A la Julia and Julie?

A few months ago, I was cleaning my kitchen, and I realized I have a lot of cookbooks. I'm not sure if I was subliminally thinking of the recent Julie/Julia thing. Anyway, I came up with the bright idea of trying at least one new recipe a week. B (my husband) was very agreeable to this.

So, the next Saturday, which is when we usually do our shopping, I read through a bunch of recipes, and we agreed on one. Of course, this was so long ago that I can't remember what we chose. I do know that it was great fun, and it tasted wonderful.

So far (amazingly I have not missed a week) we have had some great meals. I have been doing a lot of Dutch and Indonesian food, and some intermittent exotic diversions. One huge thing I have learned how to be much more efficient when I am cooking.

I will attempt to blog about my recipe of the week every week. Last week, I made Kip met kerrie rijst (chicken with curry rice). We tend to like chicken and curry recipes, so I have made a lot of variations with these ingredients. One big day was making aspergesoep (cream of asparagus soup) from scratch.

Anyway, this has tuned out to be an adventure!

A Difficult Day

I took my cat to the vet this morning because he hasn't been eating . The vet found a large tumor in his abdomen, and B and I have to have him put to sleep tonight. I don't handle death well, but animal death is the worst. I am just bawling.

RIP Kitten, and I will miss you so very much.

Writer's Block

Okay, so it may be presumptuous for me to refer to myself as a "writer," but I am having the hardest time thinking of things to blog about. I nix ideas pretty fast, and I'm usually sure that I have repeated myself repeatedly.
How do you guys do it? I'm beginning to think that I have to go in search of memes so all I have to do is answer someone else's questions. So, does anyone know of any memes I can steal? Any repositories to draw from?
Does anyone have some questions that they want me to answer? Should I dig up weird stories and facts? Ghost stories? Horrible truths? Britney Spears (please, no!) I've got to get a grip so I can blog!!!
HELP!!!

Ooh-La-La, Olalla

Another little MINI trip on Saturday. We drove to Ollalla, a little burg on the Kitsap Peninsula. It has a rather infamous history.

In the early 1900's, a quack doctor named Linda Hazzard set up a sanitarium in Olalla to "cure" people of all their illnesses. She claimed that total fasting would cure anything and everything. The end result (of course) was that people starved to death. The estimate was that about forty people died, but that is a guess. She got her "clients" to sign over their assets to her so she inherited all their earthly posessions.

Laura was eventually ratted out by one of her patients, and she went to trial and was convicted of manslaughter. She served onlyabout 8 years, and went on to open new practices.

Laura performed most of the autopsies herself, some in a bathtub. Her house is still standing, and that bathtub is still in the house. Anyone want a nice hot bath? Most of the bodies were buried in the front yard with a tree planted on the gravesites. Others were cremated in the incinerator, and others were simply thrown over a cliff.

Of course, paranormal activities have been reported in the house. The sanitorium burned down years ago.

History is wonderful.

Looking Forward to Spring

Trip To Skagit Valley

We went on a motor with the MINI Club today to Skagit County, which is where all the famous Washington State tulips are grown. It was beautiful! We actually had some snow, which made everything look a bit special. We had a particularly neet treat because the snow geese were out; people come from all around the world to see them (this is the only place where they gather.) Here are some pictures (of course including INAMINI.)

Holland Pictures

Santa Taketh and Then Giveth

I had a wonderful Christmas. Santa decided to take my appendix on Christmas Day. Trying to get something out of the deal, I wanted to take the little bugger home pickled in a jar. B and the hospital wouldn't let me. It's all rather humiliating because this all takes place on my abdomen, which is pasty white and large. I don't know how they found my appendix (maybe they couldn't, and that's why they wouldn't let me take it home.) Of course the whole staff has to come and check it every 5 minutes, so now it it has become common knowledge that I'm fat, which, of course, draws more people.
I remember another bad medical day. I had a weird rash with blisters on my, you guessed it, abdomen. The doctor couldn't figure out what is was, so she invited about ten doctors in to come and look at my big whale belly covered with blisters. After they took pictures, they sent me home with home with a generic salve- even with all that exposure, no one knew what it was. No, they didn't actually take pictures.
After I had been home several days, Santa gave me a nice severe cold. I've been hacking uncontrollably, and darn it, it hurts to cough after an appendectomy. It also has the unfortunate side-effect of keeping me awake all night. Believe me, I've tried every cough syrup (gotten drunk, but still hacking,) and throat lozenge (ended up swallowing them whole while I'm coughing.) The only really good result of all this is that I'm not expected to do any work around the house .
I don't like Santa anymore.

