Adventures in Domesticity

Six Word Memoir

Kristen the Knitting Kninja tagged me to write my memoirs...in six words.  I fumbled around for a while, trying to come up with something profound and counting on my fingers all at once.  I realized, though, that a lot about me can be summed up by my reaction to this meme - I think I read that somewhere.

It's the story of my life.   I'm constantly reading something, even if it's just blogs and message boards while I'm supposed to be working.  I can't seem to do anything without researching it via the internet and library books and talking to people who might be familiar with what I'm about to do.  Cooking, gardening, painting the living room, making financial decisions - nothing is free from my desire to read about it and know all the details.  I've also come to prefer my reading for pleasure books to be historical fiction or those in which there's a kernel of truth or knowledge to be gleaned.  In special situations, this memoir and guiding principle can also come out as "Hey, they were talking about that on NPR earlier."  But that's more than six words, and I don't have a cute childhood picture to illustrate it.

This propensity for reading and researching has made me the kind of person that knows a little bit about a lot of things.  I'm also the annoying kind of person who doesn't forget all of those little bits.  I know what all the weird little tools and kitchen gadgets in specialty stores are called, and I know more than any Midwestern American layperson needs to know about the Plantagenets and the Tudors.  I know why bread rises, and I know that clematis vines like to have shaded roots and sunny branches, even though I don't have a single one in the garden.  Unfortunately, none of this is terribly practical, and I just end up worrying and trying to do the best thing.  (Should I knit two more rounds to make this fit better?  This person on Ravelry did, this one didn't, but what will be best for me?  Should we refinance now or later?  I know all the pros and cons, but I still don't know!)  All sorts of obscure factual knowledge doesn't help with those sort of judgments.  This is my nature, and I'm afraid it's only going to get worse.   I feel sorry for my caregiver when I'm 90.

The origins of the six-word memoir are described in this NPR story.  Yes, I heard about it that way.  Here are the guidelines:

• Write your own six word memoir.
• Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
• Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.
• Tag five more blogs with links.

I'm not usually big on tagging, but I think is a pretty cool meme as those things go.  So, here are five bloggers whose six word memoirs I'd like to read.  Participate if it catches your fancy, ignore otherwise!

• Stucco House
• Becoming Home
• Confessions from the Home Office
• The Crab Pot
• Adam & Glennae

A Few Resolutions, 2008 Edition

Last year, I made a few very specific resolutions for 2007.  For the most part, I did well.  Despite some slacking off during December, we eat at the kitchen table, I'm not terribly freaked out by the basement, our college pictures are in albums, and I had seedlings become mighty tomato plants.  I also started sewing some skirts and other clothes for myself, and learned to knit.  These two items may be why I don't feel that I've definitively become a better blogger - my hands are otherwise occupied in the evenings.

I liked the resolution process, though.  Going for small, measurable goals makes me feel rather good about myself on December 31, and self-esteem is in short supply when you're as neurotic as I am.  I guess all those years of writing goals for my 4-H record books have paid off - I want a clear idea of what I'm shooting for, not some ambiguous ideal state that I may never get to.  (Come to think of it, it looks like 4-H has colored my view on the Iraq war, too...how will we know when we've won?  Four and a half years and I'm still not sure.) 

With the exception of a couple of personal things, here are the resolutions for 2008:

1. Finish the basement.  This doesn't sound like a small goal, but my plan is for the basement to be furniture-ready at the end of 2008.  The actual process of moving furniture in may take a bit longer, since it will require careful shopping and large purchases.  But we'll be ready for it.
2. Start up some yoga again.  I'm not an exerciser.  I hate getting sweaty and out of breath, and I'm not concerned enough with my own personal image to do it in spite of my distaste.  I do like yoga, though - stretching and strength building followed by a nice lie-down on a mat is my kind of activity.  My muscles felt better when I was doing yoga regularly, so I'd like to start that up again.
3. Complete sewing this pattern.  I have the pattern.  I have the fabric - a beautiful lightweight charcoal gray wool.  I even have enough cheap quilting cotton to make up a complete muslin.  And I am terrified.  I think I may need to do some alterations to make it fit right, and that's something I've never done before.  The nice wool fabric was pricey, and I would be heartbroken to make it up into something I'll never wear.  (I would make this a resolution to learn how to alter sewing patterns, but I can't ever say that's something I have accomplished - there will always be something more to learn.)
4. Stock up some meals in the freezer.  It may have something to do with spending more time and energy on sewing and knitting this year, but I just don't want to cook as much as I used to.  I still feel pretty strongly about the value of making my own meals and not eating too much processed food out of boxes, though, so filling up the freezer with meals I can pull out on short notice sounds like an ideal solution.  Now I just need to find some recipes that aren't glorified Hamburger Helper and get started.  (And toss or do something with the two turkeys in there that I bought when they were really good deals, but never got around to cooking.  If these turkeys were children, they'd be walking, talking, and almost ready for preschool.  Seriously.)
5. Start using my reusable bags.  I have a couple of old-ish library totebags that I've been meaning to use as grocery bags for, oh, seven or eight months now.  This year I intend to use them.  At least once.
6. Make some more crafty posts.  I made a post or two about sewing last year, but I never really got in the hang of posting about every finished object I came up with.  I'm not really sure how to go about this goal, and even less sure that this blog is the place for it.  My attempts at a second blog failed miserably a couple of years ago, and I don't think I want to repeat that.  I'll most likely look for a way to integrate a photo stream of my projects with this site, or perhaps link to my Ravelry profile once the site is open to the public.  We shall see.  One way or another, there will be more craftiness. In the meantime, just look at the cute bunny slippers I made for my sister Anne for Christmas!

