Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Llama's LiveJournal:

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Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
6:15 pm	Let the voodoo begin! So I've got my lemon honey throat drops, my throat coat tea, my squeeze bear of honey, my elderberry (!!!) syrup and some serious hand sanitizer. And some of those probabably not-worth-the-$ vitamin C fizzy things. Let the voodoo begin! I *will not* be sick. I shall recite an appropriate incantation over my pressure cooker as I make chicken soup. (Rattles some chicken bones [from the chicken soup] and ties them with a red ribbon, next to a votive candle and a picture of Lee Atwater.) (Comment on this)
7:30 am	Minor Local Jewish Celebrity One of the most useful things I learned in law school was the critical nature of "working the network." At first, I thought this activity was limited to beneficiaries of nepotism and/or large family trusts. Turns out, my network is bigger than I thought. Due to my networking skills (now they're transferable skills!), I have found involvement (volunteer/employment or general busybody) in a number of mostly Jewish institutions in town. (Work with the people you know first. They know other people.) So I'm at Beth Shalom religious school (saturday mornings), Mitzvah Garden (Sunday mornings), HBHA (frequently), KI religious school (intermittently) and this week, Gan Chabad nursery school. This has provided unprecedented access to people who know of "Llama Borg." When I'm in synagogue, my HBHA or Beth Shalom kids wave excitedly, "Ms. Borg! Ms. Borg!" or "Llama!" or even occasionally "Morah Llama" (Morah=Teacher in Hebrew). Due to my unabashed self-promotion of the mitzvah garden, I end up in the local Jewish gossip rag with some frequency. As well as my willingness to make random phone calls to organizations that I'm trying to work with. ("TAke these tomatoes. Please!!") So I find myself a minor local Jewish celebrity. It's a little weird, but I find myself basking the attention. Except, I suppose, until I end up in the gossip pages that line the checkout at the grocery store. In other news, Grandma Fanny's meatballs really do taste better if you remember to add ketchup before serving. Also, even if you don't have sauteed onions, onion powder works okay, too. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
7:21 am	brown and drain Woke up early to set up slow cooker chili, made with chili powder instead of one of those awful seasoning mixes that come in a packet. Maybe next time I can graduate to making it with actual chilies! Forgotten how much liquid given off during ground beef browning process. I was loath to spill it down the sink, because of the high grease content being likely to congeal in my pipes (or at least those of the local sewer company) Right now, the drippings (eww...) are in a container in the freezer, pending potential disposal. Found I still have 2 patty pan squashes in reasonably good condition in the crisper drawer. Made ratatouille with some of the last tomatoes and eggplant from the mitzvah garden. Also, with some storebought onions, garlic, bell peppers and zucchini. Froze some, put the rest in the fridge for consumption. Also blanched and froze rest of the eggplant. Maybe a midwinter eggplant parmesan is in my gastronomic future? Going to nursery school today for reconnaissance/to scout location/to prep for substitute activity next week. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011
2:30 pm	Ginkgo trees in the JCC parking lot Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. Today, I just had my first observation from a professor in my program. Mr. Welton let me borrow his 7th grade life science class for a lesson on gymnosperms and angiosperms. I brought in some pinecones found at Bnai Jehudah and some ginkgo leaves from the jcc parking lot. My prof was lovely (she drove all the way from Pittsburg!) and gave me a lot of good feedback, but am dreading watching the videos of myself. Been exercising, reading novels (goodreads is my new best friend), supposed to be working on a position paper for my trends and issues class about character education in schools. Have found a lot of stuff on values/character, just have to figure out exactly how to laser in on my actual position. Really enjoyed "The Hum and the Shiver" by Alex Bledsoe, about a mysterious community living in the Tennessee mountains, southern gothic goodness! Had to get 3 cavities filled at the dentist on Monday :(. They were all in areas where the enamel was weakened by my braces, from 16 years ago! Luckily, they were