comics and coffee

comics and coffee, originally uploaded by pinprick.

breakfast of champions.

i bought the tablecloth yesterday at fred's. it's one of those funny vinyl ones with the soft back; meant for picnics and being outside. it was just so fresh and spring-like that it had to come home with me. normally we use a cloth tablecloth, but to be honest it's kind of trashed and i hate having to wash it all the time. this one is ghetto and ridiculous, but you can also wipe it clean with a damp cloth. it wins!

tattoo flip flops

tattoo flip flops, originally uploaded by pinprick.

bought three new pairs of flip flops yesterday in the summer sun; one set for the girlchild and two for me (she got another new pair the day before, i'm not a jerk!). of course it's raining today.

power out!

we had a huge power outage last night, go here to read the story. i was at work at the time, with someone actually having a scan. luckily they were out of the bore at the moment, and so we didn't have to crawl in there and retrieve them! it was really strange; you expect a power outage during bad weather, not during a nice, sunny early evening. there wasn't anything we could do at work but lock up and go home, so that's what we did.

once i got home, we realized there was no beer in the house and i really wanted a beer, so we went on a beerventure. found one grocery store with a generator and picked up some tasty beverages and then went back home to relax and wait for the power to come back. we played farkel, nibbled on chips and salsa, and at about 8 we were sick of being inside so we headed for the part of town that did have power to eat a late supper. overall, it was a super fun night. however, in the future i think we need these things on hand just in case the power goes out again or, you know, we go camping. they'd be good for both!

• some sort of battery-free radio. my pop had a wind up radio he used in the bathroom (because you know in my family you can't be more than three feet away from a radio), and i really wished we had one last night so we could listen to the news and see what was going on.
• bigger, fatter candles. we only had some wimpy ones, and we definately needed something to cast some more light. oil lamps would also be good.
• smoked oysters and crackers. you are going to need a snack, and nothing satisfies more than smokey bivalves on saltines. chips and hot sauce were good, but we all agreed we wished we had some fishy treats as well.
• emergency beer rations. what if the store hadn't been open? what then?! i shudder to think.

i'm glad we did have games, and plenty of light to play by in the kitchen. it was fun to be sort of pioneer-esque. i remember being a kid and loving power out nights. mom and pop would light the oil lamps, we'd all hang out in the living room reading and playing games and goofing off. if it stayed off for a while, we'd build a fire in the woodstove and sleep out in the living room in sleeping bags to stay warm. it always felt neat to pretend we were camping, or were characters in a laura ingles wilder book. those are still some of my favorite childhood memories. of course, being a grown-up means now i get to drink beer during power outs, which is also nice.

white toe

white toe, originally uploaded by pinprick.

this year has been somewhat exasperating at times. yes, i met someone i'm head-over-heels for. yes, i get to go on a fabulous vacation to a city i've only barely seen. yes, i got a new job that kicks my old jobs ass. at the same time, i lost a parent. i came to a difficult decision to end some friendships that were pretty shitty. there's been some illness and bad news in D's family. for all the ups, are these downs that seriously just suck. at times i feel fairly philosophical and okay, dealing with crap as it comes and trying to make the best of it. other times you'll find me in a sobbing heap in the shower. i don't know what this is like for other people, but i have a feeling this is actually kind of normal.

the weather's getting nicer by the day. flowers and trees bloom, and i start sneezing like a sonofabitch. apt metaphor, yes? the other day the boychild decided he didn't want to eat meat anymore, right on the heels of his father and i talking about how we think we're eating too much meat (and sort of poorly in general). we were all in agreement; cutting down on meat is a good thing, although to be fair we might sneak some bacon in on occasion. or not. i had a perfectly lovely vegan lunch today, and it didn't require any big effort on my part. tonight's dinner plans are also vegan, by a fluke. white bean and garlic soup, with crusty bread and a side salad. in addition to eating less meat we're going to try to plan out our dinner's in advance. i'm going to become a domestic engineer, to be sure. menu planning seems hokey, but is a good way to plot out what we need from the store and get stuff ready in advance (so we don't cop out and eat out when nothing's ready and we're starving). kitchen time at the house is my favorite thing anyway, so working on makig that a bit more efficient and pleasant seems like a good investment. it might save us some money as well, which will be nice when we go to chicago.

other than this, i'm just busy trying to make it through every day. sometimes this seems like a task, other days, not so much. i miss my pop, i miss him a lot. it strikes me at the strangest times. looking through some of his cd's the other day i was struck with the knowledge that i wouldn't be able to share musical discoveries with him, wouldn't be able to burn him cd's, wouldn't hear what he was listening to and what he thought i should be listening to. it made me cry, but it made me happy that we always had that in common. he introduced me to neko case, and i introduced him to the white stripes. we swapped cd's and fought over what to listen to in the car. who am i going to burn a copy of middle cyclone for now?

