Between the HobNobs and a Hard Place...

I'm in a tough spot. That is, sitting right next to an opened canister of McVitie's chocolate-covered HobNobs. Seriously, guys, it's bad news bears.

I actually bought them for my daycare kiddies as a bribe for good behavior in the next few weeks while my head teacher is away on holiday. So I probably shouldn't eat 'em all...but there were a few more biscuits than kiddies, so I thought I'd sample them. You know. To make sure they taste fine.

I need to stay away from the Irish Imports store, methinks.

In other news, I took a half-day off work so I could help my mom with preparations for my Nana's memorial service tomorrow afternoon...and also to buy an outfit for said event. This proved more difficult than I thought it would be, but in the end Romy saved the day and I can feel good about myself--sartorially speaking--on the morrow. In fact, this was the first time I've consulted the salesgirl for help on this sort of thing. Asking questions like, "Is the cream-colored cardigan a bit too light under the circumstances?" and "Please tell me the lace cami is part of the two-for-one deal..." (which it wasn't). In the end, it was a good deal and my mom approves of the outfit...which is the most important thing, actually.

My big gutsiness? I had a ten-dollar copper kettle in my hand at Value Village...and I PUT IT BACK on the shelf because it wasn't in the budget. Wow. Can we all take a moment to recognize that I PUT IT BACK because it wasn't in the BUDGET? Me, of all people?! A piece of HOUSEWARES??

Yeah, pretty amazing stuff. Look at me go.

Don't worry. I appeased myself by buying two .99 cent mugs. They were all alone on a shelf full of complete cup sets, and I felt sorry for them, and they're both rather cute. I'm sipping tea out of one with owls on it, and the other is short and squat, white with blue paint.

I like mismatched mugs. And spending 99 cents.

Although it occurs to me...when you shop at Value Village you start to notice your sense of "priciness" starts to skew, thinking, "10 bucks? That's practically extortion! Who pays 10 bucks for a skirt??"

Only the rest of the foolish world, I suppose.

-The GLS

This and That...

Musical Interlude: "Look At Miss Ohio" by Gillian Welch. Fantastic little tune. I love Gillian Welch's voice. She's folksy through and through. :)

Well, it was an interesting day.

It started out...kind of awful, in a good way? I had one of those conversations with my mom that define one of the reasons I love her: she's painfully honest with me, even when I don't feel like hearing it. She let me know some things that she had noticed about me and my moods lately, and she was right, but it didn't make hearing it any easier.

So I've spent a lot of time today thinking over ways that I could be proactive about improving my life/health/general well-being, but since they're pretty personal I won't share them in detail here. Suffice to say, I've got a lot to consider.

However, it was overall quite a good day, because I found out I got 98% on my freakin' Logic test! Maybe I can graduate after all...!

Also, I'll admit to flubbing on my no-Facebook week for a few precious moments this evening, but only because I wanted to see pictures of my dear friend Indefish's FIRST NEPHEW who was born today!! D'awww, he's so cute. I don't feel bad about flubbing at all, really.

Last night, as a result of my sudden burst of inspiration, I wrote two short stories! These would be my first completed short stories on my own steam (in other words, that weren't due for a grade). Granted, they sound very like Lord Dunsany, but you tend to write what you read, so...yeah. They're called "Mr. Factid's Vanity" and "The Woman Who Ate a Mudpie". Catchy, yeah? Hopefully there will be lots more where those came from.

As part of my new plans for improved well-being, I am going to bed a whole hour and a half earlier than I normally do.

Is anyone else excited for summer? Me, oh me!

-The GLS

When Inspiration Strikes...

I must answer its call, methinks.

In other words, I'm feeling like I need to write something. Write what? I dunno. Something. We'll see where it goes.

(By the way...Day 3 of no Facebook and I'm still going strong! Very exciting...but it'll be kind of nice to check it again...I'm starting to get antsy...)

Anyway, have a lovely evening, all.

-The GLS
(PS: In case you're wondering, that Astronomy test I did all of the crazy studying for? Yeah...100% score, baby!!!! YES!!!)

H > J

1. H > J
2. H = (S & R)
3. (S & R) v F
4. ~F / J
-------------
5. S & R DS 3, 4
6. H MP 2, 5
7. J MP 1, 6

Since the conclusion is J, the argument is valid.

...now let's just hope the argument is true.

-The GLS
PS: In case you're wondering, YES I just took a Logic exam. YES the above proof makes sense and does have real English words to go along with it (and NO you can't see them). YES I studied for this exam, so I'm feeling pretty good about it, in fact better than I've felt about Logic in a long time. But YES it was difficult, I'm exhausted, and the above proof is all I have left in me for the evening...

...The Lovers, The Dreamers, and Me.

Remember that one time when I very gutsily (yep) studied for an exam, and felt so proud because it was the first time I had ever studied?

Yeah, that was all multi-colored fluff and bubbles.

Compared to this time, you see.

Last night I had the great pleasure of hanging out with some dear friends after church. Since my church starts at 7pm, any sort of after-partying would have to go quite late. And it did. I got home at midnight, and I knew I had a test in my Astronomy class that I had not studied for much at all.

So this morning, I decided to be the student I never was.

I printed out the study guide (which our teacher sent us that includes all of the correct answers to the test) and brought it to work (at a daycare, I might add). When the kiddies were all sleeping at naptime, I brought out the study guide and a pen and wreaked havoc. This may or may not have had anything to do with the fact that I was TOTALLY buzzed on Vietnamese coffee brought in by one of the lovely daycare parents.

