I got a maple leaf plunger cutter (not sure why this one is so expensive, that’s ten times what I paid for mine….), because I was sick of mangling the hell out of my top crust on my pies. I figured that layering maple leaf shingles would be easier and nicer looking anyway. I think I’m going to give an apple pie a try this weekend, using Gram’s tried-and-true recipes.
Also, I’ve been jonesing for soup lately, so I’ll try one or two of these crock pot soups to portion and freeze for future lunches.
Onwards, to the Friday 5!
  1. What non-food items are in your refrigerator or freezer?
    I do have a few (very old) bottles of nail polish in the fridge, and some batteries. But nothing non-food in the freezer (especially not that body…).
  1. What non-book items are on your bookshelves?
    I have some of my skulls, a few shot glasses, and some of my fossils/rocks. It’s actually surprising if I have a high book:tchotchke ratio on my bookshelves.
  1. What song or album in your music collection doesn’t fit in with your usual tastes?
    I have very eclectic tastes (from Del the Funky Homosapien, to Combrichrist, and Adele to Billy Currington, so I’m guessing that it all fits and none fits.
  1. What item in your wardrobe really doesn’t match anything else?
    Nothing, I think. I’m such a product of 12 years of Catholic school, that all of my clothes have to “go together” in some way or another, like a Catholic school uniform. I try not to have anything that doesn’t go with anything else…
  1. What scar on your body did you receive in the unlikeliest of ways?
    I have a burn on my left bicep from where I was flat-ironing a friend’s hair in college, and I pinched the flab in between the hot plates. It literally sealed the skin together like a seam. It just looks like a little wrinkle in my bicep now.

Source: Friday5.org