The Laursonian Institute

What a great day I had!

I only have an hour of classes on Thursdays, so they’re basically my best day.  But today was especially great.  We’re doing student presentations in semantics, so all I had to do was hang out and listen to some folks chat.  Went and had lunch out in the sunshine with Lewis, and hung out a bit in the library.  Picked up a book I needed, and also a Dickens book I think I’ll read.  I’ve never read any Dickens, but I’ve been rather into the Victorian-esque stuff for the last few years, and it seems like this isn’t far off that mark.  Though truthfully, seeing Masterpiece Theatre’s “Oliver Twist” was the real inspiration.

Came home and had a very nice lazy afternoon getting some small work done.  Decided I wanted to do something exciting with my evening that involved more than television, though… so I made pizza!   From scratch!  It was so fantastically exciting, I don’t think I can really capture that in the old blog.  I really should have taken pictures… but anyway.  The dough making was really, really easy (much easier than making bread!) and it only necessitated that Lewis and I walk to the store to pick up our topping ingredients while it rose.  I love it when your dough rises just exactly like it’s supposed to!  By the time we had shopped and walked back home and cleaned up a bit, it was all ready to go!  So we made half a sausage/veggie combo, and half a barbeque chicken.  Good gravy was it good.  If for some reason I had mozzarella around regularly, we’d be completely doomed.

And in the meantime, Lewis tried his first go at making Tabasco-style hot sauce!  Turned out pretty darn good.  It’s just got jalapenos and habeneros and vinegar… but it’s really sweet and nicely spicy.  Put it on the pizza and it was great.  Looking forward to maybe making eggs or potatoes or something with it for breakfast.  Seems like the perfect topping for some breakfast spicyness.  Mmm.  We’re spoiled people.  Full of our own handiwork.

Ooh, and we watched Bill & Ted over pizza.  Can you really top that?  I don’t think so!

February 26th, 2009 | Tags: baking, cooking, hot sauce, movie, pizza, triumph | Category: home | Comments Off

I forgot to mention the most important part of my day yesterday!  First I suppose I must publicly admit that I really enjoy birdwatching, and I have since I was a little kid.  Anyway, having looked through my bird books a million times, there are a few birds I’ve always wanted to see.  Long story short, the cedar waxwings were high on my list, and yesterday I found a whole flock in my back yard!   Watched them for as long as I could before we had to take off for school, and it was most excellent.  Here’s a triumphant picture I didn’t take, from the excellent Cornell Ornithology Lab:

February 26th, 2009 | Tags: birdwatching, triumph | Category: home | Comments Off

A lot of things happened today, but I only want to talk about the food parts!  Lewis and I mustered up the gumption to hit up the Co-op in the now regular bi-monthly real-food-buying extravaganza.  We used to shop more often, but lately it’s been one of those things where we only make it to the store in times of dire necessity, and it was one of those days.  I managed to make breakfast this morning, but only just, as we were out of milk, all bread products, and yogurt… thank goodness for a squirreled away container of rolled oats, and a cupboard hiding some soy milk.  The weather was really beautiful today, so it was a wonderful day for riding around town.  The Co-op is really great on weekday afternoons when it’s calm and the cashiers aren’t busy or rushed (not that it’s really any less friendly in there when it’s busy, I just get nervous in a crowd).  We bought a million tasty things, baaaarely managed to fit everything on the bikes, made it home, and had teeny ice cream sandwiches!  Spent the rest of the evening doing laundry and finishing my Quechua and semantics homework for the week, and then made dinner.  We picked up a whole trout (not rainbow, but “golden”… I think it was localish?) and cooked it up in some parchment with some veggies for dinner.  Also made really delicious Indian-style fried potatoes to go with it.  Oh!  And we finally got to use Lewis’ bun warmer!  It worked very well, to our mutual delight.  Rolls were kept butter-meltingly toasty without getting too hot or crispy.  Yay!

