The Metaphorical Magpie

Happy Halloween, Peeps!

I did not get a pumpkin or hang my Happy Halloween banner. Although I did buy oange ribbon to do so. I know, I am lame. I've got the urge to dress up now and go to work but I don't have a costume ready.
Maybe I'll find something scary in the closet.  There's gotta be something left over from the 80's in there.

Blame it on Mercury

Let's see, last week the CD burner up and died and the washing machine croaked. Sweets got a new burner and spent several hours trying to get it to burn. The washer needs a motor. That repair should set us back over $200. Friday night our internet stopped working. That put me into a total panic. There's been miscommunication with hospitals trying to get Aunt Dodi's records.

I know why this is all happening. And the bad news is it will most likely keep going for a few more weeks. If you think astrology is mumbo jumbo, when Mercury goes retrograde, you may begin to see it differently. When I realized there was a pattern beginning, I asked Cyndemouse, who is my astrology guru, if we were in a  Mercury Retrograde. Starts soon she told me. As a Gemini, ruled by Mercury, I always feel the pull backwards.

Most of the weekend, I spent fussy, sniffling, snapping and even crying several times. I weighed myself and that has me in a tizzy of self loathing. I miss my Grams. Taking care of her sister, Dodi, makes it worse. The death of my two of my friends' mothers has me evaluating my relationship with my own. I feel inadequate as a domestic goddess. I ordered the Fall Mailorder from Amy Chicken and I still haven't hung my Halloween garland or use her  pumpkin spice cake recipe. The biggest lament was no pumpkin. I was dreaming of gorgeous, glittered pumpkins ala Martha.

When I wasn't being a total loon, som things did get accomplished. We bought a new printer so we can get cracking on printing save the dates, invitations etc for the wedding. I shopped a little for my November Coloriffic Swap-o-rama partner. Got out my copy of Autumn by Susan Branch for some seasonal inspiration. I tried a biscuit recipe that called for sour cream. We had low fat on hand. The biscuits didn't rise as much as I expected or brown. Next time, I'll use full fat sour cream.The botched biscuits still tasted good slathered with pumpkin butter. I also whipped up hearty lentil soup and  spaghetti squash recipes of my own design. Hope you enjoy them, too.

LENTIL LOVE STEW
1 onion diced
3 ribs celery sliced
3 carrots sliced
2 turkey kiebalsa links thinly sliced
2 cups dried lentils
2 cans chicken broth
6 cups water
about 1/3 of a bag of fresh spinach
cracked pepper to taste
few sprigs of fresh oregano

Saute onions until translucent, add celery and carrots for a few more minutes. Add the kielbasa slices and saute until the edges begin to curl. Add dried lentils and cracked pepper, stir to combine, then add broth and water. Cook at a medium to low heat for about an hour. As the lentils soften and the soup thickens, tear spinach leaves and toss them into the pot with fresh oregano if you have it. Dried is fine, too.

Be careful about salt here. I usually use low sodium broth but was out of it. Regular broth combined with the kielbasa can get too salty. For a vegetarian twist substitute the kielbasa with a pound of roughly chopped portabella mushrooms during the sauting or chunks of extra firm tofu when adding the spinach.

SPAGHETTI SQUASH WITH PUMPKIN SEED PESTO
1 spaghetti squash  about 3 lbs
3 oz feta cheese crumbled
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tsp minced garlic ( I use jarred Badia garlic for convenience)
5 tbsp jarred Thai sweet basil ( I use Tiger Tiger brand)
pepper to taste
2 handfuls salted pumpkin seeds
2 handfuls dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350. Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Remove and discard seeds. Put squash halves face up in a baking dish. Drizzle them with a little olive oil. Bake squash until tender enough to pull strangs apart with a fork. About 30-40 minutes. While the squash is baking, mix the olive oil, garlic, basil and pepper to taste. Using an oven mitt to hold the hot squash, remove the spaghetti  strands into a  mixing bowl. It's easier to pull the strands from the edges toward the center instead of lengthwise. Set aside squash shells.
Add feta, oil, garlic, basil mixture, pumpkin seeds and cranberries to the squash. Toss to incorporate. Stuff the strands back into the shells. Pop back into the oven  for about 10 minutes to melt feta.