Winter And I Never Wash The Car

The whole time I've been involved with the MINI Club I've had a reputation for having a "dirty little car." Everybody likes to post pictures of the dirt, and brag how their cars always look beautiful. I admit that washing my car isn't always my favorite activity, but some people are real fanatics. There is the guy that pulls out the chrome cleaner, tire cleaner and Windex everytime we stop. You have got to be kidding!
I also have a tendency towards cracks in my windshield. On my old Cooper, I went through two windshields in two years. My Cooper S, which I got in June, and I already have two huge cracks going. I think I'll wait until winter is over to replace the windshield, while ignoring the pretty prisms that distort my vision when the sun shines. Since the sun doesn't shine very much right now, and the car is grossly filthy, it really doesn't make much difference. No "cracks" about the windshield, please- hahahahaha.
On a very "Bend the Rules, Rule the Bends" note, I got some added horsepower for for the MINI for my birthday. This usually means that I come out of corners much faster than I go into them. B doesn't like it because it is too easy to speed all the time.
But damn, that car is fun!

I've Got Me A Piano!

I've got me a piano! Actually, not a whole, complete, real piano, but a little electric keyboard thingy. When we moved into our townhouse, I had to give up my piano due to lack of space. It went to my mommy, and I sure missed it.
My history with piano-ownership has been fraught with deceit and a distinct lack of musical talent. When I was in second grade, my parents bought an old upright piano. Half the keys didn't produce any sound, and it had probably never been tuned. I was "encouraged" to start piano lessons. I was "encouraged" for about five years, at which time I threatened to quit unless my parents got me a decent piano. They did, and I promptly quit the lessons anyway. I am not musically talented at all. Sure, I can read the music, but I'm more prone to banging on the keys than actually making it sound like music. But, since I was the only one who played, I got the piano. I loved closing all the windows and doors so no one could hear, and I would bang away at my heart's content. Oddly, the cats seemed to enjoy it. Whatever.
When we moved into the townhouse last year, the piano went to my mom, who plays it minimally. My mother had wanted my niece to start playing, so she bought an electric keyboard thingy. K played it for awhile, but was quickly bored. When I was at my sister's house recently, I asked K if she was still playing the piano, and she said "no." I told her I was going to take the keyboard home with me.
So, that's how I got it. Bullying little girls. Of course, if she decides she wants to resume her lessons, it will be returned to her. Yeah right.
I am quite grinchy.
The neatest thing- it has a volume control, so no one has to hear me.

Assorted Christmas Woes

It's been a mixed bag of things going on lately. Of course, getting ready for Christmas has been the main thing. We bought an artificial tree for the townhouse. We didn't have a tree last year, so this was the first run-through. It became very clear I have way too many decorations. I gave a bunch of stuff to my sister, and will probably give more away. The cats love the tree, especially LOKi. I got a tree skirt for the first time, but I should have thought that through a little better. It's velvet, and so far, it has yet to spend even a complete hour under the tree. It's covered in cat hair that I can't remove, and it's usually in the middle of the living room with LOKi hiding under it. It wasn't supposed to be a toy.

Then there are the Christmas cards, and "The Letter." Yes, I have resorted to writing a computer letter. It's actually pretty sad, because we don't do much. I end up writing a bunch of filler material, and adding a couple of pictures. Then there always a bunch of missing addresses. For some reason, I am apparently unable to write addresses down in safe places. That results in cards that are in a holding pattern until I can get the addresses, or Christmas is over, and darn it, it's too embarrassing to mail them.

