Cookie Day 2012

I love these ladies!

Since moving back to the homeland, one of my favorite holiday activities has been the gathering of estrogen at the "Fish" household! They actually belong to my best friend from college, but I consider myself an honorary member of the clan.

It's a day spent with some of my favorite people this side of the Mississippi; full of baking, laughing, and the inevitable injury &/or boob grab...in no particular order.

Here's some pictures from this year's joyous gathering....

This table full of goodies was already filling up by the time I arrived.

 This is Momma Susie. There aren't enough words to describe how rad this lady is.

This is Aunt Betty. She's a spitfire & I love her for it.

Papa Tony chose to supervise the kitchen shenanigans from the couch...

And here we have 3 more beautiful ladies: Cousin Myra Anne, Cousin Abby, and Aunt Myra Lou

Aside from how stoned I happen to appear in this particular picture, the lady next to me is one of my favorite gals on the whole planet. She's been my best bud since I was young and crazy...now, I'm just old and crazy.

"I love FISHES cause they're sooo DELI-COUS"

Teamwork to the max.

Myra Lou sporting her Susie-Original Xmas Apron!

Cam rockin' his dino-santa shirt, like a boss.

Aunt Betty w/ Scott

Scott, Nicole, & Cam

No "Cookie Day" would be complete without a picture of Momma Susie's ass.

Where the magic happens...

Aunt Betty putting the final touches on Cousin Patty's masterpieces

One went limp, but the rest Betty got to stand erect.

How cute is she?!

Whatever the hell this is called, it was delicious.

Trust me. I picked at it most of the day.

I think I've become "the cake-baller".

I handle those balls like it's my job...or so they say.

And, as I said in the beginning; no Cookie Day would be complete without a boob-grab.

This year, Betty knocked it out of the park for this rendition of how she avoids those unsightly tan lines.

Happy Holidays to you and yours!
Until next year, folks!
xoxoxoxo

Lunar or Loony?

All morning I've been in a really weird head-space, and as soon as I logged into FB, I saw this & it was like the clouds had parted and the trumpets sounded.

Well, not really, but it's the only plausible thing that seems to explain the charge in the air & the turmoil in my brain...

"The full moon with a lunar eclipse is Wednesday, November 28 at 6:46 AM PST (Pacific Standard Time). This is a very potent moon and the eclipse is a marker for deep change. Celebrate. Do something higher centered and involving art or music or nature or love. Engage in physical life fully and appreciate every moment. This is a good moon to pray for what you want. There is a window of manifesting something of the heart, something new you never thought you could have.

"This moon launches the final stretch of preparation for a new cycle to begin. Between now and the winter solstice on December 21 is a crucial time of letting go, revisiting priorities, separating yourself from what is not in your best interest, and reaching for a higher vibration in all things. Think of this time as the final exams before graduating from whatever group of lessons we agreed to as represented in the current cycle.

"The new cycle will be like starting a new school; a lot of unknowns and some degree of excitement, anxiety and uncertainty as well as a commitment to do your best. Meet it with enthusiasm and openness instead of fear. And be as prepared as possible." (Lena Stevens, shamanic astrologer)

  The second paragraph really stands out to me, since I've been doing A LOT of self / life evaluation thinking, lately. 

Pulling off the "cool, calm, & collected" facade is exhausting, when I feel like I inherited my mom's trait of wearing emotions on her sleeve. I tell myself "Casey, get it together. Reign in the crazy & sort it out inside before you open your mouth."

Steering yourself toward the life you want, while juggling the life you have, takes strength that sometimes I question whether I have. 

The first few steps toward my path, thus far, seem to be (1) Get my own bank account & budget it closely (2) Buy a vehicle (3) Start paying off my student loan debt (4) Get back in shape

Getting the ball rolling on these, is yet to come, but if the astrological prediction (above) is remotely accurate, now is the time to make it happen.

The first thing I decided last week, and have already began implementing, is a healthier diet & the beginnings of an exercise regiment. This is something I have complete and utter control over & it affects me, and only me. 

I told you, weird head-space kind of day...

 

Rant-tastic #1

It has been almost a week since the David Petraeus affair scandal hit the news.

It has, also, been almost a week since I thought, "Who gives a shit? What other relevant news is going on in the world, that I should be knowledgeable of?".

The fact that officials in high-profile positions, are expected to lead by example & exhibit a tight moral fabric; is not lost on me.

