Quitnet

I just got an email notification congratulating me on quitting smoking. It’s been two years and I totally forgot about it. Here are the stats they sent me.

Your Quit Date is: Saturday, May 31, 2003 at 2:00:00 AM
Time Smoke-Free: 731 days, 7 hours, 15 minutes and 27 seconds
Cigarettes NOT smoked: 10970
Lifetime Saved: 2 months, 23 days, 19 hours
Money Saved: $1,918.87

When I did quit this last time I found a wonderful, wonderful on-line support network through Quitnet. The support I received really helped for the first couple months. I really enjoy getting the occasional email from them telling me to savor my success.

I struggled with smoking for a very long time. I was always a very guilty smoker who was very good at quitting, but after a while would relapse. I’ve managed to avoid it this long and have no desire to imprison myself to nicotine again.

What a wonderful day!

Well, we’re back and I don’t even know where to begin. We had a really nice, relaxing time and made it back in time to have eat dinner at home and each spend a little time on our respective hobbies and regroup.

It really wasn’t about what we did. It’s just that we actually got out and did something together. We haven’t gone out of town together in 8 months. We both really needed it. It’s not that we haven’t had the time; we just haven’t made the time.

I was so excited that I was like a little kid. I took 82 pictures (don’t worry I won’t show you them all). Many of them are just nonsense pictures from the passenger’s seat of the car. I told my husband that he was going to end up taking my camera away from me, because I was being such a clown, but he took it all in stride.

Right now I’m in the mode where I want to write about everything and show you lots of pictures. However that would turn into a long boring post that nobody would enjoy reading. So this is all for now. Tomorrow, I’ll give you a more concise description of our day.

A very relaxed couple that got a passerby to take their picture near the top of
Enchanted Rock.

Daytrip

We are off on an adventure! Hubby and I get to spend the whole day together. Lots more when we get back.

The garden isn’t going so well.

We can kiss the dill goodbye. It was attacked my one huge and five small moth caterpillars that I just didn’t catch in time. I thought it might perk back up, but I believe it has declined past any chance of return.

Also, if you remember those cute little tomatoes? Both of them developed black spots; so, I had to remove them from the plant. There is at least one more baby tomato on the plant right now. It looks to be developing well.

My pepper plant is getting tall and has lots of blossoms, but so far it has aborted all it’s developing buds. I read that pepper plants like cool nights and that I may have to wait until the weather cools down for fruit, which really is to bad. There is one bud that’s looking promising; I guess we’ll see.

My cucumber plant is trying very hard to take over the patio, but still no fruit or even any attempts at fruit so far. I’m thinking the blossoms might not be getting fertilized, because I believe it should be baring fruit by now. I bought it ten weeks ago.

The rest of the herbs are doing great, especially the basil plant. I'm thinking up nice ways to use them. This week, I’m planning on making up a nice batch of pesto; It will be my first time making it ever.

I am not a morning person

It doesn’t take a very long look at my blog to figure this out. The earliest you’ll see a post up from me is 10 a.m., unless it’s a photograph or something I prepared the night before. A good number of my posts happen after midnight. You can be sure that if you see an entry at 4 a.m. it’s not because I bounded out of bed at that obscene hour, it’s more likely that I’ve stayed up that late.

In college, my dorm voted me most likely to pull an all-nighter. I don’t need a reason to stay up late. This is the way I have always been. I certainly can get up early and life demands that I do on occasion. However, I need a reason to get up early. Whenever I do get up, whether it be early or late, I need a certain amount of time in my own head to adjust to the living world. I’m not really awake. It’s more like I’m sleepwalking. I really don’t want to talk and I certainly don’t want to discuss things or, heaven forbid, argue. I just want you to go away and leave me alone, no matter how wonderful I think you are most of the time. Don’t worry if you leave me alone, I’ll eventually come to you and be my nice warm and lovable self again. But if you don’t leave me alone, I get female-doglike and this doubles the time I need alone. If you persist, I may just blown up in your face. More likely I try to remove you from the house or, as I did today, I wisely remove myself from the house by going out and exercising.

My husband and I have known each other for almost 9 years and he still has not figured this out. Oh, believe me, he has been informed of this many, many, times, sometimes politely and sometimes at the top of my lungs. This is one of those given things about me that must be accepted; it’s not going to change. However, it has been a constant struggle throughout our relationship. He often says, “You don’t mess with the Lora in the morning” But in the morning, when he needs to remember this, he doesn’t.

The result of this is it puts me in an ill mood for the rest of the day. It’s like I’ve had an hour of sleep stolen from me and then was pushed into a swamp and had to wrestle an alligator. Ii just leaves me feeling sleep deprived and jittery all day. How that the house is quiet, I think I may crawl back into bed to get my stolen hour and see if I can put a new start on the day.

I don't think I'm a Texan yet

Well, it's official. We have now lived in Texas for one year. I have to stop saying I'm new here. We have every intention of making Austin our home and I think I need to start identifying it as such.

I went to the Texas Bloggers site and found a post called "Are you a Texan?" and frankly, I didn't get most of their jokes and certainly didn't understand the comments people left. So I think I'll just lurk there a little bit longer before I try to join their group.

Austin's a little bit different the the rest of Texas, and much more like what I'm use to. I think I'll focus on making Austin my home, then we'll see about the rest of the state. So, in celebration of our first year here I have joined the Austin Bloggers Webring. You'll see the ring link in near the bottom of my side bar.

Duty suddenly call me away from the computer right now, but I'll try to post something else a little more celebratory later this evening.

UPDATE: I didn't get a chance do anything a little more special. So I went in corrected some of my typing errors (sorry that there were so many) and brightened this things up with this photo of the Austin Skyline as seen from the south side of Town Lake, near Zilker Park.

That's it. For a city of our population we really don't have a big skyline. I was told there use to be a law saying do building could be built higher then the State Capital building, which unfortunately is blocked in this picture. I believe the abolished it sometime in the 80’s and that's why all the tall buildings are so new. There are plans for more tall buildings downtown, but I really enjoy our lack of them. It makes helps Austin maintain the cozy atmosphere that I so love about it.

Friday's Feast Forty-Nine

Appetizer
What job would you definitely not want to have?
I definitely would not want to be a prosecuting attorney; not only would I hate it, I would totally suck at it.

Oprah's Angel Network.

Soup
Oprah calls and wants you to appear on her show. What would that day's show be about?
The only Oprah worthy topic from my life to date is surviving stillbirth and I would decline the invitation.

Salad
Name 3 vegetables that you eat on a regular basis.
Only 3? Well, today I've eaten broccoli, spinach, and sweet potatoes and I eat them all quite frequently.

