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October 31, 2006
they better get here soon
i'm alone in a house full of candy. NOT GOOD.
Posted by lisa at 06:29 PM
October 30, 2006
high efficiency model
sunday morning, we carefully avoided the kitchen full of dirty dishes.
we went out to breakfast.
after breakfast, j suggested that i buy that dishwasher i've been planning to get. so i did. it arrived this morning.
it's a portable, just like both of my grandmothers had. it's (pretty much) the first time i've had a dishwasher since i moved out of my mom's house, about 18 years ago.
it's... very novel. a big box of electricity and water is sitting in my house. i guess that's not much different from a washing machine.
i have to say that it is nice not to have to hand wash that big stack o' dishes. my back always hurts when i do a lot of dishes all at once, and there's no place to dry them all.
anyway, this is an improvement in a lot of ways... i'll gain some counter space, and of course dirty dishes can be stored in the washer rather than on the counter.
perhaps boring to some people but quite exciting to me :)
Posted by lisa at 08:25 PM
October 29, 2006
post-party
my few, sad, paltry photos
house of dioxin photos
a single, extraordinary offering from Bunch of Pants
Posted by lisa at 08:10 PM
October 27, 2006
it's better than that lame party we went to the one year i didn't throw a party
this is really the reason i throw a halloween party every year. because one year i didn't, and sarah and georg and i went to that guy's lame party, and years later we're still cracking up over how totally and completely lame that party was.
the stark overhead lighting, the way all food items had been embargoed to the chairless dining room, the squat woman who berated me for being insufficiently costumed, even the preposterous invitation which required one to click through twenty pointless screens before revealing the date and time of the party... yeah.
even if my party is me, georg and sarah sitting around my kitchen playing with eyeball wind-up toys and eating gingerbread, it's a better party than that one.
besides, i've got all these eyeballs and stuff...
sarah came over tonight and helped me decorate which was pretty awesome, because having an enthusiastic helper makes it way more fun, and i'm much more likely to actually use the majority of my stuff.
it was also rather amusing to see how she was both horrified by yet compelled to inspect certain items, like the squishy eyeballs, and the zombie candle hand thing. you know, where you burn each of the fingers and they drip red wax like blood and there's a fake skeleton underneath?
that was a good one.
Posted by lisa at 12:01 AM
October 26, 2006
recipes
Gingerbread
1/3 C shortening
1/3 C water
1/3 C molasses
1/3 C sugar
1 egg
1 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Heat water and butter until butter is melted. Add molasses, sugar and egg; beat until sugar is dissolved. Sift dry ingredients and beat into wet.
Grease loaf pan, bake at 350 for 30-40min
note: IIRC Bunch of Pants found this recipe a little dry. Be conservative about the baking time, especially if you are using a pan that is wider than a loaf pan (which I usually do).
:|:
I made these tonight, for the party...
Crunchy Fudge Sandwiches
1 C (6oz) butterscotch chips
1/2 C peanut butter
4 C rice krispies
1 C chocolate chips
1/2 C sifted confectioners sugar
2 T butter
1 T water
Melt butterscotch chips and peanut butter over low heat in a large, heavy saucepan, stirring until blended. Add rice krispies. Press 1/2 of mixture in buttered 8×8" square pan. Chill. Set remainder of mixture aside.
Melt remaining ingredients in a double boiler. Spread over chilled mixture. Allow to cool and top with remaining rice krispy mixture (re-heat slightly if necessary). Chill. Cut into small squares.
:|:
I am considering making a small pitcher of these, provided I can find creme de noyaux. I figure floating 151-proof rum on the top can be optional for those not wishing to become complete wasted, instantly.
Zombie
1 oz light rum
3/4 oz creme de noyaux
1/2 oz triple sec
1 1/2 oz sour mix
1 1/2 - 2 oz orange juice
1 Tbsp. 151-proof rum
crushed ice
Blend until smooth; float 151-proof rum on top.
Posted by lisa at 12:22 AM
October 24, 2006
rituals
today i went to the farmer's market to buy pumpkins, the most hideous gourds i could find, and this year, mums.
i actually tried to leave without visiting the seafood restaurant, but caved at the last moment. it's "calabash style", which means that if it's not slaw, it's fried. and probably someone somewhere has figured out how to fry slaw, too.
god, it was good. and it's part of my yearly fall ritual.
this is perhaps the most ritualized time of year, for me. there are certain movies i like to watch, foods i like to eat, things i like to do.
parties i like to throw.
i like it.
tonight's movie: hocus pocus. no, really...