(insert song about chicago here)

ahh, travel. is there anything i love more than airports and buses and new places to have cocktails? in a word, no. before pop passed away, D and i were planning on going to chicago; him for a big food conference and show, and me just to tag along and get some quality hotel make-out time logged. we had been looking at tickets and hotels, but you know, stuff happened. for a while i thought i shouldn't go, that the expense was too much, and that given what's going on with my family i should stick to home. the more i thought about it, though, the more i realized a little trip might do me good. D got a scholarship to the show through his college, meaning his hotel and flight are paid for. he's splitting the cost of my ticket and hotel with me, which helps me out a lot. the show is about a month away, and so of course ticket and hotel prices were higher than the last time we looked, but overall, not by much. not enough to keep me home! we got my ticket and hotel booked last night, and i am now officially going to chicago for five days and four nights.

i'm pretty excited. more than that, really. it was hard for me to sleep last night, thinking about the stuff i want to see and do, the food i want to eat, the parks and museums and bars i want to visit. i have some cousins in town as well, and a good friend that lives in milwaukie, so i'll get to do some catching up as well. does anyone have any suggestions for things to do and see? bars you love? i'm all about doing typical tourist-y things, but i'm also all for doing more random stuff, seeing other parts of the city. i hear the weather there this time of year is spotty; it can be warm one day and cold and rainy the next, but i'm hoping we get a little more sun than not, and that part of my trip can spent lazing outside a coffeeshop, reading and drinking and watching people. i'm also excited for cable tv and hotel living. i'm telling you, if i could, i would totally live in a hotel. nothing pleases me more than tiny bath towels that someone else washes, random comforters, views of parking lots and miniature coffee pots with single serving packets of coffee to go along with them. plastic wrapped water glasses, remote controls velcroed to tvs, bibles in bedside tables. i can practically smell the disinfectant! like i said before, ahh, travel.

ouch

this post over at boing boing made me teary eyed. my pop's cell phone is still on, for now at least, and while i wouldn't send him a text message, i do find myself talking to him a lot lately.

i promise at some point the blog will go back to being about my life, but right now, this is my life. sometimes it feels awful, but sometimes, not so much. i like being able to talk about him, i like remembering him. he's my pop and i love him, and for a while he's just going to be at the forefront of stuff i'm thinking about.

well, that and how awesome the movie step brothers is. seriously. i could watch it like three times a day and always pee a little at the sleepwalking/tree house/catalina wine mixer scene. grief is a strange thing, my friends. suddenly the comedic timing of john c. reilly is just amazing to me.

easter update

the eggs did get dyed! i only bought two dye kits, but for some reason we had a ridiculous amount of dye; something like 18 colors, and only 22 eggs to color. that didn't stop up from over-dyeing, striping, drawing and coloring like crazy. it was a fun night, i have some photos of the eggs, but not nearly enough. the camo colors were intense and dark, which made for some interesting color combinations. we went to my folk's for easter day. as usual, we had lamb of god and ham, lots of side dishes, and too many people crammed into one tiny house. the food was excellent, and after we came home i basically laid down to read and passed out. the kids got baskets from D as well as my mom, including their first kinder eggs. i got a basket from D, but i think because now i have kids to bring to holidays mom won't make me one anymore. i am now, once and for all, officially a grown-up.

which sucks. i mean, parts of it are awesome (like sleepovers with my boyfriend and cocktails), but for all the fun and good food yesterday, i still felt pretty sad. the day before easter we went to a memorial for one of D's uncles who passed away this past week. i was glad to be there with him, for him, and to meet more of his family, but it definately put me in a subdued mood. easter just wasn't the same without pop, and it's hard for me to talk about him with anyone, still. on the way home i told D that the rest of the year we're spending all holidays with his folks. i want the kids to be with their grandparents next time, in their own environment, doing what they normally do. they've been just absolute champs about the whole thing, they deserve a holiday where amanda doesn't get mopey.