Main Course
If you were commissioned to rename your hometown, what would you call it?
(For this I'm refering to my town of orgin, not Austin) I would rename it Wiltwyck; because that is the name it had before it became part of the British Colony and in very important to the area's cultural identity.

Dessert
If you had a personal assistant, what kind of tasks would you have them to do?
I see the idea of a personal assistant is to make me more productive. So I'd give mine a whistle and to help keep me focused, motivated, and on schedule. I'd also have him/her handle all the paperwork, phonecalls, and nitpicky details that life involves. Kind of like a cheerleading secretary.

In cahoots with the rest of the Friday Feasters

Time Magazine's Top 100 Movies

Karen posted a list of Time Magazine's Top 100 Movies that she had seen. I thought I'd give it a go. Some of these movies are such classics that I know I've seen part of them, but I don't remember if I watched the whole movie; I didn't include those.

1. Casablanca (1942) Excellent!
2. Charade (1963) I don't think there's an Audrey Hepburn movie I haven't seen, and loved, my mother was a huge fan.
3. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) I've actually only saw it only once and as a preteen. I was unimpressed.

Dory from "Finding Nemo" is terrific.
Image via Anton Granik.

4. Finding Nemo (2003) Loved, loved, loved!
   
5. The Godfather, Part I (1972) Very Good, but not enough to inspire me to see Part II
   
6. It's A Wonderful Life (1946) It's just not Christmas with out it. I enjoy it everytime I see it.
   
7. King Kong (1933) Sorry, I just thought it was werid.
   
8. The Lord of the Rings (2001-03) It was an impressive undertaking, a real work of love.
   
9. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) I don't think there are any musical of that era that I haven't seen, many times. Hard not to like.
   
10. Pinocchio (1940) I was raised on this stuff. How could I not like it?
    
11. Psycho (1960) I've only seen the whole movie once and it gave me huge association phobias for months.
    
12. Pulp Fiction (1994) Strangely enough, I owned the soundtrack before I saw the movie. I them both.
    
13. Schindler's List (1993) I refused to see this in the theatre, because I knew it would be too intense for me. I've actually only seen it twice, but it's had a major impact on me.
    
14. Singin' in the Rain (1952) See coment for#9
    
15. Star Wars (1977) I think Empire Strikes Back was better, but that may be because it was the first movie I saw in a theatre without adult supervision. Plus, I saw it with a boy so I considered it my first date for years.
    

As I look over the rest of this list I'm amazed. There are so many movie's that I've seen that I think belong on this list (Silence of the Lambs, The Hours, Shawshank Redemption), but when you are trying to span all of moviedom, I guess they had to cut out some pretty good one's, but I think everybody's wondering why they included The Fly.

Some of them I've never heard of, like Kandahar and Léolo and many other's that were not made in the United States. Many of them are such classics that I just don't know how I haven't seen them. I really need to see Citizen Kaneand Dr. Strangelove. They're actually doing a free outdoor showing of A Hard Day's Night this Tuesday down at the UT (That's the University of Texas-Austin) campus. I was actually thinking of going, but I'm scheduled to work that night, bummer.

Photo Friday: Symbol

This week's challege is Symbol.

This was just one of those timely catches down at Town Lake. The next day the cones were all scattered. I still don't know if this was done to communicate or if somebody was just having fun.

"...One is silver,..."

I received a phone call from an old friend the other day. She’s one of those friends that I cannot talk to for six months; and, after just a couple minutes, we will be completely up to speed. We haven’t spoken in quite a while, but we always have good enough conversations that after we get off the phone it feels like we see each other all the time. People like that so rarely come along in life and it’s so easy to loose touch. Having lived a very transient life you think I’d be use to it by now, but I’m not.

We’ve live in Austin just short of a year now and while I’ve spent some time with people at work, and met people through classes. I’ve also hung out with people from the past. But I can’t say I’ve really made any new friends, just acquaintances. It just seems like everybody is so caught up in their own agenda that they just can’t make room for other people anymore. I know I do it too. I have to set limits in order to follow through on the commitments I’ve made.

Is this what adult friendships are like? Is this called growing up? It’s not very much fun. I pine for the days when we would sit around the coffee shop until three in the morning discussing the meaning of life, where no idea was too ridiculous and the more embarrassing the better. Where as sleep deprived and over-caffeinated as we may have been, we were active and passionate about life. Is that why I blog and read other’s blogs? It fulfills that need within the confines of what my body and my commitments can handle?

I crave an influx of people in my life, that’s what keeps me open and aware of new ideas. I can’t stand the superficialities, and blogging seems to cut through to the heart of the matter. It forces me to better clarify who I am. It’s funny though, as much as I may have in common with the new people I meet, it’s nothing the joy I have when I discover an old friend understands these experience too.

Make new friends, but keep the old.
One is silver, and the other is gold.

-Girl Scout Friendship Song

My neighbor's birdhouse

Each morning, I go out on to my patio to check my plants and see in what way they need attending to; and each morning, my eyes look over to my neighbor’s space and I just have to catch my breath.

Having very busy lives, they really don’t use their patio space. It’s somewhat bare and looks a little overrun and neglected, except for their little birdhouse.

I think they must have received it as a gift. It just doesn’t fit in with the rest of their lifestyle. Sometimes I feel like I should find out, so that I can send that thoughtful giver a thank you note. It’s really very simple and it doesn’t house any birds, but it could.

For some reason it just warms my heart and I can’t help but smile. Something about it makes me feel safe and at peace, perhaps it’s the little welcome sign.

I’ve thought about finding a birdhouse for my own yard, but it just wouldn’t be the same.

Play with me!

Where has the day gone? It's amazing how quickly the day goes by when I get involved in a project. My current project is to get my self out of the restaurant business. As I have a few errands to run before my appointed time to have the Jeep back for Hubby, I'll share with you a toy I've had up my sleeve for a while.

I found it at verbatim a while back and thought it was cool. I love the self-portraits Karen and Kirsty did with it. I really want to play with this, but I must go to the grocery store first.

I'll post what I come up with this evening. If you create with it, please, let me know and I'll link to it or send me the jpeg and I'll post it for you here. Happy drawing!

UPDATE: Easier said then done. If I ever figure out how to get my drawing out of Micomedia Flash, I will gladly post it.

My husband is a ditz.

I would just like to proudly announce to the world that my husband is a ditz, a very adorable and lovable ditz that I wouldn't change for the world, but a ditz, nonetheless. He came home on a break between calls today and proved it.

I was sitting at the computer trying to take care of some overdue paperwork and he's yammering on to me about everything that has and hasn't happened today. As he well knows, I hate it when he does this. I don't multitask well, especially if paperwork or hazardous materials are involved. It takes me twice as long to get the work done with twice the number of mistakes and I don't really hear a single thing he says. It just gets me cranky. I usually stop what I'm doing and just let him talk, but this time he assured me that he's not saying anything important and since the paperwork needs to get done, I should just ignore him and continue with what I’m doing. However, he yammers on anyway.

