…an Empty Peanut Butter Jar
Harriet got a nail trim this morning (not that you can tell, as they are still too long). As a treat for being a very good girl, I gave her the nearly empty peanut butter jar. She’s been working on it for almost an hour.
Fridge Cleaning & Oven Catastrophes
I suddenly decided, at about 1am, that the fridge needed to be thoroughly cleaned. I have no idea what possessed me. Now I have a bunch of yucky food containers to wash. I also have bleachy spots on my kitchen rug, because I was too lazy to move it out of the way while I was washing out the fridge. Oopsie!
Before cleaning out the fridge yesterday, I tried to make roasted vegetables, since I had stuff I needed to use up (wrinkly potatoes and very tired carrots). Tried, I say, because my oven died. Again. This is what, the 4th or 5th time? I ended up dumping my half-roasted veggies into a crock pot, which was not at all what I wanted to do. I re-seasoned them and added some veggie broth, so now it’s soup. Or stew, or something like that. Whatever it is, it’s not roasted vegetables.
So now I have to decide if I should call the maintenance guys tomorrow and miss most of a day of work, babysitting them, or if I should wait until Friday, when I’m already off work. Waiting does not sound like fun, because as soon as you cannot bake anything, baked food is all you want to cook. On the other hand, I’d rather not miss work tomorrow.
And a total non sequitur: I can hear the wind blowing crunchy leaves around. I love fall.
And another one: I am kind of irritated that Criminal Minds is not available through On Demand. Nor is it available on the CBS website or Hulu. If you miss an episode, because your DVR is smoking crack, you are SOL. Thankfully, ION and A&E have been showing re-runs of the show, and I’ve managed to catch a few I’d missed.
(That pizza cutter? Came out of the dishwasher looking like that. It’s clean, but covered with water spots and dark, tarnished areas, from where tomato sauce sat on the blade. Time to buy a new box of Jet Dry.)
Tuckered
I love the way Harriet tucks her nose under her flank when she sleeps, just like a little bird. Which is fitting, I guess, since I call her my little goose.
Comfort Food
Like most people, I think, I have a whole list of foods that I think of as “comfort foods.” Mashed potatoes, hot chocolate with toast, soup, etc. I was thinking about it last week, and realized that when it really comes down to it, no matter how much I think I might want one of the classics, I almost always end up making either buttered popcorn or buttered noodles. Apparently I can blame my dad for that, because those were the two things he used to make when I was little.
And that makes me think of fried eggs. No, really. I have always had a complicated relationship with eggs. I hate them scrambled, and only a few years ago learned to enjoy them that way, with cheese and lots of veggies. Sort of like a messy omelet. I don’t like hard yolks or whites that are not thoroughly cooked. I do like them hard-boiled, especially if they are dill pickled. I also like runny fried egg yolks, but not so much the whites.
Which brings me to something I had completely forgotten about, but was recently reminded of. I have always eaten fried eggs (over medium and unbroken, please, with no crispy bits), whites first, with buttered toast. Cut off a bite-sized section of white, place it on toast, and nom. When the white is gone, quarter the yolk, place each section on a piece of toast and nom. Mop up the spilled yolk with the rest of the toast.
I learned that from my dad, too. I remember, when I was about four years old, sitting at the kitchen table, refusing to eat my egg and toast because the whites were disgusting. He told me to eat the white first, with the toast, then the yolk, which I liked, would be my reward. To this day, that’s how I eat fried eggs.
The Amazing Race
Just when I didn’t think I could loathe Lance any more, he surprises me. Last place is too good for him. During the “take apart two VCRs” challenge, he started using his bare hands, instead of a screw driver. He made some sort of ubermacho comment that that’s how men do things. No, that’s how meatheads do things, ya’ big asstrumpet. I was really hoping his team would be eliminated this time, if for no other reason than that they spent the whole time screaming at each other. Maybe next week?
And what the hell is wrong with Maria? During the park challenge, each team had to choose a concrete animal, put it on a dolly, and pull/push it through the park. Maybe it was just crafty editing, but every shot of Maria and Tiffany showed Tiffany pushing or pulling the dolly by herself while Maria pulled her rolly suitcase along. She did nothing to help her teammate. And then, during one of the interviews, Tiffany commented that the park challenge was really difficult, because they were an all-girl team. Um, no, that challenge was difficult because you were doing all the work yourself.
I’m still really liking Zev and Justin and the Harlem Globetrotter team.
Sleepy Kittens
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I came into the studio to shut down the computer for the night and found Henry and Polly napping together on the dog’s bed. I’m kind of surprised they were still asleep, because at this time of night they’re usually tearing around the house like they’re possessed by evil demons. Time to wake them up and give them their supper.
Henry Watching Her Stories
Henry nearly drove me batshit crazy this morning. She was into everything, and as soon as I’d distract her from one thing, she’d be into another, and then when I’d distract her from that, she was into the first thing again. Then, as I was getting ready to run errands, she finally settled down in front of the Kitty TV to watch her favorite soap opera, The Adventures of Mr. Chipmunk.
The Mind, It Boggles
Via Think Progress and just about everyone else in the blogosphere, Alan Colmes interviewing the always asstastic John Derbyshire. In the interview, Colmes asks Derbyshire about a passage in his new book that lays out a laughable case against allowing women to vote.
DERBYSHIRE: Among the hopes that I do not realistically nurse is the hope that female suffrage will be repealed. But I’ll say this – if it were to be, I wouldn’t lose a minute’s sleep.
COLMES: We’d be a better country if women didn’t vote?
DERBYSHIRE: Probably. Don’t you think so?
COLMES: No, I do not think so whatsoever.
DERBYSHIRE: Come on Alan. Come clean here [laughing].
COLMES: We would be a better country? John Derbyshire making the statement, we would be a better country if women did not vote.
DERBYSHIRE: Yeah, probably.
I’d be shocked, but I actually had a raging misogynist neocon tell me the very same thing. Tell me again, why do women vote for conservatives, when those political allies have absolutely no respect for them? Is it a form of Stockholm syndrome?
Suffragettes, 6/2/20
“No self respecting woman should wish or work for the success of a party that ignores her sex.” — Susan B. Anthony
FROM: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Collections
DIGITAL ID: (digital file from original) npcc 01705 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/npcc.01705
CONTROL #: npc2007001704
REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-DIG-npcc-01705 (digital file from original)
RIGHTS INFORMATION: No known restrictions on publication.
Staff Meeting Doodle
ballpoint and gel pen in steno pad
9 x 6 inches
Some of it was done in today’s training session, so not it’s not 100% a staff meeting doodle, but it’s close enough.
Rantypants Ahoy!
We had the first of several mandatory training sessions at work today. They promised that there would be something for all skill levels, and that everyone would learn something. Okaythen! What I learned was that the IT guy teaching the class will insist that you cannot be correct, when you know damned well you are. This, of course, is not exactly confidence inspiring.
The other thing I learned is that if you say out loud that you prefer to work with a clean desktop, then people–including the IT guy teaching the class–will want to know what’s wrong with you. The head of your entire department might even tell you that you need medication.
I am so looking forward to the next class!
red paper boat 