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The Wrong Milk

Posted in 31 Days, TV on October 22, 2014| 2 Comments »

Today’s activity was sneaky.

Every moment I was alone at the desk, I performed a task that either stretched, strengthened, or slightly elevated the heart rate.  Such tasks included:

  • moving quickly around the desk/lobby to put things that were out of place back where they belong
  • with my heels on the floor, raising my toes (strengthens the shins; helps avoid shin splints)
  • standing to talk on the phone and using the time to slowly rise to my tiptoes and lower down again
  • tightening/releasing the butt muscles when seated
  • flutter kicks under the desk
  • bicep curls with whatever I happened to be holding at the time

I felt like Michel on Gilmore Girls when his dairy gave him the wrong milk. He was horrified at the extra caloric intake and spent the entire episode doing squats and side crunches any time the customers weren’t looking. Hilarious.

It’s also a fun game. I highly recommend it.  See if you can do it all day without anyone catching you. Extra points if you do it while someone is in the room. Double points if you do it while they’re talking to you and they still have no idea.

As busy as my desk gets, I think I succeeded in working in extra movement all day with no one knowing that I was doing anything out of the ordinary. It gave me an odd sense of accomplishment.

I’m committing to 31 Days of Movement, and today was one of the fun days.

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What I’m Into – July 2014

Posted in Books, Denton, Food, Story Sessions, TV, What I'm Into on July 30, 2014| 2 Comments »

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July is pigtail weather. July is also finding-things-to-do-indoors weather.

What I did:

For July 4th, I made Sloppy Joes (Mom’s recipe that is basically meat, ketchup, and sweet pickle relish – also good on lentils but drain the relish first to avoid soupiness), Caprese Salad bites (although mine didn’t look that pretty…in fact, they were mostly assemble-yourself bites), and White Sangria (after comparing several recipes, I just dumped peach nectar, vanilla vodka, brandied peaches – aside: delicious – and Moscato in a pitcher) and made everyone come to me.  Then I watched the fireworks from my couch.  Happy.

The DFW Story Sisters came to Denton this month.  So naturally, we hit the square.  We started at Jupiter House, wandered through Recycled Books and SCRAP, and followed dinner at Abbey Inn up with ice cream.

Michelle, Steve, and Savvy came to visit the next weekend.  They brought over Mr. Chopsticks for lunch, and then we spent the afternoon on the square collecting leaves, looking at books and candy, having a little dance party, eating ice cream at Beth Marie’s, and having dinner at LSA. 

 

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Her fannish glee in mid-squee.  We swear she picked Smallville up all on her own with no coaching. I love this little face!

Supper Club hit Wine Squared again this month.  I think we’re in love.

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What I read:

I again spent the month looking over cookbooks.  I’m going to stop pretending this is a seasonal thing. Cookbooks are my jam.  Ohhh…jam cookbook! *plots*

Moving on…

My two favorite recommendations:

 – Joy the Baker. If it were possible to make love to a cookbook…

And apparently, others have felt the same.  About every ten pages or so of the library’s copy, I would find crumbs or flour dust between the pages.  On the one hand, I totally understand.  These recipes demand immediate baking.  On the other hand, come on, people!  Library books are communal books!  All the more reason to buy my own copy, I guess.

Everything I have tried so far is glorious, but I especially recommend the vegan pumpkin walnut bread and the banana rum cake with brown butter frosting.  Or the goat cheese-pepper-cocoa truffles.  Or the coconut macaroon ice cream. Oh, I can’t choose.  Just buy it and make it all.

– The Runner’s World Cookbook. Part of me thinks, “Most of this information is on the Internet somewhere.  I could just look there for free.” I can’t bring myself to settle for that, though, when all of it is right here, neatly organized into one beautiful book. 