So he proceeds to the kitchen, which is right next to the office set-up that I'm working in, and opens the refrigerator and every cabinet in the kitchen about five times, each. Might I add he is still talking to me, and he multitasks about as well as I do. I keep to my task and do my best to ignore him. So all I hear is,"blah, blah, blah" and "bang, bang, squeak" as he bops around behind me. Then all of a sudden he asks, "Dear, where's my sandwich?"

This gets my attention. Now, how would I have any idea where is sandwich is? It's not like I've moved from my seat and run off with it. I'm doing my very best to pretend he's not there, so I haven’t been watching him. I stop. I turn around in my chair. I look at him and wait for him to realize just how ridiculous a question this is. He starts doing his head-scratching thing and spins around in a circle a couple times to see if his sandwich will miraculously appear. It doesn't. As I'm stifling my giggles, he looks at me completely perplexed. If questioned at that moment in time, he would probably swear that aliens had abducted his sandwich.

So I kindly ask him if he would like me help him find his sandwich. This seems to jar him back into the world of reality. He looks in the fridge, but doesn't find it. He then looks in the sink, the dishwasher, and the pantry all without any luck. He seems to have this task in hand so I turn back to my paperwork. I hear the squeak of our cabinets and then his voice saying, "Never mind!" as he takes a plate with his sandwich on it off the top of our stack of clean plates in the cabinet and marches off to the table with it wearing a foolish grin.

After he's left, I can't help but make my rounds in the kitchen just to be sure that he hasn't done anything like leave the deli meat in the freezer, again. Might I add that this man is a near genius; and while I really hope that he doesn't read this, I’m posting it anyway, because I find him doing things like this to be incredibly amusing.

Good things come in three's

It's a 3 meme:
I was tagged by Julie.

3 names I go by:
Lora, Lora Lee, Lora Lie

3 screen-names I've had:
loralia is what I usually stick to without any competition

3 physical things I like about myself:
My eyes, my fingernails, my bearing

3 physical things I dislike about myself:
my complexion, my body fat ratio, and my hair

3 parts of my heritage:
Irish, German, Polish

3 things I am wearing right now:
my glasses, comfy shorts and a black T-shirt

3 favorite bands/musical artists:
Suzanne Vega, Sting, Tori Amos

3 favorite songs:
Nightswimming (REM), If God was One of Us (Joan Osborne), Get Out the Map (Indigo Girls)
I would like to add that this is a cruel question, and yes, I purposely chose songs not done by my favorite artists. I love music.

3 things I want in a relationship:
Respect, compassion and reliability

3 physical things about people of the opposite sex that appeal to me:
Height, broad shoulders, and a mischievous glimmer in the eye

3 of my favorite hobbies:
sightseeking, reading, and recently photography

3 things I want to do really badly right now:
get something to drink, finish this post, get a different job

3 things that scare me:
getting preggers, not being able to get preggers, and losing my child

3 of my everyday essentials:
computer, planner, contacts

3 careers you have considered or are considering:
What careers have I not considered!
Nutrionalist, Urban Planner, Psychologist

3 places you want to go on vacation:
Japan, Greece, Ireland

3 kids' names you like:
Ian, Gaelyn, Keenan

3 things you want to do before you die:
Hike the Appalacian Trail, travel, achieve financial freedom

3 ways I am stereotypically a boy:
I like messing around with stuff, I have a slightly sarcastic and rude sense of humor, I'm very independent

3 ways I am stereotypically a chick:
I tend to be tactful and inclusive, have lots of homey interests, fall to pieces once a month

3 celeb crushes:
None really, but I guess Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, and Viggo Mortensen

All done, and now to tag
3 people who I think might like doing this:
Beth, J Bo, and Michele
If you're tagged you need to fill out this meme on your own blog. If you don't want to do it let me know and I'll tag somebody else

A Quiet Sunday

Well, the house is quiet and I’m feeling a little more centered. So, I thought I’d attempt a real post, perhaps the first genuine “me-speak” done here in days.

Sundays are always a very centering day for me. I think he got it right when the Lord declared the seventh day to rest. I may not practice any religion, but Sundays are the day that I push aside the outside world, any duties, and all that other guck, and I just do what it is I deem important at the time. I am fiercely protective of my Sundays off, because I really need them. They made a proclamation at work that nobody would be getting anymore weekend days off on regular basis. I almost gave my notice right then and there. Not that that’s too far off, anyway. However, like most things in the restaurant business big proclamations are made, small changes are instituted and things go on not to far different then they were before. I’m thankful that my managers general respect this as my day off.

Of course, this Sunday, my husband, Lyn, is on call for work; he’s an appliance repairman and has one Sunday on a month. So far he’s only had one short job to do, but it allowed us to putter around the house together and talk at each other a bit. He’s also been busy working on his next airplane; a Wildcat this time. This one he’s doing entirely from plans, so he’s cutting out each individual piece of wood himself. Unfortunately, the plans he purchased have some “flaws” to them, so he’s had to readapt them quite a bit. He’ll spend hours just looking at them. I find this to be quite amusing. I just don’t get it, but he finds vehicles just as fascinating as I do a do people.

Old Dutch Church was the first
Dutch church in the New
Netherlands, built in 1661.
Photo found via Andrew Cusack.

Sundays are also the day that I get a chance to catch up with my Mom. I generally call her every Sunday and we talk for just over an hour every time. After that I just start getting restless. She’s had a very exciting weekend. She’s involved with a fairly young and vital art society and they had a huge gala last night. They acquired a new building about a year ago and have been working hard to fix it up to be a center for the arts. Last night was the official opening of the building. They had a dinner and a silent art auction. It proved to be a huge success; they actually had to turn people away. They raised a good deal of money. Plus somebody bought the photograph she donated. My mother is an accountant and has a new developing interest in photography, so as you can imagine she was amazed that somebody would actually pay for something she had created. She went out and found a wonderful new outfit for the occasion and it seems that she found a very pleasant date to accompany her.

I also have my in-laws coming over for dinner tonight. They are bringing some Japanese anima movie, not a genre I’m very familiar with, but they seem to think I’ll really enjoy it; it sounds like Lyn may be the odd one out on this movie selection, which is okay; he has no problems finding other ways to entertain himself. I on the other had will sit through all but the most horrible of movies, just to be polite. Not a good thing I know, but the truth.

All in all it’s a very simple relaxing day for me. I think I have just enough time to read a few pages of my book and make a couple calls before I need to start getting dinner together. I hope your Sunday has been as restorative as mine.

In what ways am I not an extrovert?

