Last night we found out that Parker’s first biological first cousin had been born, the night before. Another boy, but in California. This is his paternal uncle’s offspring. Our very small family has grown just a little bit. But it would have been nice for Parker to have a cousin or two closer in age, and in proximity. Still, welcome to the world, new little man. We hope to meet you before long.
In cooking news, I plan to move beyond the No-Knead Bread recipe I’ve been using, though it has served me well, and move on into multi-grains. I want to start making something with more texture. Also? Swell vegan has had me distracted by thoughts of frosting this week. Avocado lime in particular. So very intriguing. But for now I’m off to the kitchen to bake some sort of apple pecan muffin concoction.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Frustrations abound but I’m not about to roll over and take it lying down. Take that numerous nebulous threats to my sovereignty and solvency! I shake my fist at you! Grrrrrr!
In news of the weird and/or happy, five fun things for this Thursday:
Sunday we may be stopping by the 3rd Annual Ice Sculpture Party, hosted by Studio Bricolage in St. Paul, on our way to Tiny Shanty’s Tiny Fire Art Festival. Mmm, the great outdoors in Minnesota in February. But the following Sunday will be spent indoors. On Valentine’s Day the Minneapolis Institute of Arts is hosting an I ♥ Art family day. There is free fun to be had in Minnesota during the winter, if you know where to look.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
This morning my son looked at his calendar and noticed that today is Groundhog Day…just as I was about to declare it myself. Then I attempted to show him photos of groundhogs and he was baffled. He’d been expecting something porcine, which makes sense, given the name. Speaking of names…I knew that they are often called woodchucks but had no idea that groundhogs are also referred to as whistle-pigs! You learn something new every day. If you’re lucky.
Five fun things for February (though I will still think of this month and last as a combined LAMEuary):
- These are the androids you are looking for (via justnd). Blind boxed android mini collectibles from Dyzplastic and Andrew Bell, with “pricing to be determined” = a recipe for disaster. But they are so danged cute!
- Alas, this weekend will be the last for the 2010 Art Shanty Projects. But the Tiny Shanty is closing it out with a bang! Well, hopefully not an actual bang, as there will already be fire involved. It’s Tiny Shanty’s Tiny Fire Art Festival.
- We’re excited for the 10th annual Women’s Prison Book Project Pancake Breakfast. Saturday, February 13th at the Walker Community Church, 3104 16th Ave S in Minneapolis. Pancakes (some vegan), fruit, grits, juice and coffee. All for $6-10 (sliding scale). $3 for the kiddos, with bonus booksale -$2 paperbacks and $3 hardcovers.
- Also Saturday, February 13th there will be another flickr photowalk, in St. Paul. In my own backyard! So I have no excuse not to attend, except that it will be cold out and I will already be in Minneapolis that morning at the pancake breakfast. So we’ll see.
- Just discovered Budget bytes yesterday. I can get behind this. Quality food made on the cheap. May start with this recipe for Indian spiced oats with coconut milk tomorrow morning.
Really getting sick of this recent trend…of me waking up in panic attack mode. Perhaps I will have to take a pal’s advice and return frequently to Selleck Waterfall Sandwich when feeling stressed. There, I am feeling more relaxed now. And a smattering of Sade doesn’t hurt either.
As we enter this month of LAMEuary, I could do without the severe deficit of funds and the surplus of anxiety, but that’s what I’ve got to work with. And so I’ll do what I can.
Thankfully some things do help lift my spirits. Like:
- Saturday’s Art Sled Rally 2010 in Powderhorn Park. My son and I are determined to build our own sled for next year’s event. Complete with coordinating costumes.
- “Play, Then Eat” - an encouraging trend and a schedule that my son’s school shifted to just this school year. I think it does make a big difference. Parker also goes through an OT circuit, essentially a sensory obstacle course, before joining his class every morning. And it helps him to focus in the classroom.
- In the last week I’ve been listening to some newer music. From chillwave-style Toro y Moi and their/his latest release Causers of This, to Dessa’s recent A Badly Broken Code and the new Magnetic Fields, Realism. Also on the list? New to me Giorgio Moroder (he worked with the Human League) and his 1977 release From Here to Eternity.
- Somehow I’d lost track of an old internet fave, Jessamyn of librarian.net, but was reminded this morning…when someone re-tweeted her odd request for an x-ray of a llama. Funny.