able to drill/fill with little discomfort and got me out of there in about an hour. Yay dentist! Substitute teaching has been going well. I think I may be getting a handle on being mean. I am also going to substitute at nursery school next week for a few days, which will be an entirely new experience. I also worked with dementia patients at village shalom in a sensory activity using materials from the mitzvah garden. It was neat to witness patients who may not see/hear so well really engaged using the senses of touch and smell. Have acquired a few pairs of non-sneaker, really comfortable shoes, which is great for when I teach because I rarely sit down and usually keep moving around the room. I would love to wear sneakers, but don't think they look professional enough, especially when trying to make a good impression as a sub. The mitzvah garden is being put to bed. Sunday, volunteers pulled out all of the frost killed plants. We salvaged a bunch of tomatoes and peppers, some of which went into canning jalapeno jelly and green tomato relish (aka chowchow). I helped prep for the canning class, by chopping and seeding with several other volunteers the night before. We still have stuff left over, and maybe will have an opportunity to can at least some of the rest. We are still looking for leaves to mulch the mitzvah garden over the winter. We are trying to get the announcement out to as many people as possible to bring their leaves to the mitzvah garden. (Comment on this)
Monday, October 3rd, 2011
6:30 pm	Pollen Harassment of Mucous membranes Fall allergy season makes me an itchy, teary, streaming, runny-nosed llama. Damn you ragweed pollen, pleas stop trying to have sex with my nose! That's pollen harassment and I don't have to take it. (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
4:32 pm	Happy New Year! Shana Tova/Happy New Year, even if it's not the particular one you celebrate. M. pointed out the designation as the "first" day of the year is completely arbitrary. But i still like the challahs and the apples and honey, and even the goofy choir making the already-long rosh hashana service even longer. Channeling Grandma Fanny by wearing her jewelry, carrying a hanky and an extra packet of tissues to synagogue. If you have offended Stephen Colbert in the past year, please feel free to call the Atone Phone at 1-800-OOPS-Jew to apologize. This had M. and I giggling all morning during services. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
9:49 am	Technical difficulties Yaaargggh! @ school with phone & wifi access but unable to access files from email. This is particularly annoying because I have a free period & stuff to complete for class tonight. Since it's Rosh hashanah tonight, the hbha only has a 1/2 day, which.should give me enough time to complete my assignment. However, rereading the original email revealed that there was another assigbment due thursday 9/22 via email which I did not complete. The irony is not lost on me that as a teacher I have the right to insist students turn in assignments on time for full credit. I myself seem to be having a hard time adhering to those time frames. Le sigh. On a happier note, I have scheduled a class observation for one of my profs to watch me teach a science lesion*. I have borrowed Mr. W's 7th graders @ hbha, which will give me ample opportunity to demonstrate my classroom management skills. I love my phone, but it is annoying to use it to convey large chunks of text. *Should be lesson. Autocorrect is kind of funny sometimes. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
8:12 pm	WWGFD* * What Would Grandma Fanny Do? It's my mantra. Today, made chicken soup in pressure cooker. Made apple crisp with leftover apples getting mushy. Wearing my super comfortable (but not so fashionable) Mephisto sandals around the house. To make it complete, I would email some articles (Grandma would physically clip them out of the newspaper and mail them) and program my VCR to tape political programming. Alas, there is a distinction there. Programming the DVR is *much* easier that programming the VCR (Grandma was the only person in our family who had figured it out), and I have no interest in political shows. In fact, they make me want to throw things. Oh, and Grandma would also work on her plants, watering and transplanting. Grandma would *always* visit KS for the High Holidays, so this time of year I spend a lot of time thinking about her. It's been awhile since I posted. Grandma Fanny was a faithful correspondent, typing up letters on her old-fashioned typewriter. I should strive to emulate her in that fashion