that's the best and worst thing about all this. through all of this, D and the kids have been awesome. i didn't realize that three people who don't have to love me, who don't owe me a thing, could be so amazing and supportive and wonderful. i feel very well taken care, and grateful for the little things they do to make me feel better. when push came to shove, they were right there. all the people that came through for me, that were there with calls and emails and cards made me realize how fortunate i am. i'm also just very lucky that i spend most of my time with a cute family that hugged me tight and told me i was going to be okay. i wish my pop had gotten to know them, because he would have loved them.

absentee blogger

dalek, originally uploaded by pinprick.

slowly getting back into the swing of things. days are mostly okay, i find i'm worse at night. it's the quiet, thinking times of days where i'm struck dumb. it feels very surreal, to keep going about work and life and love when he's gone. at the same time, i'm fairly sure he wouldn't want me hiding in my room crying for weeks or months on end. pop was nothing if not practical. i don't know. it just all seems strange and if i stop too long to think about it...it just gets complicated. my brain hurts.

i've been indulging in some serious escapism lately, including watching massive amounts of the mighty boosh on adult swim, reading everything i can get my hands on, and knitting. the boychild lent me the first of stephen king's dark tower series, which is honestly a lot of fun. it's got that awesome, creepy, post-apocalyptic vibe that i love so much, with a hefty dose of western and epic. evidently they are also comic books, which we also want to read. last weekend we spent a good chunk of the beautiful spring sunshine inside, playing pinball and old-school arcade games (tetris, anyone?), which was lovely. this weekend is easter, and i've got our egg dyeing kits all ready to go. tonight we boil the eggs, tomorrow we color. i found a camo kit, as well as your basic bright colors. i'm going to pick up some glitter as well, i think. shiny eggs might be fun too. we'll see!

no sugarcoating

this week has been hard. exhausting, really. i had no idea i could be sad, i had no idea i could go to work while that sad, i had no idea that you can feel the sad like a full-body bruise.

i'm lucky that i have plenty of people who love and care about me and for me. seriously, truly, fortunate in that regard. i feel awful that i'm such a shit to be around right now!

i only worked two days this week, but i think that was pretty much all i could handle. this weekend i plan on doing not much of anything; D has to work a lot, and has a lot of homework to do, and the kids are finishing up their spring break. if the weather holds, i'm going to try to squirrel them off someplace fun to treat them. they were absolute dolls this past week; they deserve some laser tag or arcade games, comic books, movies and/or pizza. there is a big part of me that just wants to crawl into bed and not get out of it for the next 48 hours, but if i start there i might not stop. plus, that sort of lifestyle will just lead to me becoming a 500 lb shut-in, and i'm pretty sure that would piss my pop off royally*.

*i still cannot bring myself to use past tense. i can't do it, i cry too hard. i'm a retard.

things right now that do not suck

bloo, originally uploaded by pinprick.

(because i need to make a list and you get stuck reading it!)

1. home made pitas and baba ganoush. especially because then you can make mighty boosh jokes, "the ganoush is loose and it's a little bit raw!"
2. episodes of the mighty boosh on adult swim. thank god it's not just on the youtube anymore!
3. coffee. specifically double tall soy lattes, which are my favorite and i have been indulging in.
4. knitting. keeps my hands busy, lets me think without anyone realizing i'm thinking, because you know, it's just looks like i'm knitting.
5. my dad's watch. i took the one on the kitchen table, which i'm pretty sure was the last watch he wore (the man had something like 7 of them), and it might sound morbid, but i like knowing when i check the time he's close to me.
6. making it through a week. it's an arbitrary number, i know, and my grief today doesn't feel any less awful than it did seven days ago, but somehow thinking that i got through a week makes me feel a little better.

i have great friends and a wonderful family, and thank you for being kind when i needed it most.

the last post i made was just me bitching about not feeling good. i had a cold and was being a whiny baby. i called home to complain, talked to my dad, then was going to write a post about how his CT/PET scan was fairly normal but got tired and went to bed. the next day i just spaced it; was busy with D and the kids goofing off and figured i would tell you guys he was a-okay the next day.