I realize that these goals are all about me.  In fairness, I asked Craig if he had anything to include, and all he said was "finish the basement."  So never fear, he's accounted for.

Happy Halloween!

We attended the Memory of Monroe Scottie Rescue Halloween party again this year, but had a really hard time coming up with a costume idea for Phoebe.  After much racking of brains, we settled on a lawyer costume.  I cut up one of Craig's old suit jackets and a dress shirt, and tacked the two together. 

As any Halloween-minded college student with limited funds knows, the key to a good costume isn't the costume itself, it's how you sell it.  So we went all out.  Craig handed out little business cards that said "Phoebe, Attorney at Paw," and gave her phone number (1-866-SUE-CATS).  We even gave her an opponent to lunge after - a little stuffed lawyer guy that says things like "Pay up, you deadbeat!" and "I'll see you in COURT" when squeezed.  (Thanks to my mom's penchant for fun gifts, we actually had this around the house.)  Phoebe loves that thing, and she kept snapping at it and trying to kill it.  Such a legal shark...

I'm not usually big on Halloween decorations, but I was overcome this year by the desire to have Really Cool Pumpkins.  I bought a little battery-powered pumpkin saw from Michael's, and dove right in to a project that was way over my head.  It took over two hours and all the wine left in the house, but I ended up with these:

The spider was actually pretty easy.  I probably could have done it with just a knife.

The Celtic knot, on the other hand, was ill-advised.  Martha Stewart's website has helpful templates and pretty pictures of these, which lulled me into a false sense of capability.  After looking at the website again, I saw that she called for one of those permanent foam pumpkins, which would have been much easier to carve, and not nearly as tempting for the teenagers of the neighborhood to smash.  Seriously, if this gets smashed, I may fall into a puddle of tears or go on a homicidal rampage.  Probably both.  I had a really hard time working through the varying thicknesses of the pumpkin, and ended up using a drill for parts of it.  It is a consolation, though, that jack o'lantern is a fairly forgiving medium, and it still looks pretty cool in the dark.

Seniors, Seniors, on your feet! JSPC can't be beat!

My ten year high school reunion went on without me this weekend.  I'm a little conflicted about this - I probably would have gone if it hadn't been for my sister's wedding this coming weekend.  Two weekends of car travel in a row do not make for a happy Ellen.  I would have gone, and probably would have enjoyed myself, but the whole reunion concept is kind of squicky.  Does anyone really *need* to confirm that I'm still not gracefully thin or classicly beautiful?  And who cares what my husband does or what he looks like?  Or what our reproductive status is? 

The further I get from high school, though, the warmer and fuzzier my memories of it are.  (Junior high, though, that I've blocked out altogether.)  It's a generally happy blur of movies and pizza and dumb jokes and riding around the county in someone's messy car.  I don't remember the awkwardness or the acne or the painful social uncertainty.  I certainly don't remember why our mascot was a ram, since there aren't many majestic mountain-climbing rams in central Iowa.

Whether or not I've attended, the reunion does give me a perfect excuse for some self-indulgent reflection on the past 10 years.  A lot has happened - I bolted for college, met the man I'd marry, got my BA, got married, went to grad school while working 35 hours a week, got my master's degree, moved out of state, and bought a house which I proceeded to rip apart.  My parents no longer have access to my bank account, and I don't have a curfew.  So, naturally, I'm asleep by 11 almost every night.