Your Extroversion Profile:

Cheerfulness: Medium

Sociability: Medium

Excitement Seeking: Low

Friendliness: Low

Activity Level: Very Low

Assertiveness: Very Low

How Extroverted Are You?

Yes, yEs, yeS, but I'm friendlier then that. I'm just not in your face about it and I'm assertive when it counts.

Photo Friday Challenge: Green

Okay, blame it on Terri-Lynn I saw her gorgeous entry for Photo Friday and just had to post one myself. The Theme is "Green." This was taken on my trip to the Ladybird Wildflower Center and is a simple close up of some water reeds. I love the texture. About that not being on the computer thing... well, limited, extremely limited.

A couple days off

This is just a quick note to say that I think that I need to take the weekend entirely off from the computer. I have some regrouping to do and I find the mental energy that I need to dedicate to that is instead being dedicated to the blogoshere, but only halfheartedly so. Not a win-win situation. I'll be back on Monday, refreshed and a bit more centered. Take care until then and enjoy whatever adventures your weekend may bring.

Thursday Challenge: PLAY

Never underestimate the intrigue of a toy airplane.

My very first tomatoes

Aren't they just so adorable?
My pepper plant is working hard to develop pepper like shapes, soon, very soon.
No sign of cukes yet, but if only half the blossoms develop, I'll still be making a big batch of pickles.

Genocide

This is the type of work that makes me think blogging may actually be able to make a difference in the world and in people's lives. Catez has put a huge effort into gathering information and writings about the genocide currently taking place in the Sudan. Please, go visit her and read about it.

I knew nothing of this until I read her original post. At this posting, I still haven't had a chance to read much of it, but genocide is genocide. The only way we can fight ethnic cleansing is through awareness. Remember what happen recently in Rwanda, we can not allow this to happen again.

Ten on Tuesday: Products You "Can't" Live Without

Obviously, I can get by without any or all of these, but I couldn't be very happy about it.

1. Blistex: Ultra Protection
2. Stonyfield or Brown Cow Fat Free or Low Fat Yogurt; Plain, Vanilla, or Lemon.
3. Clinique Quickliner for Eyes: Slate or Blue/Grey
4. o.b.
5. Excedrin: There's no substitute for the headache medicine
6. Franklin Covey Planner: One-Page-Per-Day
7. Oral-B Dental Floss
8. Microsoft Money
9. Kiss My Face Olive Bar Soap: Lavender or Chamomille
10. Henkels Knives: Five Star
    

There are so many other products I also rely upon, but I'm a little more flexible with them. These are the few products where I think that brand really does matter.

Have camera, will travel

Saturday, I went and took my walk at Town Lake, as I said I would. I’ve found that something about going down there is incredibly inspiring. As I skip along my merry way my brain travels at a mile per nanosecond with all the sites, sounds and imaginings. On this particular visit I decided to bring my camera along, so that I might capture and share some of the funny and beautiful things I would see along my way. I found that having my camera with me turned it into an entirely different experience altogether.

First, I learned that all those instantaneous things I glimpse, happen far to quickly to capture on film. Stimulus, to eye, to brain, to hand, to camera on and ready, to camera up to eye pointed in the right direction (nevertheless artfully focused), to slow shutter speed of digital camera, and stimulus has long since past and is down the road.

Secondly, a huge part of the problem of taking good photographs of people in that, well, they’re people. The second I try to take a picture of a stranger I feel the need to apologize and explain myself. I’m afraid that people are going to think I’m a stalker, a pervert and a freak. I can hear them demanding to know why I’m taking their picture and what I’m planning to do with it; these are questions that I really don’t have answers for. Not only do I feel like I am opening myself up for confrontation, but I feel like I myself am being incredibly confrontational, by the simple act of pointing and shooting. And it's not like I want to take their photo after I've spoken to them and gotten permission, all they then do is stand there and pose with a goofy grin.

Also, I’ve found that when you have a camera with you to record all the exciting things you are planning on seeing, they just don’t happen. Oh, I’m sure it was just as beautiful a day as usual, with as many good sites, but my mind just didn’t let them happen. I'm expecting stupendous. It's like you're too busy looking for something beauty to see the beauty happening all around you.

I was rather disappointed on the whole, but I did get a few decent shots.

The Adventure Continues...

Star Wars Horoscope for Gemini

Like most Geminis, you are a playful little creature. You tend to be extremely curious, craving knowledge but sometimes having a short attention span. For the most part, you are charming and loveable. But at times, you can seem scattered and high-strung. Star wars character you are most like: Ewoks

What is Your Star Wars Horoscope?

I just couldn't resist sharing this. They're so cute and fuzzy. I have to say they're not to far off in the comparison.

The American Dream

The New York Times is doing a terrific series of articles about social class in America. Although I haven’t done much with it since then, I studied sociology in college. This is a subject I find fascinating. I intend to read the whole series as it comes out. If you get a chance to read it and also find it interesting let me know. Perhaps we can continue the discussion.

So far they have only published two articles. Yesterday, they featured a general discussion of the perceptions and realities social class. They also provided some interactive graphs focusing on social mobility. The article they featured today illustrated the differences in the health care received by people of different socio-economic classes in America and reasons why that is the case. On Thursday they plan to discuss marriage.

Dinner and a Movie

We just returned from a rather pleasant dinner at my in-laws house. We try to get together for dinner and a movie every Sunday, switching back and forth between our houses, but often it doesn’t work out that way. It’s been three weeks since we last did this so it was an especially nice evening, even though the movie was not overly wonderful.

They recently purchased “Young Frankenstein,” so we watched that. I was the only one who had not seen it before and frankly, while it had some funny moments, it was too long and not all that great. Four people spanning fifty years in age and it’s amazing we ever agree on anything to watch; this weekend it was my turn to be less then impressed.

I do have very good news that I am delighted to report. My father-in law (technically, my stepfather-in-law) had cataract surgery 10 days ago. This is the first chance I’ve gotten to see him since the operation and he is like a new man. He lost his sight in one eye during the Korean War, so this cataract has slowly been robbing him of what little vision he has. Since I met him, almost four years ago, he has slowly been turning into a doddering old man. He really is a passionate person and this has been painful to see. But tonight, it was like he had been given a new lease on life. He could see was going on. Therefore, he was more able to follow the conversation and the movie. So, he was much more engaged with was what was happening. He didn’t have to second-guess his every move. Previously, he could see just enough to know that he really couldn’t see. He is completely delighted with this improvement; so, he was in very high spirits, which makes for a much nicer dinner companion. What is now, a very simple medical procedure has made a tremendous improvement in his quality of life. We are so lucky to have these abilities.