One more monkey wrench thrown at me by Mercury - my juror number wasn't needed today. So I'm off to the office. I won't know until tonight if I'll be going to court at 8 am or work at 1 pm. Ugh.

Is it the weekend yet?

I've spent most of this week feeling like Goldilocks. My black corduroy jacket is too chilly, the vintage coats too warm and my new Lands End Marinac jacket is just right. I bought it for our trip to the Pacific Northwest last month but the weather out there turned out to be in the 70's and 80's making the jacket unneccessary.

There are lots of ideas rattling around for posts but no time to execute this week. I've spent most mornings for the past week taking my Aunt Dodi to doctor's appointments or on the phone about records and test results. We've still got lots to do on that front.

I was called for jury duty beginning on Monday. The prospect of hours in a waiting room actually sound attractive to me. I can read, write, catch up on a few things. The down side will be getting up ridiculously early to get there. Maybe I'll get put on a really juicy case. I've always wanted to be on a jury. Or the lady chairman.

Our washing machine has decided to conk out on us. In addition to the cd burner on Sweets' Mac. Resulted in gnashing of teeth on his part and creative costuming on mine. I really don't like the washer dryer combo that came with the house when I bought it.  A quick peek at  replacement options  today made me realize repairing what I have is the best path. Yes, I would love to see a cool gleaming new set. They would look out of place in the drab basement. Glamour girls in a pool hall.

We had to replace the stove in March. Hopefully, the repairman can put a bandaid on this boo boo and we can keep spinning along. We need our money for wedding planning not washing our knickers.

I wish I had more time today but duties call. Happy Friday.

Time out

Today is Take Back Your Time Day. With all the pressures and demands of working, commuting, housekeeping and all the rest we do on a daily basis the amount of time left for pleasure is miniscule. Timeday.org wants you to take your time back and so do I. It's actually pretty liberating to say  "this is MY time and I'm using it how I want. How do like them apples?"

Last week I read an article  about Take Back Your Time Day in Body + Soul. Since then, I've been thinking about what I would do with my day. This excited me so I actually started early. On Monday, I asked to be compensated for extra hours I worked last week. Three days later this week  I'll go in an hour later than normal. I made sure I left work on time for a change. When I arrived home, I cooked up an easy dish of gemelli with alfredo sauce and indulged in a bowl while writing out cards to friends. Correspondence is the real indulgence here. It's so nice to send out a note to let someone know you are thinking of them. Later on I straightened up the gift closet, feeling excited to start preparing holiday gifts.

I made a breakfast date with my mother for today. Two of my friends lost their mothers this week. Suddenly, I want to try harder with mine. We're going to look at bead catalogs and nosh on omelettes at our favorite breakfast spot in Asbury Park.

Sweets and I talked about reducing some of the television shows we watch. We already gave up on Ugly Betty. Some more shows might get the axe.

I hope you find a way today to claim some of time that rightfully belongs to you. Read a few pages, stich a few seams, pet your dog's tummy, snuggle an extra five minutes, dance in the kitchen, bake a pie.

Enjoy it!

 

A dalliance- delayed

(This post should have been posted on Thursday but I never have enough time to write everything I want in my alloted blogging time. So when I say "yesterday" I mean Wednesday.)