I feel the same way about this media frenzy as I did about Clinton's Lewinsky faux pas. Are we (Americans) so desperate for the media to entertain us, that we will spend more time listening to news reports & reading articles about a CIA Director's sexual indiscretions, than we do learning all we can about the newly unveiled leaders of the most populated nation on the planet; or making an effort to understand why there is conflict in Syria & how that affects the USA?

I fully understand the need to investigate the situation, be certain no national security secrets were whispered as sweet-nothings into this biographer's ear; but seriously, after that has been cleared...give it up.

Let's move on.
He put his tail between his legs, and resigned.

I'm not trying to condone what he did, but I don't feel his inability to keep his dick in his pants makes him incapable of being an asset to this nation. The only difference between him and most other people in these offices is that he got caught.

To err is human. Has it come down to how expensive of a lock you buy to make sure those skeletons in your closet never see the light of day?

Don't act like you don't have a few, yourself.
Everyone does.
Whether it's your experimental drug years in college, your current fetish of having someone shove packing peanuts up your ass, or your lackluster home relationship that leaves you unexpectedly seeking out the missing pieces with someone else.  Everyone has something that they regret or are ashamed of. 

While I'm on this bored-at-work fueled rant, can I just say that I am also completely burnt out on the articles rehashing WHY Romney didn't win the election? If Romney is a dead horse, every wannabe political annalist wants their kick. The only benefit I can see, is the reoccurring theme that most Republicans are out of touch with the changing demographic of American voters. Whether they absorb this & it manages to change any of the current core politics of the GOP is doubtful, but just cut it out w/ the pity party, for christ sakes! Just let me go back to my efforts of explaining population density  to the brilliant folks on Facebook who look at the pretty election results map & just can't figure out how Obama won if there's so much red. (sigh)


...whew...I think my red tent time is fast approaching.

Fuzzy Balls

With the onset of fall, my brain has told my body that it's time to hibernate.

 That is my most plausible excuse for my lack of posts, lately.

Just do me a favor, and go with it...Trixy agrees with my logic.
Hibernation is her favorite activity.

Is it a sign of the times, for one to sit and think "What the hell have I been doing over the last couple months?" and have to revert to the pictures on my not-a-smart phone to jog my memory?
Well, maybe so. You can thank me later for taking you with me on this photographic journey.


After 2 mornings of having to scrape the frost off the car windows, while my freshly showered hair froze solid; I hightailed it to Menard's to pick up a better scraper....and ended up coming home with this pink, plaid, prize of awesomeness: 

I had reached a point of drastic necessity, where my procrastination of making any sort of doctor's appointment had reached epic proportions. This apparently worried my mother, because she felt the need to sneak a few crisp bills in my wallet during her last visit, with a post-it that read :

"Make a fuckin eye doctor appointment! Love, Mom :) "

Being the responsible, 31 year old that I am; I did as I was told.

My prescription had long since expired, which prevented me from purchasing new contacts. This left me with the last pair of "2 week" ones that were over 2 years old & my gigantic Bono glasses that won't stay on my face & who's lenses appear to have a coating that is wearing off, leaving them permanently spotty looking & difficult to see through. 

Is it a bad sign, when the optometrist assistant gasps when she sees the state of your glasses?

While killing time in the waiting room, I picked up the closest piece of reading material within reach, and after several minutes of flipping through, I found myself repeatedly thinking to myself "How did this happen & I haven't read about this anywhere in the news?!" Then, I flipped back to the front cover to check the date...

I wasn't sure whether to laugh & appreciate my Optometrist's sense of humor, or be very concerned at his lack of attention to detail.

My fears were confirmed when he entered the waiting room to fetch me, casually asked if I was catching up on current events; to which i answered, "Yeah, from when my parents were 'doing' it". After witnessing his puzzled expression, I explained my remark; to which he replied, "Oh. I just grabbed a few from home. I guess I should have checked the dates."

"Who keeps 30 years of Nat Geo's sitting around their house?! Is this guy a hoarder?", I thought to myself.

Regardless, of my initial panic, the rest of the visit was quick and painless. Except for the other assistant who nearly killed me with anticipation, trying to adjust the eye-air-puffer machine. It's bad enough knowing that you're going to get shot in the eye, but waiting for 10 minutes while you're in the line of fire, and the operator really seems clueless as to how to operate it; is a bit nerve-racking. I was in and out in less than 30 minutes, with a crystal clear pair of contacts.
It was like seeing a whole new world!