Reasons I will be buying this book:
1. The charts and lists. It gives a easy comparison guide for different grains, fats, and proteins. 
2. A basic whole grain pancake recipe, followed by two pages of batter and topping variations – most of which I would have never thought of on my own, and I experiment a lot. I can’t wait to try the Speakeasy Special and the Sweet Southerner pancakes.
3. Chicken Not Pie. As a loather of chicken pot pie, I appreciate a recipe that takes everything I would like about it and leaves out the rest.
4. Steel Cut Oatmeal Risotto. This is an example of my favorite thing about this book – they took food I love and made in a slightly different way to make it new and interesting.

To watch:

This is a short list.  I’m making my way through Boston Legal.  It’s hilarious. I recommend it, if for no other reason than to see William Shatner and James Spader in flamingo costumes.

My favorite things people did on the Internet:

  1. Luke Harms tells married men how to act around women.
  2. Beth Morey takes on sex and marriage.
  3. Robin Korth became my hero. 
  4. Confused Cats Against Feminism.  Because they’re cats.
  5. I joined Equal Exchange’s Red Cherry Challenge – will you?
  6. All the #FaithFeminisms – but especially this one by Abi Bechtel.
  7. Reason #482 to love The Bloggess.

I’m linking up with Leigh Kramer – come on over and tell us what you’re into!

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Binge

Posted in Andilit, Feminism, TV on June 18, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Oxford Dictionaries defines binge as “a short period devoted to indulging in an activity to excess, especially drinking alcohol or eating.”  Mirriam-Webster defines it as “a short period of time when you do too much of something.”

I find these definitions rife with judgment, but maybe I’m reading too much into the definition (or not enough into the word – that is certainly a possibility).

Certainly it is possible to eat or drink (or do anything else) too much.  If one makes doing so a habit, one might even find oneself in need of some sort of treatment. There’s no doubt that this word – binge – might be triggering to some, and with good reason. Moderation is generally a friend.

But when Andi prompted our writing community to reflect on the word binge this week, excess and too much were not the ideas that came to mind.

You see, what I binge on is TV. There is an element of escape to this.  I admit that sometimes, I’m re-watching old episodes of Big Bang Theory because I am avoiding doing something productive (because humorous as it may be, this is not the show to watch for deep character development).

(The Gilmore Girls understand me.)

But most of the time, watching television is productive for me. A couple of weekends ago, for example, I spent the whole weekend curled up on the couch with the pups I was dog-sitting enjoying an Orange is the New Black marathon. 48 hours, two full seasons. Lots of popcorn.

And it was good for me.

I binge on story.  I binge on characters. I like seeing how other people develop plot and show-don’t-tell personalities. I like stewing in the tension of not really liking a main character (Piper Chapman, I’m looking at you). I like it when seemingly random happenings appear later and branch into a whole new storyline (see the entire series of Arrested Development).

Could I get this same thing from reading books?  I could, and I do.  But unless it’s the book we’re discussing in book club that month, or it is a book I’m reading for class, the insights I glean from reading tend to remain as solitary insights.  I love this, and it is valuable, but the beauty of television is that it gives me the opportunity to engage in discussion in real time.  If learning story and character are a classroom, books are the texts and television is the in-class discussion.

Television affords me the opportunity to engage in the social aspect of learning.  Again, books can do this as well, but they take more time.  Television is almost immediate. My Twitter feed lights up when a beloved character finally gets the job/relationship/etc. that s/he wants. When a series premiere or finale happens, a quick internet search (or let’s be real – the people whose blogs I follow specifically because we share favorite shows) gives me speedy commentary on how well the writers and performers met our expectations and hopes for the episode.

This commentary is not limited to online fandom.  When I was in grad school, I attended a panel at national conference on the feminist themes in Ally McBeal. I wrote papers on Ally McBeal (although my papers tended to focus more on how well the show handled the topic of loneliness and less on the feminism in the show, as that had already been widely discussed, leaving little exigence for further exploration). And if you’re bored some time, go to Google and type in “television after 9/11 site:.edu” (or just click on the link there), and see what pops up.

I can only imagine the multitude of hours of binge-watching it took to gather the information to write those papers.  If my own experience is any indication, there are a lot of people who  need to get to a therapist to discuss their worrisome indulgence in this excess behavior.

