Averygoodun's Personal File

Geoff and I are going to go on a date! Not today, 'cause I'm all tired from cleaning (not to mention there's a metric tonne of cooking to do), but on Thursday afternoon.

We're going to go see "Gravity" on the 3D imax screen up in Big Town (Manchester).

We're both psyched.

And tonight we're going to watch, er, something as a reward for getting the cleaning done.

Another good thing is that I think I've found a doable recipe for Page's birthday cake (gluten- and egg-free makes for difficult baking). It will involve prunes... It actually does sound delicious and adaptable.

I also perfected the chocolate almond pow* into a really delectable candy. The trick is to coat it in coconut powder.

(* Almond pow is the name Page gave to a goopy combination of almond butter, honey and coconut (either unsweetened shredded or coconut powder). When I make it without cocoa powder, I like to add a lot of ginger and/or garam masala, which makes the "pow" in the name a little more sensible, but Page prefers it plain, or with only a bit of cinnamon. Very adaptable little candy, though.)

Probably the best thing is that this is a four day weekend for me, and I'm almost all caught up on schoolwork. Only thing I have to do is my photo assignment, and I'm probably going to do that on Tuesday when my hostas arrive. (The assignment is tell a story in 10 pictures. I'll show myself planting the hostas. If it doesn't work out, I still have a day left to do something else.)

Yay! Relaxation!

So, I hope everyone else is having a nice weekend.

So far, I am not loving Tuesdays. Something has to change, because the week cannot start this way for the rest of the semester. Especially as relying on Geoff to be here to help is looking like a bad idea/assumption.

I'm thinking Page is going to be going into after-school 2 days a week after all, no matter how he feels about it. Oh, how I am looking forward to that conversation.

Humbug.

Whelp, they have finally started work on the backyard. I wish someone had let us know ahead of time that they would be chopping down our backyard tree, though. Geoff said he saw a shadow, both literal and metaphorical, pass over my face as I watched the tree come down. ( I was surprised by my reaction. )

Especially when it's the second cup?

ION, today has been rather nice, in-between having to bully the youngster to do his bit to help out, that is. Woke up at the usual wake-up time, heeded nature's call and managed to get back to sleep for another two hours. Had a lovely, lazy rest of the morning hours, during which time the postal worker delivered our Christmas boxes we mailed ourselves last week. Which made Page very, very happy. And it made us happy that Page was able to take receipt of the packages while we continued lazing in bed.

Last night I proposed to Geoff that we spend one hour (timed) on cleaning today. And while I was in favor of putting it off another day because of the chaos caused by the boxes, Geoff was a good husband and insisted we continue with the plan. Which means we now have a house that is a lot cleaner (and even a little tidier) than before. Not much can really get done in an hour, but enough was done to make a positive visual difference. Seeing as all three of us were helping. Mostly. (At least Page wasn't hindering. That's something, right?)

And now the boys have gone off to find a television to watch the game on. Geoff is happily wearing his Broncos' swag (nice but old polo shirt; his new, gaudy jacket... can't remember whether he's wearing his new winter hat or not), and was even happier that I agreed to wear some, as well (his new Champ Bailey shirt). And that means I have a few hours to myself. Haven't quite figured out how I'm going to use the time, either. Fanfic, published fic, movie or nap?

Tomorrow looks to be a busy day, what with everything I haven't done in the past week plus all the social activities strewn throughout the day, but I hope to fit in a test drive while we're in that part of town doing errands. I have no idea what we'll test drive yet, but it's time to get started figuring the car thing out. I hate rushed shopping, especially on important and really expensive items, but if we test drive one or two cars a week starting now, we might have a good idea of what we want (and/or where to look) when it comes time to buy. And test driving now, while we really CANNOT buy, will give us a bit of practice dealing with car salesmen again. *blergh*

Anyway, happy weekend, all. Hope your corner of the world is being kind to you.

I'm feeling just a little off, which, added to the heat of the day, makes for very little ambition. Or gumption. Or, you know, me doing anything. Even though there's a heck of a lot to do. *thinks* *shrugs* I'm too bored to care at the moment.


However, I did enjoy some fresh-off-the-vine sugar snap peas a bit ago. And the CSA produced a pint of peas which were absolutely delicious in their uncooked state. I have yet to wash and deal with all the veggies we got, but I will say that fried scapes are yuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmy! Not that scapes aren't yummy in general, mind. I got extra scapes this week so as to try scape pesto. Question is, what nut would be best? (Probably pine, but I'm not going there, as they're rather cher.)

(Scapes, for those of you who don't visit farmer's markets, are the curly tops of garlic. They need to be removed so that the bulb will grow. Clever, sneaky things, they are, too. But yummy enough that it's worth outwitting them.)

