21
Oct, 2005

gourmet grahams?

yesterday, my boss gave me a taste of a graham cracker she had purchased from the whole foods market bakery. yep, it was a graham cracker made from scratch. it was freakin’ amazing. nothing like your average nabisco honey graham or even my new favorite “go-go grahams” from the organic aisle. it was a buttery, melt in your mouth delicious cracker…or maybe you could call it a cookie. apparently, they consider them to be a seasonal treat and only make them in the summer, but you can special order them whenever you’d like. my boss apparently special ordered six packages (not sure how many crackers were in a package) and confessed to me that they cost her a total of $30. maybe i could justify buying one package for myself….

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20
Oct, 2005

606

last night as i got into my car to leave work, my clock said 6:06. i had to sing a few lines of the mennonite national anthem.

Posted in la la la! | 2 Comments
19
Oct, 2005

they like me!

today i had record (at least for recent history) attendance at both of my storytimes! there were 20 people at my early program for babies and toddlers and 33 people at my regular storytime afterwards! either they were all excited about the “field trip” to the pumpkin patch or… i’ve found a new following. all it takes are a few grown-ups who tell their friends to show up for a chance to hear some fun stories and talk to other parents and… bingo! hooray!

the trip to the pumpkin patch was a big hit. very simple program. i’m all about simple.

earlier this week, i held crafty class at a local cemetary and we did gravestone rubbings. lately, my attendance has been around 5 people–this time i had 17! who knew? i was worried it’d be too creepy for people to show up, but everyone had a good time. i think it’s a good season for programming. it’s cool enough that people want to come indoors and it’s not holiday season busy yet.

Posted in library stuff | 2 Comments
17
Oct, 2005

spontaneous traveling

so my friend asked me on friday if i’d like to go to chicago (about 2 hours away) on saturday evening for dinner with a mutual friend of ours and a trip to ikea. i love that i was able to say yes and that we were able to go and have a great time together. we got a little bit lost (and she somehow doesn’t carry an atlas of the us in her car…) but we found our way without too much trouble (and only one uncomfortable run-in with a guy who washed her windshield at a stoplight) and we both marvelled at how much less stressful it was to be lost with each other instead of being lost with our husbands who would both have gotten very upset in the same situation (“you mean you only brought this map printed out from google maps without even the directions written out? this version of the map doesn’t even have the hotel on it at all!”), but as we are women and navigate more intuitionally, we realize that getting upset will not help the situation at all and just laugh and try to get to our destination as best we can. i remember a similar revelation i had on a similar trip to chicago years ago with another girlfriend of mine when we realized how much more relaxed we were when we didn’t feel obligated to drive through chicago as fast as we could and in the far left lane. i don’t like driving right next to the barrier wall and i don’t like worrying that i’ll have to cross 4 lanes of traffic to get to my exit.

so we had a great evening! the hotel was a little farther away from ikea than i’d anticipated so… we didn’t get back home until 3 a.m., but we did get home safely and i allowed myself to sleep in until 9:30 (lately, i’ve been getting up at 6ish to do crafty stuff.), so i almost made up my sleep deprivation.

there is something fun, though, about taking a road trip and not planning the nitty gritty of it. it allows for more serendipity and really, that’s what sparks the joy of life!

Posted in fun stuff | 1 Comment
14
Oct, 2005

gorgeous day

it’s a gorgeous, autumn day here. i biked 20 miles while completing my errands today (so i am now well over my 1000 miles for the year mark–hooray!). i woke up early and had time to be crafty. i got some new photos taken of the things i’ve been making (you’ll get to see them when the new website is done. we’re workin’ on it, but it’s slow going. most things are.) mr. happy stuff has been putting in mega-overtime at work to help with a large company project, so he took today off and we had lunch together downtown. the weather was so nice that we biked there and ate at the sidewalk tables.

also, denyse schmidt came out with a new book! it’s her first book and it gives detailed instructions on how to create her awesome, funky quilts. granted, i’m a bit too slapdash to make them as nicely as she does, but the book is pure craft candy. so…if the book inspires me to make a craft, is it illegal/immoral for me to sell the resulting product? granted, it wouldn’t be an exact copy (or…probably even very closely resemble the original inspiration item). i run into this dilemma a lot as i’m thinking about selling crafty items for a profit (albeit a small, tiny one). at what point am i stepping on intellectual property’s toes?

