Bunch o' Nothin'

I am a legal dope! (That chemical complexity is caffeine!!)

It's a miracle! The "Moses Part..."

We've had several bad hair days around here lately. It's gettin' painful. :)

Sunflower went crazy! I love you!

Batch 2 and 1 of macarons. The 3rd was the best, but none were perfect. GRR! I don't think I had enough egg yolks in batch 2...somehow the dough was super-stiff. 

This is an exciting Saturday because 1) We got to talk to my brother for the first time in 2 months!  and 2) It's the first time in 8 months that Daniel and I have spent an entire Saturday together! We got breakfast at the Copper Oven, which was delicious, and have been house-cleaning ever since. More or less. Also, I signed up for the GRE on November 16 so there is NO GOING BACK! Whoo! Now it is nearly 5 o'clock and I am still wondering when I get to take a nap.

Last night we saw Sweeney Todd at the Crown Uptown Dinner Theater. It was wonderful, even if their Sweeney was no Depp-like eye-candy. For dinner they offered meat pies!! And an incredible butternut squash soup served with moist, homemade pumpkin bread. And we got to sit in a comfy booth, which just put icing on the cake. (It was chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling, by the bye). Jenny was playing in the pit orchestra (go musicians!) which was the chocolate sprinkles on top of the icing on the cake. And baby Ilana was there watching the show with us, eating the table. (The table underneath the plate underneath the cake...) If you are in Wichita, do go to the Crown Uptown someday. They often have a groupon for their new shows.

http://www.crownuptown.com/


Too much noise and confusion for writing poetry. Too many weights on my eyelids. Plus, it's time for Acorn Squash! Over 'n' Out.

Simple Sing-Song Sayings

 (These are to be read quickly, and with a strong dactylic emphasis. :) Just for fun...

Certainly turning the clock would collect a return on the time we have spent.
Possibly proving the proof in the pudding would lead to relieving the lie.
Nothing but noting the knot you have tied can unravel the reasons behind.
Anything ending in infinite bliss is suspect, be it fiction or fact.
Lonely the lord and the lowly have been, though embraced by a bevy of friends.
Simply imply that the thoughtless is wise and he'll thank you and think you're all right.

Feel free to write some of your own in the comment section!

A day in the life:

Last night I dreamt that I was shopping for yogurt in- and out-of my underwear. I was so excited, because apparently Yoplait had had a flavor contest, and I could buy all the winning flavors for the first time! Strangely, they were all vegetable-based, but the only one I can remember had to do with red pepper and feta. Anyhow, today at work I was gifted with 1/4 bottle of Cappuccino-flavored Kefir (a yogurt-like probiotic liquid), and a Greek yogurt! In addition to the other Greek yogurt I had already brought for lunch. I finished the Kefir, and ate both yogurts for lunch, since none of the other food I had on-hand sounded appetizing. I have prophetic dreams! 

In other news, I also dreamt last night that I believed I was pregnant, and had been telling everyone this for 8 months, when I realized that I had ZERO baby-bump whatsoever. "Whoops, never mind, I was wrong," I told everybody, when OUT POPPED A BABY! Whoo, I was right all along! Just a physical anomaly. And THAT, my friends, is not a prophetic dream, so...the only conclusion to be drawn from all this nonsense is that I really like yogurt.  

Finally, I will provide pictures later, but I have been tackling the monster that is macarons. Three batches=three entire evenings this week devoted to the project. Has anyone out there tried making these before, and if so, do you have any solution to the Giant Air Pocket problem?? I made one tray that turned out near-perfectly, but other than that...failures. There is some strange chemistry that goes on with egg whites/meringue, and I am not privy to that knowledge/understanding. HELP!

Saturday Night at the Rittlers!

Daniel rehearsing   for Halloween-we're going as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett! (At least that's the plan. And ALL of PORTLAND will be TREATED to my walking around singing The Worst Pies in London ALL DAY! They don't know what's coming!)

Or maybe we'll ditch the S. Todd idea and just go as our favorite woot.com Random Shirts! Or maybe I'll just serenade a piece of bacon. "Live in my house, I'll be your shelter, Just pay me back with nomnomnomnom."

Also, I just found out that Daniel is pregnant! He is having "weird cravings," which means dinner is potatoes with sauerkraut and gouda. Pass the congratulatory beverage, sil vous plait!

Finally: watched Little Shop of Horrors for the first time! (The original, non-musical version) What are some of your favorite musicals? I need more songs to sing while I'm working.

New Hobby?

Yep, Williams-Sonoma had half-price beer-brewing kits! Stay tuned...

Fancy a Mullet, Anyone?

The Mullet Cometh! (I'm entering my tri-monthly period of feeling apologetic everytime I go out in public. As in, "I'm sorry you have to see this haircut." It all ends when I run screaming into a salon.)

Why I love Saturdays: Dessert for breakfast! In this case, peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream. I used this recipe from the Pioneer Woman blog: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/07/peach_crisp_wit/, only omitted the maple cream sauce, substituted a mixture of honey/agave nectar for the maple syrup, and added a couple splashes of brandy. SO delicious!

