Last Post for October! Household Updates

We had our first snow this past weekend! It snowed a little bit Friday night (it was mostly rain -- horrible, cold, grey rain), and Saturday, it snowed enough that we had our first snow plows. That's right, we had 2" of snow stick to the ground. It of course melted when the sun came out Sunday :-P. Apparently, there are hundreds of homes without power due to the snow. Say what? How can NO ONE have been prepared for snow in October? Seriously folks, it ain't hard. It's kinda a fact of life when you live in the north east US. If you tried to pull that kind of thing in Syracuse or Buffalo they'd laugh you out of town. But that's another story. Mister and I also only turned our heat on the day before any snow hit. We're just awesome like that. :-D

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I started working on the muslin for my wedding dress. Let's just say that I suck at pleats and measuring the amount of fabric required. At one point, I threw the thing down and told Mister I was done. When I explained that it was too big, he inquired further.

Mister: Well, how big is it supposed to be?
Me: Me-sized.
Mister: How big is it?
Me: (*holds out hands 3' apart)
Mister: You could fit two of you in that!

I'm pretty sure it's because I think it requires three inches of fabric to make one inch of pleated fabric, and it winds up only needing two inches of fabric. But that's just my suspicion. I'm now tacking down pleats and seeing what I've got left after that.

Thankfully, this is the hardest part I think... It's a pleated bodice that connects to a fitted waist, and a full skirt that goes to just below the knee. There will be additional tricksy-ness for the actual dress as I'm doing super cute things with... uh... pleats... (maybe I should rethink :-P)

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Basil and Pepper are cuddling in the kitchen currently and I may actually get more peppers. I kept meaning to bring Pepper in, and forgetting, and when Sunday, after the snow melted and I saw Pepper acting so happy I figured I'd bring him in. He has little pepper plants set! We'll see how this goes.

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Still haven't heard from L about the money she owes us. We forgot to call her last Friday, so I've reminded Mister to call her and let her know that we're filing papers tomorrow. (It was supposed to be today.)

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Bumped into a friend Saturday, as she was on her way back from picking up her sister at the train station. Wound up grabbing a meal with them, and while waiting for a table, it came up that my friend, M, had never seen Dirty Dancing. As this cannot be born, a movie night was had on Sunday after she got out of gamelan practice. Mister made his awesome Boeuf Bourgignon and we had goat cheese of some variety. M cannot have wheat, gluten, cow milk products, or chicken. Mister and I have rolled with this and we often cook delicious things for her (I made her cake for her birthday last week 'cause I rock ;-) ). Yet, every single time we cook something that we find quite obvious and simple (chili, beef stew, cabbage and bean soup, rice flour cake, etc.), she always seems quite surprised and shocked that we've a) cooked for her and b) found something delicious she can eat. Mister even commented to me last night: 'I think she doesn't really cook much or eat much variety...'. Which is quite probably true. I think what makes it perhaps different is that we're not going out and buying gluten-free wanna-be-wheat products or vegan cheese or what-have-you. Now, these are still quite simple meals -- I wouldn't call chili difficult in any sense of the word -- but perhaps it's something that she never thinks of? I dunno. Extrapolating with too few data points.

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Had another friend, M (too many Ms!), over Saturday night for cards, and the conversation turned to reed making. At which point he proclaimed that it probably wasn't too hard and he could make them. I immediately pulled my kit out and put him to the test. He managed to make a functioning (not perfect) reed in 30 mins, and snapped two others due to a) not soaking b) not sharpening the knife often enough or c) not appreciating the delicate nature of cane. I call that a success. He can work in my reed sweatshop ANY time! :-D

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Mister and I realized something last night: half of the reason why the kitchen hadn't been getting clean of late is because we kept trying to say it was this person's job or that person's job. When really, we work better when the two of us are in there, and not getting in each other's way. He was cooking and I was washing dishes, and washing what he needed, and cleaning the counter space that he needed -- when we both try to wash, or both clean, we wind up sniping at each other because we work quite differently, yet similarly in one way: we both are brusque and demanding when in work-mode. This has led to quite a few exciting fights.

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I'll also post today on school updates, as I haven't been posting much of late.

Life Changes!

So things have been different in my house these past couple of days, and are bound to get even more so this week. My good friend from high school, L, has just moved to the area and is crashing with us until she finds a place. I love her dearly, and she's been great fun to have around.