It's come as a surprise to me, my parents, and probably everyone who knew me in high school that I've become a homebody.  My mother remembers me at sixteen declaring that "I want to be with people all the time!"  These days, I cringe at going to the mall or the State Fair because of all the people that are going to be there.  I'd much rather stay home with a book and a Westie cuddled up on my lap.

Not only have I become a homebody, but a domestic one at that.  I cook from scratch, I sew a little, I like the smell of Windex, I go outside in the evenings just to look at my garden, and I relish line-dried laundry.  I can understand the Victorian ideal of the home as a lovely, serene sanctuary, and I get a little thrill of thinking of myself as the chatelaine of my own little castle.  (Ring of keys on the belt optional.)  If you'd asked me in 1997, I probably would have imagined that I'd be more into my career than the domestic, "womanly" side of things.  I like my work just fine, but all the really important things happen at home.  Things like dancing with the dog to the Powdermilk Biscuits song.  (Shut UP.)  Like watching the white gauze curtains billow in the breeze on Saturday morning, or like spending a quiet, companionable evening with Craig reading and watching baseball.

So, there I am.  A homebody in spite of myself.  Will you still be my friend?

Lest I get any more maudlin, here are some shots from this weekend, which I spent not going to my reunion:

Astilbe blooming in the front yard.  (Must get a better camera.)

Fresh laundry in the breeze.  (Ha!  Suzy Homemaker strikes again!)

Here's how the vegetable garden is looking these days.  I've added notes that label everything on my Flickr account, so you can see exactly what we're growing here.  I think the only thing that didn't get labeled are my chives and broccoli romanesco (or as it's known around here, fractal broccoli), which are behind the garlic.  I'm kind of scared about the broccoli - I read that it can get very large, and there's not much space around it here.  I may shuffle it around, but have to figure out how.

My pole beans are really climbing fast.  I had to extend my trellis with kitchen twine.  This morning, one of the vines has already reached the twine.

Below is a closeup of all my tomatoes and strawberries.  The tomatoes against the shed wall do get some sun eventually - it's full sun from about 3:00 on.  The tomatoes are already needing to be suckered, but I don't think we'll be getting any strawberries this year, more's the pity.  Immediately to the right of the tomatoes on the trellises are some Egyptian walking onions, which aren't doing too well.  They were pretty battered when I picked them up at the Friends School sale, so I'm hoping they're just concentrating on developing roots, rather than dying.  The tomatoes on the trellises are an assortment of Amish Paste, Brandywine, Polish Linguisa, and Cherokee Purple.  The ones to the right (which I need to get cages for) are Principe Borghese, Costoluto Genovese, and Roma. 

Overall, things are looking pretty happy in the garden.  I just wish the neighbors would weed their fenceline.

Real Men Grill Chicken (and other signs of spring)

Last Tuesday and Wednesday, we were hunkered down for a snowstorm.  This Tuesday, it's 60 degrees and grilling time.  It's the first batch of marinated chicken on the grill of the summer.  The marinade we use is simple and good, and makes moist, tender chicken breasts.  I usually buy a big 3 pound bag of frozen chicken breasts (on sale for $5 each at Cub this week...), thaw them, then marinate and grill.  The leftovers are good in sandwiches, or can be used to make chicken enchiladas or other yummy stuff.  The recipe?  Why, certainly.

8 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 cup olive oil (go ahead and use less, it works fine for me)
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1 clove garlic, minced
ground pepper to taste

Mix it all together and marinate overnight or for several hours in the refrigerator. 

My seedlings have been coming along fairly well in my improvised fluorescent light set-up.  The morning glories are really tall and leggy, the alpine strawberries are painfully slow growers, and the peppers haven't changed much in two weeks.  I'm not terribly concerned about any of this, as I can start morning glory seeds outside, and can buy strawberries and peppers already started if I absolutely have to.  The really important thing is that the tomatoes look good.  I think. 

I replanted these into bigger pots once they got to be about 2 inches tall, kind of leggy, and had just started to send out their true leaves.  (See blurry closeup.)  I've been giving them a bit of (very, very) diluted) fish and seaweed fertilizer, and have an oscillating fan on them every now and again to develop strong stems and roots.  I'm kind of scared that they're not up to snuff, though, and keep searching the for pictures of what 3 1/2 week old tomato seedlings SHOULD look like.  I have no idea.

