NaBloPoMo, Day 20

With any luck, tomorrow will bring two things I've been meaning to do for a while now:

• make this cake. I've always had good excuses. Something else flashier and more glamorous pops up. It's not the right season. I'm out of whole wheat flour. I don't have buttermilk or yogurt. (Also, who measures butter in thirds of a cup?) Excuses are now gone, and this is happening tomorrow, if I have anything to say about it.
• see people who are in Houston! This one hasn't really been about excuses, I've just been a whole plane flight away. So I'm here, they're here, it's go time.

And you're getting gypped. You've gotten two very short, not very substantial posts. And I'm sorry.

NaBloPoMo, Day 19

How do you write about the things that bother you in a public forum? Especially when the things that bother you are things that other people do. People can be rude, people can be stupid, people can just frustrate you sometimes. And whether they end up reading your blog or not, you can't just air frustrations willy-nilly on this big internet thing.

If writing is supposed to be a release, there has to be something for you to release. When that doesn't happen, you end up writing about your other releases. You write about baking cookies at odd hours or napping or crafting. That's all fine and well, but it kind of defeats the purpose, don't you think? So maybe a goal in the near-time will be to find a way to make that happen. If you've got any ideas, holler.

Disclaimer: No, I am not keeping enormous frustrations bottled up inside. I talk about them plenty. When it comes to the end of the day, though, and you need something to write about, it's difficult for such a substantial hunk of life to be off-limits.

NaBloPoMo, Day 18

This is a story best told sequentially.

Yesterday, I took a seven-minute study break nap. I looked like this:

Then, today, I took a two-hour nap because I slept through all but five minutes of the sermon. And obviously, unintended sleep demands intended sleep. For two hours.

I then did a photo scavenger hunt, which is, ironically, not pictured.

I studied for about ten minutes for tomorrow's quiz on classical music history.

I talked a lot and finished a scarf I've been crocheting.

Then, it was 12:00, and Abby wanted to do something (but didn't know what). In my brain, it took about ten minutes to decide what to do and make it to the kitchen.

In real life, it took 55 minutes.

We made cookies. See? (I'm the one with the cookies.)

Many minutes later, it was 1:57 and I needed to blog.

All this to say, if I make it out of tomorrow's quiz alive, it'll be a miracle. Night night, y'all.

NaBloPoMo, Day 17

You know, I was just kidding about the turkey. We're actually going for some duck instead. But first, I learned something about turkeys! More accurately, about the pop-up timers that are jammed in them. Inside them is a tiny spring (tiny!) held in its compressed position by an epoxy that melts at a specific temperature -- in the case of turkey, usually 181 degrees. Epoxy melts, spring goes pop, turkey continues to cook, nobody's happy except Butterball.

But all this is irrelevant because we're eating duckies! And other side dishes that, according to some family members, are "too weird." Excuse me, but we've got to expand people's horizons somehow (including my own), and when you're off in Illinois for eight months out of the year, you have to take the opportunities you can get. So decisions have been made, food will be tasty, and people will like it more than they expect. Mark my word.

NaBloPoMo, Day 16

Thanksgiving is approaching, and it's got some real potential this year. It's always fun to plan lots and lots of things that you get to make, all from scratch and all by yourself (probably). It's especially fun this year because I'm thinking it might finally be time to do a big turkey. We haven't actually had one in my memory of Thanksgivings. It's basically a big science project, and for all food-related science projects, we turn to the one, the only Alton Brown. Winner. So that should involve a nice brining time and some aromatics or something we stick into the middle of Big Bird. And then we roast the little buddy.

Sides-wise, I'm thinking color. Orange things and green things, mainly. And then lots of carbs. With some sugar at the end. Yep, sounds like a winner of a meal.

NaBloPoMo, Day 15

First, this: we're halfway there! 15 out of the 30 days in November have passed, and I haven't failed yet. Huzzah!

Secondly, I give you a direct quote from a conversation I had with a friend a month or so ago: "My mom, she doesn't understand me and cheese."

So here we are. The secret's out. I don't always like cheese. The deets:

• There are some cheeses whose flavor is just too strong: blue cheeses, some brie, emmentaler, feta, some gouda. Oh yes, and cottage cheese. Who thought that was a good idea?
• I don't remember what I think about camembert or havarti.
• Some cheeses don't offend me, but they just don't taste like much. Looking at you, American and Monterrey Jack. And shredded mozzarella.
• The cheeses I like, I want to taste. If it's cheddar, it better be the sharpest you can find. Parmesan? None of the Kraft green shaker bottles, please. Commit!
• The main rule here is this: if you're going to put cheese on my pizza/burger/sandwich, it had best be adding something other than color and calories. Nuff said. 

NaBloPoMo, Day 14

I'm pretty sure I amuse my piano teacher (hereafter DPH) on a weekly basis. I mean, I don't sit in on other people's lessons or anything, but something tells me I'm my own breed of crazy in there.

He'll ask questions like, "Now how did that feel?" right after we change something, and I honestly tell him that it felt pretty much the same.

Or today, I had a little memory slip, and he was just about to put the music back up and let me look at it. It went like this:
DPH: I really just want to show you this one thing.
Me: No, hold on, I've got it.
(tries and fails)
DPH: I really think...
Me: Nope, I've got it.
DPH: OK...
(fails in a different way)
Me: OK, self, just slow down a little. Again.
(success)
Me: OK, show me what you wanted to show me.
DPH: Well, I was just going to show you this pattern...
Me: Yeah yeah, it's chromatic and descending, I know.
DPH: Oh, so you knew that?
Me: Yeah, I just had to start it. I knew it was a c-sharp something, I just had to figure it out.
DPH: Oh. Well great!

Or when I beat him to the punch.
DPH: Let's try that again.
Me: Gotcha.
(plays a ditty that happens three times)
Me: So the second and third ones were good.
DPH at the same time: Well, those were a lot better, especially the second and -- right, just like that.

Or when I bring in nutso imagery:
DPH: How's the Dello Joio memory coming along?
Me: Right, I thought you were going to ask that, so I was coming up with an analogy just now. I think it's like a grid or matrix of some sort that's supposed to hold smaller stuff inside it. And if that's what the piece is, then I've got the grid matrix thing in place and I just need to stuff it now.
DPH: Oh. Well OK. See you next week!

And I hope you had as much fun reading that as I did reliving the whole thing.