General Updates

I have a lot of friends having babies, and most of them are lamenting having to go back to work, and how hard it is to leave their babies. I understand this, but if it is so hard find a way to stay home permanently. I think it is a horrible tragedy that women, or men, or whoever, have to work, and can't be home with their children. If children are what you want from life, then I think you should be able to fully enjoy, raise, etc. your child, but it isn't possible when today, to live comfortably, you must have two incomes. In some cases to live at all you have to have two incomes.

I consider myself a very progressive woman, but I think a lot of issues with the world today stem from the fact that one parent cannot stay home with the child throughout its young life. This "luxury," which I feel is a basic function of life, is reserved for only the rich, or the very lucky. The rich, who in turn have money to stay home or hire a nanny, and whose children then get the attention, cognitive development, and so forth that makes them successful later in life. One more way the rich stay rich, and the poor stay poor. Now, I'm not saying a poor child won't become successful, I'm just saying that there is an unfair advantage for the rich because their parents have the ability to not need two incomes. It's just a shame, because the world really would be a better place.

In other news, I've been so busy with work I haven't posted here much. I am taking a break early this morning to post an update. I took some pictures of the new place and I will post them later if I have time. Last night I got so excited about finishing all the decorating that I went on a spree, and hung a few things, and sewed a few things. Two things precipitated this burst of domestic energy. One is that the mat for John's degrees came in, and I was so excited to re-use one of our old frames, and put his degrees up with their beautiful new navy mat. In the pictures the mat looks black, but it is a very dark, marbled navy blue. It looks very chic. We also had a custom mat made for an old Keith Parkinson poster I managed to acquire (see dragon art to the left). I had an emerald green mat made for it, and it is such an unusual sized poster that I am happy I found a way to mat it, and frame it without making it look silly. It was 21 3/4" x 31", odd size, no? It now hangs at the top of the stairs and stares down at you as you walk up. Yeah, I'm a dork, what of it? The second thing that precipitated decorating is that we have company on Friday, and I am so excited. Board games, booze, and good conversation. Plus, I'll be making a full Indian meal, fresh naan and all. Mmm, I can already taste it.

Tonight we might head to Bryan and watch Rocky Horror. It's been so long since I went to a live performance of Rocky Horror, and this one is in the gay bar, which should make it all the more awesome. Who would have thought there would be a good gay bar in Bryan...not me, that is for sure, but I am happy for it. It's been since 2006, I think, since I last saw Rocky Horror, which is far too long.

Skyrim is coming out on 11.11.11, and I am so excited. I have been playing Oblivion every night, because I need a fix until mid-November. Goddess help me when Skyrim comes out. John and I will be vying for the Xbox, but it shouldn't be too much of an epic battle as he does have to study sometime, and I don't. 

In not so benign news, my mother's health is quickly deteriorating, and I am having to intervene and take her to doctors. My mother can't get insurance because she has Type II diabetes, and lots of other issues. She has never seen a specialist for her diabetes, which is just crazy. I know it is expensive without insurance, hell it is expensive with insurance, but diabetes is serious.  So, I asked around, and luckily one of our friends knew a premier endocrinologist in Austin, which I am going to take her to see in a few weeks. I'm just happy I have the ability to take time off for such things. In any case, I hope the doctor can help her, because she is in so much pain all the time, and it's getting really hard for her to do almost anything. She has been seeing a doctor in Houston, but he isn't a specialist, and I really don't think he is a good doctor at all. In fact, I think he is an awful doctor.

On other family news, my brother's baby is due any day now. Kaylin will be her name. She is named for the character in Terry Goodkind's novel series the Sword of Truth. Except somewhere, lamely, along the line, her name got spelled in a more modern way, which I think butchers the name, but that is my nerdy side talking. It should be spelled Kahlan, which is a much better spelling. :)  Plus, I might have gone one nerdy step further and used the book character's first and last name as a first and middle name respectively, Kahlan Amnell. Again, I'm a dork, though her initials would have been KAB, hehe.

Well, off to work, enough playing. I will post pictures soon.

Chocolate Frogs with Pop Rocks

This recipe was posted by family and I can't help but share it. It is a recipe for crunchy (pop rocks), chocolate covered gummy frogs. Mmm, I have to try this, and as the people originally posting this point out, Amazon sells gummy frogs in 5 lb. bags. :) Here is the original blog post.