Yesterday, I took a personal day. I got to drink two cups of coffee from a real mug at home instead of from a plastic travel mug while in the car. I finally watched the first episode of this season's ER and now I want to catch up on the rest. Mr. Tivo is stuffed with them. I begged for my sister's mercy and she let me come over to get a haircut. She used to cut it all the time but it's been hard since she's had her kids. They are finally getting to the age they can amuse themselves long enough for her to do a cut. Yeah! I'd much rather have her do it for me and give her a little spending money. Next stop the post office to mail out my Pack it Up Small package. Then I got on the road. The reason I took the day off was to attend the launch party for the new CHOW website. It's not often I get invited to a fun industry event, so I jumped at the chance. Even if I had to use a personal day to go.

I gave myself extra time before hand to stop at Kate's Paperie to look for sample envelopes and paper for our wedding save the dates and invitations. It was totally overwhelming in there. Too much goodness in one room. Sweets and I are going back on the weekend so we can decide together.
Talulah and Divine Mr. M were in the neighborhood and up for meeting for a drink before I went to the party. They told me to meet them at Balthazar. I've always heard good things but had never been there. That's going to change. Reservation, please? This bustling French bistro scores high on a service and low on pretension. Our server was a darling and I flirted with him telling him he looked like David Bowie but with a French accent. Which is so much better. "You're so handsome!" I gushed. Talulah told me I am crazy. I was a waitress for seven years. I think it's my obligation to be super nice to  good servers now. Talulah and I decided on a glass of Dupont vintage cider. It was excellent. Then I had to dash, telling our server I had to go flirt with other waiters now. Before I ran, I did have a bite of the salmon Talulah ordered. Divine! She said it was the best she's ever had. Salmon is one of the only things she orders out so I guess she has quite a bit to compare it to. On the way over to the CHOW party at Public, I saw Jim Jarmusch walking towards me on Spring St. He's very tall and has excellent posture.

The CHOW party was fun. There were several special cocktails being passed by servers in addition to a wine bar. I chose a Guava and Red Chile Margarita. Total yum -with a kick! Also making the rounds were a Ginger Cosmo and a Pear Bellini. Ingredients are on the Public cocktail menu. I'm not much for wine so I didn't get close enough to see what was being poured. Passed appetizers included a mini venison burger, chestnut arrancini with pesto, a smoked turkey soup served in little demitasse cups. My favorite was a grilled scallop with chili sauce and creme fraiche served in a Asian soup spoon. It made my mouth very happy. Attending the party was supposed to about meeting people, so I concentrated on that. I found the editor who gave me the ice cream sundae slideshow assignment and chatted with her for a while. She introduced me to some other CHOW people. I chatted for quite a while with a freelance writer, Laura Nielson, who recently wrote an article about Americans faced with an iodine deficiency now that we are turning to fancier salts rather than ho-hum iodized table salt. It's a fascinating read. Everytime I go to the CHOW site, I get sucked in for longer than I planned. The video on How to Set Up a Buffet is clever and gave me some tips I'm sure we'll use for setting up our reception buffet. Every day there is something new to drool over in the recipe section.

After I left the party, I decided to meet up with Talulah and the Divine Mr. M again. M told me they were on Greenwich between W. 11th and Charles. "Which Greenwich I asked?" as there is a St and Ave close to each other. He told me Greenwich St so I headed that way. I walked up and down the block and didn't see the bar they mentioned. Hustling back to the car to now go towards Greenwich Ave, I looked down and noticed feet wearing those ugly orange croc shoes Mario Batali wears. My nose crinkled. As my eyes moved further up, I realized I was staring right at Mario Batali himself as he sat on a bench outside the gastro-pub The Spotted Pig. He looked a bit lit, was listening to someone on his cell phone and gaving me the hairy eyeball as I gave it to him. Too funny.

I finally joined T & M at Maracas for frozen margaritas and scandalous chatting. M abandoned us early to go watch the Project Runway finale. T & I lingered longer for more girl talk and to sober me up so I could drive home. The Project Runway finale was waiting on Mr. Tivo for me. I'm just despondent about the results. I can't stand that Jeffrey jerk. Ugh. Am I the only one who loved Laura's collection? I especially adored the chartreuse evening coat that she decided not to put on the runway.