Yup, Merry Christmas. Or Happy Holidays (isn't that what you are supposed to say now so you don't offend anyone?)

Yet Another Stolen Meme- From Lizza

Readers: Here's an interesting twist on the age-old meme. It's a ready made list of things you just copy into your post. Highlight/bold those things you've actually done and post.

Here are mine:

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse of the moon.
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign (Does watching-from-afar count??!)
46. Backpacked in Europe (No, but I want to do the Amazing Race)
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking 103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

I think I counted 53 things.

Another Stolen Meme- From Lizza

Three Things That Scare Me:

Pictures of me (no visual for this one)
Heights- just thinking of heights makes the soles of my feet hurt
Violence- just can't handle it

Three People Who Make Me Laugh:

B- we can just sit and giggle about the most inane things
Skeezix the Cat- Does it have to be a person?
My hairdresser (at least I didn't say my bartender!)

Three Things I Love:

Books!
Sailing
Motoring fast around corners in my MINI Cooper

Three Things I Hate:

Brussel Sprouts- taste like cooked farts
Working
The myth of celebrity

Three Things I Don't Understand:

Electricity- still don't get it

Television- same issue
CD's, DVD's etc- Huh?

Three Thing On My Desk:

My cat LOKi
Some form of food
Water- to knock over onto my computer

Three Things I'm Doing Right Now:

This
Thinking about food
Watching the sun on the snow outside

Three Things I Want To Do Before I Die:

Live in the Netherlands for at least a couple years (I'm so easy to statisfy!)
Pay off the mortgage
Drive across the US
One extra- be a history detective

Three Things I Can Do:

Waste time
Start a huge fire
Amuse cats

Three Things I Can't Do:

Tie up the boat correctly; B immediately unties everything I've done and does it "correctly"
Drive an automatic
Get tile grout clean

Three Things I Think You Should Listen To:

Wind
Silence
Water pounding on a boat hull

Three Things You Should Never Listen To:

The current US government
Shouting
Some else's cell phone conversation

Three Things I'd Like To Learn:

How to dress
How to magically lose weight and keep it off
How to rid the world of migraine headaches

Three Favorite Foods:

Nasi Goreng- Indonesian Fried Rice
Olie Bollen- Dutch apple fritter things
Dutch Chocolate- is there any other kind?

Three Beverages I Drink Regularly:

Water
Organic Milk
White Tea

Three Shows I Watched As A Kid:

None- we didn't have a TV

Logging Trucks

A little over a year ago, a good friend of my father's was killed in an accident with a logging truck. He was driving behind the over-loaded logging truck when the logs became loose, and crashed into the car. He and the passenger didn't stand a chance- the logs went straight into the windshield. Further investigation found that the truck had not passed the mandatory safety inspection, and was legally not supposed to be on the road.

Logging is big business here, and logging trucks are everywhere. I get the creeps just being around them, and not just because I am driving a MINI Cooper. All I see is the truck falling apart and the logs rolling off onto me.

Last Friday, I was watching the local news, and there were some recent developments involving the accident. Apparently, the driver, Garland Massingham, is still driving logging trucks. He has been charged with two counts of vehicular homicide, but he has not been convicted yet (that's assuming he will be convicted.) The law says that until he is convicted, he is still qualified to drive personal and commercial vehicles, and that he can keep his job at JB Leonard.

Well, it seems that two weeks ago our little killer was driving another load of logs, and he turned a corner too sharply, and lost another load. He was also under the influence of meth. Thank goodness no one was hurt, although I wish that Massingham had sustained some life-altering injuries.

I'm fuming. I just love the legal system here.

I am not telling my father about this.

On a good note, Wal-Mart stock has dropped for the first time in a decade.

Blankies

I got a new down comforter last weekend, the first blanket/comforter I have ever paid for. (P.S. This is not my bedroom- that would be just too embarrassing.)