By the end of the hour that study guide was COVERED in arrows, stars, circles, notes, connections, comics, sketches, and lines from silly songs that ALL added up to helping me remember the answers to all of these stupid questions. I sang everything from Queen to Feist to Three Doors Down to Eiffel 65. I gave Mars zits and made Venus sing Freddie Mercury. I turned the Sun into the Verizon guy, stood Jupiter and Saturn next to each other shouting "Wheeeeeee!", and somehow managed to create a feasible connection between Saturn's Roche Limit and...Ferrero Rocher. Earth took a shower, fields belong OUTSIDE, and Ites Bite.

It was a thing of beauty. In fact, it's sitting next to me right now and I still can't believe it.

Add to that the quizzing that me and my seating partner did right before the test, and the lab we completed on spectra and how it relates to the peak intensity of the energy from stars, and I was on my way.

Five minutes. A six-page test took me five minutes. I knew every question backwards and forwards. I was singing, I was turning the universe on its head.

There was even a question on there that she mixed up just to confuse us! Switching the landmarks of Saturn and Jupiter, eh? Just to trip me up? I know your tricks, Professor!

So I'm motoring along, filling in Scantron squares like some sort of academic lunatic, and I was thinking...why did I never do this before?

But if the secret is drinking Vietnamese coffee every day, I don't think I could manage it. Seriously. That stuff has a bite to it.

The fun aside before I end this post: We've been studying light, right? Reflection, refraction, spectra, visible light, spectral lines...etc. Leaving school tonight, after turning in my exam and massaging my aching fingers, I happened to say a little sentence prayer thanking God for what I think may even be an A+ test (and therefore one more stepping-stone to graduating this quarter).

After a crazy stormy afternoon and evening, you'll never guess what I saw...right in front of me...heading home.

The very symbol of refracted light itself. Yes, indeed, a rainbow.

I would have thought it was really cheesy if it weren't for hearing myself exclaim, "WOW! A CONTINUOUS SPECTRUM!"

Somehow I managed to push the whole experience from cheese-territory into the Land of Awesome.

Go me.

-The GLS

Victory Over Bread...For Now.

At the time I STARTED writing this post, I'm sitting here in an apron waiting for my new powder-blue vintage-y egg timer to buzz, which will mean that my FIRST EVER attempt at yeast bread is done and ready for evaluation.

Everyone's afraid of yeast, and I never understood why. But now I do. Because it's like having a million other little people in the kitchen, and they're VERY picky, and they want things just-so, and they're going to make your life miserable for you if you don't give it to them. Besides that, EVERY source on yeast says something different about how to treat it.

...so I made up my own source, bastardized a bit from Paul Hollywood's "100 Great Breads" that I've been using. The dough got doughy, which was right, but then I had to solve a wee little problem: I live in Seattle, and it's hard to find a good spot for dough to rise, because our house is always cold.

Paul Hollywood says that yeast doesn't necessarily need to be warm in order to rise, but I don't exactly trust that, so finally I went with some advice from one of my favorite blogs, 17 and Baking. She said to microwave a cup of water for 3-4 mins and then stick the bowl with the dough in the microwave. Since its warm and humid in there, it's a great spot for the dough to rise.

And it did! It poofed! Very exciting, though I wonder if it poofed quite enough...but I left it to rest for MUCH longer than Paul Hollywood suggested, so I figured it was fine.

It's an English Cottage Loaf, so it has a very specific old-timey shape to it, which I matched exactly before shoving it in the oven.

And then, 30 minutes later...





Yay! I made a Cottage Loaf!

It came out with a nice crunchy crust and a soft buttery center. I'm thinking it COULD have poofed a bit more, as it came out a bit dense, but overall I think it was a pretty good first attempt at yeast bread!

So now, ENDING this blog post, I feel flushed with victory. And now it's on, yeast. I've caught the baking bug. It's SO ON.

-The GLS

Interior Decorating with the Fonz

Good day, today. Had an inside-watching-films morning with Choo-Choo (my young neighbor whom I often babysit), then headed off to the home of my brother and sister-in-law to babble with my baby neice for a few precious moments. Her first word is "babagee", which (it has been somewhat determined) must be an amalgam of the word "baby" plus her name. Pretty close, anyway...

Then my parents and I drove on over to Third Place Books, one of the best bookstores near my home. We spent the better part of two hours exploring books (and I nipped down to the yarn store a few doors away to take a look...but I BOUGHT NOTHING! Amazed?).

Unbeknownst to my parents and I before we arrived at Third Place, Henry Winkler was in the building! The Fonz! It was very exciting. He spoke for about 45 minutes on the stage they have in the commons area of the bookstore, then moved on over to a table near the entrance to sign copies of his autobiography. It was pretty awesome to see him up close, and he's hysterical.

Then home, where my mother and I spent a long time sipping wine and discussing the things we would do to our house given the choice. My dad mostly stayed out of the conversation, which was wise, as my mom and I can get pretty nuts about interior decorating when we want to...

And all this talk of paint and wainscoting and textiles has put me in the mood to repaint my own room. It's been done a few times, but it's never really felt right. I've also fallen in love with an IKEA rug that I keep drooling over, which might be a gutsy purchase as soon as I decide what sort of paint change I want to make.

Plus, I'm thinking of hijacking the antique wicker rocking chair that's been sitting in the carport for ages. My mom is not eager to have me take it, thinking it's kind of a piece of junk, but I like it. Don't tell my mom, but tomorrow I'm going to unearth it from the sheet of canvas its under and take a good, long, adoring look at it.

Ahh, what a full day. And now you'll have to excuse me...I need to go visit Behr and Valspar and their ilk for some paint ideas.

Goodnight, all!

-The GLS