my father died late wednesday night. it had nothing to do with his scan, he just stopped breathing and never started up again. i know he's been sick for a while, but he wasn't that sick and this has taken us all by surprise. i've wrestled with whether or not to make this news a blog post, and realized that you guys have been with me throughout his various illnesses, you've been nothing but kind and supportive and i just want you all to know how much your kindness has meant to me.

this isn't anything how i thought it would be. i honestly thought i'd have a chance to say some sort of goodbye, i thought we'd get some sort of warning, i thought we were in the clear for at least a while. i'm angry and feel cheated, because it's not fair. i'm not ready to be a grown-up, i don't want to be fatherless. i am heartbroken and what no one tells you is that grief is a physical pain; all punches in the chest and headaches from crying and sore throats. it hurts so much worse than i could have imagined. i'm home with my mother and sister, and every so often one of us says, "what do we do now?" i have no idea. i miss him already so much i can't believe it will ever get better. i'm alternately sobbing and then angry and then just happy to be home with my people and talking about him. he wasn't always the easiest man to get along with, and i know he wishes my life had taken a different turn, but i loved him and never doubted that he loved me.

you don't have to say anything, honest. it's a weird and strange thing, writing a blog post about your father's death. there are a lot of you out there that i've shared a lot of my life with (and shared parts of your life with!), and i don't want to discount our connection to each other by just disappearing. i'll be a lot less present on the internets for a while, but if it makes you feel any better i'll be a lot less present in real life too. as it is, i just want to hide in the back room and knit furiously and watch old tv shows and cry when i want to. it just all feels so surreal, you know? when i'm not crying i'm worrying about my mom, and my sister and the baby and i feel guilty for feeling bad for myself but then there are parts of me that are all "dude, that's normal, give yourself a break" but none of this makes any sense to me. i miss him. i don't want him to be gone. i hope he knew how much i loved him. i wish i weren't so embarassed about crying in public because it makes me look like a robot, and i wish i didn't care what anyone else thinks about my grief. mourning does not become me. i just wish he would come home. did i mention that i miss him? because i do. so please, just go hug your dad for me. have a miller beer or bourbon for him, or just go tell someone you love how much you do. and send tissues. i love you.

out sick

noodle soup with egg, originally uploaded by pinprick.

pretty much everyone i know right now is sick, and i am no exception. it started this sunday when i felt sort of out of it, low energy, start of a sore throat, then it progressed to full-on mucous production. whoo! yesterday was my every-other-monday workday, and i had to call out sick. today i woke up feeling even worse than yesterday, if that's at all possible, and spent the morning whining to D about how lousy i felt, so i called out sick again. bleh. i hate missing work, especially work that is so relaxed and easy, BUT i have to be careful to not get anyone else sick, and i like my co-worker M and he has a whole passel of small children at home. giving him a cold is a fairly jerky thing to do. plus, if i had gone in today i would have had to wear a surgical mask and that just looks plain silly on me.

sometime this afternoon the clouds broke and i had a cup of coffee and suddenly realized that i might not die. bought some cough drops for tomorrow, ate some more soup, and while i'm not ready to party, i might also stay up past six tonight. i'm just glad we all got sick at about the same time (D's got something too, and yesterday found us both vying for couch space and passing out in front of the tv), and once we shake it we'll be able to enjoy everyone's spring break with no snotty noses or hacking coughs.

my mother used to make me this soup when i was sick as a kid; it's just a package of lipton's noodle soup (without the chicken chunks), with an egg poached in it. last night i woke up long enough to make a pot and feed it to everyone before going back to bed, and i swear it's restorative powers are not to be trifled with. it's the great i'm-too-sick-to-make-soup soup, and something about the rich eggy yolk in the soup is amazing. i suggest you try it if you are felled by illness any time soon!

here we go again

pop just had a CT scan this week, because they found some nodules in his lungs during a routine PET scan. now that i work in the "diagnostic imaging" field, i can tell you that it's pretty common to have a PET and CT at the same time, since they are complimentary, but i can see why they did one and waited for the results before doing the other. the kind of nodules he has might very well be nothing; the standard practice is to watch them and see if they get bigger, then maybe biopsy them if they do. to be frank, it's not like this is the first time they've found something wonky or not-quite-right in my dad's lungs. they aren't exactly pure as the driven snow, and with his history of COPD this sort of thing is par for course. my mother usually keeps my sister and i in the dark about this sort of thing until after the fact but this time she was remarkably forthcoming. she actually told us about it beforehand, but of course then did the whole "okay, now you can freak out about it" thing, which i didn't go for. i told her i was glad she had told me, and that i don't ask for that kind of information so i can worry and fret or freak out; i just want to know. i want to be able to call and check in on him, i want to be able to let him know i'm thinking about him, i want to be able to ask him questions. pop will tell you anything you want to know, but in our family he's not the phone caller. the phone is not his favorite form of communication, and as much as mom hates it, he thinks she'll tell us, and 99% of the time he's right.