as well. *From the department of TMI: Re: sad Lol-cat with hairballs in previous post. Had a tummy ache. Figured it was hairballs (aka code for IBS flare up). Eventually, it got better. (Fennel tea is an amazing remedy for GI ick). *Have had amazing garden related experiences these last few weeks. Volunteered at Kansas City Community Gardens Fall festival, which was extremely enjoyable. They put me at the "Bugs & Butterflies" booth (which was more like an all purpose critter booth) where I got to play with worm friends, introduced kids to toads and a tree frog (Friederich & Ludwig), a praying mantis named Zelda and a garden spider named, of course, "Charlotte." The critters belonged to one of the curators at the garden, and she helped me talk to kids and answer questions. *Mitzvah Garden KC (which is the real name, though I've been calling in the KC Mitzvah Garden all summer long) News: We've started harvesting sweet potatoes, some of those things are enormous! We've held a few Mobile Markets at area synagogues, generating a substantial amount of $ to use towards supplies for next year. This is especially good (surprising?) because of our unusual pricing model of "Give what you can, take what you like" (based on the public television membership model of "Give us X dollars and we'll send you this mug/umbrella/whatever!") I think this is more in tune with our general mission of giving food away for free and/or labor in the garden. Actually, the demand was beyond our expectations, as many congregations asked us to come back. Unfortunately, we don't have the manpower (womanpower? humanpower?) to run the mobile markets, which are extremely labor intensive (harvest, prep, shlep, schmooze, pack up, schlep back.) Next year, I think we should plan out days for the markets in advance, so we have plenty of lead time to advertise. Though I was able to get ad out there for our first advertised market at KI. Please note the shameless self promotion Also of interest: Jewish Chronicle profile on Eric Korsten, the man who supplied the wonderful beehives at the Mitzvah Garden. He's trying to get beehives out to as many congregations as possible in KC, esp. since colony collapse disorder has decimated many honeybee populations. I was actually at the talk (to nursery school students) because I was invited by Morah Sherrill (nursery school teacher and food pantry coordinator), which was awesome. The Yachad Food Pantry/Simcha Box program is a major beneficiary of our produce. Mitzvah Garden has also drafted me as the volunteer part-time grant writer for the garden (i.e. when you give away food for free, you have to ask someone else to give you money to run the program.) Starting to research grants and try my grant writing skills. If you have grant writing skills and would like to offer constructive advice for getting started, I'm ready to hear it! I went to Tractor Supply Co. farm store and found an awesome pair of rubber boots for the garden. The sneakers I've been wearing have been getting seriously stuck in the mud and the shoelaces keep coming untied. I also lost my clip-on sunglasses at the garden, which I was about to give up on as a sacrifice for the land. However, one of my colleagues recovered them, for which I was grateful. Yesterday, I managed to lose them again. I called all the places I could think of that I had visited yesterday, but no dice. My hope is that they are in my car somewhere and will turn up. I really like those sunglasses :( (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 14th, 2011
3:59 pm	Tummy ache (Comment on this)
Friday, September 9th, 2011
8:39 am	strategic lawn watering seminar My perseverance has met a new challenge this week: strategic lawn watering. M. spent hours and hours this weekend dethatching (had to look it up in wikipedia), seeding and fertilizing the huge expanse of lawn that surrounds our house. Most of the lawn went into hiding (i.e. dormancy) as temperatures hit 105deg F this summer, with little rain for week. Now, M. is determined to re-green those bare and brown spots by spring. I suggested we replace the whole damn lawn with astroturf (you know, the fancy stuff they use in football stadiums?) but this was not met with enthusiasm. So as my schedule has been more flexible this week, I have devoted hours and hours to the fine art and science of lawn watering. M. was very specific about how he wanted the lawn to be watered. "This sprinkler goes here and needs to be on for 45 minutes to cover this arc of the lawn. This other sprinkler needs to be over there, and sprinkle for 45 minutes in this coverage zone." (Those were only