House Cleaning the Natural Way

I recently ordered a few supplies from Mountain Rose Herbs, see my links on the sidebar. Today I can across their blog on green cleaning for your home. I was impressed to find many things that I myself want to replace in our household when they run out, such as a replacement for Comet, Murphy's Wood Oil, and so on. I have always worried about the chemicals I use and their effects on the environment. As these harmful chemicals run out in our household, I find myself making substitutes myself, though using up these chemicals takes some time, as we don't use a lot. See Mountain Rose's Blog here.

Also they have a post on Cold and Flu Remedies.

A salt scrub, massage oil, and bath salt recipe in this post.

Holiday drinks here.

You know what, just read the whole blog, it rocks. Lots of ideas for cooking, herbal infused drinks, honeys, soaps, household care, etc. They rock, I love Mountain Rose. If you want a more local store use Garden of the Ancients (Manor, Texas), whose link is also on the sidebar.

Leather and the Weather

Today will be a high of 74˚F and a low of 49˚F, which is marvelously cold. Maybe this isn't cold to all you northerners, but here in Texas let me just say, woo hoo! I think it is time to take off the heat repellent fabric from the windows and celebrate. 

The best thing about cool days, other than the weather, is the clothing. I wear running pants and tennis shoes in order to walk or bike into work, and after getting to work I change into my work clothes. Many days, even in the summer, my work clothes include my beautiful, precious, knee-high Frye boots, acquired at the good graces of family members as a present for my birthday. Here they are today, sorry for the weird angles:

This morning nothing could have made me happier than the smell of the leather as I put on my boots. There is something to the smell of leather on a cool day that is indescribable. It is the musky smell of well worn leather, of earth and dirt, and all the places you have been. It is the smell of home, and of riding horses in the winter. It is a smell that just sets my heart at ease.

It is officially fall in Texas, and I am officially celebrating with boots, baking, and ____ anyone have another 'b' word, and no not that one.

Though it is "cold," I have had a desire for ice cream. So, one night this week John and I trekked over to the Dairy Queen to eat a pumpkin pie blizzard. Oh my gosh, it was so good. Then I thought, hmm, I have pumpkin pie filling that needs to get used at home...oh yes, this is going there. Last night I made a pumpkin pie, and the crust from scratch, as I usually do. I'd have made all the pie from scratch but as I said we had filling that needed to be used. In any case, the homemade pumpkin pie blizzard was delicious, and now I even have more waiting at home for me later today. Ah, the small things in life. 

Update: Henna Tattoo

I found the original artist for the henna design I posted some days ago, and she agreed to draw up the design for me. However, I haven't heard from her in a bit, so I don't know if she changed her mind. Hopefully she didn't change her mind *fingers crossed*. If she hasn't, then I will be visiting with two Atomic tattoo artists, whose portfolios I really like, in order to get the tattoo done. One of their rates is a fair going rate, $120-150/hour, but I'll still have to save to get the tattoo done. The other artist I fear doesn't post rates because he is well known, and probably has an hourly rate I'd have to save a year for. We'll see, and if all goes well, I'll get my first, and probably last tattoo. I say last because it takes up a fair bit of area, and because I can't have exposed tattoos at work. If I could, well that would be a different story.

Homemade Nutella

For anyone as in love with Nutella as John, and a few of my friends, please see this gentleman's homemade Nutella recipe. The first page is simply ingredients, and there is a link for preparation instructions. I will have to try this for the holidays and give it out as gifts if it tastes good.

Smells like Laundry, Looks like Henna

In a previous post, I briefly touched on how most people's laundry these days smells as if you poured a whole bottle of perfume on yourself, at least to me, and if you like it, well, live and let live. This isn't a post complaining about that, but it is related.

So, John and I hunt, as you all know, and it is very popular for hunters to buy scent-masking sprays, or clothing that has built in smell-masking "technology." I think this is all a load of codswallop. If hunters would stop washing their clothing with perfumed Tide the deer might be able to smell them a little less, and especially the turkey, who have an incredible sense of smell that you wouldn't expect. So, tell yourselves, oh hunters, "I will not buy stupid shit."