i called him up today to see how he was feeling and he's got a bit of a cold, is feeling all congested and snotty, and hacking up his lungs on a regular basis. he seems to be in a pretty good mood about the whole thing though, aside from making it very clear that he's not too into doing radiation or chemo again if these nodules turn out to be tumors of the cancerous variety. i can't say i blame him; he was miserable last time, and would likely be miserable this time too. i can't say i'm not hoping he does whatever he can to live forever because duh, he's my POP, but if he wants to bow out gracefully and forgo treatment this time 'round, i'll support him. just because i think he's still handsome with no hair doesn't mean he's a big fan of it.

these days i'm not exactly worried so much as i'm preoccupied. i know enough about cancer this time to know that worrying about his test results won't actually change them and that the only thing i can do is call him, let him know i love him, and wait and see how things unfold. i hope his chest cold clears up, i hope they don't biopsy him because he hates needles, and i hope the doctor tells him that nothing is going on. family illness is a strange thing, but we aren't the first family to go through it and it's certainly not our first rodeo, as the kids say.

beat it!

this is rocky, D's brother's african grey parrot. the week before we started sitting her, D started getting us all ready to have her around. to be honest, the kids and i were not amused or impressed, and i made more than one "it's all fun and games until she gouges my eyes out" jokes. the first night she was here was kind of tense; we were all a little wary of her, and D's brother gave us a lengthy list of things she did and didn't like, and instances when she was likely to bite. the next night, though, we were making dinner and she was around the corner and somehow we ended up whistling at her and she was whistling back...and the next thing you knew, we realized she's actually a pretty awesome bird. sure, she doesn't like to be held, but besides that, she's totally into us and fun to interact with. watching her pick up new words and phrases, getting her to dance with us, feeding her slivers of banana and hearing her chirp "oh boy!" has been amazing. she's incredibly curious and smart, and now that she feels more and more comfortable with us she's become a real joy to have around. the kids and i have looked up all sort of articles about her type of bird, and have learned that they have a reputation for being smart and attentive. we think she's pretty cool, and having her around this week has been super fun. we're sad she leaves in a few days!

i also had a chance to play ridiculous amount of rock band this weekend with the kids. what started as a short trip to my house to pick up some stuff became hours of rocking out with only one break for pizza ordering. i knew rock band was fun, but had no idea it could kill so many hours in an afternoon. not that i'm complaining! i discovered i suck at the drums, am passable on guitar, but really like the singing part best. especially since wave of mutilation is one of the songs. dear pixies, how i love you. the best thing about D's kids is that they're fairly open to new stuff; we listen to all sorts of music and they don't automatically poo-poo the music i love because i'm "old" and not cool. they'll give it a chance, although they haven't yet decided they love the pixies as much as i do. the girlchild loves lady gaga the way i do (whoo! this makes for awesome kitchen dance parties!), and the boychild and i have bonded over led zepplin and he's shown an interest in tom waits. i know i've said it before, but i really dig these kids. if they weren't D's, i would still like them. they're funny and smart and interesting, and when we hang out on saturday afternoons it's not because i'm trying to score points with their pop or because they need to be baby-sat; it's because we do fun shit like play rock band all afternoon or go out and play pinball at the local old-school arcade, or hang around the house drinking coffee and watching movies. we have fun together, and getting to hang without their pop gives them a chance to relax and be themselves and decide if they like me or not. so far, so good.

because we had such a fun and relaxed and sleepy weekend, though, i have a ton of shit that needs to be done today! oil change, shopping, making time for coffee with a friend, all these things need to happen. D's getting ready for finals, which means he's cooking up a storm and finishing some reading for class, so i'm going to try to give him lots of quiet space and time to get it done. i got the kids to help me clean up the house yesterday so he'd have one less thing to think about (i bribed them with beowulf *and drillbit taylor), and in a few days he'll be on spring break and i'll be lamenting the fact that i have to go to work and gets to stay in bed all day.