I needed an excuse to go to Central Market to find loquats via Sue’s inspiration, so I offered to bring desert. While there, I found a wonderful, moist and rich Chocolate Angle Food Cake which we then served with a raspberry coulis. I tasted very decedent, but actually it was pretty well behaved as deserts go. My in-laws are definite foodies, as am I within the limits of what my budget, so I get great satisfaction out of finding something that is met with such enthusiasm.

In-line Blogger Comments

I was so excited Kristina found from Protected Static how to make it so that comments are viewed on our blogs instead of going to a separate page to view them. Being the adventurous spirit that I am, I tried it. But now that I've done it, I don't know if I really like it. I think it makes the comments harder to read. Right now I'm very blurry-eyed so I'm going to leave it like this just for now.

Tomorrow, I'll either improve it or change it back. I was thinking of changing the text and/or justification on the comments, and I want to enable the display of profile pictures. Not that I currently know how to do this, but I'll figure it out. My fiddling this evening was a very good lesson in how my template is laid out and how it works. One step closer to creating a template on my own. Ha, ha!

Sometimes you just need comfirmation

Just for fun, I took a test to see if I was stupid. I was told that I am 4% stupid.

Which I thought was a lot, but according to them I'm the next Einstein and I don't think I even use google to find the answers.

So, then I was wondering if that made me a nerd and I'm afraid that I am, at least a little bit.

Not that I was suprised. Although I must confess I did google for some of the answers. Does that make me more or less nerdy?

Thanks to Beth for pointing out these cool nerd tests.

Splat!

Originally, this was just going to be a comment to my Sloth post. However, it was getting quite lengthy, so I thought I’d give it a space of it’s own.

I really appreciate all of your cheers. Honestly, your interest took me by surprise. But then, I guess that the quest to be fit is something we can all identify with.

I did make it out to Town Lake again today. This time it took me a minute less (47) for the same route and my average heartrate was 5 beats less (132) per minute despite it being just as muggy. Whenever I can, I exercise with a heartreate monitor. I plan to walk again tomorrow and I should be okay to ease back into running after that.

I really like to be in an exercise routine, however life likes to intrude upon it and once out of my routine it takes a great bit of effort to get me back on track. I use to think that problem with getting into and staying on track was evidence that I really was an overly flexible person, but now I realize a truly flexible person wouldn’t need to have a routine to stay fit. They would just fit it in when they could and not overly worry, plan, and obsess about it. At least I’m not overly rigid and insist upon sticking to a plan even when it no longer makes any sense to do so, or do I?

_______________________

Just as I was stepping onto the walking path, I got splatted on by a pigeon. First time that has happened to me. Luckily, it was only on my hand, but my first instinct, of course, was to look up.

Above me, was the beginning of a line of pigeons that roost on the underbelly of a highway bridge. I envisioned a follow up falling on my face. Conveniently, there was a water spray near by that I washed my hand off in. I’ve never been as wary of birds as I was for the rest of my trek today.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
Whose intelligence do you find intimidating?
My mother-in-law's, she's perfectly cerebral (an INTJ), brilliant, and extremely well informed and educated. I truely believe that the most indulgent things she's ever done in her life is have a second cookie, once. Plus, she's my mother-in-law; so there's, like, no pressure. That said, I truely like her, respect her, and enjoy her company.

Soup
Name something you've done that surprised yourself.
Yesterday, I threw a mini hissy-fit at work, extremely out of character and really out of place, but soon forgotten. I think I just was not very happy to go back after my time off.

Salad
List 3 people whom you have only "met" online, but consider good friends.
I hate picking people. I was always the last person picked in gym class and I can't stand leaving anybody out. Generally, I need to know somebody for quite a while before I call them "good friends" and frankly I haven't been blogging long enough to get to know anybody that well, and have not used the my computer in a social manner before this. So right now I have many developing friendships "on-line." Among them are Sue, Kristina and Pei Yun, but I am lucky enough to have many more developing friendships right now the I've had in a very long time.

Main Course
Where is the dirtiest place you've ever been?
Kelly's Saloon in Small Town, NY. If you've been there you'd understand and if you haven't well let's just say it's an old dumpy bar in a college town run by a bunch of drunks that has never ever been cleaned. Really.

Dessert
What is the best example of "perfection" that you can think of?
A newborn.

Courtesy of Friday's Feast.

Sloth

You know you're being a larda**. Strike that and reword.

You know you’ve been a bum, when it takes your feet 48 minutes to move your body in a 2.9 mile circle around a rather scenic body of water, and you remain well within your aerobic zone for the entire trip. Or at least I do.

However, I actually got out there and moved! I already feel so much better for it. Let’s see if I can do it again tomorrow.

Thursday Challenge: FLOWERS

Flowering Thistle

Blogger has been misbehaving

Do you realize how very frustrating it is when you are bopping around at your favorite blog haunts and you cannot make comments?

I like to comment. I like to make people feel like they are being heard. I like to let them know I think they are important. Don't worry, I lurk plenty of places too; but if I think somebody will appreciate me saying something and I have something to say, I say it. I especially try to comment when I visit the sites of somebody who has commented on mine. In fact, I feel like a big doo-doo head if I don't.

That's why this was afternoon I was particularly frustrated. I've been trying to spend a little less time on the computer the past few days, because I've really had been overdoing it. However, I still want to check in with the people I normally check in with and respond to comments etc. Perhaps share a quick and silly post, as I am apt to do. So, not one, but two afternoons in a row, blogger has put the kabash on that plan.

Yesterday, they were very considerate and they let us know about it. They also had a plan for when it would be over. So, I simply packed my bags, did some desperately needing to be done housework, and came back to play later. But today, I had no little note telling me everything would be okay. Things just simply wouldn't work.

Here I am reading and trying to share my responses to the various new posts on a site that I haven't gotten a chance to visit in a few days and it wouldn't give me a comment page. Grrr. So then I tried to visit another of my favorite blogger sites and, Grrr, it took it about three minutes to load. Of course, I also could not comment there. Then I blindly went to grumble about it on my own dear blog and after taking me another three minutes to load, it wouldn't let me post. Double Grrr.

Not to be hindered from my mission, I decided to visit my favorite non-blogger haunts instead; which is a much shorter list then I realized. Finally, I stop by at the Huffington Post and saw an amusing article I wanted to share; but I CAN'T, because blogger won’t let me post!

That's when I gave up and found something else to do. So perhaps instead of being frustrated with blogger I should be grateful. My desk, which I haven’t been able to find for the past couple weeks is now completely cleaned off, and all the random things I've dumping on it are now properly filed and put away. If they do it again tomorrow, perhaps I’ll get to that layer of dust that I keep noticing.

I wonder what exciting improvements blogger is making? Spell check? Grammar Check? Categories? If any of the blogger gods are listening out there, I'd really love categories, like people who use Moveable Type have.