positions 1 and 2). I had to draw a detailed map of our house and yard on graph paper with approximate locations for the designated sprinkler positions and time needed. (Some for 30-45 min, some for 20 minutes). "Maybe it will rain this week?" I suggested hopefully. "Nope, it's not in the forecast." M. replied. So my first evening in charge, I managed to break one of the spike-type sprinklers, spraying myself with water and persevering too long to try to fix it with my mediocre mechanical skills. Then I realized I was running late for my personal training appt (for some reason, I have been late to these 75% of the time, which is strange because 1) I love the sessions, even though they sometimes hurt and 2)I'm usually pretty careful about getting to places early or on time. I'm just not that annoying always running late girl. Except for training appts. "Sure," joked the trainer lady, "that's what they all say." ) I went back to the hardware mega-store to purchase a new sprinkler, broken carcass of its predecessor in my hands. They didn't have the same sprinkler, but the gentleman in the orange apron assured me it was very similar. When I set it up, I realized it was fairly idiot-proof (necessary requirement for mechanical things and me) and even better at covering the lawn and easily adjustable to boot. Spent most of yesterday morning ("Don't water at midday!" I heard M's voice echo in my head) perfecting my persona as the Savior of Seeds, the Benefactor of Bluegrass, the Lady of Lawns. I think I may have this thing down. Which is kind of weird, since the time I had to mow the grass (very badly) when M. broke his leg a few years ago, I have been banned from all lawn-care duties. ("It all ends up in the Gulf of Mexico!" I'd yell from inside at M. as he doggedly seeded and fertilized and herbicided the lawn.) Other developments of the last couple of weeks: Have been becoming "meaner" as a sub. I've had it with letting kids sense blood in the water (my hesistation, weakness, uncertainty) and going crazy. You have to be fair, but firm. Last week, when I was a pushover in study hall, which was really supposed to be sustained silent reading (they had a problem with the reading, but most of all had a problem with "silent") I was so ashamed of myself for caving to the 8th grade negotiators demands, I gave them a trivia question: "Why does Ms. Borg feel like Neville Chamberlain. Hint: What does appeasement mean?" That actually got them quiet and concentrating for the longest period of time during the hour. Most of them got pretty close (the Munich Conference, Poland being surrounded on all sides) from gleaning the Wikipedia entries, but none of them clicked on the "appeasement" hyperlink, which appears in the 2nd sentence of the entry on Chamberlain, which kind of surprised me. I told them to write their answers on a card and check with the history teacher. Also got to sub for a "gifted" class doing inquiry-based learning projects, which was pretty neat. And I turned 30 on Monday. You might think this would be a headliner, but I was ready to play down the significance of the big 3-0. Since I've been trying to extend my adolescence indefinitely, it was a little of a wakeup call that I need to act like an adult. I think I'm plenty mature, but M. thinks "adults" are people who get up and go to work every day, and pay off their student loans. Pshaw! I had a lovely birthday. The weather was gorgeous and went for a walk. M. unveiled his very nifty present (more later), brought me flowers and a cake (it's the thought, not the calories that count) and went on a birthday date! Also, everyone called/texted/FB posted voluminous birthday well-wishes (I felt so popular and loved!) I mentioned to my sister how this outpouring of affection surprised me, (even though FB tells people its your birthday, so they don't actually have to remember it.) She responded, "Of course they would! Everyone is crazy about you! You are awesome." "Really?" I said. "Yes," she replied firmly. See, I didn't know this. Has my self-esteem always been this lousy? I know it declined precipitously as a result of law school, and then of working in the soulkilling depths of QDROland. But I thought it was getting better with teaching, and my work with the Mitzvah Garden. And honestly, I have noticed definite improvement this summer in self-image since I started WW, exercising, Mitzvah Garden. I think it makes me a better teacher (I'm less afraid of kids, less afraid of making mistakes, because i know I'll make them, and less afraid I'll bomb out), a better friend and a better spouse. I know that M. is not