- It’s long been known that I have a soft spot for random photo projects. So how about Running From Camera? “The rules are simple: I put the self-timer on 2 seconds, push the button and try to get as far from the camera as I can.”
Much is happening tomorrow. It’s Intergalactic Tutu Day! Alas, we are lacking tutus and our local event is being held late-ish at a Gameworks, on a school night. Oh, and it’s caucus day. And also Groundhog Day. It’s also the big Lost season premiere, but our teevee doesn’t play well with broadcast signals (think pixelated and janky) so I will likely continue to forge ahead on the novel, since I’ve been on a roll and all. The rest of the week ought to be equally “meh” but I’ll take quiet over crazy. Knocking on wood now.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
What an uneven week, punctuated with perplexing nuisances…including an iPhone fail (a staff member of the genius bar blew some compressed air on it, which got it working again, but made me feel like less of a genius). And I’d been patting myself on the back for finally calling to upgrade my ancient DSL to high speed 12 Mbps, only after the alleged cutover yesterday we’ve got no internet access at all. A technician is coming out to the house tomorrow to take a look. I was already aware of how internet-addicted I am, but I’ve infected my son as well. He’s become quite fond of our Roku box, which streams Netflix Instant to our teevee. Thankfully he’s handling this outage with more grace than I am. Currently we’re at the public library, a place we frequent anyhow, but specifically because hey, free wi-fi! Then we’re off to do other free, non-internet related things. Hopefully we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming soon.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
A wintry Monday in Minnesota can be rough enough. But when you factor in the additional minor irritants, oy. Another earring went missing so I’ve got naked earlobes plus the bad road conditions made bad drivers worse plus friends and co-workers were all glum over the Vikings loss plus reading that I hold depression and sadness in my armpits was weird plus there were obnoxious teenagers in the hot tub at the Y plus there was my son telling me I’ve got hippo hips and the final straw? Attempting to stop by Punch Pizza for their free pizza offer and finding the line wending around the block in the cold and the dark. Abysmal. So it was with great pleasure we returned home to find not one but two delightful pieces of mail from friends.
First, a lovely Happy New Year postcard from Dan Black of Landland, featuring a swimming pool, which was funny as we’d just gone swimming.
Secondly, a care package from my friend Cathy Camper containing her Sugar Needle zine and some truly amazing handcrafted vegan truffles from Missionary Chocolates in Portland (where Cathy lives now). Holy crap the vanilla salted caramel was heavenly! And the almond roll thingie! I only took little nibbles out of a couple of them but I could easily have devoured them all whole. Trying my best to savor them but the self-control thing can be hard. And yeah, I’m secretly pleased there are flavors that Parker wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. Like meyer lemon and mint and coffee. Those are mine, all mine!
Also happy happy? There are new Haikus of Regret from our faves, Squid and Frog! #11, #12 and #13.
And I started poking around tumblr again, tweaking mine a little but mostly to follow others. Got sucked into that swirling vortex late last night and was worried I wouldn’t get out again. Especially when I wound up in Modern Cat land. Crazy-cat-lady-dom, here I come!
And another thing! I was just reminded of the Art Sled Rally this Saturday at Powderhorn Park. It’s the same day/time as the Saint Paul Saints game but I think it can be said that Art Sleds > outdoor winter baseball. Oh the things we do to survive the long winters, and to convince ourselves that Minnesota is worth living in, despite the cold.
Yesterday’s combo Sunday brunch / Saintly City Cat Club Show adventures were a great success! I will never let this oddball annual tradition die. Yes, I am conflicted about the whole thing, as I disagree with the practice of breeding when there are already too many non-pedigreed felines in need of homes. But my desire to see the unusual looking cats is too strong. Parker and I fell in love with a gorgeous Sphynx named Lil’ Dipper. And this total dudecat, whose actual name I didn’t catch, but I’ve dubbed The Supreme Overlord. I would happily do his bidding if he’d just let me hug him. The rest of my photos are here and Ericka’s fine photos are over here. Really though, the event is just as much about the people as the cats. One highlight? Talking to a showcat owner who seemed sincerely shocked - and almost appalled - upon discovering we only have two cats. “What, two cats? Really, just two?” And “well, you’re getting more cats, aren’t you?” Apparently she is down to just five cats and felt this was an unacceptably low number.