Terrible vision: Self Portrait Challenge

People often compliment me on my eyes. The other day, my favorite security guard at the office, leaned in to me as said, "Girl, You have the prettiest eyes." I giggled and blushed. My eyes have bewitched many over the years. Once I was interviewing for a job when my potential boss stopped me and asked if that was my real eye color. In that instant, I knew I had that job. There's something in my eyes that makes men go a little daft. I couldn't get coffee at my regular spot for months after a counter guy became obsessed with marrying me and taking me back to Egypt with him.

They see pretty colors when they look at my eyes. Most men will say they are blue. I, and my drivers license, say they are green. Depending on what I'm wearing or the weather the color will shift between blue, green and grey.

The problem is that my vision sucks. My eyes may be pretty on the outside but inside they are flawed. I've had to wear glasses since the third grade. I can't manually focus a camera. When my contacts are out I can see barely see an arms length in front of me. I've been told I'm a good candidate for Lasik surgery but I'm not into that. My eyes are my bread and butter. I'm not going to mess with them. They are one imperfection I accept.

Keep an eye on the other Self Portrait Challenge entries for this week here.

Weird and whatnot

Bekka has tagged me yet again. Let's see what I can come up with this time.

Five weird things about me:
1) Everytime I use milk, I have to sniff it before I pour. Even if I used it earlier in the day. It's pretty OCD.
Oh and I don't ever actually drink milk. I just put it in coffee, tea or as directed in recipes.

2) When I get dressed I seem to unconsciously coordinate the color of my shirt with my underwear.

3) I don't like the different foods on my plate to touch one another. I will eat a bite of one and then another, I'm not one of THOSE weirdos that eat one thing at a time.

4) I don't sleep well and am often awake well before the alarm goes off. As soon as it goes off, I suddenly feel like I can sleep.

5) I used to be terribly afraid of fire. I was not able to light a match or a lighter. It made smoking not an option, thankfully. I'm better about fire now. I can build a mean fire now. I like to use an aim-n-flame lighter. I still have the tendency to freak out and drop matches once they light.

The way these memes work, I'm supposed to tag five people. I think I wore out my welcome with the last meme on books, although Janet did play along. This time, I'll leave it up to y'all if you want it. Just let me know if you've posted your own list of oddities.

Stop to smell the roses

This weekend, I took some time out to do some of the things that I love to do. We just got back from one long trip, launched straight into a major work project and we're off for a weekender on Friday. With the long list of things I SHOULD be doing on pause, momentarily, this past weekend was for relaxing.

I slept in late. Cooked a comforting and decadent dinner of fish and grits on Saturday with some Drake's Fry Mix we've been hoarding since our last trip to the Midwest. We snuggled on the couch and watched Studio 60, Greys Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and the movie Freaks.

I toured around the garden checking in on the action. The Montauk daisy that is of gigantic proportions now is in full bloom.  The Autumn Joy sedum is blushing with color. The bed we put in over the summer is  now blooming with Russian sage and false sunflower. Others beds are getting ready for fall. The dogwood's leaves are burgundy and drooping. The Monarch butterflies, so abundant until a few weeks ago, only showed up a few times. New faces appeared at the birdfeeders including a nuthatch and a rat. Yes, I said a rat. I spent a few hours spying on it while it popped up from a corner of the fence, bounded over to the seed on the ground below the feeder, grabbed a snack and then ran back to it's hole. I'm not sure what to do about this. Right now I'm interested in watching the nature and not tampering with it.

We brunched with  JPo and had such a good time she was almost an hour late to work. Whoops!

There was time for craftiness and din din with Cyndemouse. Which I find so restorative. She signed us up for a table at this funky flea market next month.  We have to get cracking on making some goodies.