Or maybe – maybe – not all binges are bad.  Maybe “too much” is sometimes just enough.

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What I’m Into (finally) – April

Posted in TV, What I'm Into, Writing on May 5, 2014| 4 Comments »

So I got an iPhone last month.

In April, I made friends with Instagram.

I like the black-and-white filter:

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And whatever filter this is:

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So everything is getting Instagrammed.  EVERYTHING.

And I also added the Pinterest app.  Apparently, I’ve decided that I’m done with ever being productive again.

Here’s what I was into during April when I managed to tear myself away from my phone.

To write:

I wrote about 25,000 words on my What Not to Say project (which now has its own blog space for the pieces that are public-ready-ish).  I’m excited to start this back up again.  It’s been a few years.  I like adding new things and seeing how my writing has changed as I edit.

My two favorite posts that I wrote this month:

To read:

I read Lean In.  I have feelings, and not all of them are positive.  But I read it.  I’ll probably buy it, if for no other reason than her fantastic source section. The chapter on mentoring was a work of art.

My favorite book I read in April was The Giver.  I am looking forward to reading the other books in the series.

To watch:

April starts end-of-the-year madness at the residence hall and in my classes.  So I watch more TV than usual.  The only thing I’ve been watching, though, is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Four seasons of Buffy in one month.  I feel like a bad Joss Whedon fan, because this is the first time I’ve watched it.  Impressions so far:

  • Willow is my favorite.
  • Spike is a close second. “You made a bear!  Undo it!  Undo it!”  HILARIOUS.
  • According to BuzzFeed, I’m Giles.  Acceptable.
  • Riley is boring.  Just so, so dull.  I’m ready for him to leave.  I don’t even care how.

To hear:

This is a short list.  Crazy times at work mean silence is happiness at home.  In fact, this might be a non-existent list.  I can’t even think of one thing I have listened to.

To eat:

I have really been into guacamole this month.  I just can’t get enough of it.  I will drive through just to get guacamole and chips.  I’ve mostly made it at home, though – just an avocado, a tomato, a little cumin, a little cayenne, and a healthy squeeze of lime juice.  Happy.

And that’s what my diet usually looks like when the weather gets hot (for me, hot = above 75).  Fresh vegetables and fruits.  I forgot how much energy this gives me.

Want to share what you’ve been into?  Join us over at Leigh Kramer’s link-up.

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What I’m Into – March

Posted in Andilit, Books, Food, Story Sessions, TV, What I'm Into on March 31, 2014| 4 Comments »

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March is my favorite month.  October is a close second, but it cannot compare to March, because March is my birth month!  The thing I was into the most was turning 39.  I received both yoga pants and wine as gifts, and I appreciated them, so clearly I am right on schedule with fulfilling the stereotype.

Winter persisted into the first week of the month and royally screwed up my class schedule, but I can’t even be mad about it.  It turned Spring Break into two weeks for me at the school where I teach, since I’m only there on Mondays.

Story Sessions had its first Story Feast (in-person meeting of local peeps), and ours was a small feast, but Marvia and I had fun hanging out at La Madeleine.

I got to spend a little time with Mom and Dad over break.  Mom had her first cataract surgery, so I went along to keep Dad company while he waited.

I took care of my friends’ dogs while they were out of town for about half a week.  While I was there, I had an uncomfortable realization. One of the dogs was dumb and needy but the sweetest dog in the world, and the other was smart and funny but also kind of an asshole.  I was dog-sitting every guy I’ve ever dated or liked.

I am also in the middle of two classes – Brandy Walker’s Be Course for Lent and the Reframing Collective through Story Sessions led by Jennifer Upton.  That’s why you’ve been seeing more pictures than usual.  I’m taking more.

Oh, and I got an iPhone.  This will be the first phone with a data plan I have had (I know, welcome to the 21st century, and I can stop churning my own butter now). I haven’t activated it yet, but I do have active plans to become addicted to Instagram.

Those are the highlights.  Here’s what was playing in the background.