Ten on Tuesday: Favorite Blogs

10
Originally uploaded by Suzie T.

Well, I did Ten on Tuesday's theme for this week, last week. So, I went back into the archives and did one from a couple weeks ago that I really wanted to do, but didn't. These are My Ten Favorite Blogs:

1. dooce Need I say more?
2. jen gray She has beautiful photography, accompanied by thoughtful poetry or prose.
3. Real E Fun Zinnia is a humanistic funeral celebrant who writes incredibly well and whose attitude I like.
4. Waiter Rant He puts out there many of the things and thoughts and attitudes I experience with my job, many of which I, myself, would be reluctant to share.
5. Michele She has a fun social site that always has a lot happening.
6. Ward-O-Matic Ward is a delightful Georgia based animator with a heart and hula seventy is, Andrea, his wife's site. I like them both and love the banter back and forth between the two sites.
7. The Daily Vegetable I'm a bit of a health nut, so I love the topic. I love the way she weaves together talking about food,health, and life.
8. Blog of a Bookslut This is an overwelming magazine sponsored blog that overs many tidbits of what's going on in the world of books, one of my favorite things.
9. Flirt in a Skirt I found this site just a couple days ago, but I think it's sure to become a real favorite.
10. The Huffington Post I've been back for more and I like it.

Now, there are many sites that I want to include as honorable mentions, but I will limit myself to ten. These are sites that I keep in my Bloglines account and visit often, but that I know most of you are are already familiar with. In no particular order, A Sort of Notebook, Verbatim, Lively Writhing, the way i do things, Pei Yun, Life in Cyprus, Amkeli's World, Irish Child, and Nearest Distant Shore,

I think there's more linking in this post then there is text!

If I were a Jane Austen Heroine

You are Anne Elliot of Persuasion!
Let's face it, you're easily persuaded, especially when faced with choices that are or aren't 'the Elliot way.' But this doesn't mean that you don't have conviction. Actually, your sense of duty is overwhelming. And though you won't stick your neck out too often, you have learned to speak up when it counts. To boot, you know how to handle sticky situations. You love deeply and constantly.

Take the Quiz here!

Found due to Kristen at Walking Circumspectly

The Huffington Post has arrived

Well, after a good deal of anticipation, The Huffington Post began yesterday. I just popped over to check it out. In case you haven't already heard, this is a group blog and opinion page, organized by Arianna Huffington.

First off, I think it's an attractive site. It contains a lot of text and a lot of information, but its layout makes it easy to read and navigate. It's divided into two main sections. On the left side of the page are compressed blog entries from the various writers who all have lots of name and face recognition. On the right is a collection of headlines the editors have pulled from various news sources. They link to a brief article description, which then links to the original source allowing room for readers comments.

As for the actual blog, as of this writing there are already 75 blog entries. I read several entries, but with the plethora of authors it is difficult to really hear their "voice. A posting by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Hall caught my eye because it seemed alarmingly out of place. I had to stop and re-read it to "hear" their sarcasm, which would have been immediately apparent on a blog that allowed a more intimate familiarity with the writers, but perhaps that is already assumed. At the same time I loved seeing the variety in the issues tackled by these celebrities, some of whom I am more familiar with then others. I found most of what they're saying interesting,

The, as they call it, "News Wire" is different. When I viewed it, there seemed to be a lot of headlines about writing, journalism and the media. What I liked about it is that the articles headlines are things they find interesting and noteworthy, pulled out of the mainstream media. Yes, there's a liberal bias, but that's fine with me. However, you don't have people going of on complete leftist tirades either. They aren't pretending to be a news-reporting agency. It's news and opinions all the time. Again I like the variety of their sources. In addition to numerous articles from the AP and the Washington Post, there were articles from foreign publications like Haaretz and Aljazeera, links to Vanity Fair and The Nation, as well as articles exclusive to the Huffington Post and links to other blogs.

All in all, I liked it. Although I wouldn't use it as my exclusive source of news, I have no doubt I'll check in with them from time to time.

Moody Monday: Healthy

A bee having a healthy lunch off a prickly pear cactus bloom, from my trip to the Wildflower Center.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I went digging around in Verbatim's archives for fun and silly things. She seems to have a talent for finding toys. And Eureka! Neverending mindless entertainment. Actually, it reminds me of a friend in college who had an obsession with swatting flys.

I survived Mother’s Day!!!

I’m completely tuckered out, but I made it through. Things really went much more smoothly then I had anticipated; for which I am eternally grateful. We were well staffed, which makes all the difference. Plus, our managers really got us well prepared for the crowd and did a good job of keeping morale up. We actually exceeded our sales goal, making it the highest grossing sales we’ve had since the restaurant opened 10 years ago. So, after working non-stop for 12 hours plus, most of my co-workers are now congregating at some bar to relax and celebrate. I'm sure they're having a great time, but I have no idea where they find the energy. To me that's just sounds like work, nothing relaxing about it. Sometimes it would be, but when I’m this tired, I’d much rather get cleaned up and relax alone at home.

My guests seemed to be a happy bunch. My manager arranged for us to give out mimosa and flowers to all of the mothers. While simply a symbolic gesture, I think it went a long way towards making people relax and have a good time. My only real regret is that I was not able get in touch with my own mother to wish her a happy Mother’s Day. I tried calling her early in the day, but her line was busy and I did not have a chance to call her again until well after her bedtime. I know these things matter a great deal to her; so, I feel a little like a stinker. I do hope my brother was able to do something special with her. At this point, I have no choice but to try her again tomorrow.

I want to thank everybody for all your supportive comments; it was a very pleasant surprise and put a great big smile on my face this morning. As I’m already yawning I’m not sure if I’ll have the change to check in with you all tonight, but no doubt I will in the morning. I have three full days off in a row. I swear, I will do something more producive then stare at my computer screen the entire time.

My how we've grown

My little container garden, Week Six.

I'm exhausted and I won't be able to post for the next 24 hours. So in preparation, I took a few photos of my Garden this afternoon, to show you just how big everything is getting, especially when you compare this photo to one from a month ago. I now have buds and blooms on the pepper, the tomato and the cucumber plants. However, I haven't managed any decent photos of these recently. I've already used good quanities of both the dill and the basil, but you'd never know it by their size.

Now I am off to bed. Happy Mother's Day to all that hold that title.

I love showtunes!

Meet Me In St. Louis Poster
Originally uploaded by BLANKartist.

There I said it. I must confess; I love showtunes! It's entirely my mother's fault. Thanks, Mom. She practically feed them to me in my bottle. I cannot tell you what a source of embarrassment this has been throughout my life. I mean, I sing and tap my toes to that annoyingly perky music that they play everywhere! While my coworkers groan as they play "That's Amore," yet again, I sing along. But as I'm growing older and little more okay with myself, I'm a little more ready to admit it.

