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What I’m Into – November 2013

Posted in Books, Feminism, Food, Music, Thanks, TV, What I'm Into, Writing on December 7, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Let’s take a little trip back in time to when it was actually November.  November has two big things going for it:

– Thanksgiving month!  My favorite holiday with my favorite holiday traditions.

– NaNoWriMo! I didn’t finish this year, but I’ve got a new character whom I love.

The weather could have been cooler.  We had way too many days that made it up to 80 for my taste, but so far, Icetember is making up for it.

Here’s what I was into in November:

To write:

My NaNo piece this year started to be YA fiction about a group of five friends (because nobody has done that before /sarcasm).  I am a proud pantser, but having nothing other than names and costuming in mind before starting is not much to work with.  So about ten days in, I decided to start over with stories about Uncle Wallace the Christmas Mouse.

Uncle Wallace is this fellow:

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He lives under my Christmas tree. He holds a bell in one hand, and a random basket of apples in the other.

1118131717

I want to believe that there is a deep, meaningful reason for the person who created this masterpiece of holiday decoration to put a basket of apples into his hand.  Clearly, Uncle Wallace has stories to tell. He’s just letting me write them down.

So I didn’t make it to 50,000 words, but Uncle Wallace does have a Facebook page.  So there’s that.

I also wrote a couple of blog posts of which I am proud.  I linked up with Sarah Bessey in celebration of the Jesus Feminist launch with this post, and I wrote Going Home as part of Tara Owens’s synchroblog on Coming Home. 

To read:

I finally made it through The Unbearable Lightness of Being.  There were many lines in the book that I liked.  Unfortunately, there were several pages to wade through between each of those lines.  I’m happy I read it.  I’m happier that I’m through reading it.

My book club read Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Kennedy.  The book was fine, but I don’t like his writing style.  I would read some of it out loud and imagine it in his voice, and that made it a little better.  I would watch it as a documentary.  I also read Dad is Fat and imagined it in Jim Gaffigan’s voice, but that just made it funnier.

I jumped on the Divergent bandwagon, and I am hooked.  I finished book one, and I’ll be buying the other two (or, let’s face it – all three – I can’t have an incomplete trilogy on the shelf) to read over holiday break, because the wait at the library is looooong, and I am impatient.

My favorite book of the month was Pastrix by Nadia Bolz-Weber.  I tried to find my favorite quote, but I’d just end up quoting half the book.  I have narrowed it down that much.  This book made me snort-laugh and ugly-cry, sometimes in the same sentence.  That’s pretty much what I look for in any book I read about God.

To watch:

I’ve been into Burn Notice this month.  His accents are sometimes good, but usually terrible.  Just awful.  But he’s so adorable (and sure, also badass) that I just don’t care.

I haven’t watched much else, unless you count the ridiculous number of hours I spent watching made-for-TV Christmas movies with Mom and the Psych marathon of Christmas episodes over Thanksgiving.

To hear:

November was a weird soundtrack of industrial music (…I don’t know), Memphis Blues (I blame Uncle Wallace), and classical music (because that’s what I listen to when I write).

To taste:

November means homemade candy.  It’s my favorite holiday tradition.  Every year, on Black Friday, we do not shop.  We put up Christmas decorations and make candy to share with friends and take to parties.  This year, we made five different candies – Martha Washingtons (coconut and pecan nougat, covered in chocolate – my favorite), Texas Millionaires (caramel and pecan nougat, covered in chocolate), peanut butter bon bons (peanut butter nougat – you guessed it – covered in chocolate), dark chocolate fudge with peanut butter, and buttermilk pecan pralines.  Can you tell my parents have pecan trees?

My dad made my favorite meal this month.  He made enchiladas with flour tortillas (instead of the traditional corn), and he made them special for me by substituting goat cheese for the cheese he normally uses.  I am not ashamed to admit that I ate five in one setting.  I also do not recommend doing that.

What were you into in November? Need recommendations for your holiday break?  I’m linking up with Leigh Kramer – go over and see what everyone else has to say!

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Pie and…

Posted in Church, Food, Hope, Music, Resolutions, tagged on July 25, 2013| 2 Comments »

Image

This little beauty is a thing that exists at my house right now.  But not for long, for it is tasty.  If one were to promise not to judge the terrifying state of my kitchen, one could come over for a slice.