To write:

I have Fishbowl mapped out.  I put the chapters in order.  I know how it’s going to end, and I know how I’m going to get there.  This is huge.

I have an idea that’s been brewing a while concerning the things people say to single people (and specifically, what I could stand for them NOT to say. . . just ever again).  So April, I’m going to write it out.  I’m going to bleed 2,500 words a day to see if I have enough words to start another project.  This could easily become a community project in the future, but for now, I’m going to see what I have to say about it.

My two favorite posts I wrote this month:

– My link-up piece for The Girls We Once Were, called Renaissance Girl.

– My answer to Andi’s prompt to give myself ten nuggets of writing advice.

To read:

– Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet.  I loved it, particularly the parts about solitude.

– Vonnegut’s Welcome to the Monkey House.  My favorite story was “Who Am I This Time?”

– Stephen King’s 11/22/63.  Whose idea was it to have an 800+ page book for book club?  Oh, right.  Mine.  Well, I share the blame. I guess we all chose it. It’s a quick read, though, for 800 pages.  Because Stephen King.

Goodreads tells me that I am 11 books behind schedule on my reading challenge (100 books) for the year.  I would exclaim, “800 pages!” but that first book I read this year was really just a transcript of a speech, so I’m going to call it even.  I am trying to remember that I catch up in the summer and not let Goodreads psych me out. And maybe I could also remember that the world won’t end if I only read 90 books this year.

Some gorgeous things were written on the Internet this month.  These are my favorites:

When I Measure the Distance of God by Preston Yancey

Speaking Fear, Praying Shalom by Osheta Moore

You Don’t Have to Be Pretty – on YA Fiction and Beauty as a Priority on the Belle Jar

How Riding is Worship by Katie Rutledge

When World Vision Drops Me by Benjamin Moberg

The Internet has also been a tough place to be this month.  Lord, have mercy.

To watch:

Three words –

House.

Of.

Cards.

I watched both seasons in three days.  I couldn’t look away.

I am avoiding Psych and Scandal spoilers.  I’ll watch them after the semester’s over, when I can devote the appropriate measure of time to them. I think I’m actually going to start Psych over and watch from the first season.  That will give this season time to come out on DVD so that I can have it for my very own.  I love that show.

I finally saw Catching Fire. I liked it just as much as I liked the first one. As much as I like the story, I feel that I should have more to say about it, but no.

I had a nice time this weekend re-watching one of my favorite movies – Under the Tuscan Sun – and drinking wine and eating my weight in pasta.

But my favorite thing that I saw this month?  Veronica Mars, of course.  These were the highlights for me (and I don’t think any of them are spoilery):

– Veronica is back with the old school pop culture references – “You weren’t planning on carrying me through the airport, were you?”

– “You should only wear this.” Both times.

– Logan leaning against the car.  Rewind and pause.

– Dax Shepard cameo, for the win.

– Mac’s hair.  If I could pull off short hair at all, this is the haircut I would wear forever.

There were so many other things I loved about it, but any time you could spend reading about them would be better spent watching it.

To hear:

The Be Course has me dancing as a spiritual practice and also eating very fattening things so that my spiritual practice needs to take on some movement lest I gain 50 pounds during the class. So music has been mostly house and trip hop.  My neighbors don’t even know what to do with me.

To eat:

I have had a lot of baked goods this month (observe the pear tart above).  Brownies, cookies, cake.  I am in a constant state of sugar high.  This has to stop.  Of course, it’s chocolate chip cookie week in our e-course, and I’m a very good student. . .

During the dog-sitting/House-of-Cards-watching days, I developed an unholy affinity for peanut butter puff cereal.  I enjoy both the Mother’s and the EnviroKidz (yes, with a z) versions of this treat. As with all sugar-laced cereals, I try to mix it with plain Cheerios or plain puffed corn or wheat, but I have had at least one bowl a day for the last half of the month.

On Saturday, I took the marinara that was left over from supper club and mixed it with browned sausage.  I shaved a liberal dose of Parmesan over the top and put it on pasta.  So simple, yet so perfect when paired with birthday wine.