likely to offer unsolicited compliments, but since I've been feeling better about myself, I think I'm a lot more fun to be with. I have resolved to use this milestone birthday to reclaim my awesome (Thanks, spiritonparole!) Anyway, M. gets me these birthday presents (Kindle, etc) that are fancy technogadgets which I would never buy for myself, but once I have them, love them. (How does he know?) He ordered a Galaxy Tab that mysteriously arrived via Fed Ex. At first, I was a little afraid of it, and kept in on the coffee table in the living room. "It's just a larger version of your phone," M. explained. "No," I said, "I think the Tab and I need to take this relationship slowly. My phone (Galaxy Captivate) may get jealous." M. snorted. I was also afraid I'd break it. I started playing with the thingy(which needs a name), and discovered it was quite useful. It has a full Qwerty "Keyboard" that pops on its touch pad, instead of the "Swype" board I have on my phone, which is faster for notes/emails/documents etc. It also only operates on WiFi, but most places were I would be using it (Library, PittState, Home, Starbucks) have WiFi. I downloaded Skype for Android, but since the Tab 10.1 is running the most recent Android operating system (3.1), the Skype people haven't come out with a version update. You can run the software for earlier versions to get voice, but not video calls. Hopefully, an update will be available soon. Finally, I was the driving force behind organizing this coming week's mobile Mitzvah Garden Market fundraiser to be held at KI Synagogue. (We'll take your donations in exchange for produce from the garden). I think I may have sent out a gajillion emails/press releases/FB messages out into the ether, but I hope we'll get a good response. The only thing I'm a little worried about is that we won't have enough stuff to sell since garden productivity is starting to wind down. We'll always have zinnias (a huge hit at the last mobile market @ Beth Shalom nursery school). (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, September 4th, 2011
9:48 pm	An education in okra I've been reminded by some of my avid readers (Hi Mom!) that I have been neglectful of the llama-blog of late. It's been an eventful couple of weeks. *Back to school! I have started substitute teaching again, as well as resumed leading Shabbat services for littles 2x per month, as well as my own classes for the MAT. I think it is going to be a pretty busy semester. I have also resolved to be tougher and more authoritative as a substitute teacher. Viola Swamp, I have your number! *Mitzvah Garden! Mitzvah Garden continues to take over my life (but in a good way). I've limited my involvement to twice a week, which is still a lot of work, but work I really enjoy. I'm determine to figure out how to consume our bountiful okra crop (which is beautiful, a bitch to harvest, kind of complicated to store/cook without producing slime in hagfish-like quantities, and delicious to eat.) I sauteed teeny-tiny okra slices (you have to pick them when they are little, or else they don't really taste very good) with with onions, bell peppers, one chopped hot pepper, and mitzvah garden tomatoes, served over rice - Fantastic! The problem with okra is that is grows so fast that it really needs to be harvested every 2 days. However, we have limited volunteer manpower (and womanpower), so we only pick okra 2x a week. The okra pods will outgrow themselves from a state of edibility in a just a few days. At that point, it's usually destined for the compost pile, but some of our members are experimenting with various uses for the overgrown monster okra pods. Also, picking okra, with its sharp prickles and strange musty odor, is not an experience for the faint-hearted. We've started our Mobile Mitzvah Market fundraising scheme. We bring fresh produce harvested from the Mitzvah Garden to your Jewish Community organization and set up a table. Customers can donate whatever amount they like to our program and take whatever amount of produce they want. So far, this has been pretty successful in terms of both publicity and cash raised. We've also starting donating some of our "overflow" produce that our current food pantry can't take through they Harvester's Plant a Row program. However, I am concerned that recent invasion of squash bugs (ugly critters!) is going to threaten our previously prolific yellow squash, pattypan squash and pumpkins :( However, per the above linked article, "It is not necessary to treat squash bugs found in the garden during late summer or fall regardless of how many are seen." *Sad News. M's