I surprised Sweets when I grabbed him on the deck and started salsa dancing to the music coming from the neighbor's yard. We should dance more.

Sweets bought frames and hung some art around the house. Its nice to have new things to look at.

My plans to read magazines all weekend didn't pan out. I was having too much fun. I'll try again in the car this weekend.

The work week is flying by nicely. Two more days and I'll be off for  a long weekend. Yeah!

Niceties

Sometimes people are so nice. I found myself in need of pinking shears this week while I was making little pouches for the October Coloriffic Swap-o-rama. Cyndemouse knew I had no time to get them. She found a 50% coupon, went and bought the shears and then brought them to Sweets at work (they work at the same paper) so he could bring them home to me. That's a crafty sista!

Today, two photographers at work were super nice. One got in touch to let me know one of my favorite rummage sales is happening this week. What a guy!  Then, this is so sweet, another offered to let me borrow her wedding dress. It's a vintage ivory raw silk dress with embroidery work. It's from about 1910. It sounds gorgeous. She thinks it will fit and wants to bring it in for me to try on.

Then I got tagged for another meme and had lots of nice compliments on my SPC.

Hugs all around!

I thought I'd put up a photo of one of the pouches I made. A friend made me one of felt a few years ago. I thought it would be easy to make some myself. I took some craft supplies to Cyndemouse's on Sunday night and we got busy. She rummaged around her scraps and found some calico that would compliment the orange and purple felt I wanted to use. This pouch may seem simple to the experienced sewer but it taxed my brain. I did make mistakes. Of  course. Each time, I didn't get the two pieces sewn together on the flap. On one edge, I sewed too close to the edge so I wouldn't be able to use the pinking shears as planned so I had to sew another line inside that one resulting in a wonky look on the lining. I am going to try making some more soon. Hopefully with more polished looking results. Craftapalooza recently posted a tutorial on making tissue holders. She suggests using iron on interfacing between the layers. I think I'll give that a try next. Please feel free to laugh at me or give me tips. I need all the help I can get.

Thorny situation: Self Portrait Challenge

Last week, I lamented over considering my imperfections this month. And forged on as if I've signed a contract and am duty bound. Taking things...and myself...far too seriously may be one of my biggest flaws. Late one night last week, I was reading through the other SPC entries and one stopped me cold. La Vie En Rose is leading a boycott against imperfection. Her post may change your life a little, so please do read it.

In this image, I look dreamy and calm. Focused and fearless. There is something beautiful about that. I don't want to muck up one of my fleeting moments of beauty with talk of what could be better. I took this while wandering around the international Rose Garden in Portland, OR. The variety there is amazing. I've visited in spring and now as fall sets in. The garden was awash with color each time. As I moved between the rows, I paused to sniff and pet many blooms. I found these roses to all be so different. One smelled of lemons. One was peppery. Another scratched me its thorns.

I think we are all, in a way, a rose bush. It's a hardy shrub. Capable of protecting itself when need be. Growing thick ropy canes as the years pass but still inquisitive enough about the world to send out new tender shoots each spring. At some parts of our lives, we are all tight buds. Packing our feelings and energy so tight; not ready to share ourselves yet with the world. Even sunshine on our petals is too abrupt, too abrasive. Other times we are full blown, boozy with our beauty, opening our arms wide to all that pass. Reaching out and calling, "touch me" for sometimes we crave the contact we've shunned at other times. Then there are the days we are losing petals, fast, and we feel as if our lives are slipping away as the daylight hours are shrinking and we wonder "did I get it all in? was this it? am I done?"

Today I'm going to think about questions like those. Am I living the life I want? Am I all that I can be?

There's always time to think about my failings on another day. Those moments come with ease. Today is a moment of grace.

Join us for more from the lovely Self Portrait Challenge community.

Time travel

For some reason, my body is not adjusting to my time zone. When I was on the west coast, I would get tired around 6 pm and push myself to stay up until my usual bedtime of 1 am. Now that I am back on the East Coast, I am going to bed at 4 am! The other night I was in the shower at 1 am and had all this energy so I kept going.

