Lol-fulness

I started a dedicated book review blog. Behold.

And in the next hour...day...there will be newness on the embrita blog.

But right now our landlord is using oven cleaner to do something with the exhaust fan in the kitchen (built up grease, I believe) and while it is odorless I'm still getting high.

So there's that...

I'm in Dallas starting next Wednesday. There's greatness planned, weather permitting. Inspiration here.

Goodies on the Doorstep

So this morning, like the good Suburban Housewife I've become, I shuffled to the front door in my robe and slippers (with my cup of coffee) to kiss Husband goodbye on his way to work. Imagine our sheer delight when we open the door to find this:

It's a box o' farm fresh tasty business from these guys, whom I found here, and who were recommended by an aquaintance in the area.

Even more exciting than the box are the contents. Behold:






There's also a handy list and explanation of what to expect in the winter:


A closeup of our selection:


and two more little notes:


I'm ok with no salad mix. I love salads, but with all the other goodness I can make a red leaf lettuce salad. Also, red leaf lettuce is better on panini's than salad mix.

I don't know what Romanesco is, but I know what broccoli is and we love broccoli.

There's also recipes for some of the items, which is good because I don't know the first thing to do with some of that. I know, from When Harry Met Sally, that you can grill radicchio.

And since I feel that I've waxed poetic about having a local diet enough, I'll just direct you to those previous blogs:

the one that started it all

the one in which I became proactive
(yes, research is proactive)

the one in which I lecture/give tips on how to have a green lifestyle
(being a Locavore is part of that)

the one in which eating locally is Step Five in my 12 steps to save the world

the one in which we drive to the country and reenact scenes from Super Mario Brothers 2

Now...to figure out how to make all that food fit in our fridge...and plan menus!

CPSIA Blog Today

In case you've missed it, there's legislation in the works that- in the name of protecting our children from lead paint - will kill small craftmen and women.

I'm not doing it Justice, but Designmom did. Read about it here.

Also I've kept the embrita blog up more than this one because my life lately has revolved around my house. And we all know I like to compartmentalize.

So there you go.

And I just posted that because I like that she's pretty and she's biking. And that she used brown shoes to pop. It's very nice :-) It's Ellen Page, btw. Better known to some as Juno.

Go West, Young Man

image source

Something big happened yesterday. I watched in on cnn.com. (Watching an Inauguration on television is SOOOOOO 2004)

Like everyone, I was moved. I was relieved. I was elated. I was veklempt. And then he said something that gave me pause. In a good way. From the transcript:

"In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the fainthearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again, these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction."

I have just returned from a place where worldly possessions were sold and packed, and a journey West was undertaken. It put my own journey West into sharp contrast. More photos:

Gingerbread like town

The Church

These people, the Boozers, were farmers in this tiny little Swiss town. They sold everything they owned, packed up the rest, and boarded a boat. They wound up in Saxe Gotha Township in South Carolina. Ulrich - the head of the family, was a Tory. They were farmers for 4 generations and served in two wars (some speculate that one of the women in the family was a spy in the civil war...)

Virgil (a minister), Essie (nee Wyse), and Herman...taken in 1897-98. The fifth generation of Americans. To think that they went from being poor farmers to this in a few generations. This is what America is about.

So I'm thinking - if they could do all of that and become what they became, then Cali is going to bow to my will. Clearly I'm made of strong stuff.

I was going to be all deep and moving and then I lost it. I'll let Obama be deep and meaningful for me.

And I'm thankful for a president who can speak in complete sentences. Who respects science as well as faith (all faiths). And who doesn't look like - as a friend put it - he's contemplating navel lint. And yay! Young children in the White House. What this country needs is a shot of youth.

photo source

The things you find...

If I'd waited a month to post this, it would have been turned in 20 years ago exactly. Given that I continue to have cats I know the answer is that canned food wins every time. It is second only to chasing something and then only when the mood strikes the animal. Cats are reliable like that.

This was found in one of our file cabinets along with a sheaf of pink notebook paper (I was 10) upon which there were other assignments and several notes about my lack of personal application. Luckily it wasn't very long after that when there was some kind of universal test and it was determined that I was bored. So they put me in some advanced classes...where I continued to fail to apply myself. In fact, that lasted pretty much through college. My opinion was that if I could get solid B's regardless of whether I cracked a book or not, then I was going to fill my time doing interesting things. Exceptions: most of my math classes required me to work VERY hard for B's...economics required hard work for C's. And classes I would have attending even if they hadn't been mandatory often saw me breaking the curve.

Perhaps I should have been Montessori'd/Home Schooled.

Ironically I'm considering a Masters. But if P-Boo could do it in 1926, I can do it 83 years later.