I have had the same two wool blankets my whole life, along with rather anemic comforter I got for Christmas aeons ago. The blankets are from Holland (big surprise.) Lately, I just can't seem to stay very warm at night because the comforter has become anorexic and wasn't doing the job. I was talking to my mother about the old blankets. I thought they were inexpensive blankets my parents had gotten whenthey got married.

My mother told me those two wool blankets had kept my great-grandparents warm during the Hunger Winter during WWII. Wow. That sort of made me sit down (chances are I was already sitting down.) I had no idea! One of the blankets is a very thick wool blanket with a velvet edge around it, and the other is made of red and off-white wool. I have had the red one since I was in my cradle.

Immediately, I made plans to retire the wool blankets and get me a certified huge down comforter. And I did. The wool blankets are now in a safe place, where they will retain a place of honor in my house.

And I slept warmly ever after.

A Sort-Of-Non Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday- and this is a day that I usually don't really look forward to. I'm three years older than B, and all he keeps saying is "I'll never be as old as you!" Ha-ha-ha-ha. This coming from the same man who asks me if I've lost weight; my head looks smaller. Ha-ha-ha-ha.
Anyway, we invited a couple friends over (she has the same birthday as me- my birthday buddy) and ordered some Thai food. After they left, B said he was having trouble breathing, and that he might have had contact with peanuts, which he is allergic to. He had to go to the hospital, getting a bunch of medicine and throwing up, and so we ended up sleeping through my whole birthday.
So, I am older, and a bit well-rested, but unfortunately not any wiser.

Friday Fourteen- # 2

Thirteen Ways I Like to Waste Time (No Particular Order)

• Watch TV
• Rearrange pictures and doo-dads
• Surf the net
• Imagine what could be if I won the lottery
• Enjoy the couch
• Sit and stare at whatever
• Drive nowhere
• Light lots of candles and sit with them
• Wonder what it would be like to be skinny
• Dream of cool shoes
• Hug any cat that's near me
• Think of getting up
• Think of writing long-overdue letters
• Do nothing, as opposed to doing anything
  
  

"Oopsie"

My younger sister had to put her cat to sleep yesterday. This, of course, was devastating for her. J had had Oopsie (so named because she fell out of a window when she was a kitten, effectively changing her name) for over half her life. Oopsie was, get this, 23 years old. In the end, Oopsie had lung cancer, which I have never heard of a cat getting. No, J doesn't smoke, and never has.
Oopsie's personality was probably what helped her live to such a ripe age. One word- BITCH. That cat didn't love, nor even like anyone but J. In fact, Oopsie once chased my 6' brother around the house. Us bitches are the ones that will live forever, whether we like it or not.
R.I.P., Oopsie. J will miss you something fierce.

Silence

Friday Fourteen- # 1

Fourteen Stupid Things I Have Done

1. One morning, I looked down and discovered that I had been wearing two different shoes for several hours.

2. Wore some really unflattering and uncomfortable clothes to the "Nutcracker" and spent the whole time sqirming, taking my shoes off while weeping and trying to keep my skirt from riding up to my crotch. Lovely.

3. Locked my keys in my car at the gas station when there were cars lined up waiting for the pump. A pattern maybe?

4. Dreamt that I hadn't brought enough underwear on a trip.

5. Overestimated my skiing abilty (or was it someone who talked me into the intermediate run) and basically sat myself down to the bottom.

6. While delivering a sailboat at night, I completely erased all the waypoints on the GPS, and they needed to be re-configured (that was a doozy.)

7. When B and I were hanging a bathroom cabinet, I was holding it up and told him when it was perfect and he could screw it in. It was perfect, for a 5'2" person. In the mirror, B was cut off at the neck

8. Appeared in public in a bathing suit.

9. Cooked some really awful food and made B eat it.

10. Had my purse stolen twice in 6 months, EXACTLY the same way. Didn't learn anything the first time.

11. When getting my driver's lisence replaced for said thefts, wore the exact same shirt three times.

12. Home-permed my hair and thought it looked really good.

13. Took four rolls of pictures- with the film not loaded in the camera.

14. My friend and I thought it would be fun to bathe topless in a park, and wouldn't you know it, a father and son appeared out of nowhere, and god- forbid, saw us. Probably wanted to poke out their minds-eyes after that.