Posted by lisa at 11:00 PM
grrrmmmmmbbbmmmrrrrrrrggggghhhhhhh
Posted by lisa at 12:43 AM
October 23, 2006
perish of fits! perish of fits!
i've been neglecting the halloween content this month, sadly, so many thanks to the house of dioxin for the link to gashlycrumb tinies quiz. i am happy to report that my result was one of my top two favorite tinies, "perish of fits". the other one being "died of ennui".
You will perish of fits. Repeat this to yourself: "Things can work out even if I don't get my way. Things can work out even...."
Take this quiz!
Can't get enough Gorey? Check out the Fantod for another ghastly prediction about your fate. This was a little mini-site that I found years ago. The original owner abandoned it and left it in a less than usable state; i nabbed the images and reconstructed it with corrections to make it usable. In other words, not my original work, but the person who did come up with it stole the images from gorey, anyway. guilt all around.
enjoy.
Posted by lisa at 12:17 AM
October 22, 2006
a very lovely weekend.
j. and the puppy came to visit this weekend. no real agenda except that i really wanted to go to the fair. which we did.
this morning we made a luxurious breakfast (well, mostly I made it)...
...stewed apples with spices, hash browns with cheddar, sausage and coffee. perhaps a little too much on the stick-to-your-ribs side, but it sure was tasty.
then we went out to west point on the eno for a visit to the grist mill and a walk through the woods.
tonight i made dinner (it was all about the eating today, which was good because we didn't do that well with the eating at the fair). i used whole wheat flour from the grist mill to make gingerbread for dessert and it was fantastic! i really liked the texture. i'm going to be having gingerbread cravings all week and i'll definitely be making some for the party next weekend.
they're gone now. i'm sad but the kitty is happy.
Posted by lisa at 10:18 PM
October 18, 2006
the good news
i took mo in today to follow up on his arthritis treatment and to get a urinalysis done to see if a very slightly off factor we saw a few months ago has gotten worse.
so for the arthritis the vet felt that we are not ready yet for the more heavy duty drugs with the potential for serious side effects. which is kind of frustrating in a way, but also kind of good.
and for the urinalysis, everything is exactly the same. his kidneys appear to be just fine and that one factor is not worse and is very low anyway. so all is good with the mo.
i also spoke with MFM. he did a more thorough road test of creampod than the dealership. his opinion is that this is not a straightforward case of the clutch plate being burned down. the car grabs too well and behaves like a car with a good clutch, except for too little play in the clutch and of course the smell.
he's given me some ammunition to take back to the dealership and get the VWoA tech rep involved to have this investigated as a warranty issue. so i am going to give that a shot. this dovetails with what i suspected anyway, which is that there's a deeper problem here. and if that is covered under warranty-- then VW owes me a clutch.
obviously the situation with the car is not ideal, and it's a pain to have to fight with VW about the issue, but at least now i feel like i have a shot at not having to pay through the nose for this, and that makes me feel pretty good about things.
that and, you know, the fact that my cat isn't dying of kidney disease. that makes me pretty happy too.
Posted by lisa at 05:00 PM
October 14, 2006
the two-beetle system is working as designed
the warm weather car has broken down at exactly the right time of year, as the temperature drops. the cool weather car has sprung back into roadworthy-ness at just the right time.
all is working as designed.
ps, i love driving spacepod.
Posted by lisa at 12:17 AM
October 12, 2006
glass half full, or at least one quarter.
although thinking about the many clutches of my beetles makes me IRATE and frustrated, i thought it might be nice to focus on some more positive developments.
first, spacepod is driveable again-- in fact i plan to drive him to work tomorrow. after many jump starts and idling and whatnot, his battery is finally strong enough again that he'll start on his own reliably. i am trying to start him every day, however, because i'm paranoid. and on his next visit to MFM, i'll ask that the charging system and battery be checked.
i think i may have cleared the sunroof drains? he's a little damp inside, but no actual puddles. driving him means i can air him out though and keep the issue under control.
so he's a lot less pathetic and sad than he was. many props to xta for her jump start assistance, and to spkorb and dangerwill for their virtual assistance. it takes a village, apparently, to keep a vw running.
i'm having fantasies of having him repainted in a two-tone retro scheme with the chrome atom symbol on his side done in paint rather than vinyl. but, you know. that's just a fantasy.