February 19th, 2009 | Tags: co-op, cooking, dinner, fish, shopping | Category: home, life | Comments Off

Alright, so I missed a few days.  It’s been a busy, odd, foggy couple of days.

Lewis and I had one of the strangest kinda crappy days on Wednesday.  It started off well enough, until Lewis got to campus.  He pulled his hat out of his bag, and as he was going to put it on, a big cockroach jumped out!  How terrifying!  Lewis squished it, but it was so very odd!   We took ourselves out for Japanese lunch which was great, but we got caught in a big rain storm on the way back to campus.  We were having a fondue party that night and I had to get our cheesey supplies, so back into the rainstorm went I.   Got thoroughly soaked on the way to the Co-op, and as I was right in the middle of shopping when I heard a huge thunderclap and the whole store let out a collective “oh!”.  Absolutely poured after that, but thankfully only for a few minutes, so it was fairly rain-free for my bike ride home.  I was still pretty nervous about that thunder, so I rode home pretty fast.  Sadly, bike chain fell off while going up the overpass, and then I fell off my bike while trying to get it back on.  Sheesh!   Followed all that up with some semantics homework and my second optical migraine, so I guess I’m headed to the doctor on that count.   Luckily it was all looking up from there – had a wonderful fondue party with the most delicious cheese-goop and delightful company.  Phew!

Yesterday was much less eventful.  Class went well, I got lots of work done, and had a nice relaxing evening with Lewis’ family.  They always get together on his grandpa Pappy’s birthday to have his favorite meal in his memory, so we went over to his parents’ house and had dinner with them and his Aunt Linda & Uncle Bill & Annie.   I always enjoy the family events, and Annie is always amusing to hang out with.  Anyway, much meatloaf and cherry pie was consumed, and it was great to have something low-rev and chilled out to be doing.

…which is exactly what I’ve spent all day doing.   I’ve only got one class on Fridays, and I’m done by 11, so it’s something like having the whole day off.  I got all my work done, and spent much of the day reading slowly and watching crappy (read: satiating) daytime tv.   Did a little prepping for some sewing only to discover I don’t know how to use the tracing paper I got from Francie this week.  So instead I poked around with mom’s old machine and cleaned it up a little bit.  It’s a multi-day clean-up task, but I figured out a few things, like how to wind the bobbin, and how to get the bobbin shuttle out.   Yay!   Now if I had only managed to have something more than a bowl of rice crispies for dinner…

February 13th, 2009 | Tags: crap, family, fondue, friends, recap, sewing, thunderclap | Category: home, life | Comments Off

Big day, big day.   I slept in, had a lazy morning with my sweetie, and had a lovely walk.  We also finally made Valentine’s plans, which I’m really looking forward to!   Seems like I spent the next million hours grading papers and getting my semantics reading done, but when I came out the other side it was pretty early.  Managed a real dinner (Lewis made some Asian coleslaw – my favorite!) and watched a Pink Panther movie.   Hurray for PBS!  I can’t forget to mention as well that Lewis has been working on cinnamon rolls this evening and I’m reaaally looking forward to tomorrow’s breakfast adventures!

Also embarked on some sewing projects… turned some scraps into hankerchiefs for Lewis.  I was also hoping to cover a pillow we had sitting around to take in to the TA office to snazz our couch up.  Learned a very important lesson… you apparently can’t sew all the sides of something together and then hope to then turn it inside out.  Especially when you’ve sewn a pillow into it.  Har har.  Fixed it, though it’s not as handsome as I had envisioned.  Decent for a completely half-assed no-pattern sort of thing.  It will snazz our couch nicely, and it was an amusing learning experience if nothing else!

February 7th, 2009 | Tags: lazy, sewing | Category: home, life | Comments Off

It’s 10:30.  It’s Friday night.  I’m exhausted.