It used to be that people said your were buying snake oil, a charm, or getting robbed, but nowadays everyone goes along with the latest product that supposedly helps with X, solves Y, and makes your life _____ (insert positive sounding adjective). This isn't new. This has been going on since the dawn of society. Step away from the latest product, and think logically. If you still want it after that, then hey, that is your choice, we all spend our money on silly and frivolous things (I include myself too), but please spend it on nice frivolous things.

Speaking of frivolous things. I am in love with tattoos and always have been. They are a complete waste of my money at the moment, as I don't have much, but I so love them. I've never been able to decide on a design. I also adore henna, but I don't want to keep having it redone, or to buy a sub-par product and do it myself. That is if I could even do it myself, because I want things on my back, not an easy place to do for oneself. In either case, it came to mind again when I saw a model on Facebook today who had beautiful henna work on her, that I would adore having as a permanent tattoo, but alas, where would I find the money, and I don't even know if a tattoo artist could tattoo something that looked like henna. Does anyone know that answer? It's something for me to look into. Below is the photo of the henna I adored, it is a little blurry, but if you have Facebook, check out the model's original photo here.

Comedy on this Friday of a Long Week

Let me just say that I love this website, not many make me laugh so much, or have things I agree with. That being said, here are some of my favorites:

Century Oak

This is a photo of the Century Oak on Texas A&M Campus when it snowed last winter. I did not take this photo, and I certainly do not claim a copyright on it, but I found it online while working on a brochure for my office. I wish I could use it in the brochure, but copyrights and all won't allow. I love this photo, it is so ethereal, and beautiful. I found it here, in case you want to see some more snow images of Texas A&M Campus.

Dr. Morgan

I learned today that an older professor of mine retired, or at least went emeritus. This makes me sad, as I really loved him when I was in school. He wasn't your usual professor that students love, who fosters students, or cares for their well being. Nope, not Dr. Morgan, but that doesn't mean I didn't adore his classes. He was a chain smoking professor, who wore all black, and we were all pretty sure he was held together with ash, caffeine, and sarcasm. He held office hours outside, so he could smoke. He was never seen without coffee. He grumbled at students, harassed them in class, and was all around quirky. Perfect.

He went by Gwyn Morgan, but his name was always written M. Gwyn Morgan, and we never knew what the M. stood for until John, in one of his curious moments, walked up to Professor Morgan and asked, "what does the M stand for?" At which point, without skipping a beat, Dr. Morgan replied, "Messiah," and walked off. Incidentally, the M stands for Michael.

Basically, Dr. Morgan was a chain smoking, disgruntled Welsh professor, who knew his shit, and expected his students to know theirs, whether he taught it or not. He was old-school in his teaching methods, if indeed that is what you consider them to be. I really liked his classes, he was a good professor, crazy, but good, though, aren't all the greats just a little crazy? Besides, I like a person with a healthy dose of realism, that induces an even healthier dose of sarcasm.

Edit: I am told that he retired in Spring 2010. Good for him. I'm clearly behind in my news. 

Tempus Fugit

Ah, how time flies. It is already mid-October and I find myself still thinking it is July, or August, at the latest. So much is going on all the time it seems. For those out of the loop, we moved to College Station, Texas, and I started a new job, while John started a new program in Wildlife Management. I think the program suits him very well, and in time, I think it will serve him better than academia, or any realm of Czech he may have found a niche in. In truth, both of his areas of study work well together, though that was an unforeseen bonus.

I like my job, but miss the old, only because the old was of my own devising, at least so far as admin work can be. The bonuses to College Station above any other place we have lived are great, though. To name but a few: I am once again riding horses, as it is more affordable here for me than in the past, there is an archery range that is free and rarely used, and John is also taking archery as a class. There are parks aplenty, a great neighborhood park near us for Ein, and a fishing pond very nearby. There are two public hunting grounds, which we now frequent, within 30 minutes of us. The Texas Renaissance Festival is but 45 minutes away. My parents are a comfortable, yet safe, distance from us at 70-90 minutes. Austin is only 2 hours away, Waco about the same, which leaves Dallas as the only city farther from our reach at 3-3.5 hours.