This is Bella. 

She's my office buddy.
We have long talks about life, boys, and fuzzy balls.
Mostly she just hangs out under my desk and farts, while I pick eye goobers off her face.
It's a special relationship that we share.

This is a lop-sided prototype for the centerpieces I'm making for the Holiday Party I'm in charge of for work, this year. My goal here was classy, yet rustic, & very, very "budget friendly". I'm changing a few things, but I still think I can keep my total cost under $3/centerpiece; which I am quite proud of. 

There's a full blog post in the works w/ details of the party planning & pictures of the final set-up to share with you all. The party is about 4 weeks away, though, so be patient.

Until then the last picture I'll share is regarding my revived love of motorcycles & sidecars. This one might be the coolest one I've ever seen.

P.S. I couldn't be happier that this man is still my president.

Roots

I just finished watching the "Fresh" documentary.  (Thank you, Netflix!)

I have to admit, I'm a little teary-eyed.

Many of the simple, natural principles explained within "Fresh", and many of the other documentaries like it, speak to my very core.

Joel Salatin is my idol.

Michael Pollan preaches the gospel.

My 'American Dream' isn't a McMansion in an H.O.A. dominated, affluent suburb. In fact, driving in housing developments give me minor panic attacks. Living in one would be like a reoccurring nightmare, from which there would be no escape.

As the years pass, my desires to return to my roots on a farm, only intensify.

 


My recent trip home, brought me back to the place where my heart is rooted the deepest.

Grandpa's farm.








This is where the very center of who I am, began. Animal-loving, dirt-digging, blue jeans-wearing, crafty, farmer, tom-boy. It's a place that taught me the values of a hard day's work & being able to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor.


I witnessed first hand (quite literally) the birth of my future hamburgers and bacon.

As sad as it is to see the various barns that housed these pets - and the farmhouse, itself - weather & decay over the years; there is a lasting beauty to them, as well.

Memories and lessons learned that I cherish, all of which I can only hope to pass on to my children, one day.

My American Dream is being self-sustaining.

To sit on my back porch at night, listening to the song of the cicadas & gazing at the stars.

To invite friends and family over for days of canning and cocktails.

To have a family that shares in delights of spring planting and harvesting throughout the summer and fall.

To have my own goddamn Eggmobile.

 

Gifts from the Heart

9/7/12:
Since last Monday was Labor Day, I'd looked forward to a 4-day work week to breeze through.

I was oddly mistaken.

This was one of the longest short weeks, ever.

Why? I haven't figured that out. There's no single event. Maybe I just over-anticipated how quickly the week would fly by & when it didn't...

Oh, well. It's finally Friday with roughly 2 hours of work left!
Clearly my attention is diverted from the slew of attendance spreadsheets, incident reports that need processing, and other various data entry that may very well make my brain explode at any given moment.

For the safety of my noodle, I shall write instead.

In a continued effort to strengthen the relationships with that side of the family, I'll be making the 3hr trek north, tonight, to attend my niece's 2nd Birthday, on Saturday. I'd contemplated  gift options all week.

Being a childless aunt, allows me (at least in my opinion) full authority to purchase the most obnoxiously loud gifts possible, with no fear of retaliation.

After much thought, and not really feeling up to wandering the toy isles of the nearest big box store to find an over-priced kids drum kit; I decided on a hand-crafted gift.

Of course, I waited until Thursday night after work to undertake the project I'd concocted at work that day, and high-tailed it to Menard's after work to pick up a 1x12x6 plank of wood. I hauled ass home & began digging out the other supplies I had on hand.

My mission: a growth chart

With M.M.'s help, we found a font for the numbers that we liked ("Elephant"), altered them in Photoshop into simple outlines (it's all I really needed & it was ink-efficient).

First, I used the tape measure to mark the exact measurements on the board.



I started with making tick marks for the various measurements, and decided on distinctive lengths and widths for the various intervals.

*Every foot was marked with a 3" long line, 1/2' intervals were 2" long lines, 1/4' intervals marked with 1" long lines, and all other inch marks were left as small tick marks; I just sort of guessed the widths of each of the lines, roughly making them correspond visually to the intervals




Next, I measured a distance between the end of the 'foot' marks and where I wanted the top of the number to be, slid the printed number on the paper onto the board into position, and used a pencil to trace the outlines of the numbers.