Post Halloween

Yup, I'm finally back. This pictures how sloppy I was for Halloween this year. Obviously didn't have very good spray paint coverage.I'm going to blame it on the fumes.

This picture shows that we got prematurely excited and carved the poor squash too soon. We'll hopefully remember this gaff next year and not repeat history.


Here we see that I can't organize a display. I threw everything everywhere, BUT... we were the best (and almost only) decorated house in the neightborhood. For once we were the unattainable Joneses. Lots of Trick-or-Treaters too, but not enough to keep me from looking for the Tootsie Rolls in between doorbell rings. MMM, MMM GOOD!

How We Met- The Technical Part

Here is video about the International 14s we were sailing when we met. Please note the frequent capsizing occurences. You can become so skilled at capsizing that you can get the boat upright without getting wet. Priceless. Now that's a great ride!

"The High I.Q. Couple"

My husband and I refer to ourselves as the "High I.Q. Couple." Our motto is "We Find the Longest and Slowest Line so You Don't Have To." This our way of dealing with the stupid things we do and decisions we make. Humor has kept us together.One prime example:Years ago we had to buy a car because mine was having some incomprehensible behaviors. B's mother was in the hospital, very ill, and we were under a lot of pressure time-wise. On a freezing January day, we went to a car dealer to look at a CRX. It was late in the afternoon, and it was glaringly sunny. The test drive went well, and we looked the car over closely, and decided to buy it. After we signed all our money over, they brought the car to the front of the dealership so we could drive it off into the sunset. As we got close to it, we saw a huge dent on the passenger side. Yea yea, we looked the car over closely before buying it. So we were stuck. As we were driving home, B said, "Well, we just got f-d over again. The sad part is, I'm starting to enjoy it." I broke out in loud guffaws. This is how the "High I.Q. Couple" stumbles through life. Crap happens- we laugh.

How I Met My Husband, And Why He Should Have Run

Many, many years ago, my husband and I met. It was fate, it was kismet.I raced on an International 14 sailboat (a development-class dinghy capable of going up to 20 knots) every Thursday, and one evening I went down to meet my usual skipper. He said that he had tried to call me, but he couldn't get a hold of me (days before cell-phones.) He wasn't able to sail that night. That was okay- I could say hello to people and then go home. Someone told me that there was a guy looking for someone to sail with, and that's how we met.The 14 is a very squirrely boat- you look at it and it turtles. This was B's first time in one, and since I don't like to skipper, B was on the helm. He didn't believe me when I told him to drop the main NOW, and we capsized frequently and regularly. We were sailing in cold seawater, and even though we were wearing wetsuits, we got pretty cold.I was house-sitting for a friend about a half-hour north of the marina, and she always let me drive her car (a Volvo station wagon.) When I went back to the car, I found that I had locked the keys (including the house keys) in the car, along with all my clean, non-smelly clothes.B was nice enough to drive me in my smelly wet-suit (I never was a pretty sight in one) all the way up the house. I had to crawl in a window and unlock the house, and after I changed, we looked for a spare car key. We thought we had one, and then back down to the car.It wasn't a match. B then turned around once again and drove me to the house. I ended up calling a locksmith the next day.
Now, wouldn't you have run?

Cemetery, Cemetery, Come To Me

I don't know if I have revealed this earlier, but it seems appropriate due to the season and the "Why I'm Weird" meme traveling the net, but I started a strange project. I have been trying to find all the little, off-the-beaten-path cemeteries while I'm on my travels, and taking a picture of my MINI at each of them. So while these were taken mostly during the summer, imagine, if you will, dark, spooky nights, and then put the car there.

Bay Center Cemetery, Bay Center, Washington

Fern Hill Cemetery, Mason County, Washington

Kinder Cemetery, Off HWY 30, East of Portland, Oregon

(There are tales of a ghost of an old man haunting the rear of the cemetery!)