What brings this on is that I just finished an ironing mega-marathon, my most dreaded chore. The only way I can get through it is by putting in a CD of, you guessed it, showtunes. Right now, it's the soundtrack to De-Lovely that I'm wearing thin; can you believe I actually saw it in the theatre. There's a really great version of '€"Let's fall in Love"€ sang my Alanis Morissette on it. But I'll often randomly break into "My Favorite Things" or "76 Trombones" at the most inconvenient times. What makes matters worse, is I have very set ideas on exactly how these songs are suppose to be sung. So, if I hear somebody besides John Travolta and Olivia Newton John singing "You're the One that I Want" I get very upset, because they'€™re just plain doing it wrong.

I take comfort in knowing that I'€™m not the only one. What's you favorite showtune?

UPDATE: Kristina mentioned this link to a tribute to "Sound of Music." I encourage you to check it out. I think that my favorite was "I Have Confidence" though most of them are terrific.

Quality time

I feel like I’m being an incredibly lazy nin-com-poop (sorry, I don’t know I should spell that). Yesterday was my day off and I spent the day doing nothing but reading, writing, and blogsurfing. Actually, that’s mostly what I’ve done with today so far. It’s not that I really have anything pressing that I should do, but there are many things I really think I should be working on. I remember reading somewhere that is unhealthy to sit still for more than half an hour at a time on a regular basis. Well, I must admit that it’s been a while since I haven’t exceeded that daily.

One thing that complicates this is that since my schedule is backwards from the way my body works, I feel like I should cross many things off my to-do list during the day and then at night when I’m ready to relax. I need to run around and be productive. ‘Tis the plight of the shift worker, and I know I have it better than most. But when your schedule demands you to go against your grain or that of the rest of the world you never know when it’s okay to relax. I don’t feel comfortable relaxing when other’s are working. Maybe that’s just my high strung nature speaking.

Tonight begins the official weekend of terror in my industry (like my sidestepping the use of an expletive there). I just so want to suddenly develop a rare, but brief and curable, form of the avian flu, so that I can get out of it. Why? …Because, in case you’ve forgotten, Mother’s Day is this weekend and everyone who loves their mother, which hopefully is all of us, feels that this weekend is the one weekend of the year to make up for all their past transgressions and take their mother out to eat.

I have just deleted a detailed description of why that sounds so terrible. Let my point be that I recommend doing something a little more meaningful and one on one with you dear mom, than taking her out to dinner with a large group.

For my own sanity's sake, I choose to believe that this Mother’s Day my guests will just be happy to have the opportunity to spend time with their mother and show her that they care. Maybe not, but a few will and I guess I’ll just have to let them keep my fire going, because it’s going to be a long weekend.

Friday's Feastl

Appetizer
Name a store or restaurant you no longer visit because of a bad experience you had there.
I can't think of any place here in Austin, but there's this store from when we were living in Tulsa that I will never go back to because of an incredibly rude store clerk. It's called "The Dolphin." (I'd link it, but they don't have a site) It's a higher end, women's trinket's store. Not the kind of place I spend a lot of money in, but on the eve of my wedding it was the only place I could find that sold nice lady's hankercheifs. Hey, some bride's take a Greyhound, I shopped. Anyway, I won't be going back there, now, will I?

Soup
If you could own any building in existence, which one would you want?
With much pondering, I would say the Omega Institute, in Rhinebeck, NY. It's beautiful, serene, and just a short Metro North trip to Manhattan. Yes, I know it's made up of more then one builing, but I get all the grounds and campus.

Salad
What's your favorite commercial these days?
I don't remember when was the last time I watched TV, so nothing recent. Although, I do find it incredibly funny that Led Zeppelin is doing Cadillac commercials.

Main Course
When was the last time you felt guilty about spending money, and what was it you purchased?
I, actually, have a continual guilt complex about spending money. Either I feel guilty about the actual loss of money in our pocket, and, hence away from our future, or I feel guilty about the products I buy, or the merchants or producers that the money is going to. I know I can be a real stick in the mud. The last thing was the deli meat I got for hubby when at the grocery store yesterday (explaination). He packs it for lunch and I didn't have time to run up to Whole Foods, but then that's gas I didn't use.

Dessert
Friday's Feast is going to be having it's First Birthday in 2 weeks. What should we do to celebrate?
In celebration, we could add a a fish course and a cheese course, just this one time. Or cake in addition to dessert. We describe the birthday cake, yummm.

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

"The environment is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest;
it is the one thing that all of us share. It is not only a mirror of ourselves, but
a focusing lens on what we can become..."
- Lady Bird Johnson

I had the pleasure of making an outing to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center earlier this week with my mother-in-law. We've been planning this trip for a while, but life and circumstances have prevented us from making it sooner. I'm lucky to have a mother-in-law who shares many of my interests. We gave our cameras quite a workout. Their trails are short, but wonderful, and their gardens are breathtaking.

I am someone who really desires a sense of place. Although, there is quite a bit of xeriscaping throughout Austin, I saw and learned more about Texas native plants in the few hours that we were there, then I have in the past eleven months we have lived in Austin. These are the type of outings that are making me fall in love with Texas. I'll always be from New York, but Texas is quickly becoming home.

The Wildflower Center also does a huge amount of research and environmental advocacy. It's not just about pretty flowers. In addition to research, their focus is to promote native growth landscaping. Not just in Texas, but nationwide. They have some impressive statistics on how much money, labor, and water are saved by using native growth plants. Plus the ecological benefit is just staggering in terms of promoting biodiversity among both the plant and incest populations, water saved, and the virtual elimination of the need for fertilizer and pesticides.

These are issues that are near and dear to my heart. I feel a definite sense of spiritual renewal.

Thursday Challenge: SKY

Wind feeds the fire, and wind extinguishes:
The flames are nourished by a gentle breeze,
Yet, if it stronger grows, they sink and die.
Ovid

I feel so boring...

Franklin Wishy-Washy: 46%, Mental: 87%, Physical: 59%

The only other character who can match Linus for Old Testament knowledge, Franklin is probably the most stable and together of all the gang. He goes to the same school as Peppermint Patty and Marcie and plays sports against Charlie Brown's teams. Well done for being normal!

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 46% on wishywashystuff You scored higher than 88% on brainstuff You scored higher than 84% on physicalstuff

Link: The Peanuts Character Test written by timberlineridge on Ok Cupid

Decoding your Four Letter Personality Type

I sometimes forget myself and start using a lot of jargon that not everybody is familiar with. Meanwhile, I just get so caught up in what I'm saying that I just assume everybody knows what I’m talking about. Silly me.