aunt (his mom's sister) passed away last saturday. She had been ill for a long time (She suffered a brain aneurysm and several small strokes that left her incapacitated.) M's mom brought her to KC from chicago about 7 years ago to Village Shalom, and was very devoted to her. The funeral was monday, and we've been accompanying M's mom sitting shiva and eating insane amounts of food (Mrs. Berman: the incredible peach kugel is truly incredible) and trying to be supportive, but it is still hard to watch M's mom go through this. Usually during a shiva call mourners and callers recount stories about the person who died. However, none of us knew M's aunt very well before she became sick, so we mostly just hung out out with M's mom to entertain her. *My sister llama has decamped to her first 4th year externship- a rural rotation at a clinic in Pittsburg, KS, about 1 1/2 south of KC. Since my KC program is based @ Pittsburg State, I want to go down there midweek this month to meet up with some of my profs that I rarely see or never have met in person (only via internet/skype). I miss you, sister-llama! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, August 22nd, 2011
10:11 am	courting disaster? I wonder how *much* disaster I may be courting by using my computer during a thunderstorm. The internets seem mixed on this topic. But thundering it is, and so far, I am undeterred. A few things I haven't posted about, but will, very briefly: New York/Washington, D.C. Trip: Most excellent. It was wonderful to see friends/family that I have not seen is a long time. Also great to meet new larval humans, and marvel at the growth of pre-existing ones :) Also enjoyed "new york style" powerwalking (both as exercise and as form of locomotion in Manhattan.) Ate much in the way of delicious food, only fell a little off the WW wagon. New School Year: School has started in KS, but I give the teachers a couple of weeks to be healthy before they start calling subs in earnest. I had an afternoon job on Thursday, subbing for elementary art, which was a lot of fun. I forget how teeny 2nd graders and kindergarteners are, esp. at the beginning of the school year. My MAT classes start on Wednesday. Exercise: Am doing lots of it and feeling pretty good. Hope to continue with personal training even as schedule gets more hectic. Also, jazzercise. Books: Have started using "Goodreads" and the JoCo library's nifty bookshelf feature to track my reading activity. Am lousy about posting actual reviews, but I like getting recommendations, and keeping track of stuff I want to read. Otherwise, I can't remember titles or authors' names...they just get lost in mental clutter. (Comment on this)
Saturday, August 20th, 2011
2:58 am	Massive Excavations Underway The excavations would refer to the process of cleaning out our 'office', i.e. the room in which we put stuff where it accumulates in strata. For most of the summer, M. has been campaigning for a cleaning offensive to be led by General Llama, in which some of the chaos can be contained. However, Gen. Llama has avoided the issue until it became truly... unavoidable. Which, of course, was Tuesday. The tale unfolds... ( Unending Quest of the Sundry Tasks ) (Comment on this)
Thursday, July 21st, 2011
5:25 pm	Earwig infestation: Click at your own risk Alas, it is time for another round of earwig infestations. The following ditties have a few things in common: 1)I can sing the melodies fairly easily (which important for a musically challenged individual like myself), 2) They have obscure lyrics and 3)come out of the folk music-ish genre. ( click at your own risk ) Edit: 3am sit up in bed realization with muttered expletive. I realized I scheduled the plumber (yes, again) to come back and check on what sounds like another leak in the general vicinity of last week's repair at 8:30am tomorrow, a time when I'm supposed to be training at the JCC. M. sleepily rolls over and replies, "I have a 9am meeting." Bottom line: I have to cancel one or the other, which leads to the prioritization difficulty. 1) It's not emergency, as we don't have water pouring out of the garage ceiling. 2) But the plumber will probably already be en route by the time the office is open to cancel - and I'm not sure I wish to anger someone who has the potential to seriously mess up my house's water system. 3)But I also have no desire to anger the personal trainer lady, because she is a) very nice to me and b) I get very sad if I don't exercise enough, so I'm loathe to cancel that appointment. To top it all off, I had my first experience watering the Garden solo yesterday. It mostly went okay (I arrived in the evening as the 100degF temps were slightly cooler), except I'm not sure I was able to water enough (i.e. long enough and enough square feet) before it got dark, and i also had a fight with the hose (I think I won, but it was possibly a draw.) However, I need to make it back out to the site to continue watering at some point tomorrow, preferably when it is not 100degF for a) personal safety and b)so the water won't immediately evaporate. (Comment on this)