It was a community effort.  I put hands to it, but I couldn’t have done it without the contributions of several others.  The pie crust and strawberry-rhubarb recipe are from Smitten Kitchen. The suggestion of replacing the vodka in the crust with gin, which complemented this filling beautifully, came from Preston Yancey (if you aren’t already reading his blog and counting the months until his book comes out, go on and check it out.  I’ll still be here when you get back.).  The rhubarb was a contribution of my sister and brother-in-law, because although I hear the word in a southern accent in my head, the plant apparently does not grow in our intense southern heat.  So they helped me search far and wide.  The wisdom of my mother, my go-to expert on all things pie, reverberated in my mind, telling me the exact moment to stop fooling with the dough, which always comes sooner than I anticipate.  Maggie fielded all my skeptical texts of “this looks too much like celery” and “this looks like the greasy crust we didn’t like that one time” and encouraged me to press on anyway.

All this help, swirling together against Beth Rowley’s rendition of Sunday Kind of Love and You’ve Got Me Wrapped Around Your Little Finger, which I’m convinced is how butter and sugar sound when you put them to music (especially if there’s also gin involved), produced one of the best things I’ve tasted this year.

I like doing things alone.  I prefer not to need others.  I prefer to go into a task, only depending on me, even when that doesn’t work out so well, because then at least I can chalk any bumps or ridges up to “Oh, well, I did my best – it was a lot for one person to handle,” rather than the ache of disappointment that I didn’t get the help I wanted – that I would have had “if only ____.”  I prefer not to be reminded of the “if only.”

I was told that I avoid community out of a fear of abandonment.  I admitted to a fear of being left, which sounded like agreement to me when I said it, but apparently it was not, as it inspired a rather spirited defense.  I suppose I downplayed the avoidance aspect, when that’s what they meant to be the theme of the conversation.  Anyway, it was an exhausting exchange.

Then pie happened.  And it took a whole lot of not-just-me to make it so.

It also took a measure of solitude.

It took both.  Both had value.  One did not take anything away from the other.  In fact, both were necessary.

I know that this post is disjointed.  I know that I’ve been quiet, but I’m starting to put to practice the idea of solitude and its value to community.  More later.

For now – pie.

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

Posted in Music, Seasons on February 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

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Happy song in a minor key

Posted in Music on October 25, 2012| Leave a Comment »

A friend posted this on my Facebook page a week or so ago. She likes it because it’s “a happy song in a minor key,” which I think is the perfect description for my temperament. I suspect this is why she likes me, too.

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My Top Ten Favorite Things People Do On the Internet

Posted in Music, Top Ten on September 27, 2012| 2 Comments »

I really want to just bitch about the top ten most annoying things people do on the intrawebs, but I’m Southern, so I am going to sandwich it between two nice lists.  You can drink sweet tea or lemonade (or both!  Mix those suckers up for a delicious treat!) while you read, if you want.

Today, I’ll start with my top ten favorite things people do on the Internet:

10.  Links to their fundraising pages on social media sites

Okay, I’m probably in the minority here, but I really like this.  It serves three purposes for me.  It lets me know what they’re up to, which is the point of social media.  It gives me a tangible way to support what they’re doing but with fairly minimal effort, which reinforces my laziness.  And it’s just nice to see people getting involved in something beyond themselves.  Kudos all around!

9.  Funny animal videos

To be clear – funny means adorable animals doing adorable things.  Not “I trapped my cat in the washer – watch it struggle to breathe.  Isn’t that hilarious?”  No.  It is not hilarious.  It’s abuse, and those people need to be shot.  Not killed, necessarily, because then how do they learn and warn others?  They definitely could use a little light injury, though.  Nothing educates like a mild maiming.

But things like this –

make my LIFE.

8.  Suggestions of blogs that they enjoy reading

Almost all of my favorite bloggers were found through links sent to me by other people, and they have inspired me and made me laugh.  Sharing is caring!