Rent is cheaper, though we could have found the same rate in Waco, just not as conveniently located as we are now. We are so close to Texas A&M Campus that we don't drive to work or school (same location for both), and the grocery store is close enough to walk to. To my shame, however, we have not yet begun to walk to get groceries, but we will with the advent of cooler weather, ~70s or lower 80s.

I am enjoying a smaller space, which many of you may find crazy, but 1200-1500 sq. ft. is far too much for us, and always will be. Three bedrooms, of nearly any size, is also right out. One to two bedrooms of approximately 700-1000 sq. ft. is our maximum size, and I hope will always be the size we live in. Currently we are in an 800 sq. ft. one bedroom, which is perfect. It is a two-story townhouse, which makes Ein happy as a clam. She loves to run up and down the stairs and uses the bedroom upstairs as a tower of sorts. I will make sure to take pictures and post them soon.

In traditional, eclectic John and Alex style, we have made each area a different "theme", though this was only realized later, really. The kitchen is sadly, just a kitchen, but I am debating about using a decorating idea I found for sticking colorful paper to the drab cabinets, which comes off easily and without damaging the cabinets, perfect for rental property decorating. The "dining" area is old-European themed with natural woods, and the old china hutch we own, replete with china and silver, situated next to our tall bookcase.

The "living room" area is done in a sort of middle-eastern or Moroccan theme with fabrics hung from the walls, candelabras, incense, and colored glass lanterns hanging from the ceiling in the corner. The bedroom is done in a similar fashion, though not as exquisitely executed. And finally, the hallway, or staircase, is done up with family photos, wedding photos, and most importantly...wall-stickers of Space Invaders. We're nerds, what of it?

When last we caught this heroine, she was making Thundercats pillows for the couch, which are sadly still not made, but I will have them done soon, I swear...ahem, yeah.  Picture of those too will come.

We had quite the time moving here, with lots of bad management on this end with the landlord here, but it is working itself out. The landlord in Waco was wonderful, and a charm to deal with, so no issues there. My only regret, and sadness in this whole move is that we are now cat-less. PK would not come to us, and the one time I got a hold of her to put her in a kennel, she fought like a tiger and ran away. I only pray she is okay, but I fear she is not. I can't put into words the guilt I feel about her, that maybe I could have held on longer, maybe I could have gotten her in the kennel. I'll never know, but I feel awful. Never has that happened to me, never. As all you will know too, Tama, our male cat, went feral when we moved to Waco over a year ago, so we lost him to his wild nature. I am, however, not worried about him. He has fought bobcats and lived to tell the tale. He has endured owl attacks, frigid winters in New Mexico, and far worse. He is a hunter, and a keen one, and we knew he was fine because he kept leaving half of his dead rabbits on the back porch for us, as he is wont to do. No, Tama is fine, and thriving, of that I am sure, but PK couldn't catch a beetle if she tried.

All in all, things are good. Life is progressing, and I am trying to find things I want to really do with my life. I have no bloody idea, but I'll figure it out. I struggled with what I wanted to do with my life while I was in college, and didn't figure it out there. I did struggle with what I wanted my major to be, and I did decide against chemistry, and against my job ruling who I am, but despite majoring in something I love, it left a void in what I wanted to do with my life. As a freshman I thought I would either make money as a chemist, or become a professor. When I changed majors, I realized in short order that academia, especially in my field, was not an option for me. Not only do they try to murder graduate students in my field, but it has to be the only thing you do, or you are shunned. Not to mention that I am not the most studious of students, but my field is also a dying one, soon to be a memory I fear. I have friends who are successful/will be successful with it, but they had a drive I never experienced, and the ability to lay aside their other desires for the pursuit of that one dream. I couldn't, and I applaud my friends who did, but for me it wasn't to be, cannot be, and it isn't what I desire. So, back to square one, again and again it seems, as I have try my various options. One thing is bound to stick, I am sure, I just need more time to find it.

And if, at the end of my life I find I have traveled a well worn path in pursuit of finding that one thing, at least I was not stationary in something I hated. If one cannot find what they are, then the next most noble pursuit is trying to find that very thing, and not just settling. 

Make it Yourself - Laundry Detergent

In the last year I have been getting into making a lot of household products myself. Offbeat Home was the first to inspire me to do this, though I had already wanted to, but never had a quick and easy jump-start to it all.