9:34 am	love you, husband :) Way 5,000,976 to annoy M: Refer to a sandwich made of a toasted english muffin, a scrambled egg and a slice of cheese as an "eggy muffin." As in, "you made a scrumptious-looking eggy muffin for breakfast." M: "No! It is not an eggy muffin. It is an EGG muffin. Get it right!" Llama: "My mom calls it an eggy muffin. Jen calls it an eggy when she feeds it to Emory." M:"Emory is 4!" Llama: "It's still an eggy muffin." [despair on M's face] Digression: "Muffin" is really quite a funny word. Muffin, Muffin, Muffin... (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
5:31 am	Come Senators, Congressmen, please heed the call I really shouldn't write angry political letters in the wee hours of the morning. I just spent several minutes typing up an original (not form letter) email to one of the KS Senators in response to his newsletter piece (yes, I'm on the email list) about supporting a balanced budget amendment. As a true descendant of Grandma Fanny, I gave that man a piece of my mind! Evidently, it was rather too large a piece, because after submitting it and reading the confirmation email with the text, I had a few typos, including missing words. That really makes me and my position look intelligent! ( Angry letter to Senator ) (Comment on this)
Monday, July 18th, 2011
9:13 am	Houston: There's a drip in the drywall It has been an eventful weekend. Friday started out normal, first with my personal training workout(yay!) and then with a fantastic group of middle schoolers at the Garden. We put them to work weeding and trimming and sent them home with baggies full of fresh herbs (dill, basil, oregano, cilantro). However, that morning, M. noticed a mysterious dripping sound coming from the wall after he turned off the faucet and all the water drained out of the sink basin. I called the plumber, who's office said he would arrive sometime after 1 pm. Okay. So I waited for the plumber, folding laundry, etc. and finally fell asleep on the couch after watching The Tunnel Dwellers of New York about the people who make their homes in the network of subway and service tunnels that run beneath New York City. (gryffin23 and I saw a similar movie, Dark Days our first year at CU.) I recognized "John," one of the individuals profiled in "Tunnel Dwellers" as the homeless man who used to stand outside UFM across the street from Columbia. I used to ask him if he wanted a cup of coffee or a sandwich when I saw him outside the store, and would pick one up for him with my groceries. He also used to hold people's dogs on a leash so their owners could go into the store. In the documentary, he explained how he got his clothing, etc from stuff the college students would discard. It made me feel weird and little sad to see how he lived in his secret tunnel home. ( Plumbing troubles ) So, $1000.00 poorer, I waved goodbye to the plumber and set out (only 2 hours late) for arsenicjade's birthday party. Arsenic had amazing food (vegetable tangine, mushroom mashed potatoes, beet gazpacho, watermelon feta sald and *cookies*, and her mom even new the WW point values. Ate way too much way too fast (was starving since i did not have dinner). We played two incredibly entertaining games: Telestrations and Things which sent us into paroxysms of uncontrolled hilarity. Saturday was mellow, devoted to resting my very sore muscles and reading LE Modesitt's classic "Magic of Recluce," which is currently being released in a 20th anniversary edition. M. and I experimented with homemade pizza using a pre-made whole wheat crust and 2% mozzarella, which turned out quite tasty. Woke up in the middle of the night, after a terrible dream in which I committed multiple homicides and then hid the bodies, while the police were looking for me. Don't know where that came from, but was extremely disturbing. Sunday morning, it was back to the garden (with Mommy-llama in tow!) to weed and water and harvest some extremely threatening-looking yellow squash. (Would not want to meet up with one in a dark alley!) We shared our harvest with the Yachad food pantry, I dropped the stuff off at the director's home and chatted with her about what we do at the garden and how she distributes produce to her clients. What a lovely woman! She also teaches nursery school and wants to bring her kids out the garden once school starts in mid August. Came home to shower, rehydrate and passed out. (Still building stamina, it seems). I awoke to finish my homework (which included information on teaching Aspie/Autism Spectrum kids and watching a video lecture by Temple Grandin - who is consistently amazing.) M. made grilled bbq chicken (delicious) and I made sweet corn in the pressure cooker, which produced a delightful sunday night dinner. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 14th, 2011