I’m linking up with Leigh Kramer – come by and tell us what you’re into!

 

 

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What I’m Into – January 2014

Posted in Books, Food, Story Sessions, TV, What I'm Into, Writing on February 4, 2014| 3 Comments »

This month January was fast.  I just don’t know where it went.

The semester started, and then it just took off.  I only have the one class this semester, so it seems like a year goes by between teaching days.

I made resolutions and chose my one word.

I started Story 101, and you’re going to hear a lot about that.  Yes.  Even more than you already have.  It seems that every other post is from a prompt from the class.  If you haven’t taken it, go ahead and follow the hyperlink above, because the spring session starts soon, and you don’t want to miss out!

Here are some other things I’m into:

To write:

I had the honor of guest posting as part of Preston Yancey’s series on what women want from the church.  That was scary and also fun.

I worked on some of my WIP, but not as much as I planned.  Other than the guest post (which I actually wrote in December), it’s been a bit of a blah writing month.

To read:

It has also been a light reading month.  I have been reading books on writing for the ecourse, and so far, May Sarton’s Journal of a Solitude has been my favorite.

To watch:

Ah, the reason that writing and reading have gone the way of the VCR this month…

My habits clearly think we’re still on holiday, because I’ve been watching way more TV than I usually do.  I got several seasons of Friends from Michelle and Steve for Christmas, so I have been reliving happy times.  That scene in The One With The Blackout where Ross gets attacked by the cat while the group is inside singing Top of the World?  I still laugh just as hard now as when I first saw it.  That’s just good TV. And nostalgia has not changed my unpopular position – I just don’t give a flying fig about Ross and Rachel’s relationship.  I know I’m supposed to care deeply, but I do not.

Parks and Recreation – I don’t want to talk about it.  I just want to let it know that I saw what it did. *stern face*

Community – I’ll talk about that. Nathan Fillion, how are you so adorable? Okay, that’s pretty much all I had to say on the subject.

As far as movies go, I went to see Frozen again, and this time I took my sister.  I love this movie.  I’m pretty critical of Disney, and I still have a couple of it-might-have-been-nice-ifs, but overall, I love it.  I even have a post planned to discuss the depths of my love for this movie, and that doesn’t happen very often.  It’s rare that I am able to invest in characters so quickly.

To hear:

I really love this song:

It makes me miss tango.  I’ve been feeling dance-y lately and listening to a lot of this-would-be-a-good-tango-song songs.

To taste:

Most of my meals lately have been odd combinations of frozen holiday leftovers. The most memorable was the taco roast-kale-Parmesan quesadillas.

I also made a pretty fantastic batch of Burgundy Beef after I had a glass of a disappointing wine.  It certainly redeemed itself in the dish.

My favorite thing I made all month, though,were my vanilla coconut waffles.  I could eat these every morning for the rest of my life.

So that’s my month.  I’m linking up with Leigh Kramer, so hop on over there to see what everyone else is into!

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What I’m Into – December 2013

Posted in Books, Food, Poetry, TV, What I'm Into, Writing on December 31, 2013| 5 Comments »

This was a weird month.  It’s the first time I’ve been at a church that observes the liturgical year.  It’s the first time I’ve really “done” Advent (does one do Advent?  Is that something that’s done?  Or experienced?  Or watched?  I’m not sure which verb goes there.).

I’ve also been sick most of the month, so food choices have been limited.  It also limited my coffee consumption – I went completely without for a week and a half – which, as you might imagine, put me in a fantastic mood.

And let’s not forget North Texas’s little Icetember adventure. Because large quantities of ice are so rare in Texas, it’s not really cost effective to keep the resources to deal with it.  It’s cheaper to just shut everything down until it passes.  So we did.  Happy 4-day Icecation to me! I got home at about 4:00 on Thursday, and I did not even walk out the door to get the mail until the following Wednesday morning. Ah, introvert bliss.

