Less-than Attentive(or New New New)

Ridicule me for being less than attentive, but come on! I am a busy lady. OK, maybe not quite busy enough not to blog, but I do find certain things more important than telling the inter-webs all my deep dark secrets.
So, updates are necessary. I got a promotion at work in May, going from a lowly loud-mouthed carpenter to the head of the department is quite a promotion(though you wouldn't know by the figure on my weekly paychecks. The gift and curse of working in the arts). Now, and again, I have people to supervise, schedules to schedule, budgets to budget, I really missed this. I love being busy, and this job does it for me. I can deal with stress, I work very well under pressure, and managing people is one of my strong suits. You could say I feel right at home.
I live in a beautiful new apartment, with two adorable orange kittens, and a wonderful, handsome, live-in boyfriend, and in a few months he and I will be moving into the house he is rebuilding. Lots of fun times there.
I have signed up for a CSA share by a local small 'company' called Field Goods who gets all of their produce from the smaller farms in the district who don't have enough produce to have their own CSA program, including Common Hands who, a few weeks ago, had to dig up the rest of their harvest because they didn't have sufficient ground cover to protect from the upcoming snow. Thanks to them for my delicious pickled daikon radishes. Also, thanks to Blue Star Farm for the head of red cabbage which is now jarred and pickling in my pantry, I look forward to the deliciousness of all(and the sausage I pickled earlier this week) in the upcoming weeks. On the note of domesticity, I also started a sourdough starter(2c flour 2c warm water and 1 yeast packet, mixed, covered and set aside for 4 days in the pantry) which I hope will make me a couple of delicious loaves as well next week. Perhaps for the pre-Thanksgiving dinner party I am hosting? Although, it seems few people actually enjoy sourdough as I do. More for me!

Today was a day spent lazy, which I well appreciate after having worked one 105 hour week following a 90 hour week. Again, the joys of working in the arts. If my carpenters think tech week kicks their butts, still getting away with 40-60 hour weeks, they have no room to complain. I am not complaining, I know what my job calls for, and I do what I have to do.

Therefore, tonight is date night; and by date night, my guy and I are staying in ordering sushi.
Unfortunately, we ordered on Mealeo.com from a local sushi restaurant Kumo, and when he went to pick it up, turns out the restaurant is permanently closed! Very glad we decided to pick up instead of getting it delivered. Now I have to go through calling mealeo and getting my money refunded and all of the other things I didn't want to do on my first weekend off. Also, there is no 'hold system' to mealeo, which means I have left a message and have been promptly calling back every ten minutes until someone calls me back or answers. Rat bastards will not enjoy Angry Jules.
The silver lining: our other favorite sushi place is next to my favorite wine store, which means I get a shiny new bottle of red wine for dinner. Yum! My heart and I love a good, hearty red wine. I have a bottle from 2000 I have been keeping for a special occasion, and just seeing it sitting on the bar, unopened, is very very tempting.

I've begun looking into what my garden will be next year. This upcoming year I will start planning and planting earlier, my garden will increase from 12'x24' to probably double that(the joys of living on 3 acres), and I will be around more to tend to the weeding and pruning and harvesting. I was not so attentive this year, we do not live on the property yet, but come spring time, we will be there!

I can see a chest freezer, and a whole lot of jarring in my future. I've been reading this site a lot and it makes me wonder, as I prepare to move to 3 acres, and surrounded by empty hundreds, into a house older than any property from the state I grew up in(Nebraska), what if the power goes out for while? What about all the perishable foods in the fridge and freezer? All the meats? I want to get my hunting license after(or before) my father sends me the very special Christmas present because of all the wildlife that will be wandering through the property. I, in fact, am a very skilled field dresser and have learned some how to tan hides, even, so I look forward to fresh venison, and perhaps turkey and pheasant in the coming future. What happens to all the delicious venison when the power goes out? If I get a pressure canner, I can can(see what I did there) meats and save them in the basement larder for future uses. Very exciting stuff. Will the domesticity ever end?

Which brings me to my end. Soon it will be dinner time for our very 'special' night in, so I must go. Farewell to all, I have two orange kittens in need of snuggling. I leave you with some photos of my most recent production, opening this Tuesday and starring Broadway's own Kevin Mcguire(he's really cool) Man of La Mancha.

Flu Bug

Sitting around on Day 3 in the epic battle against this stomach bug I've caught has really got me pondering.  Mainly because I've burned through my dvd's, read all my books, and am slowly leaning towards heading to the local Wal-Mart to try and find something new to occupy my eyeballs as I wait for this gross-ness to pass. First things first, attempting to eat food again! For one who is so in love with food (although you could never tell, me weighing a buck-twenty soaking wet) being ill really puts a damper on my love affair with cooking and eating. It also puts a damper on my daily gym-going, which makes me sad too.  I've never been a huge gym fan.  In fact, being in cross-country and track in high school, I was probably the only one who loathed gym days.  I blame it on the low-confidence of a fifteen-year-old who couldn't even bench the women's bar(that's right, 25 pounds) and broke a sweat working biceps on the 5 pound weights.  Perhaps it was also because of my coaches constant pushing and instructing, and Lord knows I have never been one to take that kind of instruction kindly, I guess you could call me a free-spirit, but I just didn't wanna.  But now here I am, running a couple miles a day(which is a big feat for me, having recently quit smoking after 5 years), bench-pressing, working weights, chin-ups, and core-workouts.  I'm pretty proud of myself!
But for now here I am, stuck in this upper-room and feeling awful, yet still contemplating venturing out, lest the boredom overtake me and die alone in this little New York village. At least they'd have something to talk about here. Despite the fact that I have not yet screwed anyone, have always paid my bar tab and tipped kindly, been friendly and in public, quite demure(well, that's up for discussion) I still seem to be the hot topic of discussion around town. Mainly because I am new here and in a village this small, there isn't much else to talk about. My name is even more popular than the local gays! Which I find odd(perhaps since they have residenced here for a bit) that in a tine little seemingly conservative(that also, is up for discussion, it seems everyone has screwed each other at one point and knows about it) village they are so accepting of them over the tiny little midwestern carpenter who has moved in and not caused any trouble. I don't get it.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not gay-bashing, and I really enjoy the two, they are quite fun.  Having lived in a small town before, it just seems odd to me.
Anyway, I reckon I'm burning soup and my purple gatorade is calling so I must bid adieu, before my free-reigning mouth gets me into more trouble. Word to your moms, and what-not.