The wood was soft enough, and made sure to push extra hard, so that there was a grove in the wood from the tracing. Once I was done, I removed the paper and re-traced the groves with my pencil.

Once everything was marked up in pencil, I pulled out my pink velour make-up bag that houses my trusty Dremel. 



To say I love my Dremel, would be an understatement.



I marched everything outside, ran my extension cord, and got to work. I wanted the numbers and measurements to be slightly recessed & textured.


This took awhile, but I got it done by about 9pm!


Once I got everything cleaned off and the tools put away, I marched the board back upstairs to my crafting lair to be painted.









I chose a sage(ish) color of green, that I'd picked up (for a previous project) at the Habitat For Humanity Re-Store.


 I only applied one coat of paint for both looks and time constraints.

Then, it was time for the more detailed painting of the dremel'ed areas. This took some additional effort due to the textured surfaces; and some touch-ups after I took this picture & could see the spots I missed.

By this point it was about 10:30pm, and I needed to let everything dry overnight.

I did take the opportunity to write an inscription on the back to her wishing her a happy 2nd birthday followed by this quote by Benjamin Franklin: “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”


Since I had to work today, I carefully loaded it up when I got home, packed my bags & a can of varnish and headed north!





9/9/12:
The party was on Saturday afternoon, I had that morning to lacquer it up at my mom's house.






This was the finished project ->




I slapped a silver bow on it and was ready to go.
















Party Time!


























I remember my family marking my height over the years, in a doorway, at my great-grandmother's house. That house has long since been sold, and I'm sure the measurements have painted over. Clearly, this wasn't a gift she could appreciate now (so I threw in some crayons, coloring books, bath crayons, and a box of sidewalk chalk) but my motivation behind it was the hope that after years of my sister marking her growth; that she'll be able to look back on it as an adult as a memento of her childhood & something she can take with her!

Project Costs:
    1"x12"x6' board : $8
    I had everything else on hand! I buy varnish by the gallon to use for various projects, the green paint was $3 from ReStore that I'd had leftover from a lobby table I refinished for my office, and the black paint was a $1 bottle of craft paint from Michael's that I had leftover. 

Family Dynamics

"Friends are the family we choose for ourselves" - Edna Buchanan

Last year the phrase "blood is thicker than water" was put to the test, for me.

In summary, an issue of child abuse divided one branch of my family tree in two. There were those that sided with the child (or mentally handicapped young adult, rather) and those that sided with the abusers.

It was a long, stressful, and at times heart-wrenching split; but things seem to have settled on their respective sides of the fence.

As an adult, to me there is a certain value to be put on the adults that influenced me and cared for me throughout my childhood. That has been the hardest part of the familial divide. But in the same regard, as an adult I can see more clearly the tainted, borderline-sociopath tendencies of some of those people & know that I'm better off having pruned the family tree.

I've come to realize that many of my friends are simply better human beings, and closer to my heart; than those recently expunged members of my bloodline. They (and my remaining biological family) are true to themselves and to those around them. They are loving, compassionate, giving, honest souls that I can say I'm a better person for having them in my life.

 At roughly the age of 18, while in college, I wrote a letter to my biological father, introducing myself & giving him the option of meeting me, if he chose. It was an introduction my mother always offered up, throughout my childhood, having nothing but the best of compliments for him. His lack of a presence in my upbringing was simply a matter of circumstance. Needless to say, he was as eager to meet me, as I was him. After nearly a year of "getting to know you" meetings, I was introduced to most of the rest of my "new" family.

Packaged in that bundle were younger half-sisters.

Having spent my entire life as the only child of a single mother, I was more than excited to bond with them!
Unfortunately, this is where further circumstances have stunted the relationships I'd hoped for. (1) Distance: I lived 3hrs away for the first few years while going to school, then moved to the other side of the country for 9 years. (2) Differences in general family dynamics: My mother and I have a very close relationship, where the family dynamic & communication within my dad and his wife's family is slightly different enough, that seems to make it difficult to connect with them. (3) Lack of childhood bonding: not having shared vital moments together growing up, we seem to generally lack the ability to bond over memorable moments. 

I'm still learning to accept that these relationships must be allowed to grow & flourish at their own pace, over time; and to continue to love & cherish those in my life whether they are my genetic family, or not.

Tater Tower Experiment

Over the winter I stumbled upon instructions for a Potato Tower. After reviewing the information and specs on the project I vowed to give it a go this year.