*i did not want to see this, but the boychild is totally into norse and greek mythology. i have to say, the animation was weird and creepy, there were some awesome fun parts like the sea monster sequence, but it felt exactly as cheesy as clash of the titans to me. the boys loved it.

work has been good lately. i still need to finish getting and documenting all my vaccines, which is the fun part of working in the health care field (that and all the free hand sanitizer!). i did have to work with a guy last week who was replacing my beloved K who was out sick and HOLY HELL i hated that dude. if i ever find out i have to work with him again, i'm calling out sick with cancer. he was the most impossible, arrogant, jerky little man. the next day everyone was all smirks and asking how it was working with him and when i got that angry, wild-eyed look they all laughed knowingly. "why didn't you warn me?" i spent all day whining. in any case, besides mr. jerk-pants, i feel like i'm settling into my job and enjoying it more every day.

friday night! no big plans for this weekend, outside of baking some cupcakes for a friend who's having a birthday. the boy child and i want to see the watchmen, so i might try to cram that in sometime. however, it really isn't going to be something the girl child can (or should) see so i'm torn. i don't want to exclude her, by any means, and i know she also really wants to see corraline, so i'm thinking maybe of promising her tickets to that. or something. at ten, i'm not sure how to appease her! i'll have to talk to D and see what he thinks.

other than that, i got nothing! i've been incredibly boring this week. next week i'll try for better!

horrifyingly inattentive

if this blog were a baby, it would have stuck a fork in the wall socket long ago and i would have only just noticed. my friends are also feeling it; my retreat into boy-world. i have become one of those women i always derided for getting too caught up in their man, and part of me feels bad and part of me is still just really enjoying all our time together. i like my friends, though, i like my cat, i liked my life just fine before the onset of D*, and as much as i want to spend every single spare moment up with him, i know it's important that i stop being such an asshole. so there. i said it out loud!

the new neko case album is amazing. although to be fair, the last track annoys me. i mean, i like crickets as much as the next girl, but i think 15 minutes should have been the length. 28 minutes is just way too long. she doesn't do the great-big-voice thing as often on this album as she did on blacklisted or even fox confessor, but i imagine she gets tired of blowing out speakers with her lungs. plus, a softer song needs a softer voice, and this some songs on this album feel beautifully restrained; controlled in a way. tense? i'm not sure that's the right word. but the motifs of animals and natural disasters are lovely and everyone i've played the album for has enjoyed it. granted, i'm talking about three people specifically who indulge me quite a bit. although i have a patient listening to it right now and she hasn't complained yet!

i've been knitting up a storm. i finished a hat that i LOVE and am trying to figure out how long it would take me to knit five hundred of them in every color imaginable, but instead of doing that i adopted the stitch pattern and am making a pair of socks that resemble it. we're not just making out, honest, i get stuff done over at his house too! in between all the face-sucking and cooking, that is. (i joke! kind of!)

*i'm kind of over just referring to him as "the boyfriend." he does, in fact, have a name. instead of using it, though, i'm shortening a joke we have where i call him a "DILF" and he laughs at me, to just D.

naptime!

more animals

lately i have been addicted to the afternoon nap, which makes me feel all bright and perky for a while, but then i don't get to bed on time, and am sleepy the next morning and need another nap the next afternoon...which i can't tell if is a vicious cycle or just plain awesome. i like naps, even if i don't take them i hate mornings, and if i'm going to have a vice, i'm just glad mine involves blankets and curling up with the cat or my boyfriend.

work is adding a few mondays to the schedule (two a month for the next two months!) and i'm going to get some more hours which will be awesome. there's a possibility of a trip coming up (more information for you as i get it!) and if i go, then yay! i'll have saved some money for it, and if not, yay! money in the bank. i feel like i'm slowly getting caught up on some stuff, although to be honest i'm still pretty screwed as far as debt goes. there's a good chance i'll still have to do some debt consolidating and/or bankruptcy fun, but for the moment i'm just glad that my bills are getting paid, the power is still on, and i'm slowly building up a little safety net.

the new neko case album is out, and since tomorrow is payday i'm going to go pick it up. i also heard a band called nathan on the vinyl cafe this weekend, and ordered one of their cds. i am an absolute sucker for banjos and pretty voices, and nathan seems like a lot of fun. i remember listening to them last weekend while we worked on breakfast and saying, "damn, i like this, write it down!" i hope their cd is good, and that neko's album is as good as the reviews have been. hooray for new music!