4:50 pm	kindergarten Congress? I was listening to NPR driving in the car today. As I listened to the coverage of debate on the "debt ceiling showdown," I wondered, "Where are all the grownups in Congress? These people sound like a bunch of squabbling toddlers. Either the American people were conned into voting for them or our collective intelligence is much dumber than I thought." (Comment on this)
2:16 pm	tastes like earth My new Solumbra shirt and pants arrived this week! (Thank you, Mommy-Llama). I look oh-so nifty *and* sun-protected when I'm working at the mitzvah garden. We are having another group of kids come to the garden tomorrow, so we had to figure out what we wanted them to accomplish during their visit. The new George R. R. Martin book (A Dance With Dragons, #5 in A song of ice and fire) was magically downloaded to my Kindle on July 12th, sometime in the wee hours of the morning (hour of the wolf?). It was pleasure to read, in frantic stretches over the last 3 days. But when I came to the end, it was the same feeling I had when I had watched all of the extant Doc Martin episodes..."Moooooorrrrreee!" But there aren't any more. Not for awhile. It's like eating a piece of chocolate cake really fast, and it's delicious, but after the cake is gone, you kind of wished to ate it more slowly. Though unlike a piece of cake, you can read and re-read a book as many times as you like. The heat is quite ridiculous here. I don't really notice the intensity when I'm working the garden and drenched in sweat (evaporation is awesome!) But when you transfer from an air-conditioned space to outdoor pavement, you are heat with the fiery heat of a thousand suns. (Okay, one sun, but you know what I mean.) Alice has developed an unhealthy interest in the garage. The door to the garage sticks in its frame when you close it, so it is easy to think the door is "closed" when the latch has not engaged. Alice has figured out how to open the door when she detects this phenomenon and gallivants around the garage. (We don't want her in there because there are sharp things and poisonous things and all sorts of dangers.) Alice, however, really likes the skittery things that live in the garage. Yesterday, I was calling for the cat to make sure I hadn't locked her in the bathroom or basement (it's happened), when I hear the distinctive jingle of Alice's bell on her collar. I turned my attention to her slipping back into the house from the garage. When I confronted her, "Alice!" she appeared to have a "Who, me? I've been here this whole time" attitude. Then again, I'm probably anthropomorphizing. I can't help it, it's an extension of the virtual lol-cat tag lines (e.g. "I will KEEEELLL it") that we attribute to Alice when we observe her behavior. In truth, we have no idea what is going on in that fluffy, predator brain. I don't know if she's insulted when I lovingly call her, "Miss Fluffybutt." (Also popular, especially before we pick up Alice to smoosh her, we say "It's so FLUFFY!" from "Despicable Me.") slightly related: Have also been listening to local radio station called "Alice 102". They play music that was popular when I was in middle school, the formative years of shaping my musical taste. (A little sad). Molly-dog has been released to the happy hunting grounds. Fifteen years is a good run for a big dog. It's the end of an era. And the parent-llamas will probably have to replace all their carpeting. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
12:37 pm	Overheard on Public Radio "He burned more bridges that Sherman" - guest on Up to Date with Steve Kraske on the aftermath of a local political leader. Heheh. Went to garden early this morning, had a delightful time pulling weeds with B. Due to heat (and heat advisory) called it a day around 10:30 and came home to shower and eat gazpacho (yay!). "A Dance With Dragons" awaits for me on my Kindle. I don't think much will get done today at all. (Comment on this)