Daniel and I visited what may be the liquor store with the largest wine selection in Wichita. After spending way too long feeling overwhelmed, searching blindly for a wine with that perfect combination of cheapness+ an interesting label, I finally wandered into the beer aisle and found this. You can't resist the Killer Penguin! (Hope it tastes great, too!)

 

 

 

So, thanks to this blog post (not THIS one, but this one: http://theerstwhilephilistine.com/2012/09/05/why-you-should-be-watching-rev/), I have come up with a series to fill my Bunheads void. If you, too (and who doesn't?), need to watch move TV (yes, that was sarcasm), then read this post and see if it doesn't convince you to pop on over to hulu and watch Rev. ohwhydoievenstart?!

By the bye, if you return to picture #2, lying to the left of my delicious breakfast is a letter from my brother, straight from boot camp! Whoo!

Thanks to the cool front and a new display of chai, apple cider, and skeleton aprons at Food for Thought, I'm feeling in the mood for Fall. And Halloween! (Which we will be spending in PORTLAND!)  So here is a poem:

Fashionista Fancypants spoke scathingly to Sue:
"You can't wear mullets, pinks with reds, or polkadots and plaid.
It hurts my head, it makes me mad!
What frightful things to do!
But you are clad in ALL of these-AND boots in garish green!
Oh, please put on this overcoat-
It's simple, black, and oh-so-haute..."
Said Sue, "It's Halloween." 

I Get a Kick Outta Words!

Jenny, here's your picture! I took some creative liberties with your sentence, I'm afraid :)

Is it fall yet? I keep thinking about hot chocolate...longingly, followed by a shudder and a search for ice water. That above picture is me after a run-walk yesterday evening. Looks fun, but I was ill-prepared (hydration-wise) for that li'l bit of exercise, and now I'm working on a 24-hour headache. Took the afternoon off, and took a nap.

Don't worry, this blog is not going to keep giving you fourth-grade flashbacks, forcing you to face one vocabulary list after another...but just one more, please?! These are such fun words! Thanks again to Kaplan Vocabulary Cards, with some help from the American Heritage College dic-tion-ar-y.

1. Malediction
2. Nabob
3. Galumph
4. Lugubrious
5. Faineant (imagine an accent over the "e")
6. Limpid
7. Legerdemain
8. Malinger

1. Malediction-"a curse; a wish of evil upon another" (also, anathema; imprecation)
2. Nabob-"a person of wealth and prominence" (American Heritage)
3. Galumph-"to move or run clumsily or heavily" (American Heritage)
4. Lugubrious-"sorrowful; mournful; dismal" (make sure you say lu-GOOOOO-brious. Makes
    a sad word glad!)    
5.  Faineant-"given to doing nothing; idle" (American Heritage, pronounced fay-nay-on)
6. Limpid-"clear, transparent"
7. Legerdemain-"trickery"
8. Malinger-"to evade responsibility by pretending to be ill" (Ferris Bueller, anyone?)

Here is a link Christi sent, to the cutest cookie sandwiches! Looks like a fun blog, too, but I haven't gotten beyond the PB&J sugar cookies yet.
http://www.ericasweettooth.com/2012/08/peanut-butter-and-jelly-cookie.html

Another up-and-at-'em poem:

Sever simply-holding-ons
Be calm oh clingy heart
The past is meant for memory
The present, a new start.

Banish brainless future-fears
Potential, premature
Risk accident (fall far fall flat),
'Love living' is the cure.

Fun with Words!

Brought to you by Kaplan's GRE Vocabulary Flashcards!
You can quiz yourself: I'll list ten words, and put the answers at the bottom. Oh, and I am in the "I" section.

1. Incarnadine
2. Inchoate
3. Inculcate
4. Ingenuous
5. Inexorable
6. Ingratiate
7. Inimical
8. Innocuous
9. Inquest
10. Insipid

How do you think you did? Here are the definitions:

1. Incarnadine-"blood-red in color"
2. Inchoate- "not fully formed; disorganized"
3. Inculcate- "to teach; to impress the mind"
4. Ingenuous- "showing innocence or childlike simplicity"
5. Inexorable- "inflexible; unyielding"
6. Ingratiate- "to gain favor with another by deliberate effort; to seek to please somebody so as to
      gain an adantage"
7. Inimical- "hostile; unfriendly"
8. Innocuous- "harmless"
9. Inquest- "an investigation; an inquiry"
10. Insipid- "lacking interest or flavor" (ew!!!)

If anyone comments on this post using one or more of these words in an interesting sentence, I will draw a picture to illustrate said sentence and send it to you! What could be better?!

Happy Labor Day!

Not for the Mature of Heart (revised)

Lesson learned, still learning,
Leaning back from glaring fact,
Turn safe-ward, sprint like mad,
Dig holes, dig caves, dig through the earth
Till core presents a problem you can solve:
It's death or do-over, a second chance
To be absolved, to breathe, to last.