One might think that, between being iced in and having to stay home sick and getting two weeks off from work for regular holiday vacation, I would have gotten a lot of writing/reading/TV watching done.

Heh. Not really.  Not any more than usual.  My house is pretty clean, though.

Here’s what I was into this month, besides deep, leisurely cleaning.

To write:

I wrote a lot of poetry this month.  I participated in Story Sessions’s 40 Days of Poetry. I guess it wouldn’t be a lot to people who usually write poetry, but for me, the nine or ten poems I wrote is more poetry than I wrote the rest of the year combined.  So for me, that’s a lot.

I also ranted about freedom of speech, which a couple of friends picked up and shared on Facebook without my sharing it first.  I didn’t have to point it out to them.  Translation: my friends read my blog and like what I write.  Sweet!  Thanks, friends.  That made my week.

To read:

As inspiration, I also read a lot of poetry this month.  I reacquainted myself with the likes of Neruda and Donne, and I reread Adrienne Rich’s Fox collection.

I mentioned last month that I jumped on the Divergent bandwagon, and during Christmas, I finished the last two of the trilogy.   In a day and a half.  I haven’t been sucked into something that completely in a while.  I have a confession, though.  Unpopular opinion #427 – I liked the ending.  I’ll try to tell you why without giving anything away to anyone who inexplicably has not read it yet.  Any other ending would have been, at best, a contrived mess.  I would even go so far as to say that the ending that a lot of people wanted would have been a betrayal of the craft, because when an author foreshadows something so blatantly, she ought to make good on it.  I mean, I read a lot of YA fiction, so I have a pretty high tolerance for teenage angst, but if I had sat through three books of it and ended up with no learning curve or subsequent resolution, that might have merited a nice, healthy tossing of the book across the room.  And that would have been problematic, as the book was large (hardback), and I was at my mother’s house, and she has many breakable knick-knacks.  So, for knick-knack’s sake, I am glad that it ended the way it did.

To watch:

This month that has meant reruns of Gilmore Girls, How I Met Your Mother, and The Office.  This month has also meant made-for-TV Christmas movies, because that’s what Mom likes, and Pawn Stars, because that’s what Dad likes.  I’m not opposed to either choice, but the hours upon hours spent…let’s just say that, while the trip to their house was lovely in many ways, I’m really happy to be home, where I’ve spent the last two days watching the second season of Castle.

To hear:

I have been obsessed with The Bangles this month.  You know how you wake up with a song in your head every day, and it stays with you for most of the day (no?  Just me?  Okay, then)?  At least half the month, that song for me has been a Bangles song.  You’d think I would be sick of it, but no.  I blame Lorelai Gilmore and growing up in the 80s.

To taste:

The Sickness put a bit of a damper on my meal choices this month.  I’ve apparently been really into vegetable broth, potatoes, applesauce, and peppermint tea.  I had to cancel Supper Club one night, because I wasn’t sure I could even take the smell of the meal I had planned.

But around the 20th, I started to feel better, so I got brave and had some toast, then some peaches, and by the 25th, I was able to enjoy my dad’s crock-pot turkey, roasted in a citrus gravy, which was either the most delicious thing I’ve eaten all year, or I was just really happy that it wasn’t broth.

So that’s how 2013 ends for me.  What are you into?

I’m linking up with Leigh Kramer – follow me over there!

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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.

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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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All Saints Day

Posted in Church, Thanks, TV, Writing on November 1, 2013| 2 Comments »

“Lord, your saints come from every nation and every tribe. Such is the beauty of your kingdom, where every race and -people are honored and recognized as being made in your image. Help us live lives of peace and reconciliation that pay homage to the diversity of your great cloud of witnesses. Amen.” Common Prayer

November is a month of reeling from the furious writing of NaNoWriMo.  It is also Thanksgiving month.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  The special combination of gratitude, delicious meals, family, and the kickoff to my family’s holiday season extravaganza makes life magical.

This morning, I changed my calendar to November 1.  My friend Melissa bought me a Castle calendar, and November’s picture is a close-up of Nathan Fillion’s face.  That was the first thing I was thankful for this month.