gaga gregg

ooh, i got bit by the gaga bug. i can't help it! she makes me want to shake my ass. the other day i was listening along to the album and realized that her love games are a lot like old gregg's. i pointed this out to the kids the other day and they agreed.



also, i feel sort of guilty about this, but i totally got the girl child into lady gaga! this morning we listened to beautiful dirty rich a few times while dancing in the kitchen and drinking coffee. yes, at 10 i probably shouldn't let her do either but in my own defense she drinks tiny of cups of joe that are at least half milk. um, so there.

luminous

luminous, originally uploaded by pinprick.

it was a very pleasant weekend. i have to say, i am most definitely adjusting to having three days off a week. it feels lazy, but oh so good. saturday i spent all day with the boyfriend's kids lounging supremely. we watched massive amounts of arrested development, went out and rented movies and bought loads of gummi candies and wax bottles, and then did some more lounging. i'm pretty sure on saturday i took three naps, and i wasn't the only one. the boyfriend got off work early and came home and did some lounging with us, and then sunday we did some shopping around town. bought the cat one of those water dishes that is basically a little fountain, talked the kids into giving her a flea dip (they are brave little suckers!) and then applied the toxic stuff to the back of her neck. because their cat is a real stray (meaning she didn't take a few week long vacation in the out of doors, like my lulu) she prefers to spend a lot more time outside and brought home fleas. she's been in a spectacularily bad mood lately too; but after the bath i think she was a lot less itchy and has actually been cuddly and pleasant.

of course we did some cooking; like the clarified butter above. the boyfriend also made some amazing pork tacos, which he's made before, but i haven't taken photos of yet. they're just too good! they get eaten before i even think of getting out my camera. the girl child and i got haircuts yesterday after school, and did some grocery shopping. we came home to a napping dad/boyfriend, who was almost giddy about us bringing home beer with the salsa and tortillas. in all, i'd say it was another awesome weekend. today work has been okay; pretty busy and quick paced. my roommate is out of town, so tonight i have the whole house to myself! whoo! i'm not sure what i'm going to do with it, but you can bet it will be loud and won't involve doing dishes when i'm done.

it was as good as it looked

hot damn. this was an excellent savory onion pie! like i mentioned in my last post, this came from nigella lawson's "how to be a domestic goddess," and it was rich and filling and sweet and savory all at the time time. we ate it last night for dinner with roasted hubbard squash and a big salad, and it was a great big hit. the boyfriend's daughter's favorite meal is quiche and last night she said, "i think i like this better than quiche." i seriously thought we'd eat it all in one sitting, but it was much richer than anticipated. we had some leftover today for lunch, and if it's at all possible, i liked it much better the next day, at room temp. i was afraid that this would be one of those recipes that looks amazing and tastes mediocre, and was so pleased that the opposite was true. i spent all night saying "damn! that pie was good!" and having everyone agree with me was awesome.

i did make a few changes to the original recipe; namely using yellow sweet onions instead of red, and using more gruyere than called for. first things first! sweet yellow onions were on sale at costco, and to be frank, i don't care for red onions. i don't know why, i just don't dig them. using sweets made this pie sweeter, for sure, but the pastry was rich and cheesy (thanks to upping the swiss factor!) and i think it was the perfect balance. the next time i make it i want to do it in individual ramekins, so we all get a little sweet pie of our own.

on tomorrow's menu, a roasted potato, prosciutto and gruyere pizza pie, along with an asparagus one and a great big salad. for the asparagus i might use goat cheese, although i think the boyfriend and his daughter don't care for goat, but i'm pretty sure the boychik and i do, so it should work out. we bought a giant box of salad at costco as well, so more big salad with dinner! i love cooking over at the boyfriend's house for a few reasons, one of them being they're easy to please, they'll try pretty much anything once, and they seem stoked to have someone else in the kitchen with them. some nights we listen to alice cooper on the radio, play games* while the food cooks, and generally goof off, which is super fun. i feel spoiled and pretty pleased with myself those nights. it's honestly just nice to have a relaxed night where we get to eat delicious things and hang out. i like that they like doing dinner, and i like that i get to be a part of it. dinner is awesome, end of story!

*i introduced them to farkel! the only math game i like!