This week I went to work and got a surprise assignment. I'm spending the week doing a rough edit of a photo book. By the end of today I'll have pulled together about 600 photos. They'll need to be narrowed down to about 150. It's been a pretty exciting week. As a photo editor, I actually spend about a third of a usual day looking at photos and the rest of the day convincing people to put them in the paper and handling production. Spending all day looking at images is a luxury. I get to listen to music and focus. I'm enjoying it immensely. I was allowed to decide how this book should be organized. I let the pictures tell me what I should do. When I sat down with my boss last night to show him the progress, I was sweating that he wouldn't like what I'd done and I'd have to start again. Luckily, he liked it. Today, I'll be looking to fill some gaps he saw. Tomorrow, I should be mercilessly cutting photos like Project Runway judges cuts contestants. (As an aside, did you see Victor's rant about his laundry last night? OMG.)

Because I'm working on a special project this week I can make my own hours. Every night I tell myself, you should get up early tomorrow and work a day shift. Then I find myself barely squeaking out the door at noon which is the time I usually leave the house. Drat these time zones!

Sweets has been very productive at night before I get home. He's posted a slew of vacation photos to Flickr. I actually like his more than mine. I'm gradually posting mine but until then, you can check out his set. I actually cute in some of them!

Worry is Never Far: Self Portrait Challenge

I took lots of lovely self portraits on vacation and it seems that none will be very appropriate for this month's theme for the Self Portrait Challenge. After the refreshing respite lovefest last month, we're now focusing on our imperfections. Did you detect my big sigh? I've put this post off for two days even though I've already selected photos and topics for two weeks worth. I didn't want to take the glow off the vacation high just yet. But I'm in this SPC thing for the good and bad, so hear I go.

I'm worried.

Worried about worrying so much. I see possible danger all around me. I constantly assess my environment for it. In a club, I look for the exits. On planes, I size up my seat mate. I read the side effects on my prescriptions for the particularly icky ones. I check the diplomas on doctor's walls. I look three times before I cross.

I worry. About everything.

I worry that one day, I will go insane. Succumb to the veil of Alzheimers. Get cancer in my breasts.

I worry that my dogs will get out of the yard, mix it up with a wild animal or be carried off by a hawk.

I worry that something bad will befall me or Sweets because when things are this good something must go wrong.

I worry that I'll never have a satisfying relationship with my mother.

I worry our house will burn down.

I worry that I am not making a difference with my life.

I worry that I'll never find a hair dresser I love again.

I worry that I am too chubby and that I don't have the will to change.

I worry that I will miss deadlines and planes. I worry the tivo won't work.

I worry about having a big mouth that gets me in trouble sometimes.

I worry this war in Iraq won't end it will just spread to include more and more countries.

I worry my grandmother's diamond is going to come out of my engagement ring.

Basically, I worry.

Wouldn't that make you worried, too?

For more imperfections look here.

Back in the nest

We're back home. First and foremost, there were dog bellies to rub. (Quentin is practially draping himself across my laptop right now trying to get my attention). We were so wiped out from the journey all we had strength for last night  was catching up on some tv  that recorded while we were away (Project Runway, Ugly Betty, The Office and Greys Anatomy). Then we went to bed at 10 pm and stayed there for twelve hours. Nice. Although after sleeping in king size beds for a week, our full size bed felt pretty full of us and the dogs.

We haven't unpacked our bags yet. The cupboards are bare. We ate Campbells soup, crackers, hot tea and popcorn last night. Lots to do in the next few days.

Out trip was awesome. It was great to not set an alarm for a week, see friends and family and be surrounded by awe inspiring scenery. Over the next few days, there will be photos and more specifics on what we did, where we ate and shopped. Stay tuned.

It's good to be home.