November 1 is All Saints Day.  I am thankful for those who have come before me.

Today, I am thankful for:

1. My Story Sessions sisters and the NaNoWriMo group.  This is going to be fun.

2. I am thankful for Mary.  I did not grow up in a tradition that talked about Mary a lot, so I’m late to the party.   I am open to reading recommendations.

3. Getting feedback on my Fishbowl story from my workshop group.  With their help, this story is just getting better and better.

4.  My favorite Elvis song.  I wish I could find a clip of Jesse L. Martin singing it on Ally McBeal, because that’s actually my favorite version, but I suppose this will do:

5.  And let’s not forget – Nathan Fillion.

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What I’m Into – October

Posted in Books, Food, TV, What I'm Into, Work, Writing on October 30, 2013| 8 Comments »

These shenanigans:

Image

My boss likes to decorate the hall for holidays.  Even the bathroom.

The hall has been festive.  Homecoming is happening in a couple of weeks, and they’re going to haunted houses this week and picking out their costumes.  They all have declined to have their pictures taken for this post, but trust me – it’s really cute.

The weather is finally not terrible here!  It’s stormy today, which I love.  It’s been cooler, and that’s fantastic.

Here are my favorite things from October:

To write – 

I accepted The Nester’s challenge to write for 31 days on a topic, and my topic is “31 Days of No Fast Food.”  Only three more posts to go, and I will be finished!  That’s most of what I’ve written.

In non-bloggy news, I finished some editing on Fishbowl.  I also mapped out the characters for my NaNoWriMo novel this year.  It’s called Oddities, and it’s a YA novel, possibly steampunk-y because I want to play with that era, there are gadgets involved, and when I picture my characters, they are wearing corsets, vests, bustles, and spats.

To read – 

This was a month of reading things slowly and drinking them in, which is why I probably only made it through three books this month.  Worth it.

Every Shattered Thing by Elora Ramirez – I really loved Stephanie.  This story broke my heart.  It’s possible to read it quickly, but I don’t recommend doing so.  You’ll want to take your time.

Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God – To say that I read this collection is an understatement. I read and re-read and pondered and absorbed. I want to brush up on the German I started learning in college so that I can read it in its original language.

My Bookstore: Writers Celebrate their Favorite Places to Browse, Read, and Shop – I was perfectly calm when I started this book. It was a nice little group of essays by writers on their favorite bookstores. Then I got to the essay about Book People, and all the feelings came out of my eyes.  I want to go to all these places. I will neither confirm nor deny that I have mapped out various road trips designed specifically to do so.  This is a very dangerous book.

To watch – 

So…Scandal.  I love it.  They’re not very nice people, these people.  Some of the dialogue is trite.  They talk very quickly.  Olivia Pope is emotionally intense all the time, and I don’t quite know what to do with that.  On the one hand, it’s nice to imagine someone so emotionally expressive being successful in that environment.  On the other hand…EVERYTHING makes her tear up, and sometimes I just want her to get a grip, because let’s face it – she’s running a country here.

I also have been watching season one of Arrow.  I avoided doing so for so long, because being part of Smallville fandom taught me that the only acceptable Green Arrow is Justin Hartley.  The good:  Oliver Queen is a superhero, and he looks like one (you’re welcome).  The bad: Oliver’s inner monologue is terrible.  Just awful.  It makes me laugh every time, which I assume is not what the writers were going for.  Fortunately for them, the bad seasons of Smallville trained me to look past bad writing/acting and just focus on the positive when it comes to people in costume, saving the city.

To hear – 

Esthero, Portishead, Sneaker Pimps, Massive Attack. It’s been a trippy kind of month.

To taste – 

I have been writing a lot about food in my 31 Days posts.  The one thing I just can’t stop talking about is caponata.  I love it, I love it, I love it.

Cooler weather makes me want to cook.  This weekend, it’s chicken and dumplings.  Happy.

What have you been up to and into this month?  I’m linking up with Leigh Kramer – hop over if you need some recommendations.

 

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