βΣЋ has expressed a desire for more information and has inspired be to do an impromptu explanation of and some linking to information about Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicators (MBTI).

According to MBTI, which is based on Jungian Psychology, there are four major personality dimensions. For each of these dimensions, we prefer to do things in one of two ways. By determining which of the two you prefer for each of these personality dimensions you create one of 16 possible four-letter codes. This code is used to describe people who prefer to do things the same way you prefer to do them. It does not mean that people with the same code are all alike. There are many other factors and dimensions that make us unique. However, people with the same code do share certain characteristics.

For example, you may notice in my sidebar a list of INFJ Blogs from TypeBlogs. Each of these lovely bloggers share the same 4 letter code that I have, but if you take a peak at our blogs you can see we are still quite unique. Our polar opposite is the ESTP. MC Hendrick, nutmeg, and Woodge are all ESTPs. They are still quite unique from one another, but look at how different they are from the INFJs. Your MBTI type really is simple descriptor, which allows people familiar with the theory to get a idea of how you think and behave. Let me add here that no preference or set of preferences is better to have. It’s best is to have an accurate picture and understanding of your own personality type, so that you my use that understanding for self-enrichment.

Since it is past my bedtime and this has the potential to get very long, I’m just going to link and let what other’s have already written do the actual explaining.

So what type of personality type are you? While that question would be best determined by a through evaluation conducted by a trained administrator of MBTI, we do way other ways of getting a good enough answer to that question.

Don't rely on one of the silly little quizes I like to post. Instead take something that's a little more tried and true, or this, or this. By now you should be getting a pattern. Even if you get different answers on each test, some of the letter's will be reaccuring.

Read Personality Page’s explanation of the Four Preferences. How do you think the real you fits into these categories? This page gives a list of each of the 16 personality types and links to more information about that personality type’s patterns. Read through the profiles on the types that your test results said you are. Which best describes you? It may take you a little while to figure out which type you really are while others figure it out immediately.

Once you have determined your type go on over and sign up with TypeBlogs.com, it’s a good way of connecting with people who think like you do and for finding out more about personality typing in general. I tend to find that the blogs I enjoy reading the most are those whose type differs by no more than two letters from mine.

That was a long answer to a simple question, but believe be things can get much more complicated than that. I think I’ll save why I think learning about personality type's is important for a post sometime in the near future.

10 Plans for this Summer

1. Lose the eleven pounds that I gained last summer from relocating! Weight Watchers here I come.
2. Move to a larger apartment, I hope.
3. Eat my veggies. 3 and a half cups a day, that's a lot of roughage.
4. Try to get preggers, and have fun trying!
5. Turn 34. (tick-tock, tick-tock)
6. Have my best friend from high school down to visit!
7. Swim in Barton Springs, so that I may become a true Austinite.
8. Enjoy fresh vegetables and herbs from my garden.
9. Read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince!
10. And of course, further develop my blog.

Courtesy of Ten on Tuesday. This was their announced topic for this week despite their connection difficulties.

Jitterin'

Inspired by the recent disappearance of runaway Georgia bride, satirist Harry Shearer offers a medicine called Jitterin', that cures the jitters of pre-wedding anxiety. I heard it on All Things Considered, it's hilarous. Once at the program page, click Listen.

Creamy Macaroni Salad

Today, I’m going to do something a little different, for me that is. I’m want to share with you a recipe. Now, I know what you are thinking, cheap blog filer, but I assure you this is not the case. This is a very special recipe that my husband and I just cannot get enough of. I usually make it for the first time some time in March, when asparagus first comes into season, as my celebration that summer is just around the corner. Come June, I generally start making it every two to three weeks until summer comes to an end.

For some strange reason, I have not made it yet this year. I’m sure it’s just due to my adjustment to the Texas climate. When you have such a mild winter, there is less need to celebrate spring. This fall, I’ll probably be chomping at the bit to do all my wintry and baking recipes, as it is already getting too warm to bake most days. But now my dill is crying out for me to use some and I can think of no better way to do so.

Originally, I found this recipe in, what is in my view, the sacred Moosewood Restaurants Low-Fat Favorites. At this point I have made it my own. I mix things up a bit for variety, but I generally stick with this basic model. With all the summer salads recipes I’ve tried, I still like this one the best.

Creamy Macaroni Salad
PASTA
½ pound whole-wheat penne
Cooked until al dente, rinsed with cold water and set aside.

CHEESE MIXTURE
½ cup cottage cheese, more healthfully, low-fat
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, pressed or minced (as tempting as it may be, don’t use more)
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill (if you must use dried, use just 1 teaspoon full)
Combine these in a blender or food processor, puree until smooth , and set aside.

SALAD
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup asparagus spears, cut into 1-inch pieces
15 grape tomatoes, whole
½ a red bell pepper, cut into bite sized strips
½ a cucumber, peeled, seeded and cubed
1 stalk of celery, chopped
2 dill pickles, diced
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste, don't be shy
Steam the broccoli for about 5 minutes, until crisp-tender and bright green. Briefly submerge into icy water to stop cooking process and maintain its color and texture. Steam the asparagus until just tender, then submerge it into ice water for about 30 seconds.

Mix together the pasta, the cheese mixture and all the salad ingredients into a large bowl. Chill for 20 minutes to allow the flavors to marry.

This is nice to have on hand for quick healthy lunches or as barbeque bring along. They recommend fresh basil leaves and tomato wedges as a garnish, but I've never bothered with this.

Moosewood Restaurant is fabulous, and no recipe goes into their cookbooks without being throughly tested and enjoyed by their guests. If you ever visit Ithaca, NY be sure to stop on by.

Now that I’m all worked up about it, I’m going to the store to get the rest of the produce I need and whip up a batch.

A Day at the Airfield

My hubby is a planes, trains, and automobiles kind of guy. Long before I met him he was heavily into model airplanes, but for the past few years he has been occupied with other things. Two months ago, he decided to re-enter the hobby; and he built the first airplane he has built in eleven years. Having watched this process, I can tell you this is not a quick or an easy undertaking. He’s been having a great time doing it, but now the project is complete. Today, it had its maiden fight and he let me go down to the airfield with him to document the occasion.

Since, I know these details are important to him, here are the stats. It is a kit built Sig 1/6th Scale Clip-wing Cub. It’s covered in monocoat; has a Saito .4 cubic inch, 4 stroke engine; and is controlled by a 5 channel JR radio.

The weather was beautiful and sunny, although it was not ideal flying weather, due to crosswinds and turbulence. He hasn’t flown at all for three years; so, he kept things pretty simple on his first flight of the day. However, he did sneak in some of the acrobatic moves that he so loves on subsequent flights.

I love seeing him do something he so enjoys.