So, I started with Offbeat Home's suggestion for laundry detergent. It really is super easy, super cheap, and wonderful. Plus it doesn't pollute the ground water like commercial detergents, and is better for your skin. Fels-Naptha no longer uses a horrible solvent it was once known for, and while Borax can be bad, it is better than what you find in your regular soaps. There are alternates such as vinegar and baking soda to these ingredients, but I have yet to try them. Below is my quick summary of what you will need:

Homemade Laundry Detergent
3-5 gallon bucket
bar of Fels-Naptha (you will only use 1/3 each time)
Borax
Washing Soda

I ordered everything through Amazon, but I later found that except for the Fels-Naptha, I could find the Borax and Washing Soda at my local HEB grocery store on the laundry aisle. The bucket can be found at Academy in the fishing aisle or probably at Target. It doesn't necessarily have to have a lid, but I suggest it does, so that the liquid in the soap doesn't evaporate over time, or bugs don't fly into it. You might also ask your local restaurants for their pickle buckets, which are the same things as what you buy at Academy or elsewhere. If you are just that strapped for cash, and know me personally, give me a call, my father owns a sandwich shop and has so many buckets he would love to give them to someone.

The first time I made this laundry soap I was concerned about the Fels-Naptha having a floral scent, as I hate floral scents. The smell is strong while you are making it, but once the soap is made, and you use this on your laundry, there is no smell at all. I've heard you can also add a few drops of essential oil to make your soap smell like anything you want, though lavender, tea tree, and citrus scents are suggested.

I was also a little bit perturbed by the gelatinous nature of the soup, but if you stir it up really well, it becomes a smooth water-gel type consistency. This too weirded me out at first, but I got used to it, and I haven't seen any residue on my clothing after washing, and I use about 1/2 cup per average size load. Average size means medium to full load in my mind, for a standard, non-front loading washer.

I must admit I thought my clothes smelled bad after the first time washing with homemade laundry soap, but that wasn't because they still smelled of sweat or dirt. It was because I was so used to the heavily perfumed Tide detergents that no smell seemed like a bad smell. This was silly of me in hindsight, but I grew up with Tide, and now I know better.

If you want to be environmentally friendly, and not poison our aquatic friends, but not make your own laundry detergent either, try Dr. Bronner's Sal Sads Soap, which can not only be used with laundry, but pretty much everything else, including carpet.  They are an incredible company all around, and I cannot recommend their peppermint bar soap more.

What the Hell, an Introduction

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I always say I am done blogging, then I start another blog. I switch from LJ to BlogSpot and there and back again 20 times in 1 year. Hopefully, at some point in my life I will find myself happily situated in one homey and all-around great blog, or non-blog location. Until then, here is my new, newer, newest blog for the month of October and beyond. (ahem...please dear friends do not eat me for my flighty indecisions).

Some of you will recall I wanted to be a teacher, we know how that worked out, and so I took myself off the internet, or behind passworded doors. Nowadays, I find no need to hide my identity. Do I need to traipse around the internet slandering my place of work, no, but I am also not held to a teacher's code of ethics, which are ridiculous to begin with. They just need to tell teachers never to use the internet, wear moo-moos made of denim, and call it good. Not that most teachers have free time or the luxury of wasting it on shopping.

In either case, the new blog is currently titled Minervan Soliloquy. What is Minervan Soliloquy? Why such an outrageous and seemingly unintelligible title? First, I am seemingly unintelligible most days. Second, and the real reasons begin here, Minerva was the Roman goddess of  poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, and magic...thank you Wikipedia for this lovely and concise list. She is better known by her Greek name, Athena. Not only was I am Ancient History major, and I have to represent somehow, but I also want my blog to not just be daily rantings about what I am doing, that will not fit in the Facebook word count, but about things I find that my friends might enjoy, especially in the realm of crafts, medicine, magic, etc. Third, if I must explain what a soliloquy is, please exit stage right, and do not return until you have looked it up via Google or Wikipedia. It's there, I promise. If for some reason you don't find it there, dig up Shakespeare, or stop your local poet on the street. They'll be more than happy to help you, and may even demonstrate the term.