I had a really chill day, compared to what I was worried about.  Doctor’s office cancelled my appointment at 7:30 this morning, so I didn’t have anything to do but my neuroimaging class.  Class went pretty well; it’s a good class, and it’s nice to be done by 11 on Fridays.  We have a three day weekend coming up, so that’s pretty bueno.

Did some work this afternoon when I got home, and got the house all cleaned up and ready for my sister.  Well, at least most the house.  Thankfully our house is always really easy to clean up.   I’m really looking forward to this weekend.  I should have tried to get all my work done today, but I burned out pretty early.  There’s something about the end of a Friday that really makes work difficult to do.   So instead, Lewis and I went and got frozen yogurt downtown and did some windowshopping at Ace, made a nice dinner, and watched a movie!

And now, all I really want to do is go curl up in bed and read my book.  Which is what I shall do!

January 16th, 2009 | Tags: chores, lazy, movie, yogurt | Category: home, life | Comments Off

Ooo, school starts tomorrow!  I’m rather excited about that this evening.  I just got my bag prepared for tomorrow, and packed with all the books and pens and things I need.  I’ve got a pretty easy day, I think – just Quechua and a meeting with the professor I’m TAing for.  I’m looking forward to it for sure!

Today turned into that relaxing and great day I was hoping for.  Got up pretty late after a debacle with our smoke alarm (chirpping, running out of batteries) at 4 am.  Had a nice lie in, a quick breakfast, and then we headed off to Vacaville to get some stuff done.  Lewis needed new pants that fit better, so we hit up the Eddie Bauer outlet and proceeded to spend waaaay more money than we probably needed.  But when all pants are like 15 dollars, and nothing you own fits any more… it’s time to sink some money in for the name of comfort.  We even ran into our Davis friends Ann and Joaquin there!   We had a nice lunch at Mels and then went and picked fabric for our bathroom curtain which maybe I’ll have time to pin and sew tomorrow.  Dinner with the Lawyers tonight was very relaxing.  We had some mixed drinks and talked through our LA plans (whew!) and a very tasty dinner.  Life is good.

Now I just need to try and get myself into bed before 1 am, so that I’ll actually make it to class on time in the morning.  Thankfully I don’t have any 8 am classes this quarter.  10 am will seem like a blessing!   And here’s to hoping that this quarter will be a better balanced, but equally enriching and stimulating experience.  Last quarter was a little out of control in places, and this quarter has a lot of potential for getting out of hand.  But as of tonight, I’m feeling relaxed and hopeful that this quarter will be a happy time full of friends and fun and adventure!  How’s that for a last-night-of-break cap?

January 4th, 2009 | Tags: crafts, family, plans, school, shopping | Category: home, school | Comments Off

Nada mucho to report today.  I slept really late — till almost 11! — and then I did housework all day.  It’s nice to feel like we’re not neglecting this place of ours.  I did all the dishes, the laundry, and the ironing, and maybe after some vacuuming tomorrow, we’ll be in good shape.  Boy, I can’t believe we only have a week left!

December 28th, 2008 | Tags: chores, short | Category: home | Comments Off

Not feeling so much like blogging tonight… I’ve got a snuggly kitty and a snuggly husband both waiting for me in bed.  I’ll only list today’s triumphs (and note that today was also a day lacking in failures):

• mailed north and southbound packages!
• mailed christmas cards!
• finished 2nd of 5 xmas made-food goods
• started 3 of 5!
• also started first attempt at homemade yogurt… will check in tomorrow
• ordered pizza, since food-makings were fairly exhausting
• picked up bike from bike shop!  like new!
• got another few christmas presents squared away
• saw Lewis’ family (including sister!) and had a nice evening with them
• watched a Bing Crosby movie!

Phew.  Good day.  Tomorrow’s feeling like it’s going to be even better, since I think I’ll be able to wake up to the feeling that I’ve not got anything reaaaally pressing to do.  Woot to that.

December 19th, 2008 | Tags: good, list, short | Category: home, life | Comments Off