One thing that makes me sad to do, but is important, is we're charging her to stay. Nominally, it's $100/week, but she's at $50/week and she's helping us clean (her point was that it de-stresses her, and she's gonna do it anyways). The reason why we have the bar set fairly high is this: another friend from high school, C, has rather irresponsibly decided that she's ALSO moving out here, and is apparently under the delusion that either a) I'm finding her an apartment or b) she's living with me and Mister. Neither of these are happening (esp. as Mister can't stand C and she bugs the ever-loving crap out of me after about 20 mins) so we're charging an amount that we're sure she cannot attain as she does not have a job in the area. :-D Sneaky and underhanded yes, but so is getting a phone call from your mother asking why you didn't tell her that C was going to be your new roommate (apparently my mother heard it from C's dad that C was moving in). It is not an issue with L, as L DOES have a job that starts tomorrow, L is actively searching for an apartment, and L is not obnoxious.

The other thing that starts tomorrow is school. Due to the unemployed aspect of my life, I am going to be a full-time student (yippee kiyay). I'm looking forward to classes, I really am, but the thought of being surrounded by teenagers is really disheartening. Luckily, quite a few of my classes should NOT be populated by young'uns, as I'm taking Theory 3 and Ear Training 3 (my old school called it Aural Skills and I keep finding it difficult to not call it that), as well as Russian and I feel that's a less common one. :-P

Gah, it may not be TMI Tuesday, but TMI ahead: I had an IUD put in about a month ago, and although it will be fabulous in the long run, it means that I have 6 months of cramping and intermittent spotting. I've been in two straight weeks of cramping every single day and not enjoying it. Usually by the SECOND dose of drugs it goes away. I want to remove my organs with a fork and knife and feed it to wild cats.

Bread Making

I was reading Tips for Better Bread from Farm Girl Fare, and realized that I wanted to jot down a few of the more pertinent points I think.

1 -- make the same type of bread over and over again until you understand it.
2 -- keep a bread journal, and write down details every single time you bake bread -- even if it's for the 456th time.
3 -- use good ingredients, including filtered water
4 -- add salt after autolyse.

Things that I intend to do:
1 -- make double and treble batches of dough. I already know how well bread freezes, and I only want to have one baking day a week.
2 -- consider getting a bread box. The only person I know with one is my grandmother, but she certainly doesn't use it properly. She keeps her bread in the fridge year round.

I cannot wait to be settled in the new place, and start putting all of my plans together!

Plans for new apartment thus far:

Gardening Thoughts
Ideas for the New Apartment
Plans for 2011
Fridge and Freezer Plans
Pantry Plans
Plants that Grow in Shade
Food Storage Tubs

Plans and Minutiae

First order of business: shake this bad cold that I picked up last week. Did it happen before my two days off so that I could recover? Nope! Happened in the evening of my last day off, so that I could be nice and sick (and incomprehensible due to laryngitis) while at either of my two sales jobs. "(*cough hack) (*in a croak) Would you like to (*cough hack) try some lotion?"

Yeah. Loads of fun.

Items to get accomplished: clean the house. It was beautiful until we had a week of houseguests. And the LL gets really fidgity when thinking about the desolation our apartment MUST be in, and would like to know when it will be clean for the R.E. agent to show it. If the LL had actually TALKED to us about this, instead of slipping a note, I would have given the standard answer for showing a lived-in apartment: 24 hours notice before ALL showings. Period. No exceptions. It will always be clean, it will always be ready, and we will always be out of the way.

EDIT: Left a note for LL stating exactly that. Only without the "if you'd actually talked to us" bit. :-P And slightly less bitchy.

I really don't think I have any other specific plans to get accomplished other than what will fall under the umbrella of "cleaning the house". Kitchen, living room, and put laundry away.

Although, as an aside, it WAS really nice to see that my family had the same reaction to my LL's ridiculous rules and regulations: they wanted to flout them. And since they were normally noise restrictions, flout them LOUDLY. :-P

Comfort-Land

Well, since Mister is on a roadtrip (long story, but he'll be back in around 4 days), it's just me here at the apartment. Rather than end up in the pity-party of just-me cooking, I've decided to make tasty foods that Mister doesn't like. :-P

So, for tonight's meal, I'm having some tea, a cheese quesadilla (used up some dried up cheddar and the last of the salsa in the process), and tuna noodle casserole. Mister doesn't eat fish, and can't stand even the smell of tuna -- so with the promise that I will wash the can out and not leave any tuna around (our apartment is so small that a single smell will linger for days... it's been bacon lately), I get to eat some good comfort food!