:|:
speaking of fantasies, there's this old, abandoned car dealership near my house and i keep having fantasies of buying it, somehow getting the city to re-zone it so i could live in it (ha!) and making it into an awesome retro pad with a zillion tons of garage space. i call it "garage house".
Posted by lisa at 11:41 PM
maybe my next volkswagen should be a honda.
hey, guess what? my two year old car, which i've had for six months, and which has 34k miles on it, and only has 24k on the current clutch... needs a new clutch.
or at least, so the dealership says, based on the horrible smell it's producing. MFM will be taking over next week, since it won't be covered under warranty.
for comparison, spacepod's original clutch was replaced at around 100k due to a bad release bearing, and MFM told me i had 20-30k left on the clutch plate at that time. i'm not hard on clutches.
if anyone needs me, i'll be in the angry dome. or at least the exasperated dome.
Posted by lisa at 09:15 PM
October 09, 2006
the charming english cottage o' death
rumbles forth again on saturday, october 28th. 8pm until. zombies permitted if accompanied by non-zombie.
if you don't know where i live, but feel comfortable asking for directions, i probably will want you to come to my halloween party. email party at spacepod dot org.
Posted by lisa at 08:57 PM
zombies with computers
"control-alt-brraaaaiiiiinnnnnnssss"
Posted by lisa at 08:55 PM
October 08, 2006
NBeast photoz
I was quite busy during the show so I wasn't able to photograph things the way I normally would.
Posted by lisa at 10:36 PM
October 06, 2006
blow by blow
oh yes, you know you want to know every freaking detail until nbeast!
ok, not.
the trophies are 90% complete. spacepod started on his own power tonight.
note: hot glue is hot. don't stick your finger in it.
can i just say how glad i am that J will be here for nbeast? he has the magical power to make me laugh and stop, at least for a moment, being a big stressed out drama queen. he can even do this over the internet. it's one of the thing i like about him.
Posted by lisa at 12:37 AM
October 04, 2006
he's alive! sort of.
christa came over and we succeeded in jump starting spacepod! we pushed him to the end of the driveway so we could use shorter jumper cables, we connected him negative to negative, rather than grounding the negative to spacepod's body (there ain't much metal accessible in that engine compartment), and we let him charge for a while off of creampod that way. and then, with a few tries, he started!
i let him run a good long while, moved him on to the street where i can jump him pretty easily by myself, and i fiddled around trying to unclog his forward sunroof drains (to no avail, i think). and then i shut the windows and sunroof and turned him off. checked the battery and it was not fully charged and he would not start again.
so clearly something is not right in his electrical system, maybe the battery was just damaged by being deep cycled. also, something is clearly draining the battery which is compounding the problem. so a visit to MFM is still in order but i am going to let it wait til next week.
if i have to jump him to get him to nbeast, then jump him again to get him back home, then so be it.
Posted by lisa at 09:00 PM
bag chairs
does anyone local to durham nc have any bag chairs, or other portable outdoor friendly chairs that i could borrow for sunday? i have rented tables but no chairs (cause the show is in the hole already) but am getting a guilt attack about that and would like to provide a few extra chairs if i can.
Posted by lisa at 01:33 AM
October 03, 2006
My stance is Pro-Zombie
It is time for this blog to reveal its unabashedly Pro-Zombie stance. Zombies are one of our greatest natural resources, and can help in the fight against global warming and the proliferation of humans with overly tasty brains. Now is the time for Zombies to be recognized for the great benefits they bring to mankind.
Up with Zombies!
Up with Zombies!
Posted by lisa at 01:01 AM
October 02, 2006
mere days
it is only a few days until NBeast.
the weather forcast for saturday and sunday is very good. let's hope it stays that way.
the biodiesel co-op guys are talking about bringing their tanker, which should be interesting.
yesterday i bought 20' jumper cables which is enough to reach from car to car in my driveway. spacepod's battery is so dead, though, that he will need to get a transfusion for a good while before he'll start even with a jump. on the up side, i got his windows and sunroof open so he can air out. both of the forward sunroof drains are clogged and have standing water in them. compressed air did nothing to help this, it just blew bubbles in the water. next step is to ream them out with a wire. we hope we don't have to try step three, which involves removing the A pillar covers. i don't like taking apart the spacepod, even if it is just a plastic cover.
october is a big month. j is planning to visit three times, two of which are for social occasions where he will meet some of my friends.
i look forward to the Time After NBeast. time during which i can work on the house and yard, and make it lovely for haloween.
ok, time for work.
Posted by lisa at 09:03 AM