Outside, things are waking up a little bit.  Chives and garlic are coming up in the veggie garden.  I've got big plans for this area.  I want to build a few more planters, so the entire area has slightly raised beds, and build trellises for tomatoes and beans out of scrap lumber from the basement.   I'm just not sure when we're going to do this, as weekends are filling up quickly with basement work and various events leading up to my sister's wedding in June.

A while ago, I posted that spring had definitely arrived, barring a meteorological disaster.  As soon as I was able to extract my foot from my mouth, I started to fret about the future of my daffodils and tulips.  Hardy bulbs seem to know what they're doing, though, and no flower buds came up till this week.  I'm glad to see them.  And please, God, it can't snow any more, can it?

Stopgap

Every so often, my mind starts to boil over with random items that MUST be shared.  I've been waiting for some good pictures to post, but that will probably not happen until this weekend.  So, here's the rundown of what's happening in my brain.

• A belated welcome to Steian!  According to Carl, he is currently for sale, but Craig says we can't buy our friends' baby.  We will have to settle for visiting.
• I have been spending money like it's going out of style, mostly on mediocre restaurant meals that I feel guilty about two hours later.  We're usually very careful with money and don't eat out much.  The checkbook and the scale are screaming in pain.  This must stop.  The problem is that after a certain point, I know I've been bad and screwed up, and I just don't care any more.  So I go to Barnes & Noble and buy a few things, which is also out of character.  I'm hoping to get myself back on track soon, lest I become a modern-day cautionary tale about not living within my means and the dangers of large portion sizes.
• During one of my "oh, I just don't CARE anymore" trips to Target, I tried on a few spring skirts and wrap dresses and emerged grumbling and hissing.  Not only did these things not fit, I couldn't figure out HOW they were actually supposed to fit.  It was a complete and total disaster.  I'd been itching for a crafty hobby, though, and this was the impetus I needed to make me start learning to sew my own clothes.  I had a sewing machine and some knowledge of how to use it, so I just dove in.  I bought a few how-to books and some cute practice fabric (see previous post, again), and have managed to bang out an a-line skirt in the last few days.  I'm ridiculously excited about this, and just need to take some pictures before I can explain it here in excruciating detail. 
• Crafting and sewing blogs are some of the best eye candy on the web.  During lulls at work I often find myself visiting Folded Gingham or domicile and just following their links to other creative bloggers.  My mind wanders to the time when I can quit my job and spend time in a bright and sunny room making cute crafts to sell online.  I hope there's a market out there for shoddily constructed A-line skirts...
• Craig and I finished up the electrical on half of the basement.  We now have 9 working can lights on a dimmer switch and a heck of a lot of outlets.  Pictures to come.

Navelgazing

Tongue!
Originally uploaded by Craig and Ellen.

It's a stream of consciousness kind of day. Work has been a little slow as of late, so I need to figure out how to get faculty to want grant money. Who would have thought it would be so hard?

Anyway, a sampling of what's going on with us. 

• The basement renovations have stalled out a bit, due to family emergencies and the need for our bank account to recover. Next up is electric work. We hope to get some actual planning done this weekend, beyond thinking "Eh, I guess we want some recessed can lights." The fireplace will be installed on March 2.
• The hunting prints and calendars that we found in the basement vents brought in a total of $150 on eBay.
• But we ended up owing more than that in taxes. Responsible citizenship should come with a refund, dagnabbit!
• Mother Nature is smiling on St. Paul, in the form of sun and 40 degree weather. We're grilling outside tonight, since the freezing rain isn't supposed to start until Friday.
• It is possible for me to get from work to IKEA and back in 90 minutes. A heroic feat such as this does not, however, assure that the teeny halogen lightbulbs you need will be in stock. I did pick up some $2 wastebaskets to plant my peppers in this spring, shamelessly ripping off the excellent idea from another Twin Cities houseblogger.  I like her bright colors - they only had red, black, and clear yesterday.
• Phoebe is on the canine equivalent of bed rest. She's always had a little limp, but it got a lot worse in the last few days. The vet said there wasn't anything structurally wrong, but she needs to stay off the leg for a week and have dog aspirin twice a day. No walks, running, or stairs. I felt very odd at 6:30 this morning as I carried a 14-pound dog down our side steps in my robe. The guy briskly walking his Golden Retriever past our house concurred.

Tag. I'm it.

American Four Square Renewal and Folded Gingham have both tagged me in the "five things" game that's been going around.  (I feel very popular.)  The idea is that you post five things that people may not know about you, and then "tag" other bloggers to do the same.  So...