Tuna noodle casserole is cheap, simplified American food at its finest: egg noodles, cream of mushroom soup, canned tuna, and milk. Precook the egg noodles, then combine and bake! I also prefer to crumble potato chips on top (apparently this can be called "P'tuna Noodle Casserole"), but as I was out, I'm using fried onions from a can. :-P

I'm also intending on putting on a comfy movie and eating while watching a movie -- comfort to the max!

Grr

So I am pissed -- in addition to all that she's done the damage our property, this apartment and my happiness, our cleaning lady has trashed one of our saucepans (the biggest one no less) to the point that Mister and I should no longer use it.

It's a non-stick 3-qt saucepan with a glass lid able to strain pasta. Now, we've not always been perfect about not using metal in it, however we never go out of our way to scratch and scrape it.

Last night, while drying this pot (after washing it), I noticed many small pricks in the bottom of the non-stick surface. Pricks, like something had repeatedly stabbed through it, and lifted little sections to stand straight up. Pricks reaching straight through to the metal underneath.

Knowing how dangerous an improperly cared for non-stick pan can be, I pointed it out to Mister, and stated that I felt we should no longer use it, and wondered how this damage happened.

"Oh it was [cleaning lady]," Mister stated confidently. "She throws all of the silverware into there when she's washing dishes. I've seen her do it."

Excuse me?! Going out of her way to trash the objects that I'd rather not have to spend money to replace? (It was a good, solid, heavy-duty pot, destined for many years of use.) I was furious. If it hadn't been 10:30 at night, several people would have gotten phone calls from me, so that I could vent and get it properly out of my system. Also, I'd like to know what exactly kind of cookware she uses at home, since she doesn't know how to care for both cast iron and non-stick.

So, I wrote up a cute little calendar deciding when and how many times the cleaning lady would be visiting before we leave. Three. That's it. She will not be allowed in our apartment beyond those three times, and if she tries to give Mister shit about "not enough notice" (four days requirement is excessive, Ms. Cleaning Lady), she can go suck a duck.

Plans for 2011

Since it's nearing the end of the year, I think it's time to take stock of what I've accomplished this year, and what I can attempt next year.

Tasks Completed in 2010:

-- canned pickles, not all recipes are created equal :-P
-- gathered many jars and 3-gallon buckets
-- found a great apartment with pantry space and gardening space (although shaded)
-- shopped at the Farmer's Market weekly to learn seasonal eating
-- learned many interesting recipes with cabbage and also zucchini
-- harvested lots of rose hips, and both dried and made syrup with them
-- made an effort to eat home more
-- made my first pair of socks
-- celebrated the holidays frugally and with minimal purchasing
-- scavenged local grapes
-- made liqueurs/cordials

Plans for 2011:

-- actually garden this year. I still have seeds that never got planted last year, so I will work on shade-loving plants outside, and using the large south-facing window in our new living room for such plants as tomatoes.
-- store 6 months of food for Mister and I
-- eat out of the pantry better
-- keep our budget down
-- put up more food beyond pickles, applesauce and grape cider
-- do UPick at least once a month while it's running (berries, apples, etc.)
-- involve more friends in the food process of pantry building (R, you're around next summer, right? Wanna help build up my pantry?)
-- learn to utilize spices better -- you do not want to know how bland my food is :-P
-- make more liqueurs/cordials and perhaps gift them!
-- aim to have all gifts be handmade
-- look into the possibilities of chickens
-- get a cat and try to train it as a mouser
-- learn more seasonal scavenging
-- make my own bread

Plans and More Plans

Since I have nothing better to do than sit around and plan, that is what I do a lot. My plans for this upcoming year:

Household Stuff
-- declutter majorly. I have the 100 Things (to give away/get rid of) list on my sidebar, and there is only one item on it. I need to work on that.
-- organize clothes seasonally. I usually keep all of it out "just in case I need a sweater!" or whatever. Organize!
-- get rid of what clothing is dead: I'm terrible at buying more of, but not getting rid of old underclothes in particular.
-- clean the house on a regular schedule. Mister and I want to be able to cancel the cleaning lady that his LL is insistent upon. That's just a waste of money.
-- find proper food storage at Mister's apartment.

Social Stuff
-- get cards night permanently up and running. If it needs to be every week to do so, then I'll make it every week.
-- start a knitting/crocheting group. Perhaps once or twice a month.
-- perhaps do a brunch monthly. Rotate homes and such.

Sustainability Stuff
-- actually eat the food that I store! Plan meals and menus around storage.
-- organize how and where I'm planting before spring comes around.
-- get more rags and cloth wipes in lieu of paper towels -- we already use cloth for some kinds of clean-up, I just need to expand that.


I think that's all that I can feasibly expect to work on. Yay plans!