More guilty pleasures:
Sports in general are not my thing but I’ll happily benefit from yesterday’s Vikings loss. Punch is offering conciliatory free pizza tonight. Hopefully the lines won’t be *too* crazy, full of sadsack football fans, after our usual Monday afternoon swimming.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
I’ve always been attracted to the strange but even I have my limits. Some things straddle that line between good touch and bad touch. To demonstrate, four fun things and one creepy one:
- My new favorite iPhone app, Talking Carl! “Carl Repeats everything you say with the funniest Voice.” When my voice is repeated back to me I sound like Gir from Invader Zim. Sadly the Sleeping Carl app is not available in the U.S. But Carl does have a friend named Gugl. Adorable.
- Hooray for new Kids in the Hall! Apparently Death Comes to Town will be an eight-episode comedic murder mystery. I already adore Scott Thompson’s Heather Weather.
- A flickr friend consistently manages to find the most amazing things when dumpster diving. Like gorgeous mid-century modern style furniture that only needs a little bit of TLC. A little more intensive TLC? Over at Young House Love - “two young people falling in love with their first house” - the transformation is amazing. I wish they’d come give my house a makeover. (Note: there really isn’t anything strange about this bullet point - I just wanted to post about it before it slipped my mind.)
- Holy crap it’s katie cook! And katie really can draw.
- Finally, the freaky - a scantily clad man dressed as a unicorn, dancing around with a sword. Or in costume as a tiger and creeping around some stairs. Maybe it is art, but it’s most definitely creepy.
And now my Saturday morning procrastination is venturing dangerously close to Saturday afternoon procrastination. I’ve got a house in dire need of deep cleaning and no Rosie the Robot Maid to assist me. I’d better have at it.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
It’s been another week of zoom zoom but I’m all right with the winters flying on by. Especially when we’ve got interesting things to look forward to, such as:
- Vegan Bake Sales for Haiti are being held all over the country. We’re having ours, Twin Cities style, on Saturday January 30th.
- That same Saturday is a Saint Paul Saints special event - the World’s Coldest Game of Baseball. “Entrance is FREE and patrons are encouraged to support Second Harvest Heartland by donating cash, food and warm clothing. Because sometimes giving back is a worthy adventure in itself.” We’ll see just how cold it is that day. It’s been relatively mild lately, for Minnesota in January, but that could change.
- Next month Jennifer Jajeh’s tragicomic solo show, “I Heart Hamas: And Other Things I’m Afraid to Tell You” will be on at the Bedlam Theatre, February 18th-28th. Definitely checking that out.
And now some random items of note:
- As a Sleep Talkin’ Woman with a Sleep Talkin’ Son, I can totally relate to this Sleep Talkin’ Man (even if his tales may seem a tad bit, well, tall).
- Today I’ve been listening to a lot of Ultravox. Listening to the song Blue Light, in particular, while looking at this animated booth babe = total convergence.
- This is incredibly moving. “Photography by blind people: How can you use a camera if you can’t see? Over 30 blind and visually impaired adults from the UK, Mexico and China have been trained in sensory photography techniques to create and experience photos.” If you’re going to be in London from January 19th - 23rd, Sights Unseen will be at The Association of Photographers Gallery in central London.
- More reasons why Clockwork is a most awesome place to work With many photos taken by me! But all those babies are so much bigger now! Thankfully a fresh batch of Clockworklings will be hatching soon.
- The world is my hat! I’m in love with this Domokun style animated short, Git Gob. “Two creatures wonder, ‘What is a hole?’ They have different points of view. Their debate leads to an idea, an idea that changes the world. This is a story of practical magic.”
This morning a co-worker noticed the new red highlights in my hair and asked if I’d sustained a head injury. A zippy comeback didn’t come to me until much later. Next time I’m setting my phasers to stun.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
There’s a lot going on this weekend, as always, but the main event? The Saintly City Cat Show! (AKA the crazy cat lady/cat man show.) Last year was our inaugural visit, accompanied by two dear friends who are seasoned veterans. But this year we’re expanding our entourage, and having more like-minded folk over for brunch beforehand. Then together we will field trip it on to the crowning of cat royalty! But the people watching is just as good as the cat watching at these things. I do hope we see the woman with the forearm tattoos of her dead cats. But I hate to think she might have them taxidermied at home. Eep.
Five more helpings of the good and the weird:
Now for this week in cupcakes, at Triple Rock and Mitrebox. And Cake Eater will be representing at the Modern Radio anniversary thingie, Saturday, January 23rd at the Cedar Cultural Center. But I’ve also been invited to an old friend’s vampire+laser tag themed birthday party for the same exact timeframe! Such a dilemma.