1. I have an irrational fear of lamprey eels.  Don't laugh.  I do.   They're creepy little suckers.  The idea of something slimy and wriggly with teeth that SUCK just makes my skin crawl.  I have never encountered a lamprey eel, nor am I likely to, but I've had this weird fixation/fear since science class in middle school.  (I can still hear you laughing at me.)
2. Craig collects baseball cards and autographs.  We were happy to move into a house where the boxes of cards could be stored someplace that wasn't our actual living space.  They currently live in the attic room, but I don't know what will happen to them when we need to start using that space.  He's currently working on getting an entire set of 1987 Topps autographed.  He writes letters to players, asking them to autograph the cards that he encloses, along with a self addressed and stamped envelope.  He's currently at 31% - 250 out of 792 completed. 
3. I have a B.A. and a master's degree, but I have not taken a math class since my junior year of high school.  I managed to slip by with "Theory and Practice of Argument" as my class that satisfied the requirement for "quantitative and formal reasoning."  And now I develop million-dollar grant budgets for a living.  Thank goodness for Excel.
4. I'm a klutz.  This should not come as a surprise to anyone who's ever met me, but just in case any blog people were harboring illusions about me, there it is.  This morning I managed to lose the spare key to my car - it flew out of my hand as I was adjusting my scarf, and fell into the crack between the trunk and the windshield.  (I was using the spare key because the regular one bent and was unusuable.)  Craig had to come rescue me.
5. My pick for the best musical album of all time is Counting Crows' August and Everything After.  I just love the way everything fits together.  I did graduate from high school in the mid-1990s, so I'll admit to a bias towards angsty music by recovering drug addicts who can't seem to stay on their meds.  People who actually know stuff about music are laughing at me right now.  Or it might still be people laughing at me and the lamprey eels.  Who knows.

After reading this over a while later, I'm kind of embarrassed.  I could have picked all sorts of semi-normal things - I'm interested in names, I like to cook, someday I hope to go on a historical tour of the British Isles.  But what did I pick?  Lamprey eels.  Ah well. 

So, I tag...

The Shabee Chick

domicile

Theoretical Grammatarian

The Crab Pot

Adam & Glennae

A few resolutions

We had a lovely New Year's weekend, all in all.  With the help of Barb & Dan, we now have a full framed wall in the basement.  Pictures are hopefully forthcoming.  In the course of doing this, I went to Menards three times in as many days.  Our local store seems to be their flagship - it's big, clean, and well stocked, with knowledgable employees to boot.  (I know!)  Oddly enough, the store features a tuxedo-clad musician playing a grand piano on weekends, right between the escalators.  They took things up a notch on New Year's Eve, though - the pianist was accompanied by a guy playing the flugelhorn.  (They were playing "When I Fall In Love," in case you're interested.)  I still haven't figured out what live music has to do with buying insulation, but it always makes me smile.

We celebrated at Adam & Glennae's on New Year's Eve, and saw their completed bedroom project in person.  They had a great spread of munchies, and Glennae was thoughtful enough to provide non-alcoholic champagne for Craig.

So, on to the resolutions.  My resolutions are usually pretty mundane - lose weight, save money, volunteer somewhere, be a nicer person - but this year I've come up with a few tangible things that I hope I can actually accomplish.

1. Eat dinner at the kitchen table.  We somehow picked up the habit of eating in the living room, in front of the TV.  (This is embarrassing - I feel kind of shamefully naked now.  Please get me a fig leaf.)  There's really no reason we can't eat like civilized people, at a table. After all, we have TiVo.  Scrubs reruns can be paused.
2. Wear more skirts.  There's really no reason for this, except that I want to.  Writing it down gives me public justification to shop.  I bought the skirt on the right, and will be happy when it's warm enough to wear it.
3. Don't freak out about the basement.  Don't freak out about the basement.  Don't freak out about the basement.  It bears repeating.
4. Grow some vegetables from seed.  I already intend to expand on the little veggie garden I had last year, but this will be a true experiment.  If I can make it work, it will be a great money-saver.  If not, I may have a shoplight and some plastic flats to sell next fall. 
5. Put our pictures in albums.  Right now, we have a few boxes of pictures from college gathering dust in the upstairs closet.  We also have several empty photo albums.  My intention is to label these and put them in albums.  I don't have to scrapbook them, they don't have to be fancy.  I just want to remember people's names in 35 years.
6. Be a better blogger.  I've really enjoyed looking over home-keeping and crafting blogs (not to mention the cool stuff going on at Houseblogs) over the past couple of months, and hope I can do something similar.  You want to hear more about my life's minutiae, right?  I knew you did.