So Geoff and I de-scaped the entire lower field (2.5 rows) of garlic while we were at the farm. It was so yummy smelling! We were ravenous by the time we got home. Well, Geoff was ravenous and I was wilty. It was hot, tiring work. (A farmer I shall never be!)


Hum. While this gardening thing is great for my mood and most of my body, it hasn't been all that great for my fingers. I think several nail beds of my left hand are bordering on being infected. (And yes, I do clean my hands thoroughly after gardening, and no I will not wear gloves - they're uncomfortable and hot and take the pleasure out of gardening for me.) I s'pose I should put neosporin on them or something.


I think the spider solitaire program has run out of winnable games in the two suit level. I swear I've played some of these before. I probably shouldn't admit that, seeing as that shows just how many games I've played (though over the last couple of years. Not just this week. Honest). Too bad my mind's too murky to switch up to four suits just yet. Ah well, there's still Mahjong.


Finally broke down and played Plants vs. Zombies. There's some truly disturbing aspects to that game, but I will admit it's a lot of fun. I'm thinking Geoff and I will go in halfers with Page, who is currently saving up to buy the full version.


*sigh* Time to turn on the a/c and get to work. Whether that be writing or everything else that needs to be done remains to be seen... Probably (hopefully? Nah, too hot to hope) both.


;-)

- Loaded the dishwasher three times to capacity. There are three dishwasher-safe items left in the sink (and one item that can't go in).

- started another batch of yogurt (although really, that was started 8 hours ago, when I boiled the milk. But the milk didn't cool down sufficiently till 8, so it counts.)

- peeled and cooked 5 pounds of carrots. They were starting to molder. Ew.

- baked a cheesecake

- uninstalled Spyware Terminator. Useless POC.


I am leaving the cleaning of the countertops till tomorrow, since my clumsiness has only increased through the evening, and I am starting to take things like falling utensils, or chopping boards, personally. And respond rudely.

I am also leaving the sweeping of the floor till tomorrow, but that's because I just can't find the nerve to face it.


But, considering the day started with a defunct drain (again) that didn't get fixed until 7pm, and piles of dishes stacked everywhere, I'd say I got a sufficient amount done this evening (and I wasn't useless before that, either). Enough so that I can concentrate on other things tomorrow.


There is so much to do in the next week, it's rather staggering. But, it will either get done or not, and either way it's fine. As long as a few key things get done, it'll be fine.

Now to just figure out which of those key things are the most important...

So, Monday was a bad day. Babe was home sick and my mood went downhill really fast. And then I took it out on Geoff, who really didn't deserve it, which led to me feeling like the shit I was.

So I self-flagellated by cleaning. And cleaning. And cleaning. The house doesn't look much better than it did, but Babe's room is now clean (well, except for the patch of floor that needed wiping up this morning), the filing is done (I really need to do it more often than every six months), and the laundry is caught up.

Yesterday was better, though it started off rocky. But I managed to get out for a walk with a friend and go to the store for allergy medicine and non-sausaged meats. God, it's good to have non-sausaged meats again. There are also two HUMONGOUS tins of tomato products, which will be used with the non-sausaged meats to make two huge batches of spaghetti sauce soon. Maybe tomorrow...

So I basically got everything on my to do list done. In only three days (and considering the filing alone took three and a half hours, it would not have been physically possible to have done everything in one or two days)!

And now I'ma tired. But maybe not as much a turd.

So, my house stinks. (I think I might have mentioned that recently, but it bears repeating.) I have reached my tolerance limit and am now trying to eliminate the stench. One itty-bitty place at a time. Last week was the bathroom. This week is the linen closet.

( The whinge )

( This morning's adventures. So far. )

See you on the other side.

Had meatloaf mixture to use up (my own, and a little too heavy on the onions [yes, it is possible]), so I spiced it up with McCormick's Hot Shot pepper mix, and about a teaspoon of mustard powder.

Perfect. Really, truly. Babe asked for THIRDS! (Happiness is making dinner your child(ren) like!)

I also made white comfort food and, as last time it was too watery, left it on the stove to evaporate a bit.

Much better and yum.

And then... We had about a dozen apples sitting on our table, not getting eaten. I was tired of that, so today I made gluten-free apple crisp (same crisp topping recipe, just using millet and amaranth flours plus xanthum gum). And I had some. (!) And Babe didn't!(!!) (He asked for seconds on his ice cream, and I told him that to get more ice cream he needed to try either the white comfort food or the apple crisp. He withdrew his request.)

( Blah blah blah good things blah )

Night all!