7.  Theme Tweets

Most people who use Twitter use it as a glorified Facebook status.  I have no problem with that, mainly because that’s exactly how I use Twitter.  But there are some inspired individuals who tweet in themes, and of all the people I follow, the Theme Tweeters are my favorite (no offense to Nathan Fillion.  Or, you know, my actual friends whom I follow).  Little gems like omgthatspunny (pun tweets), ronswansoncats (cats who look like Ron Swanson – also found on Tumblr), shitmydadsays (also a book and a short-lived TV show), and my favorite – charliemcdowell (who tweets to the girls who live in the apartment above his – soon to be a book and OMG I’M SO EXCITED ABOUT THAT!!!) – are the main reasons I didn’t dump Twitter long ago.

6.  Music suggestions

I love music, but I tend to find something I like and listen to it twenty dozen times until I just can’t stand it any longer.  Then I wistfully glance through my friends’ posts on all my social media outlets, and I am rewarded with various selections of things that I never would have even thought to give a listen until they suggested it.  As an added bonus, that song or artist will also serve as a pleasant reminder of my good friend Whats-His/Her-Face.

5.  People helping others through their own life experiences

Life is hard, but people still manage to go through it.  People make mistakes and learn from those mistakes.  Now, all these people could just keep the treasure of their experiences to themselves, or they could just share it with the people who are lucky enough to know them in person, but the Internet lets them share it with a potential million strangers who are going through similar things but might not have a good support system face-to-face (or they do, and online support is still welcome).  That’s so nice.

4.  Admission of failure, social awkwardness, or clumsiness (particularly of the Autocorrect variety)

I love omg-you-will-not-believe-what-I-just-did stories.  I tell these stories often, so hearing them from others indicates that I have found a friend or further cements said friendship, if it already exists.  Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, the company website – no matter where they post them, I will read them and look at pictorial proof (bonus points), and I will laugh and be really happy that, for once, the story wasn’t mine.

But no fail report gives me more joy or makes me laugh more unattractively than http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com/.

I have banned myself from reading this website at the front desk, because it makes me laugh until I cry, and it’s hard to provide quality customer service when I am gasping for breath and generally looking like I might need medical attention.  I love it when technology makes us look foolish by being foolish itself, and that is the joy of http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com/.  The fouler, the better, as far as I’m concerned.

3.  Social network pages or memes for fictional characters/inanimate objects/pets

This is one of the greatest indications that someone has way too much time on their hands, and I love how they have chosen to use that extra time.  Going to the trouble to create an online profile for someone or something else who does not have the ability to speak for themselves (on account-a they are not real and/or aren’t supposed to talk in the real world) shows creativity and provides hours of entertainment for others (i.e., me).  Pet profiles make me laugh and laugh.  Pets have attitude, y’all.

There is one key exception.  I do not – and I cannot stress this enough – DO NOT enjoy it when people make Facebook profiles for their children.  I am going to discuss this more on my next post (Top Ten Least Favorite Things People Do On the Internet), but suffice it to say that I think speaking for another actual human being, even ones who cannot yet speak for themselves, is weird (the bad kind) and creepy.  I dislike it so much that, if you are a friend who has done this and are now reading about how much I dislike it and are offended by my dislike, I don’t even care.  I am not even sorry.

You know what else I’m not sorry about?  My fond memories of the summer when Magnolia Blossom was born.  If you’re ever bored on Facebook, look her up and say, “Hi.”

2.  Personal attention

I don’t require a lot of personal attention in real life, but on the Internet?  I am an attention whore.  I mean, I don’t *NEED* attention.  I’m not THAT person (and I hope that I don’t come across that way).   But I really, really, really love it.  I keep Facebook up all day at the desk, just so I can go back once every few hours or so and see how many likes or comments my posts have gotten (your student fees at work, UNT).  I love how many people are following me on Pinterest; it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.  You know, the way real affection is supposed to make you feel.  And when people tell me that the video I posted made their day, it makes my day right back.  Instant pay-it-forward.

So if you should feel the need to respond to this post, I wouldn’t mind.  In fact, I would love it.

No pressure, though.  Live your life.

And my number one, most favorite thing that people do on the Internet?

1.  FOOD BLOGS.

I love food blogs.  I love trying new recipes.  I also love reading people’s stories about things that have gone terribly wrong, because they’re humorous, and they make me feel better about things that go terribly wrong in my own kitchen.  Stayed tuned, and in a couple of days, I’ll tell you where I find almost all of the amazing food blogs I read.

Don’t tell me you’re not excited.

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