If you haven't heard of this vertical gardening wonder; let me enlighten you!
(Or you can just google it)

The basic concept is to build a square out of wood, put it on the ground, fill it up with dirt & a few starter spuds, cover with dirt, and wait until the vines sprout up. Continue adding layers of the frame (in a tower fashion) & dirt, as the vines grow up. Based on the instructions, you can theoretically get 100lb of potatoes from 4 square feet of garden space.

Here are the notes I'd made up for myself in my handy-dandy notebook:


First of all, I have an issue with following craft projects and recipes EXACTLY. It's like there's a short circuit in my brain that tells me that there's always room to insert my creative adjustments, so why not?!

I had accumulated some scrap wood from work and sorted out the 2x6 pieces, since I figured they'd give me more height per piece.

Once I got the first layer put in, I realized my biggest issue would be having enough dirt to fill the damn thing. From that point on, I'd made up my mind that this would be a trial run, just to see how it would work; and stuck to a smaller scale.

I paused the construction aspect of it at 2 layers of dirt & 3 layers of boards. For the last couple months I've randomly watered & watched the vines go from big and bushy, to droopy, to just...dead. I'd read that when the vines die, they are ready to harvest. I waited several weeks & decided yesterday was as good of a time as any to dig in and see the results of this bad boy.

Here's the front view,  before I started the deconstruction:






As you can see, I didn't really bother putting all of the vertical support 'legs' in, b/c I knew I wouldn't be building it high enough to really matter...and I'd just screwed the back of the tower frames into the neighbor's fence.

Also, looks weren't that important to me this time around b/c it was at the back of our yard, behind my garden; so I also didn't really bother cutting many of the boards...which is why a few of them are sticking out the front.

Here's the side view.

As you can see, the support legs not only give you supports to drill into, but also keep everything squared up & ultimately keep it from toppling over.

Let's just say, this is not an example of great craftsmanship.

The boards were pretty easy to remove, and since I was adamant about not damaging a single spud, I did most of the soil removal with my hands.

If you've bothered to read my "bamBOO" post, you'll know that soil is pretty sparse for me, so I didn't want to waste any of the soil I'd stocked into this tower, when it needed to be returned to my main garden area.

I grabbed a beer, squatted down, and excavated small areas at a time with my hands, checking for lil taters; then used my garden trowel to shovel dirt into a bucket that I'd heave over and dump into my garden.

Oh! There's one!








It's like an easter egg hunt.

Here, you can see some of the lil tubers still attached to the root of the vine.









 There were quite a few that were only the size of peanut M&M's, which was a little disappointing...







Here's my final harvest.

I don't think I'll be inviting any of you over for dinner to share in this bounty. Sorry.

FINAL OBSERVATIONS:
1. Don't give up.  I WILL be trying this again next year, full scale, and following (most, if not all of) the original specs.
2. Location. Since this one was a bit of an eyesore due to sloppy construction, and since we have such a small back yard; I placed this tower at the very back corner of our yard to have it out of the way. The downfall to that area, is that the neighbors trees provide a large amount of shade, there. When the vines were in the height of the their green glory, the one's nearest the sun were clearly stronger looking, the last to die off, and ultimately where the bulk of the potatoes were unearthed. Next year, a new location will need to be established.
3. Water. I think part of the reason the vines died off so quickly this year was lack of water, which could also explain why there were so many under-developed spuds. My hose didn't reach the full distance to the tower, so while watering the garden, I'd lazily try to jet a stream of water the distance to it. That combined with the drought probably equated to some thirsty plants.
4. Dirt. I only had alittle over a foot of dirt, but they seemed to have grown in a staggered pattern, which I believe was the result of adding the layers of dirt. More dirt = more potatoes. Unfortunately, my yard offers very little dirt to raid for this project; so I'll have to budget some extra dough to buy a few extra yards of soil. Fortunately, I work for a landscaping company, and can get a decent rate on it. This project definitely takes more dirt than I'd originally anticipated.

Well, if you know anything about this, and/or see anything I missed please feel free to share! Like I said, this was just a rough experiment & now I have a better idea of what to expect for the full scale model; as well as what to expect financially. I think I can re-use the 2x6's from this project for next year but will need to anticipate any costs for additional purchases of lumber and soil; unless the craigslist gods are good to me.

Also, if you've had any first hand experience with tater towers, I'd love to hear your input; good or bad!

"Po-tat-o. Boil'em, mash'em, stick 'em in a stew!"