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11
Oct, 2005

3000!

i hit mile 3000 on my bicycle odometer tonight! some of you may remember that last year i biked 2004 miles in 2004. this year, since i was training for a triathlon and didn’t have the automatic 400 mile boost from the aids ride, i made my goal a modest 1000 miles for the year. officially, i still have 1.2 miles to go before i reach that (i ended last year at 2007 miles), but it was pretty cool to see that big row of zeros tonight. woo hoo!

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11
Oct, 2005

olfactory power

tonight as i was riding my bike to choir, i suddenly smelled something that reminded me of pupusa from el salvador. i haven’t thought about this food for years, but suddenly, i was back in el salvador (i went there with my mother in 1988) with a hot, crispy, greasy tortilla like thing embedded with a filling of shredded meat/beans/cheese and topped with a vinegary slaw. mmm….. ain’t nothin’ else quite like it. i remember the first time i ate them and didn’t realize how filling they would be. i think i ate six. think of them as the equivalent of a small sandwich. my eighth grade tummy was absolutely stuffed! but they were so good! i still remember the house we ate them in. the walls were painted bright turquoise and i remember thinking it was so small! in all of my travels, i don’t think i ever found more generous hosts than i met on that trip to el salvador and guatemala. we went to a refugee camp while we were visiting guatemala. there, we ate lunch with one of the refugee families. they had so little and they wanted to share what they had with us. i felt bad eating their food, but they seemed so happy to be able to serve us! i think it was rice, beans and tortillas (good chance, anyway) and if i remember correctly, i thought it was quite tasty.

i have no idea what that smell was that took me back so vividly. i’m pretty sure there’s not a salvadoran restaurant on that corner, so it must have been some other food. but now i’m jonesin’ for pupusa. may have to experiment with that recipe in that link.

Posted in trip down memory lane, yum | 1 Comment
10
Oct, 2005

fawlty towers

last week, i got a dvd of episodes of fawlty towers. this is a british comedy that my family discovered when i was a kid and enjoyed immensely. i think we must have taped them off of the tv, because as i was watching the dvd i realized that i could recite most of the funny lines from memory. sadly, there were ever only twelve episodes. my childhood favorite was “communication problems.” i’ll have to let you know my adult favorite once i’ve watched them all again. mr. happy stuff doesn’t think they’re very funny. i, on the other hand, love watching them while i’m crafting because i don’t have to watch the screen to know what’s going on. plus, in addition to a laugh, i get a warm fuzzy from all the childhood flashbacks i get while i watch it.

Posted in laugh, trip down memory lane | 4 Comments
10
Oct, 2005

i am a bike mechanic (?)

once again, i was amid folks who knew less about bikes than i did today. this is rather unusual for me, so it was rather empowering. my best deed of the day was helping this elderly woman whose chain had fallen off the thingie (ok, here my lack of techie bike knowledge becomes quite evident) whatsitcalled? a cassette? the cogs? ok, anyway, her chain was lodged between the thingie and her spoke-area of her bicycle (geez. i really should know these words. the story is sort of bogging down here… sorry.) anyway, i was participating in a biking/fundraising event (it was about a 13 mile bike ride) to fight world hunger and i was stopped at a break stop where they were providing bathrooms, apples and bottles of water. the volunteer who was handing out the apples went over to help this woman and i wasn’t really paying attention to them fiddling around with the bike until the volunteer walked away helplessly saying something about, “well, i wish i could help her, but i don’t really know how.” so i went over to see if i could help. sure enough, the chain was stuck. this same thing has happened to me before and i knew i could fix it. just couldn’t be afraid to get a little grease on my fingers (i figure that’s why they make bike shorts black…. that and some really awful mental images thanks to one of my bikey friends who found this, um, revealing photo of a team of biker guys in red shorts. let’s just say, not much is left to the imagination and no, they weren’t wearing anything other than the bike shorts. urgh.) so i got her chain back on the … thingie … and we tested the wheel to make sure the chain would stay on and it did. she was so happy! and i was so glad i’d been able to help her! i’m not really sure what she would have done otherwise.

Posted in sporty stuff | 1 Comment
08
Oct, 2005

tree stripes

this morning on the way to work, i saw four trees in a row that were the most wonderful shades of fall colors. as i was sitting there admiring them at the stoplight, i realized i had my camera with me! i know the shot won’t win me any awards, but aren’t the colors just lovely together?

Posted in autumn | 1 Comment